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EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTO Review October 06, 2006 Brandon Sandman Bell |
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Summary: With its GeForce 7900 GTX GPU at its core and $250 price tag, the EVGA GeForce 7900 GTO delivers enormous bang for the buck. In today's article we compare the performance of the GTO to the latest cards out there, including the Radeon X1900 XT 256MB and the factory overclocked 7950 GT cards we evaluated just a few weeks ago. See how the GTO stacks up to these cards, as well as the 7900 GTX and 7900 GS. Does an overclocked GTO compete with the 7900 GTX? Find out in this review!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 16 ) |
The Pontiac GTO actually started life out as the Holden Monaro. Holden is basically GM’s performance division down under in Australia. GM stable mate Pontiac imported the Monaro after the Firebird/Trans Am was shelved in 2002. A few changes were made to the basic design – most notably the steering wheel had to be moved a few feet to the left – but the essence of the car was still the same: delivering sheer raw horsepower for not a lot of bucks.
Reviewers loved the GTO’s acceleration (sub 5-second 0-60) and performance, but panned the car for its bland styling, and lackluster handling. It was a great car if you loved horsepower and didn’t want to spend a lot of money, but that’s about it.
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Now NVIDIA’s got a GTO board of their own, and like the Pontiac GTO it’s an import that has been built to do one thing and one thing well: deliver lots of performance bang for the buck. In fact, lots of you in the FiringSquad Hot Deals forums have been posting tech deals on where you can find the lowest GTO cards in stock!
If you recall our preview of the GeForce 7900 GS and 7950 GT we basically told you that they were derivatives of NVIDIA’s GeForce 7900 GT architecture. The 7900 GS was a detuned 7900 GT designed to appeal the $200 crowd, while the GeForce 7950 GT was a souped-up GeForce 7900 GT priced at $300. They both relied on the same basic GeForce 7900 GT reference board design, although in the case of the 7900 GS four pixel shaders were deactivated and Infineon memory modules were used, while the 7950 GT had none of its shaders deactivated – in fact it ran at higher clocks than the 7900 GT – and used denser 16Mx32 Infineon modules rated for speeds up to 700MHz.
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The GeForce 7900 GTO on the other hand is a derivative of NVIDIA’s faster GeForce 7900 GTX. The 7900 GTO is built on the same board design and cooling as the GeForce 7900 GTX, in fact the exact same 7900 GTX graphics chip is used on the GTO: both GPUs are clocked at 650MHz. The key difference is that the GTO’s 512MB of memory runs at slower speeds than the GeForce 7900 GTX, just 660MHz (1.32GHz effective), which is the same speed as the GeForce 7900 GS and GT. In comparison, the memory on the GeForce 7900 GTX runs at 800MHz (1.6GHz effective).
The following chart summarizes the differences between the various NVIDIA GPUs, and how they stack up to ATI’s offerings:
| GPU Comparison | ||||||||
| GeForce 7900 GTX | GeForce 7900 GTO | GeForce 7950 GT | GeForce 7900 GT | GeForce 7900 GS | Radeon X1900 XT 256MB | Radeon X1900 GT | Radeon X1800 GTO | |
| Core Clocks | 650 | 650 | 550 | 450 | 450 | 625 | 575 | 500 |
| Pixel Shaders | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 48 | 36 | 12 |
| Vertex Shaders | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Texel Fill-rate (Mtexels/s) | 15600 | 15600 | 13200 | 10800 | 9000 | 10000 | 9200 | 6000 |
| ROPs | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 12 |
| Effective Memory Clock | 1600 | 1320 | 1400 | 1320 | 1320 | 1450 | 1200 | 1000 |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) | 51.2 | 42.2 | 44.8 | 42.2 | 42.2 | 46.4 | 38.4 | 32 |
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| Board analysis | Page:: ( 2 / 16 ) |
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At first glance, EVGA’s e-GeForce 7900 GTO board is a dead-ringer for a GeForce 7900 GTX: both cards look identical. Physically EVGA has made no changes to the GeForce 7900 GTX board design for the GeForce 7900 GTO, they’re using the exact same board design and components, right down to the memory modules.
This particular point has led to lots of speculation on forums about where the memory has come from and whether or not it is memory that wasn’t up to task for use on 7900 GTX boards. Frankly we don’t know the answer to that question. What we do know is that EVGA’s running the memory modules on their GTO boards at slightly lower voltages than 7900 GTX memory. As any experienced overclocker will tell you, higher voltage is often needed to hit higher speeds.
It’s also possible that EVGA may be running the memory on these GTO boards with tighter timings than the memory on GTX cards, and these lower timings are preventing the GTO’s memory from hitting higher speeds.
In all honesty, it’s probably some combination of the two.
Speaking of the e-GeForce 7900 GTO box, EVGA does keep the bundle of hardware and software accessories light for their standards. Inside the box you’ll find two DVI adapters, a component video cable, S-Video cable, power adapter, and driver CD and manual. EVGA doesn’t include a game bundle with the card in order to keep the price as low as possible, instead you’ll find trial copies of BeyondTV from SnapStream Media and Ulead DVD Movie Factory 3 Disc Creator. Here we should also note that the board doesn’t support HDCP, but of course it is outfitted with two dual-link DVI connectors, so the 7900 GTO is ready to drive two 30” flat panels if necessary.
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GTO SKUs
For the GeForce 7900 GTO, EVGA’s providing just one SKU: the e-GeForce 7900 GTO we’re reviewing today. EVGA has no plans for a KO board, or a card with HDCP support or with an additional game bundle, what you see today is all you’re going to get. EVGA and MSI seem to be the only manufacturers with GTO cards available, with most of the GTO boards sold in the US coming from EVGA and MSI selling mainly in the UK, there are some exceptions to this, but it seems like those are the regions where the bulk of the cards are selling.
As far as we know, no other NVIDIA board partners have plans to produce a GTO SKU and the boards that are on the market today are selling so fast that quantities are limited; this is basically a fire sale on high-end 7900 cards in anticipation of the upcoming launch of NVIDIA’s next-gen G80 GPU.
Performance
With the GeForce 7900 GTO sporting a 7900 GTX GPU at its core, and 512MB of DDR3 memory, the #1 question everyone wants to know is how well does it stack up to the GeForce 7950 GT and 7900 GTX, as well as the competition from ATI in the form of the X1900 XT 256MB and 512MB. The answer to the final part is that’s going to depend on what games you’re playing. Let’s see how the card performs and then we’ll take a look at overclocking…
| Test Systems | Page:: ( 3 / 16 ) |
System Setup
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
2GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 256MB
Sapphire Radeon X1900 GT 256MB
ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
Catalyst 6.8
BFG GeForce 7950 GT OC
EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GT KO
EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTO
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT
Driver version ForceWare 91.47
250GB Maxtor Hard Drive Maxline III SATA Hard Drive w/16MB Cache
Windows XP Professional SP2
DirectX 9.0c
Benchmarks
Half-Life 2 Lost Coast
Far Cry 1.33 (1.4 patch for ATI cards)
F.E.A.R. 1.07
Quake 4 1.2
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Battlefield 2 1.3
Lock On: Modern Air Combat
Call of Duty 2 1.3
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Demo
Notes
Again keep in mind that we’re testing the NVIDIA cards with the image quality setting at “High Quality” mode rather than the driver default setting of “Quality”. We’ve noted that the HQ setting significantly reduces the amount of texture shimmering in games such as Battlefield 2. This change does negatively impact NVIDIA’s performance, but it’s a tweak many NVIDIA users seem to be doing with their own cards so we’re doing it too.
| 3DMark 06 | Page:: ( 4 / 16 ) |
3DMark 06 – Direct3D
| HDR: HL2 Lost Coast | Page:: ( 5 / 16 ) |
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast – Direct3D
| Battlefield 2 | Page:: ( 6 / 16 ) |
Battlefield 2 – Direct3D
| Quake 4 | Page:: ( 7 / 16 ) |
Quake 4 – OpenGL
| LOMAC | Page:: ( 8 / 16 ) |
Lock On: Modern Air Combat – Direct3D
| F.E.A.R. Performance | Page:: ( 9 / 16 ) |
F.E.A.R. – Direct3D
| F.E.A.R. Performance 1600x1200 | ||
| Card | Min FPS | Max FPS |
| GeForce 7900 GTX | 25 | 98 |
| GeForce 7950 GT | 21 | 85 |
| GeForce 7900 GT | 19 | 73 |
| GeForce 7900 GS | 19 | 68 |
| GeForce 6800 GT | 12 | 47 |
| EVGA GeForce 7950 GT KO | 21 | 87 |
| BFG GeForce 7950 GT OC | 21 | 87 |
| EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTO | 21 | 88 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 512MB | 24 | 122 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 256MB | 24 | 115 |
| Radeon X1800 XT 512MB | 22 | 88 |
| Radeon X1900 GT | 17 | 82 |
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| Oblivion Mountains HDR | Page:: ( 10 / 16 ) |
Oblivion – Direct3D
| Oblivion Performance 1600x1200x32 | ||
| Card | Min FPS | Max FPS |
| GeForce 7900 GTX | 25 | 49 |
| GeForce 7950 GT | 22 | 46 |
| GeForce 7900 GT | 17 | 35 |
| GeForce 7900 GS | 16 | 34 |
| EVGA GeForce 7950 GT KO | 22 | 47 |
| BFG GeForce 7950 GT OC | 22 | 46 |
| EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTO | 32 | 47 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 512MB | 32 | 51 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 256MB | 31 | 49 |
| Radeon X1800 XT 512MB | 25 | 40 |
| Radeon X1900 GT | 24 | 38 |
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| Oblivion Foliage HDR | Page:: ( 11 / 16 ) |
Oblivion – Direct3D
| Oblivion Performance 1600x1200x32 | ||
| Card | Min FPS | Max FPS |
| GeForce 7900 GTX | 15 | 22 |
| GeForce 7950 GT | 12 | 16 |
| GeForce 7900 GT | 9 | 17 |
| GeForce 7900 GS | 8 | 13 |
| EVGA GeForce 7950 GT KO | 12 | 20 |
| BFG GeForce 7950 GT OC | 12 | 20 |
| EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTO | 13 | 22 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 512MB | 25 | 33 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 256MB | 25 | 31 |
| Radeon X1800 XT 512MB | 20 | 26 |
| Radeon X1900 GT | 19 | 25 |
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| Call of Duty 2 | Page:: ( 12 / 16 ) |
Call of Duty 2 – Direct3D
| Far Cry HDR | Page:: ( 13 / 16 ) |
Far Cry – Direct3D
| Overclocking | Page:: ( 14 / 16 ) |
Notes
We overclocked our GTO board using NVIDIA’s Coolbits registry hack. As you can see, with a little bit of overclocking, the e-GeForce 7900 GTO can be tweaked to perform just like a GeForce 7900 GTX, although we weren’t quite able to reach the GTX’s stock 800MHz memory speed, our GPU overclock was enough to make up the difference.
We’re aware that many GTO owners are going a bit further by flashing their card’s BIOS to that of a regular GTX, but with performance numbers like we’re seeing above, we don’t think it’s actually necessary to risk potentially damaging your card if you can get similar performance via traditional overclocking.
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 15 / 16 ) |
Pros
Performance: With the GeForce 7900 GTX at its core, it goes without saying the EVGA’s e-GeForce 7900 GTO is a terrific performer. The card delivered very good frame rates in all the games we tested, despite its slower memory, and with a little bit of overclocking, performance was basically right up there with the GeForce 7900 GTX.
When you factor in the board’s surprisingly low price, you’ve got a board that delivers an enormous amount of bang for the buck considering its pedigree.
Price: Currently the MSRP of EVGA’s e-GeForce 7900 GTO is $299.99 but already many online retailers are selling the board for $250 and offering mail-in rebates that take it well below that. Considering that this board is basically just a slightly detuned GeForce 7900 GTX – a card that still sells for well over $400 – this makes the GeForce 7900 GTO an enormous value.
Among all of NVIDIA’s recently released cards, the GeForce 7900 GTO is certainly the best buy out there in our opinion.
Lifetime warranty: EVGA provides a lifetime warranty on their e-GeForce 7900 GTO upon product registration. In addition, EVGA’s lifetime warranty is quite extensive, covering everything except physical damage to the card. This means you can’t void your card’s warranty by overclocking or by mounting a third-party cooler on the card (provided the board or GPU isn’t physically damaged in the process). EVGA also has a history of providing great support to their end users, they actively monitor their forums, and provide a toll-free 24/7 tech support line if you run into problems.
Step-Up: EVGA’s Step-up program allows EVGA customers to trade-in their existing EVGA graphics card for the latest and greatest model available, as long as the upgrade occurs within 90 days of the initial card purchase. EVGA customers simply pay the difference between the two cards to complete the transaction.
This allows prospective EVGA owners to purchase a faster graphics card if the original doesn’t meet their needs, or upgrade if NVIDIA introduces newer technology. The only downside to Step-Up is that you can only use it once, so you should use it wisely. We have a feeling that many e-GeForce 7900 GTO buyers plan on stepping up to NVIDIA’s upcoming DX10 G80 GPU very shortly. G80 is likely to cost a fair bit of money ($500+ wouldn’t be unheard of), so consider the e-GeForce 7900 GTO to be a nice down payment on G80.
Cons
Availability: By far the number one con with this card is availability. The e-GeForce 7900 GTO SKU seems to be limited to online retailers only – you won’t find this card at a brick and mortar store like Fry’s or CompUSA – and a limited number of online retailers at that. Complicating matters is the enormous demand for these cards right now. While there wasn’t much hoopla surrounding these cards when they hit shelves, end users quickly discovered just how special they were and now they’re buying them up by the like crazy. When a retailer gets a shipment of GTO boards in stock, it definitely doesn’t last for long!
DirectX 10: With the first DX10 GPUs shipping in a matter of weeks, and the API set to ship with Windows Vista early next year the DX9 era is nearly over. Of course at the same time, DX9 titles will continue to ship throughout 2007 (one of the most notable of them being Unreal Tournament 2007), and all of the first DX10 games will still include DX9 code paths, so it’s not like DX9 cards are suddenly going to stop working. It is something to consider though if you plan on holding to your card for a few years.
HDCP: Again, the e-GeForce 7900 GTO doesn’t support HDCP. If watching Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies in their full resolution glory is important to you, this may be something you’ll want to consider before pulling the trigger on a 7900 GTO purchase.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 16 / 16 ) |
As you saw in our benchmarks though, the factory-overclocked GeForce 7950 GT boards like EVGA’s e-GeForce 7950 GT KO still have their place, stock-for-stock the EVGA KO delivered slightly more performance than the GTO in our testing in many games, and of course don’t forget the added benefit of HDCP in the GeForce 7950 GT.
On the other hand, the GeForce 7900 GTO sells for a little less than the GeForce 7950 GT, so it’s a close call between the two cards. We’d probably give the edge to the GeForce 7900 GTO overall, not just because of its lower price, but just as important, its near-silent dual-slot cooler. We’ve been huge fans of NVIDIA’s quad heat pipe cooler ever since we first saw on it the 7800 GTX 512MB, it not only runs nearly silently, it’s also a terrific performer. As Lenin showed you in our VGA Cooler Mini-Roundup, even aftermarket fans like Arctic Cooling’s Accelero X1 aren’t that much better than NVIDIA’s stock cooler.
However, if you’re into watching high resolution movies on your PC though, the GeForce 7950 GT’s HDCP support might come in handy down the road.
In comparison to the Radeon X1900 XT 256MB, the ATI board the GTO competes with most closely in price, the X1900 XT 256MB has the performance advantage overall, but each card has areas where it wins and loses. The ATI card performs well in titles that ATI has performed well in the past such as Oblivion, Call of Duty 2, and Battlefield 2, while the NVIDIA GTO has the edge in games like Lock On: Modern Combat, and to a lesser extent in Quake.
The final decision here is likely going to depend on what games you usually play, as well as how important other factors such as graphics drivers and noise are to you. If you simply can’t stand any noise, or you want a card that runs fairly cool, you’ll want to go with the GTO: even under load in our testing the GPU on our GTO board remained under 60 degrees Celsius at stock speeds, and the card doesn’t have any hotspots like the X1900s do. It’s ultimately going to be a personal decision that depends on how important all these aspects are to you, not to mention other factors such as EVGA’s Step-Up upgrade program, price, and availability: GTO boards sell out so quickly at most online retailers that you may have an easier time picking up a Radeon X1900 XT 256MB.
EVGA’s e-GeForce 7900 GTO is without a doubt though, one of the best bang for the buck cards on the market right now. For about $250 you’re really getting an excellent card. As a result, awarding this card our Bull’s Eye Award was a no-brainer. EVGA’e e-GeForce 7900 GTO epitomizes what the Bull’s Eye Award is all about!