nVidia Launches Three New Graphics Chips
In our initial tests, the company's 7900 and 7600 chips demonstrate a solid performance punch.
Graphics giant nVidia announced three new graphics chips today, the 7900 GTX, the 7900 GT, and the 7600 GT. The company expects its partners to begin shipping graphics boards based on the new chips this week.
The 7900 chips will replace nVidia's 7800 GTX and 7800 GT processors. Initial PCW tests using reference boards show the 7900 GT largely outperforming existing boards, while the 7900 GTX yielded mixed results. Most notable was the 7600 GT card's significantly faster performance over existing boards on most tests.
All three chips were produced under a new 90-nanometer manufacturing process, which leads to smaller, more-efficient chips than those created under the older 110-nanometer process.
Until ATI's recent launch of the X1900 XTX chip, nVidia had owned the upper-end graphics market with its high-speed 7800 GTX boards, though the 512MB versions often proved exceptionally difficult to find. The company says that boards based on the new 7900 GTX will be plentiful, and notes that there will be only a 512MB version (no 256MB version). The chip's core speed is 650 MHz and its memory runs at 800 MHz. Expect boards to sell for between $499 and $649.
In our highest-resolution tests performed at 1600 by 1200 with antialiasing turned on, the 7900 GTX-based reference board beat an XFX GeForce 7800 GTX XXX Edition ($750) and an ATI X1900 XTX board ($649) in two tests--Half Life 2 and Quake 4--and it tied with the 7800 GTX in Doom 3. The 7800 GTX was the clear victor in our Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Unreal Tournament 2004 tests, while the X1900 XTX won out in our Battlefield 2 test.
Boards based on the 7900 GT will sell for between $249 and $399 and will include 256MB of RAM. The chip's core speed is 450 MHz, and its memory runs at 660 MHz.
In our highest-resolution tests performed at 1600 by 1200 with antialiasing turned on, the 7900 GT generally outperformed a shipping XFX GeForce 7800 GT ($300) and an Asus Radeon EAS X1800 XL ($380). The 7900 GT turned in the highest frame rates almost across the board, including in Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, Quake 4, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Doom 3, Far Cry, and Unreal Tournament 2004.
Of the three new chips launched today, nVidia's 7600 GT will likely be the most popular with the average graphics card buyer. Boards based on the chip will carry 256MB of RAM and will sell for between $179 and $229.
The 7600 GT ran away with nearly every test we performed when compared with comparable products such as eVGA's eGeforce 6800 GS ($179) and PowerColor's Radeon X1600 XT Bravo Edition ($169). The card was a clear winner at both our test resolutions (1024 by 768 and 1600 by 1200) and with antialiasing turned on and off.
For example, in Quake 4 tests performed at the higher resolution with antialiasing turned off, the 7600 GT cranked out an impressive 63 frames per second, easily topping the 6800 GS board's 42 fps and the X1600 XT's 24 fps. Results were similarly impressive in Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, Doom 3, and Halo.
Return to PCWorld.com in coming weeks to read reviews of retail boards from BFG, PNY, and XFX based on the new chips. And be sure to check out our current reviews of graphics cards.
Tom Mainelli, PC World
