ABOUT THE VIDEO CARD :
This particular version of the GeForce 7800GT is for the PCI Express interface; PCI Express is faster than PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) which means faster graphic performance as well. This is new technology and is much faster interface which is twice as fast as AGP. If you already have a PCI Express motherboard than by all means go ahead and get this card but if you are just upgrading from a PCI or AGP interface then I would suggest staying with that same interface. I am not saying that you should not buy PCI-E if you want to because it is clearly the future of video cards; as technology advances, future video cards will eventually be able to take full advantage of the PCI-E technology, but right now there is no game that can use its full potential.

The eVGA GeForce 7800GT has three connections (two DV-I and one S-Video) which will allow you to connect most LCD display devices. DVI can be used to connect the huge and bulky CRT (with adapter) or the light weight and space saving LCD monitors. The S-Video can be used to connect your TV monitor, but some of the newest TV's have DVI connections available. Since I have an old TV, I cannot use the S-Video and test it.

The card itself is pretty big lengthwise (like most after the 6800's came out), but it is thin enough to only use up one slot in the back of your computer. The heatsink is very large also that keeps the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) cool at all times (even after overclocking).

eVGA provides a two year standard warranty. Just visit www.evga.com or call them at (888) 881-3842 to find out more about the warranty.


THE INSTALLATION :
The installation did not take too long at all (about 5 to 10 minutes). The only thing new you have to do in this installation is to plug in the extra power connector. This card requires more power than the PCI-E interface can provide; you must also have a power supply that is 450 watts or higher as recommended by the manufacturer.

I did not use the drivers that were provided in the CD because I wanted to have the latest up-to-date drivers, so I went to www.nvidia.com and downloaded the latest available drivers. The up-to-date drivers provide better performance and stability.

Since the card is longer and a bit thicker than older versions, it may be a bit troublesome to install if your computer case is a bit small. So make sure it will fit in your computer before you open the packaging or even purchase it. The thickness does not bother me at all as there are lots of slots in my client's computer.


THE DRIVERS :
Once you install the drivers an additional tab is added to the "Display Properties Advanced Settings" window; this tab will have the name of the video card (in this case GeForce 7800GT or something similar). This tab has all of the settings that can be controlled by the drivers available. You can change the display settings, performance and quality settings, color, refresh rates, multiple or single display options, and some other helpful settings.

There is a utility available at guru3d.com that will give you overclocking ability and some other advanced features like the card temperature monitor, and more. I like this because I do not have to download an additional utility that will do this for me and take up hard disk space and system resources.