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About four
weeks ago one of my clients wanted me to upgrade the graphics card for their
computer and they decided to go with this new eVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
video/graphic card to make their gaming experience the best. I jumped
right one it as I had always used graphic cards made by nVidia know that they
are the leader in the industry. My client requested this particular graphics
card as he wanted to be able to play the latest games and have the best possible
video quality on my client's computer. I paid about $320.00 for this card, but
let me tell you that it is worth every penny (I also got a $20 mail-in rebate).
I recommended this card over the GTX version as I know you can get the same
results if you overclock it. I did not recommend the regular 7800 because it
would require a lot of overclocking and that would result in over heating
problems.
HOW DID HE DECIDE TO BUY THIS?
After researching for a week or two my client told me that he was interest in
this particular card so I told him what I would recommend. When I bought this
GeForce 7800 GT it was on sale for $299.00 after a $20 mail-in rebate.
He was upgrading from my old GeForce FX 5200 video card which was good, but he
wanted more graphic power and was willing to spend a more money to acquire that.
The reason he went with eVGA because his last one was the same brand and he
wanted to stick with it. I also recommended this brand to him.
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 PACKAGE :
1. GeForce 7800GT 256MB PCI-E Graphics Card
2. VIVO / HDTV cable
3. 2 DVI-to-VGA adapters
4. User Guide
5. EVGA stickers
6. Driver Installation CD
7. ResChanger 2005
8. Trial version of Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3
9. Trial version of Beyond Media SnapStream
10. DVI-to-VGA Adapter
11. S-video Cable
12. PCI Express power cable
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
www.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.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE :
I only have about two weeks of experience with this card and my client has been
using it for about a month now and says that he is very happy with it. I did
take some benchmarks and they were obviously better than my
GeForce 6800 GT scores. My client says that his game performances
have increased dramatically. He has played Doom3, Half-Life, and some Flight
Simulator games with all of the settings at high, and this card never blinks,
flickers, or twitch.
I performed benchmarks with 3DMark 2003 and 2005 at stock speed and overclocked
speed. Here are the results:
Stock Speed :
6800GT 3DMark 03 @ 1280 x 1024 = 12532
6800GT 3DMark 05 @ 1280 x 1024 = 6342
Overclocked Speed :
3DMark 03 @ 1280 x 1024 = 13685
3DMark 05 @ 1280 x 1024 = 7215
By looking at these results, I can proudly say that the eVGA GeForce 7800GT
256MB video card is the best I have ever experienced and the best my client has
ever owned. Even at full load and with overclocked speeds, the temperature stay
well below 65 degrees Celsius (with the stock heatsink). Compared to the noise
of the heatsink fan of my processor the heatseink fan of this video card is
mute. I could never hear the fan at all.
FINAL THOUGHTS :
From my personal experience I can proudly say that I was fully satisfied and
left with wanting more of this new eVGA GeForce 7800GT 256MB video card. It also
has the ability to overclock to gain more power do deliver flawless performance
and stability without any major disadvantages. The two year warranty is another
advantage that I liked because everyone likes to be protected in case a defect
should surfaces after a year or so of use. The drivers are easy to install and
use. My client says that it was worth every penny because he is just astounded
by its abilities. My client and I will highly recommend this video card to
everyone in need of more graphics power. |
