I noticed that you didnt tell anything about which ns the ram was, and what brand of ram that the Evga card was using, is it rated at 1.6ns as almost all the other GTX or did they put faster one? :)
First off i would just like to say that i was shopping for 7800GTX and i've read most of the separate articles and being able to read an article that is concentrated on one specific product not just the technology helps when shopping, and with your guys great links to prices and price engine you guys are a shoppers dream in my oppinion so i'm glad you guys were able to show me what this card was and why it was better.
anyway i did buy this card, however i'm having some puzzling issues and i'm wondering if i should exchange for a new one or if thats not the problem.
In BF2 i cranked the video settins all the way up, monitor limited to 1600x1200@72hz
however i don't get very great frame rates at these settings...first off after the game loads, and i first start off by picking a spawn/weopon my framerate is incredibly slow, for about a minute after i join after the loader its like this, then after that for the most part the game plays pretty smooth however i still lag here and there and my framerates really bomb during explosions.
i find this really weird considering the framerates you guys get with the same card and settings so i'm woundering if there are things i should check/change or if i might just recieved a slightly defective card.
My computer:
Windows XP PRO SP2, latest nvidia drivers 77.77
Broadband 4Mbps Cable Internet Connection
Intel D925XECV2 MOBO
Intel P4 3.73ghz EE
1 gig ram in dual channel (2x512) DDR2-533
WD Raptor 36gb boot sata HD
WD Caviar 80gb secondary sata HD
485W Power Supply Enermax Noisetaker
LanParty case with stock 2x120mm fans cooling
before i had a gigabyte pci-e 6600GT and could play very well at 1280x1040 with all high except med texture and lighting
I was going to be interested in how much improvement the 7800 such as this one would be in SpecView or CineBench. Just games...games games!! Do you realise how cheap 600 bucks is for a workstation card. Cater to the kiddies you do, and this card is to expensive for kiddies.
Derek I gotta tell that this article reads like a press release, If you know what I mean. Come on, how much praise do an improved heatsink and a few more MHz warrant???
It just get's one thinking it's a paid article, so I think, you might wonna tone it down a bit.
And I agree that all these 7800 GTX reviews do seem kind of weird. I don't really see a need for it. I wonder if it's gonna be the same for a cheaper 7600 GT?! Much more people will actually be interested in that.
What, no reply??? Am I correct??? Is this just an advertisement disguised as an article? They have those in paper magazines too, but they at least have a small print somewhere on the page saying so.
I'm glad you all are suspicious of site out there -- it means you will test our claims for yourselves, do independant research, and come to your own conclusions. And after doing this it will become abundantly clear that we report only what we see as fact. We don't need small print because what we report isn't for any other purpose than to keep our readers as well informed with good information as possible.
One of the very few things manufactueres can do to distinguish themselves is to invest in cooling technology. The other options are software bundle and warranty. Aside from having the best warranty we've seen, an exemplary customer service record (in our experience), and an upgraded HSF, the EVGA KO has the highest out of the box clock speeds on the market (tied for first with the XFX overclocked 7800 GTX).
Josh didn't gush about this card for any reason other than the fact that it is the best card out there right now. It's really hard to argue with the facts on this one.
The only factor that this card does not lead on is price. There are cheaper 7800 GTX parts out there, our performance tests show pretty clearly just how much faster the EVGA KO is ...
Am I just on crack, or is it that there has been only one 7800GTX review after another on this site? How much of this chip do we need? I admit that this particular one is pretty neat in it's own way, but isn't there something else out there in the computer world worth reviewing and spending time and effort on?
Certainly it can't be 5 brands of the same video card.
What if we review all the 7800 GTX cards (and all the brands of all the other cards that come out from now on) as well as all the stuff we reviewed before (and more)? Our intention is to review other graphics solutions as well, we just started with the 7800 GTX.
We realize that quality is more important than quantity. Be assured that adding articles like this won't reduce our quality but will give us more time to focus on researching some very in depth and interesting technology articles. Reviewing one card per week is much faster and easier than doing a roundup, and we are able to spend more time with the individual cards and go into more detail as well.
(1) I understand that taking new tech and reviewing it on launch day, etc., is important. (2) Then comes the mass production of the tech by different manufacturers, so there's a need for the readers to be informed on the differences between the different products. (3) Then there's the difference between the interim releases after the initial launch of the new tech that also need reviewing and explanation. From those three different times of a piece of new tech, I would typically expect 3 articles or so for each piece of said new tech. From my initial post, I have just been surprised that what seems to be happening are lots of reviews centered around the second phase of your review cycle, and so that's why I was asking whether this is really what readers want to see on AT all the time (i.e., $500 graphic cards to oggle and wish a relative would die so that we could afford it)
Can't tell you how weird I felt last night to read the new article about the $3000 desk. I guess it helps to have some off-the-wall review about such a nice piece of desk. But is that really what the readers want to see? More hardware that they can't afford? One poster above me here mentioned that you've lost touch with your readers, and sometimes, I wonder whether you're really just trying to fill a niche that no one else is really pursuing in an effort to either drive the industry in that direction or just cater to a crowd that may or may not even visit here. Who knows. I sure got confused with such an article. These 7800GTX articles have done the same for me.
I don't know what to tell ya to do, because I'm not in your position. But I certainly don't feel as at home on this site as I used to. Am I getting too old to appreciate all this nice shiny new expensive hardware?? :)
Uh - like they've said and said again - they can either review each one individually as they get them, or wait another month and do a big roundup. Frankly this is better - more in-depth info. I find it interesting and I'm not even in the market for this.
I am curious about the effectiveness of the new cooling packaging. I was wondering if you could perform the following test:
1) Derate the clock speed to "normal" that is 430 / 1200.
2) Get the temperature profile.
I am wondering if the 7800 KO will run cooler at "normal" speed with the new cooling vs. a "normal" card running at "normal" speed.
Thanks for the time to put up these reviews, appreciated!
"As for the prices, it looks like the old EVGA e-GeForce 7800GTX with Battlefield 2 bundle is back down to about $500. This is good news for those on a budget."
WTF? A $500 video card for people on a budget? You have lost touch with your readers.
'"If you are on a budget – if we can call any computer part in the $500+ range 'budget'...." Obviously, they recognize that $500 is still a lot of money to pay for a GPU. Considering the performance relative to the 6800U which cost over $500 until June and is (http://labs.anandtech.com/img/plot/1472_182.png">still running $465), $500 for the performance increase the 7800GTX offers is not at all unreasonable. For budget and mid-range shoppers, it's a problem. I don't think they're really considering this card, though.
The problem with roundups is that they take time. We still don't have all the cards we would want to include. If we had to wait, it'd still be two to three weeks before we would have anything published on available 7800 GTX cards.
As these cards are very expensive, we felt getting as much info out there as soon as possible was important for helping readers make smart choices on how to spend their money. If there's anything we can do to make the series better, let us know.
Anand are right that something screwy is going on with the internal frequencies - Nvidia themselves said it's a bit hard to define an overall clock speed for this card. What gets me is the relatively large increase in performance with just a 10/25mhz overclock - in most cases it seems as much a difference as going from the original eVGA card (a 40/50mhz clock difference). Don't know if some loop is just catching up in time with this extra increase or what.
Yup.. HardOCP had it right when they said that this thing is just an overpriced 7800 GTX because of an old designed TI4600 heatsink in a metal wrapper..
hardOCP is going the way of tomshardware (yes thats bad), they constantly pick up little things and go on and on and on about it. Like the Phantom console..i mean good lord did we really need to have that dragged out almost every week on front page? Its like they think everyone cares about it..news flash only you do! make a news blurb saying product is lame and move on! You put stuff like that on front page for days like its big news.
Bless RSS feeds, don't even had to visit hardocp anymore, since they just recap all the hardware news cut and pasted from other sites basicly.
The other thing I hate about HardOCP is that it's politicized. Every once in a while you see some right wing opinion of Kyle's about current events. Now I don't care if the reader is left or right but in my opinion politics needs to stay in the forums of a review site and off the front pages.
I actually enjoy editors views on different issue, doesnt really bother me if it left or right or if i agree or disagree. It seems to make the website more of a discussion and community base site then a boring TECH newspapers. Same way i enjoy Anand blog, his views and how he sees things makes this site a whole lot friendlier . I'll admit, he does avoid certain 'heated' issue or doesnt want to be bother with them and i respect that. If plain tech info is all i want, i would be reading the manufacture website and graphs which get quite boring. Ill have to admit i do think the added heatsink(workable or not) and warranty does make it worth while. Probably going to end up disagreeing with Kyle, to me doesnt make him less of a person. I actually thinks it neat that he does express issue like this big or small.
You're paying extra and NOT getting BF2... This card sells for 60 bucks more, and all you get is a metal box around an old heatsink design, and no BF2..
You forgot to count the premium they charge for the highest clock speed we've tested yet. Out of the box this is the fastest 7800 GTX we've seen. XFX has a card clocked similarly which we will be testing soon.
The EVGA KO with BF2 is now listed as http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=evga+7800">$599 on our pricing engine. The 450/1.2 clocked EVGA with BF2 comes in at $529 making the overclock a $70 cost. Of course $540 could get yout the KO without BF2 now which is only $40 more than the 450/1.2 EVGA.
It's amazing how much prices can change in a day.
Anyway, RAM sinks on the back and a heatsink on the back of the GPU really do seem to make a difference in our overclock tests even if the HSF solution isn't revolutionary as a whole. At least EVGA is doing something different. And as someone who is constantly swapping cards, the fact that the entire pcb is protected is quite an advantage.
In the end it's up to the buyer. But our numbers show the performance advantages (both out of the box and in overclocking). Take it or leave it.
you're looking at the wrong product ... you can't find the KO with BF2 for less than 600 ... if you want the KO without BF2 its available for as low as 540 ... Those are the prices at Monarch. ZipZoomFly is more expensive ... I don't know what's up with your price info, but make sure you are looking at the KO version.
One of my EVGA 6800GT cards died in 2 months. I had a SLI setup, no more. I'm batting 50/50 with EVGA. You can take your chances with them, not me. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, uh... err... you won't fool me again!
Which video card company can we buy from then in which no one has ever had a card go bad? With our combined experiences if we follow that anecdotal standard, I imagine we'll quickly rule out every manufacturer.
Granted if I bought a particular brand of card and it went bad, I might personally go with another brand the next time out. But I wouldn't pretend that an isolated incident reflected on everything they have made and ever will, then start claiming that I was "fooled" on forums. As tight as margins are in this business, any manufacturer who truly shipped out junk would be out of business in no time.
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34 Comments
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Medium - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
Hey Guys..I noticed that you didnt tell anything about which ns the ram was, and what brand of ram that the Evga card was using, is it rated at 1.6ns as almost all the other GTX or did they put faster one? :)
Best Regards
Medium
robert5c - Friday, September 2, 2005 - link
First off i would just like to say that i was shopping for 7800GTX and i've read most of the separate articles and being able to read an article that is concentrated on one specific product not just the technology helps when shopping, and with your guys great links to prices and price engine you guys are a shoppers dream in my oppinion so i'm glad you guys were able to show me what this card was and why it was better.anyway i did buy this card, however i'm having some puzzling issues and i'm wondering if i should exchange for a new one or if thats not the problem.
In BF2 i cranked the video settins all the way up, monitor limited to 1600x1200@72hz
however i don't get very great frame rates at these settings...first off after the game loads, and i first start off by picking a spawn/weopon my framerate is incredibly slow, for about a minute after i join after the loader its like this, then after that for the most part the game plays pretty smooth however i still lag here and there and my framerates really bomb during explosions.
i find this really weird considering the framerates you guys get with the same card and settings so i'm woundering if there are things i should check/change or if i might just recieved a slightly defective card.
My computer:
Windows XP PRO SP2, latest nvidia drivers 77.77
Broadband 4Mbps Cable Internet Connection
Intel D925XECV2 MOBO
Intel P4 3.73ghz EE
1 gig ram in dual channel (2x512) DDR2-533
WD Raptor 36gb boot sata HD
WD Caviar 80gb secondary sata HD
485W Power Supply Enermax Noisetaker
LanParty case with stock 2x120mm fans cooling
before i had a gigabyte pci-e 6600GT and could play very well at 1280x1040 with all high except med texture and lighting
any help would be much apperciated
VideoQuasar - Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - link
I was going to be interested in how much improvement the 7800 such as this one would be in SpecView or CineBench. Just games...games games!! Do you realise how cheap 600 bucks is for a workstation card. Cater to the kiddies you do, and this card is to expensive for kiddies.Review rating...incomplete
AtaStrumf - Thursday, August 11, 2005 - link
Derek I gotta tell that this article reads like a press release, If you know what I mean. Come on, how much praise do an improved heatsink and a few more MHz warrant???It just get's one thinking it's a paid article, so I think, you might wonna tone it down a bit.
And I agree that all these 7800 GTX reviews do seem kind of weird. I don't really see a need for it. I wonder if it's gonna be the same for a cheaper 7600 GT?! Much more people will actually be interested in that.
AtaStrumf - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
Ups, I mean Josh.What, no reply??? Am I correct??? Is this just an advertisement disguised as an article? They have those in paper magazines too, but they at least have a small print somewhere on the page saying so.
DerekWilson - Sunday, August 14, 2005 - link
I'm glad you all are suspicious of site out there -- it means you will test our claims for yourselves, do independant research, and come to your own conclusions. And after doing this it will become abundantly clear that we report only what we see as fact. We don't need small print because what we report isn't for any other purpose than to keep our readers as well informed with good information as possible.One of the very few things manufactueres can do to distinguish themselves is to invest in cooling technology. The other options are software bundle and warranty. Aside from having the best warranty we've seen, an exemplary customer service record (in our experience), and an upgraded HSF, the EVGA KO has the highest out of the box clock speeds on the market (tied for first with the XFX overclocked 7800 GTX).
Josh didn't gush about this card for any reason other than the fact that it is the best card out there right now. It's really hard to argue with the facts on this one.
The only factor that this card does not lead on is price. There are cheaper 7800 GTX parts out there, our performance tests show pretty clearly just how much faster the EVGA KO is ...
We just call em as we see em around here.
Quiksel - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Derek (and anyone else who cares),Am I just on crack, or is it that there has been only one 7800GTX review after another on this site? How much of this chip do we need? I admit that this particular one is pretty neat in it's own way, but isn't there something else out there in the computer world worth reviewing and spending time and effort on?
Certainly it can't be 5 brands of the same video card.
DerekWilson - Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - link
What if we review all the 7800 GTX cards (and all the brands of all the other cards that come out from now on) as well as all the stuff we reviewed before (and more)? Our intention is to review other graphics solutions as well, we just started with the 7800 GTX.We realize that quality is more important than quantity. Be assured that adding articles like this won't reduce our quality but will give us more time to focus on researching some very in depth and interesting technology articles. Reviewing one card per week is much faster and easier than doing a roundup, and we are able to spend more time with the individual cards and go into more detail as well.
Quiksel - Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - link
(1) I understand that taking new tech and reviewing it on launch day, etc., is important. (2) Then comes the mass production of the tech by different manufacturers, so there's a need for the readers to be informed on the differences between the different products. (3) Then there's the difference between the interim releases after the initial launch of the new tech that also need reviewing and explanation. From those three different times of a piece of new tech, I would typically expect 3 articles or so for each piece of said new tech. From my initial post, I have just been surprised that what seems to be happening are lots of reviews centered around the second phase of your review cycle, and so that's why I was asking whether this is really what readers want to see on AT all the time (i.e., $500 graphic cards to oggle and wish a relative would die so that we could afford it)Can't tell you how weird I felt last night to read the new article about the $3000 desk. I guess it helps to have some off-the-wall review about such a nice piece of desk. But is that really what the readers want to see? More hardware that they can't afford? One poster above me here mentioned that you've lost touch with your readers, and sometimes, I wonder whether you're really just trying to fill a niche that no one else is really pursuing in an effort to either drive the industry in that direction or just cater to a crowd that may or may not even visit here. Who knows. I sure got confused with such an article. These 7800GTX articles have done the same for me.
I don't know what to tell ya to do, because I'm not in your position. But I certainly don't feel as at home on this site as I used to. Am I getting too old to appreciate all this nice shiny new expensive hardware?? :)
OvErHeAtInG - Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - link
Uh - like they've said and said again - they can either review each one individually as they get them, or wait another month and do a big roundup. Frankly this is better - more in-depth info. I find it interesting and I'm not even in the market for this.Lineatus - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
I am curious about the effectiveness of the new cooling packaging. I was wondering if you could perform the following test:1) Derate the clock speed to "normal" that is 430 / 1200.
2) Get the temperature profile.
I am wondering if the 7800 KO will run cooler at "normal" speed with the new cooling vs. a "normal" card running at "normal" speed.
Thanks for the time to put up these reviews, appreciated!
Questar - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
"As for the prices, it looks like the old EVGA e-GeForce 7800GTX with Battlefield 2 bundle is back down to about $500. This is good news for those on a budget."WTF? A $500 video card for people on a budget? You have lost touch with your readers.
TrogdorJW - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Read the next paragraph, Questar.'"If you are on a budget – if we can call any computer part in the $500+ range 'budget'...." Obviously, they recognize that $500 is still a lot of money to pay for a GPU. Considering the performance relative to the 6800U which cost over $500 until June and is (http://labs.anandtech.com/img/plot/1472_182.png">still running $465), $500 for the performance increase the 7800GTX offers is not at all unreasonable. For budget and mid-range shoppers, it's a problem. I don't think they're really considering this card, though.
Windaria - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
I totally preferred the roundups to the trickle...DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
The problem with roundups is that they take time. We still don't have all the cards we would want to include. If we had to wait, it'd still be two to three weeks before we would have anything published on available 7800 GTX cards.As these cards are very expensive, we felt getting as much info out there as soon as possible was important for helping readers make smart choices on how to spend their money. If there's anything we can do to make the series better, let us know.
xtknight - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
This card owns. It's just under twice as quiet as the BFG card and gets an amazing overclock.kalniel - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Anand are right that something screwy is going on with the internal frequencies - Nvidia themselves said it's a bit hard to define an overall clock speed for this card. What gets me is the relatively large increase in performance with just a 10/25mhz overclock - in most cases it seems as much a difference as going from the original eVGA card (a 40/50mhz clock difference). Don't know if some loop is just catching up in time with this extra increase or what.SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Yup.. HardOCP had it right when they said that this thing is just an overpriced 7800 GTX because of an old designed TI4600 heatsink in a metal wrapper..Buying this card is NOT in your best interests..
imaheadcase - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
hardocp and right should not be in same sentance.hardOCP is going the way of tomshardware (yes thats bad), they constantly pick up little things and go on and on and on about it. Like the Phantom console..i mean good lord did we really need to have that dragged out almost every week on front page? Its like they think everyone cares about it..news flash only you do! make a news blurb saying product is lame and move on! You put stuff like that on front page for days like its big news.
Bless RSS feeds, don't even had to visit hardocp anymore, since they just recap all the hardware news cut and pasted from other sites basicly.
Locut0s - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
The other thing I hate about HardOCP is that it's politicized. Every once in a while you see some right wing opinion of Kyle's about current events. Now I don't care if the reader is left or right but in my opinion politics needs to stay in the forums of a review site and off the front pages.rqle - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
I actually enjoy editors views on different issue, doesnt really bother me if it left or right or if i agree or disagree. It seems to make the website more of a discussion and community base site then a boring TECH newspapers. Same way i enjoy Anand blog, his views and how he sees things makes this site a whole lot friendlier . I'll admit, he does avoid certain 'heated' issue or doesnt want to be bother with them and i respect that. If plain tech info is all i want, i would be reading the manufacture website and graphs which get quite boring. Ill have to admit i do think the added heatsink(workable or not) and warranty does make it worth while. Probably going to end up disagreeing with Kyle, to me doesnt make him less of a person. I actually thinks it neat that he does express issue like this big or small.RaistlinZ - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
How can you say buying this card is not in your best interest? For those that want BF2 it's a decent buy, and the performance speaks for itself.These would make a good choice if you plan on running in SLI since you're GUARANTEED that you'll get 490core/1300mem out of the box.
SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
You're paying extra and NOT getting BF2... This card sells for 60 bucks more, and all you get is a metal box around an old heatsink design, and no BF2..SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Ohh. Sorry.. unless you have an extra $112 to burn, get the KO BF2 bundle;..BF2 costs 112 bucks?? I doubt it..
DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
You forgot to count the premium they charge for the highest clock speed we've tested yet. Out of the box this is the fastest 7800 GTX we've seen. XFX has a card clocked similarly which we will be testing soon.The EVGA KO with BF2 is now listed as http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=evga+7800">$599 on our pricing engine. The 450/1.2 clocked EVGA with BF2 comes in at $529 making the overclock a $70 cost. Of course $540 could get yout the KO without BF2 now which is only $40 more than the 450/1.2 EVGA.
It's amazing how much prices can change in a day.
Anyway, RAM sinks on the back and a heatsink on the back of the GPU really do seem to make a difference in our overclock tests even if the HSF solution isn't revolutionary as a whole. At least EVGA is doing something different. And as someone who is constantly swapping cards, the fact that the entire pcb is protected is quite an advantage.
In the end it's up to the buyer. But our numbers show the performance advantages (both out of the box and in overclocking). Take it or leave it.
bob661 - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
You can get it at Monarch for $560 and on ZZF for $579. So I don't understand the price issue here.
DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
you're looking at the wrong product ... you can't find the KO with BF2 for less than 600 ... if you want the KO without BF2 its available for as low as 540 ... Those are the prices at Monarch. ZipZoomFly is more expensive ... I don't know what's up with your price info, but make sure you are looking at the KO version.SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
http://www.hardocp.com/newsarchives.html?news=QXVn...">Link to HardOCP's calling out against EVGA.. It's down a bit in the news archive but its there.SignalPST - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Does the EVGA e-GeForce 7800GTX KO come with Dual-Link DVI ports?DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
As we've said before, we haven't found a 7800 GTX card without a dual-link DVI chip.We'll keep you guys posted if we find one without this feature.
Lifted - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
One of my EVGA 6800GT cards died in 2 months. I had a SLI setup, no more. I'm batting 50/50 with EVGA. You can take your chances with them, not me. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, uh... err... you won't fool me again!fishbits - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Which video card company can we buy from then in which no one has ever had a card go bad? With our combined experiences if we follow that anecdotal standard, I imagine we'll quickly rule out every manufacturer.Granted if I bought a particular brand of card and it went bad, I might personally go with another brand the next time out. But I wouldn't pretend that an isolated incident reflected on everything they have made and ever will, then start claiming that I was "fooled" on forums. As tight as margins are in this business, any manufacturer who truly shipped out junk would be out of business in no time.
DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
With their new lifetime warranty you don't have to worry about that anymore.Sorry for your loss however ...
swatX - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
wow thats really a nice heatsink. good job eVGA but i would get the reference design card. saves me 100+ bucksoh and first post ;)