Schwarz
04-24-2007, 05:31 PM
INTRO
Well i'll get right to the point since the title of this article already says it all.
I will be putting up an eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB agaisn't an XFX 8800GTS 320MB Extreme Edition.
This will show you what to expect from going to a middle range card to the new G80.
I will, later on, add an ASUS 8800GTX to this little comparison review, so keep an eye for an update.
Pricewise it is very hard now to find a 7900GT KO from eVGA.
Making a few searches I have found it at around 259$-269$ on US websites and 290$ CAD.
Now you have to ask yourself is it really worth it when you can have a 8800GTS 320MB
at around 300$ (309$ USD on newegg)
We will see throughout this little review of both cards how big of a gap there is between those two.
BUNDLE
EVGA's bundle has nothing special I would even say it is lacking a few things like a game or such.
The usual User manual and driver CD, two DVI to VGA adaptors,
component and S-Video lead, S-Video extension lead, and a two molex to PCI-e adaptor.
eVGA offers like XFX a lifetime warranty on their product but remember you only have 30 days to register
your product.
Another interesting thing eVGA offers is the step-up program wich let's you trade in
your card for a more powerful one.
Of course you have to pay the difference and you only have 90 days (3 months) to trade in for a better card.
Sadly I have had a bad experience with this trade-up program.
When I bought the card I use in this review I tried to trade it up to a 7950GT KO but it was not available for trade-up in the list.
I tried contacting eVGA about it but to no avail, no replies at all.
After that a few weeks later my 90 days were up and so I couldn't trade in my card anymore.
I have had a bad experience but it doesn't mean you will also.
Many people are satisfied with it but I just wanted to share my story.
On the counterpart XFX comes a little stronger in their bundle.
Dual DVI port converters, S-video cable ,S-Video to HD Composite Converter, Instructional Pamphlets and Driver CD.
And the award winning game Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.
I like it when companies include games in their bundles, I mean you ARE buying a videocard for gaming right.
As far as the warranty goes XFX is the best in the market offering their usual Double Life Time warranty
wich means you can sell it to anyone and that person gets the lifetime warranty.
BUT you also get the new Modder Friendly Warranty, which is a first in the industry.
It lets you Overclock your card, replace the stock cooler and put your own
and if things go wrong well guess what, XFX will honor the warranty.
You don't have to lie your way out to get your card replaced.
This is good for all series 6,7 and 8 cards !
It is also valid for the double life time warranty !
Note that so far the Modder Warranty is only available for north americans but I am sure that
sooner or later it will be available world wide.
CARDS SPECS
The eVGA card has been used for about 6 months and more and I haven't had any problems with it.
It has not been overclocked though.
As far as the XFX card, it is brand new as I have just received it a few days ago.
For the specs of the XFX card you can read the indepth review of the 8800GTS 320MB right here on bjorn3d !
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1053
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/specs.jpg
TEST SETUP
The test setup is my own rig.
For those that don't know what I am running here is the test setup.
Pentium D805 @ 4GHz on a Mach II GT (very noisy machine)
2x 1GB Corsair Value Ram 4200 at 4 4 4 12.
Asus Commando motherboard
Creative X-fi Fatal1ty
Windows XP SP2
All ran on a Mushkin XP-650 Enhanced Power Supply won here at bjorn3d,
wich by the way got me to the 4GHz mark with my Pentium D.
(Thank you bjorn3d and Mushkin)
BENCHMARKS
3Dmark 2006
I do not own a full version of 3Dmark 2006 so this will only be the Basic Edition.
For those that don't know what the default Basic Edtion settings are here it is.
A resolution of 1280x1024, No A/A and Anisotropic Filtering is set to Optimal.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/3dmark.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
5000 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 2017 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 2002 Marks
CPU Score 1949 Marks
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
7856 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 3408 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 3673 Marks
CPU Score 1919 Marks
The results for the eVGA card are very low compared to similar systems.
As far as the XFX 8800GTS goes, there is not enough similar systems to compare it to.
Half Life 2 Lost Coast
I made a custom demo of the church in the Lost Coast demo.
Of course you will tell me that there's not much action going on there
and so on but since I had to watch over and over the same timedemo
I thought I would use what I find to be the most beatifull scene in
computer gaming.
The settings were all upped to "HIGH".
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/Halflife.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 98.09
1280x1024 4x / 8x 69.71
1440x900 nothing 94.69
1440x900 4x / 8x 62.00
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 130.95
1280x1024 4x / 8x 114.52
1440x900 nothing 126.66
1440x900 4x / 8x 109.52
Call of Duty 2
For Call of Duty 2 I used a custom time demo of the mission Dday.
That particular map has a lot of explosions and many moving soldiers all over.
You should expect low results on this one.
All the settings were at maximum.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/callofduty.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 44.0
1280x1024 4X / Anisotropic 36.1
1440x900 nothing 40.0
1440x900 4x / Anisotropic 35.4
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 62.1
1280x1024 4x / Anistropic 56.7
1440x900 nothing 50.9
1440x900 4x / Anistropic 39.0
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
I included Stalker in the mix because right now I have to admit I am hooked to this game.
I haven't played a game that pulls me back in the days of Fallout wich is to this date
still my favorite PC game series.
The atmosphere of the game really pulls me into it so much that I had to control myself
and stop playing at 5 in the morning when I had to go to work at 6.
Best post-apocalyptic game in my opinion after Fallout.
I even wish that fallout 3, if it has to be released in 3D will be on this very same engine.
The timedemos that I used for this was found on the net.
Here is the link if anyone wants to use them.
http://obr.czweb.org/stalker_bench_new.zip
The funny thing is that I have never found how to record demos with stalker but found a little trick.
Those 2 custom timedemos are actually only pre recoreded paths.
So basically you can load any maps from your saved games and then type
demo_play short_timedemo in the console and it will fly over the map you loaded.
What I mean by map you loaded is your Saved game, your progress in the game.
It says it only works with the 1.0 version though and this is the version that I will use here.
The map loaded and the timedemo was Army Depot with the "short" timedemo.
(Now please don't swear by these numbers they are a LOT higher then the real in game FPS
It flies over the map but there aren't many soldiers nor many gun fights and I don't think it renders
everything.)
Settings were
Quality:MAX
Full Dynamic lightning
Vision Detail Slider in Middle
Object Detail Slider 3/4ths
Light Distance slider 1/4th
Everything else enabled and sliders all the way up.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/stalker.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 40.34
1280x1024 4X / 8X 37.62
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 55.20
1280x1024 4X / 8X 49.50
Doom 3
I think everyone knows by now what Doom 3 is so no introduction needed.
I used the Ultra setting with everything enabled.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/doom3.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 95.7
1280x1024 8X 26.7
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 135.6
1280x1024 8x 107.6
I would have tested the game at 1600x1200 but sadly my monitor does not support that resolution.
Anyways judging by the numbers the eVGA gave me at 1280x1024 with 8x AA I think the game would have been
discutingly unplayable.
After many reruns of the tests it seems that I still only get 26.7FPS with the eVGA card at 4x 8x.
F.E.A.R.
Keep an eye for an update with results for F.E.A.R.
Sadly due to time restraints I am unable to provide you guys with any numbers.
FINAL THOUGHT
Well this wasn't really fair.
The new G80 architecture surpasses the old G71 hands down.
Anyways if you think about it, why buy the old G71 if you can get newer DirectX10 cards for about the same price right.
There's not much to say here except that I think anyone is smart enough to go for new technology and performance if there isn't
a big gap in price.
A big thanks to bjorn3d and XFX for these 2 great cards !
I give XFX my personal PRICE/PERFORMANCE AWARD for their 8800GTS (320MB).
I also give XFX a personal BEST WARRANTY AWARD for their new Modder Friendly Warranty !
This is good news for all computer enthusiasts and I hope other companies will follow in XFX's path.
Computer modding is becoming more and more popular these days and I think XFX is paving the way for new to experienced modders.
- Schwarz
Well i'll get right to the point since the title of this article already says it all.
I will be putting up an eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB agaisn't an XFX 8800GTS 320MB Extreme Edition.
This will show you what to expect from going to a middle range card to the new G80.
I will, later on, add an ASUS 8800GTX to this little comparison review, so keep an eye for an update.
Pricewise it is very hard now to find a 7900GT KO from eVGA.
Making a few searches I have found it at around 259$-269$ on US websites and 290$ CAD.
Now you have to ask yourself is it really worth it when you can have a 8800GTS 320MB
at around 300$ (309$ USD on newegg)
We will see throughout this little review of both cards how big of a gap there is between those two.
BUNDLE
EVGA's bundle has nothing special I would even say it is lacking a few things like a game or such.
The usual User manual and driver CD, two DVI to VGA adaptors,
component and S-Video lead, S-Video extension lead, and a two molex to PCI-e adaptor.
eVGA offers like XFX a lifetime warranty on their product but remember you only have 30 days to register
your product.
Another interesting thing eVGA offers is the step-up program wich let's you trade in
your card for a more powerful one.
Of course you have to pay the difference and you only have 90 days (3 months) to trade in for a better card.
Sadly I have had a bad experience with this trade-up program.
When I bought the card I use in this review I tried to trade it up to a 7950GT KO but it was not available for trade-up in the list.
I tried contacting eVGA about it but to no avail, no replies at all.
After that a few weeks later my 90 days were up and so I couldn't trade in my card anymore.
I have had a bad experience but it doesn't mean you will also.
Many people are satisfied with it but I just wanted to share my story.
On the counterpart XFX comes a little stronger in their bundle.
Dual DVI port converters, S-video cable ,S-Video to HD Composite Converter, Instructional Pamphlets and Driver CD.
And the award winning game Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.
I like it when companies include games in their bundles, I mean you ARE buying a videocard for gaming right.
As far as the warranty goes XFX is the best in the market offering their usual Double Life Time warranty
wich means you can sell it to anyone and that person gets the lifetime warranty.
BUT you also get the new Modder Friendly Warranty, which is a first in the industry.
It lets you Overclock your card, replace the stock cooler and put your own
and if things go wrong well guess what, XFX will honor the warranty.
You don't have to lie your way out to get your card replaced.
This is good for all series 6,7 and 8 cards !
It is also valid for the double life time warranty !
Note that so far the Modder Warranty is only available for north americans but I am sure that
sooner or later it will be available world wide.
CARDS SPECS
The eVGA card has been used for about 6 months and more and I haven't had any problems with it.
It has not been overclocked though.
As far as the XFX card, it is brand new as I have just received it a few days ago.
For the specs of the XFX card you can read the indepth review of the 8800GTS 320MB right here on bjorn3d !
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1053
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/specs.jpg
TEST SETUP
The test setup is my own rig.
For those that don't know what I am running here is the test setup.
Pentium D805 @ 4GHz on a Mach II GT (very noisy machine)
2x 1GB Corsair Value Ram 4200 at 4 4 4 12.
Asus Commando motherboard
Creative X-fi Fatal1ty
Windows XP SP2
All ran on a Mushkin XP-650 Enhanced Power Supply won here at bjorn3d,
wich by the way got me to the 4GHz mark with my Pentium D.
(Thank you bjorn3d and Mushkin)
BENCHMARKS
3Dmark 2006
I do not own a full version of 3Dmark 2006 so this will only be the Basic Edition.
For those that don't know what the default Basic Edtion settings are here it is.
A resolution of 1280x1024, No A/A and Anisotropic Filtering is set to Optimal.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/3dmark.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
5000 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 2017 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 2002 Marks
CPU Score 1949 Marks
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
7856 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 3408 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 3673 Marks
CPU Score 1919 Marks
The results for the eVGA card are very low compared to similar systems.
As far as the XFX 8800GTS goes, there is not enough similar systems to compare it to.
Half Life 2 Lost Coast
I made a custom demo of the church in the Lost Coast demo.
Of course you will tell me that there's not much action going on there
and so on but since I had to watch over and over the same timedemo
I thought I would use what I find to be the most beatifull scene in
computer gaming.
The settings were all upped to "HIGH".
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/Halflife.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 98.09
1280x1024 4x / 8x 69.71
1440x900 nothing 94.69
1440x900 4x / 8x 62.00
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 130.95
1280x1024 4x / 8x 114.52
1440x900 nothing 126.66
1440x900 4x / 8x 109.52
Call of Duty 2
For Call of Duty 2 I used a custom time demo of the mission Dday.
That particular map has a lot of explosions and many moving soldiers all over.
You should expect low results on this one.
All the settings were at maximum.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/callofduty.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 44.0
1280x1024 4X / Anisotropic 36.1
1440x900 nothing 40.0
1440x900 4x / Anisotropic 35.4
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 62.1
1280x1024 4x / Anistropic 56.7
1440x900 nothing 50.9
1440x900 4x / Anistropic 39.0
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
I included Stalker in the mix because right now I have to admit I am hooked to this game.
I haven't played a game that pulls me back in the days of Fallout wich is to this date
still my favorite PC game series.
The atmosphere of the game really pulls me into it so much that I had to control myself
and stop playing at 5 in the morning when I had to go to work at 6.
Best post-apocalyptic game in my opinion after Fallout.
I even wish that fallout 3, if it has to be released in 3D will be on this very same engine.
The timedemos that I used for this was found on the net.
Here is the link if anyone wants to use them.
http://obr.czweb.org/stalker_bench_new.zip
The funny thing is that I have never found how to record demos with stalker but found a little trick.
Those 2 custom timedemos are actually only pre recoreded paths.
So basically you can load any maps from your saved games and then type
demo_play short_timedemo in the console and it will fly over the map you loaded.
What I mean by map you loaded is your Saved game, your progress in the game.
It says it only works with the 1.0 version though and this is the version that I will use here.
The map loaded and the timedemo was Army Depot with the "short" timedemo.
(Now please don't swear by these numbers they are a LOT higher then the real in game FPS
It flies over the map but there aren't many soldiers nor many gun fights and I don't think it renders
everything.)
Settings were
Quality:MAX
Full Dynamic lightning
Vision Detail Slider in Middle
Object Detail Slider 3/4ths
Light Distance slider 1/4th
Everything else enabled and sliders all the way up.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/stalker.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 40.34
1280x1024 4X / 8X 37.62
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 55.20
1280x1024 4X / 8X 49.50
Doom 3
I think everyone knows by now what Doom 3 is so no introduction needed.
I used the Ultra setting with everything enabled.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/MastamuneSchwarz/doom3.jpg
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB
1280x1024 nothing 95.7
1280x1024 8X 26.7
XFX 8800GTS 320MB
1280x1024 nothing 135.6
1280x1024 8x 107.6
I would have tested the game at 1600x1200 but sadly my monitor does not support that resolution.
Anyways judging by the numbers the eVGA gave me at 1280x1024 with 8x AA I think the game would have been
discutingly unplayable.
After many reruns of the tests it seems that I still only get 26.7FPS with the eVGA card at 4x 8x.
F.E.A.R.
Keep an eye for an update with results for F.E.A.R.
Sadly due to time restraints I am unable to provide you guys with any numbers.
FINAL THOUGHT
Well this wasn't really fair.
The new G80 architecture surpasses the old G71 hands down.
Anyways if you think about it, why buy the old G71 if you can get newer DirectX10 cards for about the same price right.
There's not much to say here except that I think anyone is smart enough to go for new technology and performance if there isn't
a big gap in price.
A big thanks to bjorn3d and XFX for these 2 great cards !
I give XFX my personal PRICE/PERFORMANCE AWARD for their 8800GTS (320MB).
I also give XFX a personal BEST WARRANTY AWARD for their new Modder Friendly Warranty !
This is good news for all computer enthusiasts and I hope other companies will follow in XFX's path.
Computer modding is becoming more and more popular these days and I think XFX is paving the way for new to experienced modders.
- Schwarz