| XFX GeForce 7900GT 256MB XXX Extreme Edition Review |
| Written by Maxit | ||||
Manufacturer: XFX  The XFX 7900 lineup represents the latest tweaking from Nvidia offering 90nm manufacturing. The 90nm GPUs consume less power and heat when compared to previous cards built on 110nm manufacturing process. On paper it doesn't look a very exciting advancement when compared to the 7800 but factor in higher clock speeds and some additional tweaks to the pipeline by Nvidia and we have something that might justify your attention. XFX build solid graphic cards. They look good, overclock well and come in great packaging. Everytime we upgrade at MaXit, XFX graphics card always make the short list. This card is no exception providing plenty of performance, reasonable pricing and a damn sexy looking X shape box. Okay, we are suckers for great presentation.  The card features 24 pixel and texture processors, 16 ROPS, eight vertex shaders and a date with Jessica Alba. Okay the last one was wishful thinking but the card still offers plenty of spec out of the box. The 90nm design means the processors can be clocked at much higher frequencies than before. Naturally, the card supports SLI so if your dad happens to be Bill Gates you can splash out on a pair and have much fun impressing the kid next door. The Big Specifications include:
90nm process delivers blazing core clocks for ultra-fast graphics performance NVIDIA® CineFX® 4.0 engine delivers advanced visual effects at unimaginable speeds · Greater than 2x the floating-point shading power (over previous generation architecture) · Advanced texture core accelerates 64-bit floating point texture filtering for true high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting effects NVIDIA® SLI- Ready -- Up to 2x the performance of a single GPU for unparalleled gaming experiences 256-bit memory interface and fast GDDR3 memory enables rapid frame rates with all the eye-candy turned on Two integrated dual-link DVI ports support high-definition flat panel displays up to 2560x1600 for an ultrarealistic HD gaming experience ADVANCED VISUAL EFFECTS ENGINES DELIVER ULTRA-REALISTIC GAMING EXPERIENCES AND UNPARALLELED IMAGE QUALITY Industrys only GPU architecture with full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0--including vertex texture fetch (VTF)--enables advanced shading programs for more realistic effects 64-bit floating point texture filtering and blending delivers true high dynamic-range (HDR) support for cinematic lighting effects Adaptive transparency antialiasing algorithm provides dramatically improved image quality with minimal performance overhead NVIDIA® PUREVIDEO TECHNOLOGY DELIVERS HIGH-DEFINITION HOME-THEATER QUALITY VIDEO TO THE PC Dedicated on-chip video processors dramatically increase video processing performance · H.264, MPEG2, and WMV9 decode acceleration provides unmatched HD and SD video playback and post processing · Dedicated video processor frees GPUs shaders to run 3D applications simultaneously Industrys most advanced video algorithms deliver smooth video playback and crisp picture quality · Inverse telecine (3:2 and 2:2 pull-down correction) detects and eliminates artifacts introduced during the film to video conversion process · Advanced spatial-temporal de-interlacing for high definition and standard definition content provides crisp images on progressive displays · High-quality video scaling allows you to change window size to full screen without video noise or artifacts VMR and Overlay video architecture is built for Microsoft® Windows Vista, Windows® XP and Windows® XP Media Center Edition Comprehensive output support for connection to virtually any display device in the living room or office · DVI output enables a pure digital connection to high definition TVs at 720p and 1080p resolutions · Integrated HDTV encoder provides analog TV-output (Component/Composite/S-Video) up to 1080i resolution BUILT FOR WINDOWS VISTA-- THE NEXT-GENERATION OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) FROM MICROSOFT® Third-generation GPU architecture built for Windows Vista Delivers best possible experience when running the Windows Vista 3D graphical user interface New OS supported by renowned NVIDIA® Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) for maximum stability and reliability NVIDIA® PureVideo technology delivers high-quality VMR pipeline for best-in-class video for Windows Vista  Click for bigger eye candy
And here it is in all it's glory.  Click to enter virtual reality mode - place eyes against monitor Thanks to UC Babe Kerry for lending her fantastic bottom in the name of hardware reviews! You'll be seeing more of her fine figure soon in our Hot Hardware Honeys section or pop down to the forums to discuss her equipment in the Hot Babes forum (regisitration required). The graphics card comes with two DVI to VGA convertors, a power supply connector for PSUs with only D type plugs, instruction manual and a driver disk. Of course you'll probably want to nip over to Nvidia's website and download the latest Forceware drivers for best performance. The XFX 7900 GT extreme edition ups the core speed to 520Mhz from the stock 450Mhz found in the plain old GT version and pumps the memory up to 1500Mhz from 1320Mhz. You see XFX know a thing or to about overclocking which is probably why they make such damn good video cards. Being a tier one Nvidia partner can't hurt and they obviously have a very good supply of the best chips Nvidia has to offer. If you are lucky and have the right system to keep things cool, you might be able to take the card up to 700Mhz and beyond. That's even better than XFX's top of the range XXX' cards. In our tests we managed 650 Mhz without any problems. That's using the original cooler and a decent air flow. One thing we did note was the XFX Extreme Edition sucked up slightly more power when compared to other 7900 cards, no doubt due to the higher clock speeds. A solid power supply with plenty of wattage would be essential when running a pair of these in SLI mode. Like the rest of the 7 stable, SLI mode does not allow simultaneous anti-aliasing and floating point HDR. It's a case of one or the another but not both together regardless of whether the other wants to run HDR or AA together. See, we try to keep it simple. So what does all this mean to you and me. In a nutshell, perhaps brazilian, it means the card can happily cope with most of the latest games at resolutions of 1600 x 1200 with 4AA and 8x AF. Have a look at the results. Without boring you with endless graphs and fancy bars charts showing every game test going, here's a quick breakdown of the Half Life 2 tests to give you a real idea of what to expect in the latest 3D software. Half Life 2: Lost Coast is powered by the Valve Source Engine and provides a great GPU intensive benchmark to compare graphic cards. Our test consisted of a recorded demo of intense action taking place in open areas of this mape with high dynamic range lighting (HDR).   The XFX 7900 GTX Extreme Edition comes out on top by a small margin at stock speeds. Ramp up the core and memory with a little overclocking and a very healthy boost to the scores is achieved. This really is a great card and provides enough power to run this game at top whack with all the eye candy ramped up. With a bit of overclocking it will even out perform a pair of radeon X1900 XT cards. Similar results were seen in other games with the XFX dominating the results, especially when overclocked. F.E.A.R and Quake 4 were playable at 1280 x 1024 and 1280 x 960 with 2x AA and 8x AF. At 1600 x 1200 the card started to show more signs of a struggle with frame rates dropping to as low as 17 frames per second in certain sections. If you intend to play at 1600 x 1200 with 4x AA and 8x AF you might want to stick a pair of these in just to make sure Quake 4 or F.E.A.R runs at the golden 60 fps. The XFX 7900 GTX Extreme Edition is a top notch card and lives up to its extreme name in all respects. The overclocking potential is huge with cards reaching 700MHz on the core without too much trouble. Sexy presentation and plenty of spec make this card a must have buy. XFX have done it again, setting the standard for other manufacturers to follow. If you are in the market for a graphics card to run all your games at maximum eye candy, look no further! The XFX 7900 GTX Extreme Edition is a graphics card of biblical performance and worthy of our top awards for outstanding graphics card excellence. 
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