The NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS: A Closer Look

Final Words

To recap, we've seen the kind of impact on performance the different factory overclocks can make with these cards. The BFG 7900 GS OC and Leadtek PX7900 GS TDH Extreme in particular do much better than the reference clocked Albatron 7900 GS, with the BFG performing the best by a slight amount in all of the tests. After our Leadtek 7900 GS, The EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS KO performed slightly better than the XFX 7900 GS Extreme, with the Albatron 7900 GS at the bottom in terms of performance. As we've mentioned already, the core clock speeds will usually have a more significant impact on performance than the memory clock speeds, which explains how the overclocked BFG 7900 GS performs so much better than the others without any overclock on the memory clock.

We also saw that the BFG 7900 GS OC outperformed the X1900 GT in most of our tests with its high factory overclock. The fact that the 7900 GS is NVIDIA's competition to the X1900 GT makes this finding significant, especially when you consider the price difference between these two cards. At the time of this writing, the BFG 7900 GS OC is available for $200, and since the lowest price for the X1900 GT is around $220, this would make the 7900 GS a little more desirable to the average buyer. ATI does hold a clear lead with the X1900 GT in Oblivion performance, however, and as we saw in our 7900 GS overview it also leads in Quake 4.

We've also seen that by user-overclocking the 7900 GS, we can get a much higher level of performance out of these cards. This is something that will potentially make the card more desirable to gamers who are interested in overclocking their GPUs. The XFX 7900 GS RoHS Extreme and the EVGA 7900 GS KO in particular got very high overclocks, resulting in significant performance increases in Oblivion and Battlefield 2.

Something else we want to touch on is HDCP capabilities with these cards. This is something that may not be a vital feature for many users at this time, but support for HDCP will become more important for those interested in using their PCs to watch protected content in the near future. Of the five 7900 GS cards in this review, only two of them do not support HDCP at this time: the XFX 7900 GS RoHS Extreme and the BFG 7900 GS OC. This might be an important factor for many potential buyers looking for a 7900 GS that is right for them.

For reference, here is an overview of the cards and their respective factory clocks, our user overclocks, prices, and whether or not they support HDCP.

GeForce 7900 GS Overview
Manufacturer and Card	Factory Clock	User Overclock	Price	HDCP
Albatron GeForce 7900 GS	450/660	524/800	N/A	Yes
XFX GeForce 7900 GS RoHS Extreme	480/700	597/824	$211	No
EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS KO	500/690	591/812	$216	Yes
Leadtek Winfast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme	520/700	556/790	$220 (MSRP)	Yes
BFG GeForce 7900 GS OC	540/660	571/751	$200	No

Taking into consideration performance and price, there is little debate that the BFG GeForce 7900 GS OC at $200 is the best choice out of the five 7900 GS cards we have for this review. It is not only the least expensive 7900 GS (out of the reviewed cards) currently on the market, but it happens to have the highest factory overclock as well. It has two drawbacks however in that it doesn't come with any games and also it does not support HDCP. Given the sheer performance potential of this card however we still would recommend it over the others.

We don't know the price yet, but unless the price for the Albatron GeForce 7900 GS is exceptionally low (say around $180) we wouldn't recommend buying this card. The bundled TOCA Race Driver 3 game might make this package more appealing for a few, but we found that this card was the worst in both out-of-the-box and user-overclocking performance.

For those in the market for a 7900 GS who want HDCP support, a very nice factory overclock, and a couple of games included in the bundle, keep a lookout for the Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme. This will hopefully be on shelves soon for around the MSRP of $220. The EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS KO would be a good choice for those who want HDCP support, a couple of games (including Hitman: Blood Money), and an exceptional warranty policy (EVGA will replace your card for any reason aside from deliberate physical damage; even if you break it while overclocking). The XFX GeForce 7900 GS RoHS Extreme at $211 is a decent price, and it's overclocking potential is noteworthy, but like the BFG you don't get any support for HDCP or any games included in the bundle.

If you need a 7900 GS right now (and don't care about HDCP support), grab the factory-overclocked BFG 7900 GS CO for $200. If you aren't in a big hurry, the Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme looks like it might be a great option if it hits the market soon and at the suggested price of around $220. These are our current picks out of the 7900 GS cards on the market, but hopefully we'll be able to look at some more manufacturers' versions of NVIDIA's 7900 GS sometime soon.