MSI GeForce 7800 GTX Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

GeForce 7800 GTX is the latest graphics chip released by NVIDIA and it is the fastest chip provided by this company nowadays. We have already explained in detail how this new chip works and the difference between it and GeForce 6800 series. So read this article if you want to know more about the GeForce 7800 GTX.

Figure 1: MSI GeForce 7800 GTX box.

This chip officially runs at 430 MHz with 256 MB 256-bit GDDR3 memory running at 1.2 GHz, but MSI model has a feature called D.O.T. (Dynamic Overclocking Technology) that allows you to easily overclock this card by simply checking a box on the video driver properties. We’ll talk more about this feature later.

You can see in our tutorial “NVIDIA Chips Comparison Table” the difference between this new chip and the other chips from NVIDIA, while on our tutorial “ATI Chips Comparison table” you can compare it to its competitors from ATI. It is very important to keep in mind that NVIDIA chips from series 6 and 7 use a Shader 3.0 engine (DirectX 9.0c), while ATI chips still use Shader 2.0 (DirectX 9.0).

It is always important to remember that the “memory clock” column from these tables informs the chip manufacturer (ATI or NVIDIA) recommended clock. In some cases, specially on cheaper video cards, the card manufacturer uses simpler memory chips (in order to cut the board price) and lower memory clocks (compatible with the memory chip used), making the board to achieve a lower performance compared to boards that use the same graphics chip but with their memory chips running at the chip manufacturer recommended clock. Because of that, we always run PowerStrip software in order to check if the video card memory is running at the standard clock set by the chip manufacturer or running at a lower clock rate.

The reviewed GeForce 7800 GTX model from MSI runs overclocked, at 430 MHz for the chip and 1.20 GHz for the memory.

This video card is targeted to the PCI Express bus, so in our review we will compare it only to other PCI Express video cards, in special Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition, which is the fastest ATI chip available today. As far as we know, NVIDIA doesn’t plan to release an AGP version of GeForce 7800 GTX.

We’ll also compare MSI model to GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX. This model from XFX comes overclocked (450 MHz for the chip and 1.25 GHz for the memory), so it will be a very interesting comparison: which is better, a factory-overclocked card or a card with Dynamic Overclocking Technology?

This video card also has video capture (VIVO) function. Let’s talk about the MSI model in details.

[nextpage title=”The GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI”]

You can see GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI on Figures 2 and 3. The model we reviewed is called NX7800GTX-VT2D256E by MSI.

Figure 2: MSI GeForce 7800 GTX.

Figure 3: MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, back view.

This video card can be installed in SLI configuration, i.e., you can have two GeForce 7800 GTX working in parallel. This video card is very slim, not using the slot available next to the x16 PCI Express slot. You can see SLI connector in Figure 4.

We disassembled the video card heatsink to take a look at the memory chip used. This video card uses 1.6 ns GDDR3 memory chips from Samsung which can run up to 1.2 GHz, according to the manufacturer. Since GeForce 7800 GTX accesses the memory also at 1.2 GHz, there is no room for memory overclocking inside the memory’s specifications. But of course you can try overclock it over its specs. Besides each memory chip we found a place for soldering an extra chip. This suggests that this card can come with 512 MB memory.  

Figure 4: 1.6 ns GDDR3 memory chip used by GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI.

This video card has two DVI connectors, allowing you to use two video monitors on your PC. The board comes with two DVI-to-VGA adapters, so you can transform these outputs into standard VGA outputs.

As we mentioned, this board has video capture function (VIVO). To use this function, you need to install an adapter cable that comes with the board. This cable provides component video outputs, composite video input, S-Video input and S-Video output.

In Figure 5, you can see all cables and adapters that come with this video card, and also the game The Chronicles of Riddick: Butcher’s Bay Developer’s Cut.

Figure 5: Cables, adapters and game that comes with GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI.

[nextpage title=”Dynamic Overclocking”]

As we mentioned, this video card has Dynamic Overclocking Technology (D.O.T.), technology that allows you to overclock your VGA by simply clicking a button on video properties.

In order to work, you must use the video drivers provided by MSI. If you install NVIDIA video drivers you won’t have access to Dynamic Overclocking.

After installing MSI drivers, go to display properties (click on the desktop with the right mouse button, choosing Properties from the menu that will show up) and select MSI Clock tab. There check “D.O.T. Enable” to enable this technology. Above this check box you can choose the overclocking level: Private, Sergeant, Captain, Colonel, General and Commander.

Figure 6: Enabling dynamic overclocking on this video card.

On this same screen you can configure a regular overclocking, if you’d like to.

We’ve collected two benchmarking scores with this video card. First with NVIDIA drivers without dynamic overclocking. Then, we repeated all tests again using MSI drivers and enabling dynamic overclocking at Commander level. You will see these results under “DOT” on our graphs.

Before going to our benchmarking results, let’s recap this video card main features.

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

• Graphics chip: GeForce 7800 GTX running at 420 MHz.
• Memory: 1.6 ns 256-bit 256 MB GDDR3 memory from Samsung (K4J55323QF-GC16), running at 1.20 GHz.
• Bus type: PCI Express 16x.
• Connectors: Two DVI and one mini-DIN for VIVO function (component video outputs, composite video input, S-Video input and S-Video output).
• Number of CDs that come with this board: One.
• Games that come with this board: The Chronicles of Riddick: Butcher’s Bay Developer’s Cut (full version)
• Programs that come with this board: MSI utilities.
• Extra features: Dynamic Overclocking Technology (D.O.T.) and VIVO function.
• More Information: https://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX7800GTX-VT2D256E&class=vga
• Average Price in the USA*: USD 540.00

* Researched on https://www.pricewatch.com on the day we published this review.

[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]

During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only different device was the video card being tested.

Hardware Configuration

• Motherboard: DFI LAN Party 925X-T2 (Intel 925X, Sep. 20th, 2004 BIOS)
• CPU: Pentium 4 3.4 GHz LGA 775
• Memory: Two 512 MB DDR2-533 CM2X512-4200 CL4 from Corsair memory modules
• Hard Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 9 Plus (40 GB, ATA-133)
• Screen resolution: 1024x768x32@85 Hz

Software Configuration

• Windows XP Professional installed using NTFS
• Service Pack 2
• Direct X 9.0c
• Intel inf driver version: 6.0.1.1002
• ATI video driver version: 4.10 (6.14.10.6483)
• ATI video driver version: 4.12 (Radeon X850 Platinum Edition)
• NVIDIA video driver version: 66.93
• NVIDIA video driver version: 77.72 (GeForce 7800 GTX)
• MSI video driver version: 77.50 (GeForce 7800 GTX with D.O.T.)

Used Software

• 3DMark2001 SE
• 3DMark03 Business 3.50
• 3DMark05 Business 1.10
• Doom III
• Far Cry 1.3

We adopted a 3% error margin; thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.

[nextpage title=”3DMark2001 SE”]

3Dmark2001 SE measures video card performance simulating DirectX 8.1 games. It is very effective software for evaluating the performance from previous-generation games, programmed using DirectX 8. In this software we run six tests. We run the software in three resolutions, 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32, first without antialising and with no frame buffer, then we put the antialising at 4 samples and the frame buffer at triple-buffering. This improves the video quality but lowers the performance. We were willing to see how much performance we lost by putting the VGA to run at the maximum possible image quality. It is important to note that ATI chips can run at 6x antialising. Since NVIDIA chips cannot run at this configuration, we had to use 4x antialising to use a configuration that is valid to all video cards included in our bechmarks, allowing direct comparison between them.

You may be asking yourself why we added an old program in a review of a latest generation video card. To us, it is as important to know the performance of a video card with the latest games as it is to know its performance in an older game. That’s why we kept this software in our methodology.

At a resolution of 1024×768 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 3.85% faster than its rival, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 8.90% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 17.33% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 22.24% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 51.24% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 54.67% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 74.24% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 5.24% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was a little bit slower. We’d like to remind you that MSI GeForce 7800 GTX rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, comes overclocked from factory (450 MHz for processor and 1.25 GHz for memory, while the model from MSI runs at 430 MHz for processor and 1.2 GHz for memory).

With this feature enabled, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 3.02% faster than its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 8.02% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 16.38% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 21.26% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 50.02% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 53.42% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 72.83% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, with dynamic overclocking mode active was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 6.10% faster.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 9.00% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 27.83% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 29.95% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 76.23% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 78.25% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 112.16% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 MSI achieved performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 3.84% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 9.15% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 28.00% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 28.00% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 76.47% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 78.49% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 112.45% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

The performance of the GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI with dynamic overclocking mode active was similar to the GeForce 7800 GTX model from XFX.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI with dynamic overclocking mode active was also beaten by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 3.70% faster.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved a performance similar to Radeon X850 XT P.E. and was 13.13% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 38.66% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 49.03% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 109.60% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 133.58% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 182.18% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 MSI achieved performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to Radeon X850 XT P.E. and was 13.32% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 38.89% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 49.28% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 109.96% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 133.98% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 182.66% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

The performance of the GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI with dynamic overclocking mode active was similar to the GeForce 7800 GTX model from XFX.

At a resolution of 1024×768 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 11.76% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 21.99% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 40.87% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 97.65% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 115.14% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 133.96% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten by Radeon X850 XT P.E. and XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was, respectively, 6.22% and 3.20% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to Radeon X850 XT P.E. and XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 15.47% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 26.05% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 45.55% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 104.22% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 122.29% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 141.73% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 13.25% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 38.47% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 63.25% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 147.58% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 183.02% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 197.48% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 7.75% faster.

GeForce 7800 MSI achieved performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, and it was 16.73% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 42.72% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 68.27% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 155.18% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 191.72% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 206.62% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

With dynamic overclocking mode active the GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 4.54% faster.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 29.87% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 62.47% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 132.05% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 331.76% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 379.31% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 489.49% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 6.10% faster.

GeForce 7800 MSI achieved performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to Radeon X850 XT P.E. and XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 35.54% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 69.57% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 142.19% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 350.62% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 400.25% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 515.23% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

[nextpage title=”3DMark03″]

3Dmark03 measures performance by simulating games written to DirectX 9, which are contemporary games. We run this program in three resolutions, 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32, first without antialising and anisotropic filtering, and then configuring antialising at 4x and anisotropic filtering also at 4x. This improves the video quality but lowers the performance. We were willing to see how much performance we lost by putting the VGA to run at the maximum possible image quality. It is important to note that ATI chips can run at 6x antialising. Since NVIDIA chips cannot run at this configuration, we had to use 4x antialising to use a configuration that is valid to all video cards included in our bechmarks, allowing direct comparison between them.

At a resolution of 1024×768 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 17.38% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 33.69% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 86.25% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 105.68% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 209.55% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 263.47% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 332.64% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3,13% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was faster than all video cards in the test. It was 3.53% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 25.33% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 42.74% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 98.86% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 119.60% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 230.51% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 288.08% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 361.94% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 18.66% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 38.51% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 102.60% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 128.72% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 245.93% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 309.33% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 388.19% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3,26% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was faster than all video cards in the test. It was 4.06% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 27.51% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 48.83% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 117.70% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 145.77% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 271.71% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 339.83% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 424.57% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 20.40% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 41.76% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 118.25% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 157.16% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 278.16% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 375.22% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 463.55% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3,85% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was faster than all video cards in the test. It was 4.17% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 30.26% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 53.36% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 136.12% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 178.21% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 309.11% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 414.12% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 509.68% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1024×768 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 22.46% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 43.50% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 137.71% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 191.09% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 317.54% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 405.04% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 493.13% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3,74% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was faster than all video cards in the test. It was 3.84% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 31.92% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 54.59% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 156.07% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 213.57% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 349.79% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 444.05% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 538.95% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 23.18% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 49.52% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 203.61% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 215.12% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 416.57% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 472.39% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 538.04% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3,71% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was faster than all video cards in the test. It was 4.14% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 33.04% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 61.48% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 227.92% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 240.34% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 457.92% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 518.21% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 589.11% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 22.37% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 53.01% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 240.61% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 258.07% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 498.64% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 739.89% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 798.83% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 4,99% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was faster than all video cards in the test. It was 3.27% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 32.68% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 65.90% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 269.31% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 288.24% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 549.07% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 810.66% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 874.56% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

[nextpage title=”3DMark05″]

3DMark05 measures performance by simulating DirectX 9.0c games, i.e., using the new Shader 3.0 model. This programming model is used by Far Cry game and other games to be launched in the future. This new programming model is used by GeForce 6 and 7 series from NVIDIA and Radeon X1000 series from ATI.

We run this program in three resolutions, 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32, first without antialising and anisotropic filtering, and then configuring antialising at 4x and anisotropic filtering also at 4x. This improves the video quality but lowers the performance. We were willing to see how much performance we lost by putting the VGA to run at the maximum possible image quality. It is important to note that ATI chips can run at 6x antialising. Since NVIDIA chips cannot run at this configuration, we had to use 4x antialising to use a configuration that is valid to all video cards included in our bechmarks, allowing direct comparison between them.

At a resolution of 1024×768 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 18.44% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 49.64% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 135.24% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 136.39% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 299.12% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 373.76% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 397.36% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 22.89% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 55.26% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 144.07% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 145.26% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 314.11% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 391.56% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 416.04% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 28.00% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 62.00% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 169.29% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 210.02% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 381.89% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 483.37% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 511.59% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3,48% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 35.95% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 72.07% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 186.02% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 229.28% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 411.83% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 519.62% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 549.60% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX was 36.63% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 73.76% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 200.22% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 324.92% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 468.96% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 559.83% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 658.62% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 4.08% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 3.36% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 46.99% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 86.93% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 222.97% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 357.12% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 512.08% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 609.83% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 716.10% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

At a resolution of 1024×768 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 21.75% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 63.57% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 171.15% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 370.24% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 483.04% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro, 547.27% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 570.21% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3.70% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 28.97% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 73.27% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 187.23% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 398.14% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 517.63% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro, 585.67% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 609.97% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

To run at 1280×1024 enabling image quality enhancements on 3DMark05 the video card must have at least 256 MB of memory, because of that some video cards couldn’t run this test. Here GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 28.75% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 74.67% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 201.16% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 545.83% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 792.60% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 4.30% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 3.57% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 39.08% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 88.68% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 225.32% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 597.63% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 864.20% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

To run at 1600×1200 enabling image quality enhancements on 3DMark05 the video card must have at least 256 MB of memory, because of that some video cards couldn’t run this test. Here GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 25.35% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 86.65% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 203.35% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 607.64% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 1.122,29% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was beaten only by its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 4.30% faster.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 32.39% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 97.13% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 220.38% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 647.37% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 1.190,91% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

[nextpage title=”Doom 3″]Doom 3 is one of the heaviest games available today. As we’ve done on other programs, we ran this game at three resolutions: 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32. This game allows several image quality levels and we’ve done our benchmarking on two levels, low and high. We ran demo1 four times and wrote the obtained number of frames per second. The first result we discarded at once, since it is far inferior than the other results. This happens because at the first time we run the demo the game must load all textures to video memory, fact that doesn’t happen from the second time we run the demo on. From the three results left, we consider as our official result the middle result, i.e., we discard the highest and the lowest values. Curiously almost all times the values obtained at the second round on were the same.

A very important detail that we must mention is that Doom 3 has an internal FPS lock: it is only capable of generating 60 frames per second, even if your board is able to produce more frames per second than that. This is done in order to make the game to have the same “playability” sensation independently from the video card installed on the PC. This lock, however, is disabled in the game benchmarking mode.

For further details on how to measure 3D performance with Doom 3, read our tutorial on this subject.

At a resolution of 1024×768 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX achieved similar performance to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 11.83% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 14.27% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 24.51% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 69.96% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 74.68% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 205.83% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 275.00% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 13.37% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 15.84% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 26.22% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 72.30% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 77.08% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 210.03% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 280.16% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX achieved similar performance to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 18.02% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 19.26% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 50.92% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 142.36% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 146.99% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 361.22% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 465.00% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 21.67% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 22.96% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 55.59% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 149.87% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 154.64% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 375.51% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 482.50% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 without any image quality enhancement, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX achieved similar performance to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 25.47% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 29.49% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 76.03% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 204.91% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 216.86% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 516.79% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 662.26% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 3.78% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 32.30% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 36.54% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 85.62% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 221.51% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 234.12% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 550.38% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 703.77% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1024×768 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved similar performance to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 11.96% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 14.57% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 32.20% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 85.71% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 92.20% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 236.69% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 308.73% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 14.11% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 16.77% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 34.75% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 89.29% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 95.89% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 243.17% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 316.59% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved similar performance to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 19.22% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 22.51% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 59.82% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 157.85% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 165.57% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 382.07% faster than Radeon X600 XT da ATI, e 491,33% mais rápida do que a Radeon X600 Pro da Sapphire.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 3.35% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 24.33% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 27.76% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 66.67% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 168.90% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 176.95% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 402.72% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 516.67% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved similar performance to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and it was 30.77% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 32.50% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 84.10% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 219.60% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 231.54% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 588.79% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 675.73% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 4.08% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 37.64% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 39.47% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 93.78% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 236.40% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 248.96% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 625.00% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 716.50% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

[nextpage title=”Far Cry”]

Far Cry is a game based on the new Shader 3.0 (DirectX 9.0c) programming model available on series 6 and 7 from NVIDIA and series X1000 from ATI graphics chips. We’ve updated the game to version 1.3.
 
As we’ve done on other programs, we ran this game at three resolutions, 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32. This game allows several image quality levels and we’ve done our benchmarking on two levels, low and very high. To measure the performance we used the demo created by German magazine PC Games Hardware (PCGH), available at https://www.3dcenter.org/downloads/farcry-pcgh-vga.php. We run this demo four times and made an arithmetical average with the results. This average is the result presented in our graphs.

This game has a very important detail in its image quality configuration. Antialising, instead of being configured by numbers (1x, 2x, 4x or 6x) is configured as low, medium or high. The problem is that on NVIDIA chips both medium and high mean 4x, while on ATI chips medium means 2x and high means 6x, making the comparison between ATI and NVIDIA chips completely unfair. Because of that we configured antialising at 4x and anisotropic filtering at 8x manually at the video driver control panel.

For further details on how to measure 3D performance with Far Cry, read our tutorial on this subject.

At a resolution of 1024×768 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved the same performance level as Radeon X600 XT and as its rival, the GeForce 7800 from XFX and it was 4.79% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 10.58% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 13.37% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT and 21.47% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600.

In this test, however, Radeon X850 XT P.E. was 6.46% faster and Radeon X700 Pro was 6.04% faster than the video card being tested.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, ATI Radeon X600 XT and XFX GeForce 6600 GT. The vídeo card being tested was 8.68% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 11.42% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT and 19.38% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

Radeon X850 XT P.E. was 8.32% faster and Radeon X700 Pro was 7.89% faster than the video card being tested with your dynamic overclocking mode active.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX. The video card being tested was 4.35% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 4.74% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 49.47% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 51.74% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 82.66% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

In this test Radeon X850 XT P.E. was 8.68% faster and Radeon X700 Pro was 3.87% faster than the video card being tested.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX. The video card being tested was 3.16% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 3.54% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 47.77% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 50.01% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 80.58% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

Radeon X850 XT P.E. was 8.68% faster and Radeon X700 Pro was 5.07% faster than the video card being tested with your dynamic overclocking mode active.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX. The video card being tested was 4.93% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 22.53% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 27.29% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 111.35% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 123.89% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 174.17% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

In this test Radeon X850 XT P.E. was 7.21% faster than the video card being tested.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved performance similar to its rival, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX. The video card being tested was 4.89% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 22.49% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 27.24% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 111.27% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 123.80% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 174.06% faster than Radeon X600 Pro.

Radeon X850 XT P.E. was 7.25% faster than the video card being tested.

At a resolution of 1024×768 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved the same performance level as Radeon X600 XT and as its rival, the GeForce 7800 from XFX. The video card being tested was 10.97% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 85.12% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 96.92% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 218.46% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 269.33% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 302.24% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved the same performance level as Radeon X600 XT and as its rival, the GeForce 7800 from XFX. The video card being tested was 10.69% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 84.65% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 96.42% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 217.66% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 268.40% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 301.23% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

At a resolution of 1280×1024 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI achieved the same performance level as Radeon X600 XT and as its rival, the GeForce 7800 from XFX. The video card being tested was 4.71% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 38.04% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 152.23% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 175.48% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 372.00% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 402.69% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 422.25% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it also achieved the same performance level as Radeon X600 XT and as its rival, the GeForce 7800 from XFX. The video card being tested was 7.42% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 41.61% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 158.76% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 182.61% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 384.21% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 415.69% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 435.76% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

At a resolution of 1600×1200 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI was 7.14% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 69.44% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 190.35% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 197.49% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 415.07% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 622.64% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 728.82% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was 4.22% faster than the video card being tested.

When we activated the dynamic overclocking mode of GeForce 7800 GTX from MSI, it was 4.10% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 16.23% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 83.81% faster than NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, 214.99% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 222.73% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 458.78% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 683.96% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 799.14% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

First we are amazed how fast prices drop. One month ago, when we reviewed XFX model VGAs based on the GeForce 7800 GTX were quoted around USD 600 and right now you can find models from both XFX and MSI around USD 540. Really amazing.

GeForce 7800 GTX is clearly targeted to newer games running at very high screen resolutions and with the maximum possible video quality. If you have a 17” video monitor or higher and run your games at 1280×1024 or above and want to experience your games putting all quality settings on maximum, that’s the video card you are looking for, it’s unbeatable.

If you run older games (i.e., before Doom 3 and Far Cry), don’t like to play with image quality settings and doesn’t go over 1280×1024, this card is not for you – it’s too expensive and it won’t deliver the performance you are looking for. In this case you should go for a card with better cost/benefit ratio. Among the current high-end cards, we’d suggest the GeForce 6800 GT, which is far cheaper than GeForce 7800 GTX and GeForce 6800 Ultra and offers a terrific performance at resolutions up to 1280×1024 if you don’t max out the image quality settings in very heavy games.

As for the MSI model, its main advantages are the Dynamic Overclock Technology, which allows you to easily overclock your card (but you need to use MSI drivers, which isn’t bad since it has awesome sliders for manual overclocking), and the full version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Butcher’s Bay Developer’s Cut.

The other GeForce 7800 GTX model we tested, from XFX, came already factory-overclocked, which is more targeted to users that want overclocking but don’t want to play around with any configuration at all. Even though with MSI model you can achieve better overclocking results since on MSI driver is really easy and painless to configure overclocking, XFX model comes with a free gamepad – a USD 29.95 value – but comes with no game at all.

So, the final call is yours: a factory-overclocked card with a free gamepad or a card very easy to overclock with just one mouse click with a free full game? You choose.