NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT Review

Conclusions

If we just think about the numeric results, it is hard to come to a strong conclusion on which video card is the best, GeForce 7900 GT or Radeon X1900 GT. Let’s summarized what we’ve seen.

On 3DMark03 benchmarking, standard GeForce 7900 GT was between 12% and 16% faster than Radeon X1900 GT, depending on the configuration we used.

On 3DMark05 things got reversed, as Radeon X1900 GT was faster than standard GeForce 7900 GT. However, at resolutions below 1600×1200 this difference was always below 10%. Only at 1600×1200 enabling image quality enhancements that Radeon X1900 GT was really faster than GeForce 7900 GT: 40%.

Doom 3 continues to be NVIDIA arena. While at 1024×768 GeForce 7900 GT and Radeon X1900 GT achieved a similar performance, above that GeForce 7900 GT was between 10% and 20% faster.

On Far Cry GeForce 7900 GT and Radeon X1900 GT achieved the same performance level on almost all tests, with a good 10% advantage to Radeon X1900 GT at 1600×1200 without enabling image quality enhancements. At this same resolution enabling image quality enhancements both cards achieved the same performance level, though.

When analyzing products, we always try to see which product brings the best cost/benefit ratio for the average user. In our opinion, the user that wants a high-end video card but doesn’t want to sell a kidney on the black market to be able to buy the most high end one – like GeForce 7900 GTX, GeForce 7950 GX2, Radeon X1900 XT or Radeon X1900 XTX – we honestly think that GeForce 7900 GT is the right choice if you don’t need video capture function.

First, while Radeon X1900 GT was faster than GeForce 7900 GT on some tests, GeForce 7900 GT was not only faster in more tests than Radeon X1900 GT was, but also the performance advantage of Radeon X1900 GT on these situations doesn’t justify its higher price – our second reason.

Radeon X1900 GT’s higher price can be explained by its VIVO (video capture) function, which is optional on GeForce 7900 GT. Radeon X1900 GT is quoted at USD 349 at ATI’s website, with the majority of on-line stores in the US selling around this price as well. However, looking carefully you can find some stores selling ATI’s part between USD 300 and USD 320 (Newegg carries a model from Connect3D at USD 280).

GeForce 7900 GT, on the other hand, can be easily found below the USD 300 mark from several NVIDIA partners at Shopping.com, and it seems that USD 270 is the price of choice for several on-line stores for this video card. Searching Newegg, however, we’ve found a real bargain, an OEM model from XFX being sold by only USD 230. Keep in mind that OEM models don’t come in a fancy box and also doesn’t come with any “extras”.

But if you need video capture, then the choice can be though, as GeForce 7900 GT with VIVO is quoted at USD 290 on several on-line stores. In this case we kick the ball back to you, as the best video card in this case will depend on the resolution, image quality settings and on the game that you will run.