BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC Grange-over-Sands

You can tell a new graphics card is good when it delivers the same frame rate in every test on our benchmarks. This is what happens when the card is so fast that it becomes limited by the CPU, as the processor can't supply the card with instructions of what to draw fast enough.

In an effort to prevent this, we've upgraded our graphics test rig to keep it as fast as possible, and are constantly hunting for the most demanding games to use for testing. The last time we changed our graphics benchmarks was with the release of the Radeon X800 and GeForce 6800 cards last year. These cards tore through our previous test games (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Splinter Cell and Unreal Tournament 2003) as if they were rendering Pong. We then drafted in The Chronicles of Riddick, Far Cry and Half-Life 2 to present an even tougher challenge but, as you can see from the test results, GeForce 7800 GTX cards fly through these games as if they're little more than Pac Man.

The GeForce 7800 GTX replaces Nvidia's GeForce 6800 Ultra. We got in early on the act last month with a review of Gigabyte's card, the GV-NX78X256V-B. The initial GeForce 7800 GTX cards are based on the reference design, but while the BFG looks like every other GeForce 7800 GTX, it runs at higher clock speeds. It's pre-overclocked, with its 24-pipe GPU set at 460MHz and GDDR3 memory at 650MHz (1.3GHz effective), compared to the Nvidia-prescribed core speed of 430MHz, and 600MHz memory (1.2GHz effective).

Unlike overclocking a graphics card using Coolbits, or a third-party application such as RivaTuner, BFG has done the work for you. The card is guaranteed to work at 460MHz, so if it melts, BFG will replace it.

However, given that the card has been hand-picked, cynics would speculate that any samples found to overclock significantly higher than the 460MHz target might be held back for other uses. Many pre-overclocked products won't go more than 5-10MHz beyond their guaranteed speeds. This was true of the BFG, as we could only coax the GPU to 465MHz when overclocking.

The BFG is very fast. Even our overclocked Athlon 64 FX-55 test PC can't keep up with it; it consistently scored around 80fps in Half-Life 2, no matter what settings we used. Unless you have a CRT that's capable of resolutions higher than 1,600 x 1,200, there's no stopping the BFG. It's only at 1,600 x 1,200 with 4x AA and 8x AF that the BFG's frame rates drop even slightly. The 30MHz GPU overclock and 100MHz memory boost don't make a huge difference either; at the top settings, at its best, the BFG can only put 4fps of clear water between itself and standard 7800 GTX cards such as the Gigabyte.

As well as pre-overclocking the card, BFG crams the box full of extras, such as a t-shirt and Teflon pads to give your mouse an especially smooth surface. Far Cry is the only bundled game but, with the new 1.3 patch that enables HDR, it's well worth another look.

The GeForce 7800 GTX also supports HDTV output, by way of composite connections on its breakout box. This is handy if you have a nice HDTV display kicking about, although it's unlikely you would spend over £400 on a graphics card just to play at low TV resolutions.



CONCLUSION

While the BFG is almost the fastest GeForce 7800 GTX card we've seen, it costs £50 more than the Gigabyte GV-NX78X256V-B. Given that the GPU is so fast, the effects of overclocking aren't very noticeable.

Author: Josh Blodwell

BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC