NVIDIA's GeForce 7800 GTX Hits The Ground Running
by Derek Wilson on June 22, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Performance
As an older OpenGL game that lacks any fragment programs (OpenGL's equivalent of DirectX Pixel and Vertex Shaders), most of these setups breeze through it, even at high resolutions like 2048x1536. The only setup that doesn't provide smooth frame rates with AA/AF enabled is the 6600GT. There is clearly a problem with the SLI support in Wolfenstein 3D, as both the 6800U and 7800GTX both run slower in SLI mode than in single card mode. We would assume that the 6600GT SLI is also failing to take advantage of the second card, so the relatively low frame rates in AA/AF mode are due to driver problems more than anything. Also of note is that despite the lack of advanced pixel effects, Wolf3D is relatively CPU limited. 120 FPS even with an FX-55 appears to be the maximum.The one noticeable advantage of the 7800GTX is that it makes 2048x1536 4xAA a truly playable resolution, even for competitive online gamers. The speedup at 1600x1200 4xAA is only 18%, but 2048x1536 runs almost 50% faster. If you have a monitor capable of running such a resolution, the 7800GTX is one of the few cards that can actually handle it. When (or perhaps if) NVIDIA fixes the SLI support for Wolf3D, we should also see acceptable frame rates out of the SLI setups even at the maximum resolution, though given the popularity of the game we have to wonder why NVIDIA hasn't already included proper SLI support.
The ATI side of the equation is once again lacking. While it is more or less able to match the 6800U, ATI clearly has no current answer to the 7800GTX. We'll have to see if Crossfire does better with accelerating Wolf3D than SLI. If it does, we expect NVIDIA to suddenly find the impetus to actually get SLI support working properly.
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CrystalBay - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Does this card play Riddick smoothly @ shader 2++ ?????fishbits - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
"In aboot 5 years i figure we'll be paying 1000 bucks for a video card. These prices are getting out of control, every generation is more expensive then the last. Dont make me switch to consoles damnit."Funny, I can't afford the very best TVs the minute they come out. Same for stereo components. But I don't cry about it and threaten "Don't make me switch to learning the ukelele and putting on my own puppet shows to entertain myself!" Every time a better component comes out, it means I get a price reduction and feature upgrade on the items that are affordable/justifiable for my budget.
Seriously, where does the sense of entitlement come from? Do these people think they should be able to download top-of-the-line graphics cards through BitTorrent? Do they walk around Best Buy cursing out staff, manufacturers and customers for being so cruel as to buy and sell big-ass plasma TVs?
On second thought, get your console and give up PC gaming. That way you can stop being miserable, and we can stop being miserable hearing about your misery.
tazdevl - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Funny how the single card deltas here are higher than at any other site.Unwhelmed for the amount of money and lack of performance increase.
Have to commend nVIDIA for ensuring retail availability at launch.
archcommus - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Impressive, but I'm still happy with my X800 XL purchase for only $179. For what it seems, with a 1280x1024 display, I won't need the kind of power this card delivers for a very long time. And less than $200 compared to $600, with still excellent peformance for now and the forseeable future? Hmm, I'll take the former.Lonyo - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
I would have liked some 1280x1024 benchmarks with 8xAA from the nVidia cards and 6xAA from ATi to see if it's worth getting something like a 7800GTX with 17/19" LCD's to run som esuper high quality settings in terms of AA/AF.segagenesis - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
I'm not disappointed. For one thing the price of current cards will likely drop now, and there will also be mid-range parts soon to choose from. I think the transparency AA is a good idea for say... World of Warcraft. The game is loaded with them and too often can you see the blockyness of trees/grass/whatever.#44 - Actually are you new to the market? :) I remember when early "accelerated" VGA cards were nearly $1000. Or more.
Everybody lambasted NVIDIA last year for the lack of product (6800GT/Ultra) to the market, so them actually making a presence this year instead of a paper launch should also be commended. Of course, now what is ATI gonna pull out of its hat?
KeDaHa - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
The screenshot shows very clearly that SSAA provides quite a quality improvement over no AAThe difference is bloody miniscule, perhaps if you used an image SLIGHTLY larger than 640x480 to highlight the difference?
L3p3rM355i4h - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Wowzers. Time to get rid of teh 9800...shabby - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
In aboot 5 years i figure we'll be paying 1000 bucks for a video card. These prices are getting out of control, every generation is more expensive then the last.Dont make me switch to consoles damnit.
Xenoterranos - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Hell, for the same price as an SLI setup I can go out and get a 23 inch cinema display...And since these cards can't handle the 30" native resolution anyway, it's a win-win. And yeah, whats up with the quality control on these benchmarks! I mean really, I almost decided to wait for the ATI next-gen part when I saw this (GeForce man since the GeForce2 GTS!)