7800gs????

Eguy

New member
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2616

A little over a week ago we received an email from someone claiming to have a GeForce 7800GS. After checking out the card and the emails from NVIDIA confirming that this was in fact a GeForce 7800GS, we knew we had something special on our hands. Today we bring you an engineering prototype that only exists inside NVIDIA, but roadmaps and driver sets indicate this card is the eventual GeForce 6800GT replacement.

driverpage.png


Not knowing when this part will actually arrive, or how close to final this part is, means that we could see some small revisions in the card between now and release. Clock speed could change a little bit, but we don't see pipeline configuration changing. If total performance is anything like this in the retail product, we will be quite interested in this part when it is released to the public.

clockspeeds.png


So now we know what we've got: a 375MHz G70 core with 16 pixel pipes and 6 vertex pipes connected to 256MB of 1GHz GDDR3 using a 256bit interface. This setup looks a little bit like an overclocked 6800 GT on the surface (of course, with G70 you get transparency AA and more efficient pixel pipes). Given what we know about the 6800 GS (it performs like a stock 6800 GT) and the 7800 GT (it will be faster than this with 20 pixel pipes, 7 vertex pipes, and a higher core clock), we can easily say that the 7800 GS will perform right in between these two parts.

9899.png


9900.png


9903.png


9904.png


9905.png


Let us preface this conclusion with a reminder that we have not been briefed on this part by NVIDIA. While we have seen internal roadmaps pointing to the 7800 GS, we still don't have any confirmation from the source on it. We don't have absolute certainty that this part will even make it out the door -- much of that seems dependant on the performance of the upcoming G73 and G72 GPUs. That being said, it would be really nice to see this part make it to the light of day. The fact that we've actually seen hardware is a hopeful indication of the future.

We really don't know anything about price at this point as NVIDIA hasn't even spoken with us about this part and it's still too far out for any online retailers to have a price yet. As always, value depends on the cost of the product, and we wouldn't want to leave that out of our analysis. Instead of talking about the value we have here, we are more inclined to talk about how much a part with this kind of performance should cost to become a competitive product.

Since the performance of the part falls between the 6800 GS and the 7800 GT, we took a look at what those parts cost in order to get a lay of the land. The 6800 GS is priced between $200 and $230, and the 7800 GT comes in at $320 to $370. If we look simply at averages, this would mean we should expect the 7800 GS to be sold between $260 and $300 if 7800 GT prices stay stagnant - but most likely lower if the 7800 GT prices move before the 7800 GS launch. NVIDIA roadmaps confirm that even though GeForce 6800 GS will reach sub $190 levels by the end of the year, the product will not actively be continued.

At the same time, this part performs in the same class as the X1800 XL. While the ATI card fairly consistently beats the 7800 GS in these benchmarks, the fact that that the 7800 GS keeps up at all (and will cost even less than the 7800 GT) means that it would be very difficult for this card not to have a lot of value. Of course, if this part debuts at the high end of our estimate, a cheap 7800 GT would definitely be a better way to go. There are some rebate and coupon offers that can get you a 7800 GT for $300 right now if you look hard enough.

We are quite excited about this part; the sooner it arrives the better. The 7800 GS will be a great part for people who can't decide between the 6800 GS and the 7800 GT. Hopefully the introduction of the 7800 GS will also allow the price of the 6800 GS to get pushed down a little more without leaving a huge gap between it an the next higher performing part.

We will definitely publish more news on the 7800 GS when we get more details.
 
There's not much point in releasing a GS version, they just keep releasing slighty downgraded versions of present cards which have already been out for a while. They've totaly kill off the 6800 series and replaced it with a 6800gs which is slighty worse than a GT; which has been out for at least a year.

Also if you look at the price drop in the 7800gt's over the months; it started at £300 and is now down to at least £223, the 6800gs is around £160 - £180 so to release an inbetween card is a bit stupid in terms of progression. It'd be good if this does reduce the 7800gt but from a gamers pov if your gunna upgrade you dont want anything below a 7800gt if your gunna survive the comming games.
 
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/12/01/geforce_7800_gs_agp/

The Chinese Whispers are working overtime today, with speculation that NVIDIA will release a GeForce 7800 AGP card - all GeForce 7 series cards to date have been PCI Express.

The boys in the know are, as always, HKEPC who got their hands on a GeForce 7800GS - a card NVIDIA say was never intended for public use. NVIDIA's Brian Burke posted the following on the nV News forums:

"I want to clear up a bit of confusion about the GeForce 7800 GS PCI Express articles that have surfaced recently.

Without getting into the nitty gritty details, NVIDIA provides boards to our developers for their in house game development. These boards are meant for the sole purpose of inhouse engineering and QA. In the case of the recent GeForce 7800 GS PCI Express reviews that you may have seen, some of these developer boards were mistakenly given out to end users at an event the developers sponsored. These boards were never meant to ship in the open market.

NVIDIA has NO plans to release a commercially available GeForce 7800 GS PCI Express board. For any end users that many have received this board as a prize, NVIDIA will be happy to swap this out for a GeForce 7800 GT PCI Express board, or a GeForce 6800 GS PCI Express board, as these two boards are commercially available."

How you choose to interpret this statement is a matter of perspective. Cynics will say that PR people are paid to lie for a living, and that of course NVIDIA will deny these plans until the day they decide to release it anyway. Perhaps, but unlikely.

Eagle-eyed optimists will note that AGP was not specifically mentioned. NVIDIA may have "NO plans to release a commercially available GeForce 7800 GS PCI Express board" but that does not mean they aren't considering releasing an AGP-based GeForce 7800 GS board. Or if you really want to split hairs, there could be a card, but it just isn't based on 7800 GS...

We contacted NVIDIA's European PR staff for a statement, and quite predictably were told they couldn't comment. Which means for now, we're left with idle speculation and the hopes & dreams of everyone still on AGP.

For those who can't read Chinese, here is a rough translation of the HKEPC forum post:

NVIDIA is showcasing the new 7800 GS to select companies to sell in the future. They say it will be the successor to the 6800 GT/Ultra for AGP owners. They say it'll sport a 375MHz core clock with 256MB of GDDR3 and 256-bit memory interface. Memory at a 1000MHz. All the same technology from a G70 except it'll have 16 pixel pipelines instead of twenty or twenty-four.

I think this is great news for people with solid AGP systems looking for a card that will increase performance in newer games. A 6800 GT/Ultra, or a X800 XL/XT AGP can run you from anywhere of $280 to $450. Seeing as you can get a 7800GT PCIe for $279 at newegg.com it hardly seems fair to AGP owners like myself. Since the card is of the "GS" name like the 6800GS it'll will probobly be easy on your pockets to.

Will you be maxing out your Socket 478/462 system? Or are you saving for an SLi monstrosity? Sincere thanks to Adrian Diaz for the translation.

Only AGP
 
Back
Top