BIOS: Technology Means Business

Extreme HD gaming and video is a growing trend this year for enthusiast PC systems. Thanks to the new, thinner tech process and the optimised design of the pixel processors nVidia has come up with a top-end graphics chip which is the smallest and most economical in the industry.

And PNY’s Verto GeForce 7900 GTX (Best Current Price: £375) graphics card provides everything gamers need to support the latest 3D games, HD displays and next generation operating systems.

Designed to make extreme high-definition (HD) gaming a reality, the GeForce 7900 GTX GPU is nVidia’s new flagship GPU and delivers blazing core clocks for ultra-fast graphics performance. It also sports 512MB of GDDR3 RAM, is clocked at 1600MHz, and is SLI-ready for up to 2x the performance of a single GPU. In other words, if you’re serious about your games you should snap this board up immediately.

Key technical specifications are unsurprisingly market leading considering the chipset is the new kid on the block and include a 256-bit memory interface, 400MHz RAMDACs, 51.2GB/s memory bandwidth, 15.6 billion pixels-per-second fill rate, 1400 vertices-per-second (millions), and 24 pixels-per-clock (peak).

Similar to the GeForce 7800 GTX 512, the GeForce 7900 GTX uses graphics memory from Samsung’s K4J52324QC series in the modern 136-pin FBGA packaging. The BJ-11 prefix indicates that the chips work at 2.0-Volts and have an access time of 1.1 nanoseconds.

Each chip has a capacity of 512MB and is organised as 16MB x32, so eight such chips suffice to provide 512MB of memory with a 256-bit memory bus. The memory is clocked at 800- (1600MHz) while the memory of the GeForce 7800 GTX 512 worked at 850- (1700MHz). Thus, the peak memory bandwidth of the new card is lower in comparison with the previous model: 51.2GB/s against 54.4GB/s.

Two integrated dual-link DVI ports support high-definition flat panel displays up to 2560x1600 pixels for an ultra-realistic HD gaming experience, and a single S-Video (HDTV) output lets you connect the card to an external AV device. PNY also bundles a copy of Sierra’s SWAT 4, an excellent tactical shooter.

When it comes to performance the Verto GeForce 7900 GTX produces crystal-sharp images in every mode supported by modern monitors, up to 1800x1440@75Hz. The chipset is also as fast as ATI’s flagship Radeon X1900 XTX in the two lower resolutions, but loses out slightly at 1600x1200 pixels - the less advanced memory controller is probably to blame. Buy yourself two cards and rig them up in SLI mode and it’ll fly ahead of ATI’s CrossFire-based offering at 1600x1200 pixels. nVidia’s SLI mode also has better performance scalability than ATI’s CrossFire system.

When it comes to extreme FSAA modes, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI lets you ply with 8x SLI AA in any resolution. But the higher-quality 16x SLI AA is too difficult even for this platform as it yields a comfortable frame rate only at 1024x768 pixels.
If you’re nuts about speed, PNY also offers the Verto GeForce 7900 GTX (Overclocked) Limited Edition. The card is overclocked to 675MHz and provides support for two of the industry’s largest and highest resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600 pixels. As an added bonus, it comes packaged in a unique and reusable custom metal carrying case, 512MB Verto Gamer USB flash drive, and a PC toolkit.

The GeForce 7900 GTX is really just an optimised version of the GeForce 7800 GTX. It’s faster and yet cooler than the GeForce 7800 GTX. But other than that, it doesn’t come with any feature that its predecessor didn’t already have. On the plus side, it’s currently the fastest graphics card on the market. [8]

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