XFX 512MB 7800GTX Video Card Review :: The Verdict

New video cards are released all the time. It was less than 5 months ago that NVIDIA launched the 7800GTX series of cards for a MSRP of $599. Subsequent to that time ATI has released their next-generation chipset, the X1800, and today NVIDIA is releasing their counterpart to that chipset, the 512MB 7800GTX. NVIDIA has suggested a MSRP of $649 and the XFX card will retail for that price as well.

The PR person for XFX is Ryan Dumas. I've had the pleasure of conversing with him in person and over the phone. He's a cool guy. Often, it's hard to picture the people you talk with over email and via phone. I thought the people reading this review might like to see Ryan at work in his office at XFX's place of business. Here he is with a "Are you talking to me punk" type of pose, while Doc Overclock took a factory tour of their So-Cal facility last week.

Ryan at work

The 7800GTX 512MB is the fastest card I've ever seen, being CPU limited in many of the benchmarks. NVIDIA's 7800GTX 256MB card nearly provides the same performance as ATI's high-end, the X1800XT, but this card takes performance to the next level, nearly equaling two 7800GTs in SLI mode in a lot of cases. but not without a cost. I'm not one to recommend buying video cards that cost $650+, but if you're looking for the fastest card on the market, this is it, bar none.

At the beginning of the review I reminisced about old video cards based upon NVIDIA chipsets. Back in the old days high end video cards like the TNT and TNT2 Ultra were priced at $199 and $249 respectively. Just three and a half years ago, the highest priced video card on the market was a Ti4600 for $399. Today, the high-end has moved on to $649 and that kind of saddens me as a consumer and a reviewer.

You can purchase this card today off Mwave for $799 or Newegg for $749 or $699 from TigerDirect if you want to wait 15 days for stock to come in. I however would suggest waiting until prices stabilize at the MSRP of $649 or lower. Buying a card today above the retail price is for the crazy hardware nuts out there. The XFX 7800GTX 512MB gets a Hot Product award, as it's often as fast as or faster than 2 7800GTs in SLI mode and is a really hot product for the hard core enthusiast. If you want the best card performance wise on the market, this is it bar none.

We would like to formally thank JNCS.com for being a sponsor to Motherboards.org since 1997. To visit their site click here and check out there hardware deals.

Discuss This Article