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Introduction
Recently, we covered the launch of the new GeForce 7900 GTX GPU. As NVIDIA's new leading-edge graphics processor, the GeForce 7900 GTX will be the biggest gun in NVIDIA's arsenal. Today, we are going to examine both the single card as well as two GeForce 7900 GTXs in SLI and see how well they actually run!
But first, let's take a look at how the GeForce 7900 GTX compares against its predecessors. Here's a comparison table of NVIDIA's top GPUs of the past and present.
GeForce 7900 GTX |
GeForce 7800 GTX |
GeForce 6800 Ultra |
|
| Architecture |
G71 |
G70 |
NV40U |
| Manufacturing Process |
0.09 Micron |
0.11 Micron |
0.13 Micron |
| Transistor Count |
278 Million |
302 Million |
222 Million |
| DirectX Support |
9.0c |
9.0c |
9.0c |
| Interface |
PCIe |
PCIe |
AGP/PCIe |
| Vertex Pipelines |
8 |
8 |
6 |
| Vertex
Shader Version |
3.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
| Pixel
/ Texture Pipelines |
24 x 1 |
24 x 1 |
16 x 1 |
| Pixel
Shader Version |
3.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
| Core
Speed |
650 MHz |
430 MHz |
400 MHz |
| Fill
Rate |
15,600 MTexels/s |
10,320 MTexels/s |
6,400 MTexels/s |
| Memory
Bus Width |
256-bits |
256-bits |
256-bits |
| Memory Type |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
| Memory
Speed |
800 MHz |
600 MHz |
550 MHz |
| Memory Bandwidth |
51.20 GB/s |
38.40 GB/s |
35.20 GB/s |
The new GeForce 7900 GTX boasts an increase in fillrate and memory bandwidth of about 50% and 33% respectively over the GeForce 7800 GTX. But that's not all.
The GeForce 7900 GTX actually has fewer transistors than the GeForce 7800 GTX. So, it really is more than just a die-shrinked version of the GeForce 7800 GTX. Coupled with the smaller process technology, this allowed NVIDIA to create a chip that's not only faster but also smaller and cooler (at equivalent clock speeds) than the GeForce 7800 GTX.
Specification And Features
Here are the GeForce 7900 GTX's specifications and features.
Architecture |
• G71 |
Process Technology |
• 90 nm |
Number of Transistors |
• 278 Million |
Die Size |
• 196 mm2 |
Pixel Pipelines |
• 24 Pixel Pipelines |
ROPs |
• 16 ROPs - 16 colour, 16 blend |
Core Clock |
• 650 MHz |
Fillrate |
• 15.6 Gigapixels / sec. |
Memory Interface |
• 4-way 64-bits
memory interface |
Memory Buffer |
• 512 MB GDDR3 |
Memory Clock |
• 800 MHz |
Memory Bandwidth |
• 51.2 GB/s |
Vertex Units |
• 8 Vertex Units |
Vertex Clock |
• 700 MHz |
Vertex Output |
• 1400 million vertices / sec. |
Power Consumption |
• 120 W |
Graphics Bus |
• PCI Express |
Shader Model Version |
• SM 3.0 |
NVIDIA IntelliSample Technology |
• 4.0 |
NVIDIA SLI Technology |
• Yes |
NVIDIA Quad SLI Technology |
• Yes |
NVIDIA TurboCache Technology |
• No |
64-bit Texture Filtering and Blending |
• Yes |
DVI Support |
• Two dual-linked DVI, both integrated into the GPU |
Features |
• Microsoft®
DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 Support |
Practically all of the GeForce 7900 GTX's features are nothing new. It sports the same features as the older GeForce 7800 GTX. For more information on the GeForce 7900 GTX, please take a look at our GeForce 7900 GTX Technology Report.
Now, let's take a look at the card!
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