Gainward BLISS 7800GS AGP

Verdict: The best AGP graphics card ever made

AGP users have been given pretty short shrift by ATi and Nvidia over the last year or so. Nvidia threw them a bone with the GeForce 7800 GS, but this is a dreadful product that sports the 7800 name but actually performs worse than a GeForce 6800 GT in some games. It seemed as though AGP users would be frozen out completely, and compelled to switch to PCI-E motherboards - but it appears that Gainward has other ideas.

The Gainward BLISS 7800GS Golden Sample is, without a doubt, the best AGP graphics card ever. While it may be labelled a 7800 GS, under the cooler, it's a full-fat, 20-pipe GeForce 7800 GT, which Gainward has complimented with 512MB of GDDR3 memory - double the amount usually found on 7800 GS or GT cards. Also, as it's a 'Golden Sample', it's been overclocked to 425MHz for the GPU, and 625MHz (1.25GHz effective) for the RAM. To handle the heat of those comparatively ruthless clock speeds, the Gainward uses an Arctic Cooling Silencer, making the card almost silent as well as fast.

Our graphics test rig is based around the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard, which has both PCI-E and AGP slots, so we can benchmark graphics cards against each other regardless of their interfaces. As you can see from the results, the Gainward is extremely fast. In F.E.A.R., it's almost twice as quick as a stock GeForce 7800 GS. The Gainward averaged 50fps at 1,280 x 960 with 2x AA and 2x AF, compared to 31fps for the GeForce 7800 GS. The Gainward's minimum frame rate at these settings was 28fps, compared to 18fps for the GS.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted provides a hazier distinction between Gainward's 7800 GS and the standard model, but the Gainward still outpaces the standard card to the extent that you can comfortably play Need for Speed at 1,280 x 1,024 with low AA and low AF. The Gainward produced an average of 55fps, well ahead of, for example, the Radeon X850XT, which used to be the fastest AGP card. In fact, the Gainward's scores are virtually identical to those of a GeForce 7800 GT, which is no suprise considering that's what it effectively is.

Quake 4 also plays very well on the Gainward. We tested using the unpatched version of Quake 4 so that we could compare it with the cards in last month's graphics card Labs test, but it's worth noting that the recent 1.2 patch for Quake 4 really improved the Gainward's minimum frame rates. At 1,280 x 1,024 with 2x AA and 8x AF, the Gainward averaged 57fps, but unpatched, the minimum dived to 27fps. With the patch, this rose to a speedier 38fps.

Overclocking the Gainward is easy, as the oversized Arctic Cooling Silencer really clamps down on GPU heat. We pushed the GPU up to 490MHz and the memory to 680MHz (1.36GHz effective), which increased the frame rates in F.E.A.R. by around a 10 per cent. This isn't at all shabby considering the card's already ample performance.

When running flat out with the Gainward card installed, our test PC drew 260W from the mains, which is as much as a Radeon X1800XT and a result that would have put it fifth out of the 27 cards we Labs-tested last month. Interestingly, despite being an AGP card, the Gainward has a 6-pin PCI-E power plug, rather than a 4-pin Molex.

CONCLUSION

Considering that the AGP GeForce 7800 GS is basically an insult on a PCB, the pressure has really been on AGP gamers to make the switch to PCI-E. This pressure has been exerted somewhat unfairly, as the Gainward clearly shows that there is no good technological reason for not making a very fast AGP card. Kudos to Gainward for finally sticking up for AGP users. It's still a tricky call for people with AGP boards, though, as a vanilla GeForce 7900 GT can be found for about £200, and an extra £60 would just about get you a decent PCI-E motherboard, which would be a better overall upgrade. However, if you have a top-end AGP system that you really want to hang on to then the Gainward is a great buy, as it's without doubt, the best AGP graphics card ever made.