Nice review there, looks like it's going to come down to a whats cheapest at the time contest, unless there is a way to unlock the X1800GTO, in which case it would win hands down.
Now the question most enthusiasts will be asking, did you get any ideas as to how either card overclocked?
I like the new way you tested the cards there. I would suggest you do 2 tests though, one at 1280x1024 and another one at 1920x1200 as that seems to be another popular resoultion amoung the crowd.
Well, it's increasingly common on the one hand, but I seriously doubt people buying £500 monitors will buy £150 graphics cards. Our 7900 GTX test included 1900x1200.
Originally Posted by tank_rider Nice review there, looks like it's going to come down to a whats cheapest at the time contest, unless there is a way to unlock the X1800GTO, in which case it would win hands down.
Now the question most enthusiasts will be asking, did you get any ideas as to how either card overclocked?
I didn't get the chance to overclock the BFG Tech cards before I finished this review - then I come to turn my board on this morning and it's dead for some reason. I'll have to add that in later on when I get a replacement board... :(
As far as Radeon X1800GTO - I don't tend to overclock reference samples so we'll wait until we get a retail card on that front. ;)
Originally Posted by Veles I like the new way you tested the cards there. I would suggest you do 2 tests though, one at 1280x1024 and another one at 1920x1200 as that seems to be another popular resoultion amoung the crowd.
1920x1200 is a tad high to game on these cards respectably, IMO. As Wil said, we did include 1920x1200 in the GeForce 7900 GTX roundup. ;)
As good as the review was, I felt it was a bit unfair to put a reference ATI card against an overclocked Nvidia card. I know that they are both in the same price region and both going for the same market, but I don't feel that the test was representative of what to expect from a 7600GT.
It seems slightly misleading and people not realising that the BFG card was overclocked will go out and buy a cheaper, stock 7600GT and expect a similar level of performance. I came out of the review not knowing how a stock 7600GT would perform, with the only indication being towards the end when you mention the 1800GTO is slightly faster... not very informative by any stretch of the imagination.
I feel that when an overclocked card is reviewed, it would be nice to include a comparison of it against a reference board in addition to any other cards on test.
Originally Posted by eek As good as the review was, I felt it was a bit unfair to put a reference ATI card against an overclocked Nvidia card. I know that they are both in the same price region and both going for the same market, but I don't feel that the test was representative of what to expect from a 7600GT.
The test was representative of how BFG Tech's GeForce 7600 GT OC performs against the Radeon X1800GTO. The latter is more expensive and while it would have been good to add in a reference 7600 GT, the BFG card is likely to be one of the largest-selling 7600 GTs.
Quote:
It seems slightly misleading and people not realising that the BFG card was overclocked will go out and buy a cheaper, stock 7600GT and expect a similar level of performance. I came out of the review not knowing how a stock 7600GT would perform, with the only indication being towards the end when you mention the 1800GTO is slightly faster... not very informative by any stretch of the imagination.
We made it clear that the BFG Tech card was overclocked and I'll make it clearer if you feel its worth it by adding in the reference clock speeds at the top of the second page where we've listed the clocks.
Quote:
I feel that when an overclocked card is reviewed, it would be nice to include a comparison of it against a reference board in addition to any other cards on test.
Just my 2cents...
FWIW, every ATI partner that we spoke to at CeBIT will ship the X1800GTO at the reference clock speeds. In that respect, I think the test is pretty fair.
In a pure performance battle, the two strike me as being about equal. I play a lot of BF2, so if everything else was equal, I'd be getting the X1800 GTO. However, that price difference really changes the whole field. If the 7600 GT stays lower-priced than the X1800, and stays available, I think it's the winner here.
First post here, but wanted to say
1) Great review
2) I just bought a 7600GT this afternoon from Dabs, as they have a Dabs Value 7600GT for about £125!!!!! (£134 delivered)
I am well aware that it won't be overclocked out of the box, but for that money it surely beats all the reviewed cards.
The 7600 GT looks to be less expensive, consumes less power, is quieter, and in some ways, more attractive; this is why I feel it is the superior choice. While the performance is more or less the same across the board, with potshots being taken both ways, the 7600 offers the most value.
Wow, at £125, thats some serious value there!! Really looks like the 7600GT takes it at those prices, unless like i said a way to unlock the disabled pipelines can be found :) Will be good to get an idea of what sort of overclock both cards can manage (well a retail GTO). Anyone know if theres anything planned on getting one of the die shrink GPU's onto AGP, would be nice to get a cooler GPU for my media pc in a few months time. Meh, by then AM2 will be out and they'll be secondhand 939 pci-e boards two a pennie.
Originally Posted by tank_rider Wow, at £125, thats some serious value there!! Anyone know if theres anything planned on getting one of the die shrink GPU's onto AGP, would be nice to get a cooler GPU for my media pc in a few months time. Meh, by then AM2 will be out and they'll be secondhand 939 pci-e boards two a pennie.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was an AGP 7600 but I've not heard anything official yet. :)
PCI-Express, 256MB DDR3 RAM, the normal 7600GT that you just reviewed (minus about 20Mhz on the core etc).
PS It's £128, but the delivery price is correct (for UK customers).
:D
Will let you know about exact specs when mine arrives
Edit: Sorry, thought you guys were saying the above model was AGP but just re-read your posts.
Originally Posted by DanaG 1280x1024? What about 1440x900 (there's a 19" LCD with that res) or 1680x1050?
AFAIK, there is one monitor that has a 1440x900 resolution - however, the number of people using that resolution is very limited (at least from looking at our own stats engine)...
In fact, 1440x900 falls under the 'others' section in our screen size stats, whereas 1280x1024 is well over 1/3 of bit-tech's readers.
Oh, also, I'm getting a new notebook that has a GeForce Go 7600 at 1680x1050, and I want to know roughly how well I can expect it to work, whether at that res or 1280x800. The original option for that notebook was 1440x900, but I decided to go with 1680x1050. I'm glad to see that it works well -- at least it'll be better than my 9800 Pro (or even an unlocked X800GTO² at its original speed, right?)
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Now the question most enthusiasts will be asking, did you get any ideas as to how either card overclocked?
On the OC front, we're working on it!
As far as Radeon X1800GTO - I don't tend to overclock reference samples so we'll wait until we get a retail card on that front. ;)
Nice one ;)
It seems slightly misleading and people not realising that the BFG card was overclocked will go out and buy a cheaper, stock 7600GT and expect a similar level of performance. I came out of the review not knowing how a stock 7600GT would perform, with the only indication being towards the end when you mention the 1800GTO is slightly faster... not very informative by any stretch of the imagination.
I feel that when an overclocked card is reviewed, it would be nice to include a comparison of it against a reference board in addition to any other cards on test.
Just my 2cents...
1) Great review
2) I just bought a 7600GT this afternoon from Dabs, as they have a Dabs Value 7600GT for about £125!!!!! (£134 delivered)
I am well aware that it won't be overclocked out of the box, but for that money it surely beats all the reviewed cards.
And if you had i doubt you would be alowed to tell us anyway ;)
PS It's £128, but the delivery price is correct (for UK customers).
:D
Will let you know about exact specs when mine arrives
Edit: Sorry, thought you guys were saying the above model was AGP but just re-read your posts.
In fact, 1440x900 falls under the 'others' section in our screen size stats, whereas 1280x1024 is well over 1/3 of bit-tech's readers.