GeForce 7900 Series

Posted by rupesh Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 10:27 AM

Nvidia officially announced availability of the GeForce 7900 series on March 9, 2006.[17]

Nvidia's 7900 series is a product refresh and not a new generation of Nvidia's GPU, running at 650 MHz. Officially this series is meant to support only PCI Express Interface but some companies released AGP versions.

A total of 5 models have been developed and are available: 7900 GX2, 7900 GTX, 7900 GT, 7900 GTO and 7900 GS.

Advanced Features Support

The 7900 series supports following advanced features:

Intellisample 4.0 Technology
Scalable Link Interface (SLI) Technology
Extreme HD Technology
High dynamic range rendering Technology
UltraShadow II Technology
CineFX 4.0 Engine
Nvidia PureVideo Technology


GeForce 7900 GS

Introduced during the fall of 2006, At a MSRP of US$199,[18] the 7900 GS filled the gap between the mid-end GeForce 7600 GT and the high-end GeForce 7900 GT. The card was unofficially launched August 23 by woot! as a white box OEM. However, the product's company, MSI, made claims that these cards were stolen from MSI during transportation and sold to woot!.[19] The referenced MSI customer notice has been changed to remove explicit references to woot!. As of March 2007, Nvidia had discontinued production of a number of GeForce 6 and 7 series products, including the 7900 GS.

The GeForce 7900 GS has 20 pixel processors, 7 vertex processors, 256-bit memory bus, and comes clocked at approximately 450 MHz/1320 MHz for core/memory, which should provide slightly lower performance than the 7900 GT. The GeForce 7900 GS is powered by the latest graphics chip code-named G71, thus, shares the same advantages as the G71 did over its immediate predecessor G70: dual-link DVI outputs, reduced power consumption, higher performance.[20]

Performance Specs
  • Core Clock Speed: 450 MHz
  • Memory Interface: 256-bit
  • Memory Bandwidth: 42.2 GB/s memory bandwidth
  • Fill Rate: 9 Billion pixel/s
  • Vertex/s: 822.5 Million
  • Shader Power: 20 pixels per clock
  • SLI Support (PCI-E model only)
  • Memory Type: GDDR3

NOTE: XFX has developed AGP versions of this card as well.[21]

GeForce 7900 GT

This video card was released on March 9, 2006. Like the 7900 GTX, it is a revised version of the G70 GPU (G71) that is produced at 90 nm. It too offers all the features of the 7800 series as well as an attractive performance-to-price ratio.

Performance Specs:

  • Core Clock Speed: 450 MHz
  • Memory Interface: 256-bit
  • Memory Bandwidth: 42.2 GB/s memory bandwidth
  • Fill Rate: 10.8 Billion pixel/s
  • Vertex/s: 940 Million
  • Shader Power: 24 pixels per clock
  • Memory Type: GDDR3

GeForce 7900 GTX

The GeForce 7900 GTX is the latest revision of the G70 Core, this 90 nm produced G70 (named G71) features all the same features as its older brother the 7800 GTX but is built upon the smaller manufacturing process.

Featuring a clock speed of 650 MHz, opposed to the 550 MHz speed of the 512 GTX, this card offers up to an 8 - 15% performance increase. It features a new 24 pixel shader design superscalar GPU model, much like the 512 MB 7800 GTX, but offers faster performance due to "improved pipeline design". "We changed the ROP performance as well as reconfigured some of the pipelines to make sure the card was more optimized over G70," Nvidia said.

Due to shortages of memory modules for the 512 MB GTX, Nvidia decided to use the more readily available 1600 MHz memory. This also allows the card to be priced very competitively, giving ATI Technologies a harder time. In turn, ATI made a massive price slash in its current lineup. It was released on March 9, 2006.

Performance Specs
  • Core Clock Speed: 650 MHz
  • Memory Interface: 256-bit
  • Memory Bandwidth: 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth
  • Fill Rate: 15.6 Billion pixel/s
  • Vertex/s: 1.4 Billion
  • Shader Power: 24 pixels per clock
  • Memory Type: GDDR3

GeForce 7900 GTO

The 7900 GTO is a close cousin of the 7900 GTX.[22] The GTO first arrived at a handful of retailers around October 1, 2006. At the time of launch, GTO boards sold for around US$250, compared to the 7900 GTX boards that cost in excess of $400 at the time. The GTO was essentially identical to the GTX, with the exception that it lacked HDCP and VIVO support, had underclocked memory running at 1320 MHz, and used tighter memory timings. Other than that, the two boards were identical: same PCB, same cooler, same GPU. The GTO used extremely fast 1.1ns Samsung BJ11 GDDR3 memory running at 1.8V, as opposed to the 2.1V it is rated at. Clock speeds on the two cards are identical, at 650 MHz. At stock memory speeds, most comparisons found the GTO to lag behind the GTX by roughly a 5-10% margin.

The majority of owners find that their GTO will overclock to 1600 MHz memory speeds, despite the under-volted RAM. Many flash their GTO to a GTX BIOS to officially make it a GTX. GTO owners having trouble reaching GTX speeds with BIOS version 5.71.22.39.13 or newer are advised to simply flash to an older BIOS version such as 5.71.22.39.08, this seems to solve overclocking problems for most users.

The GTO was an extremely popular card among enthusiasts as it offered near GTX performance at a considerably lower price. It was a limited production card aimed at cleaning out G70 inventories before the release of the G80, and only spent about a month in retail channels before selling out.

GeForce 7900 GX2

The GeForce 7900 GX2 is two videocards stacked to fit as a dual slot solution.[23] This is not like products such as the ASUS Dual GeForce 7800 GT or nVidia's own 7950 GX2, where two GPUs are on the same card. This enables quad-SLI on two PCI Express x16 slots. Other OEM companies have access to the GX2 and it is now available from numerous vendors.

The card features a 500 MHz GPU and 1200 MHz effective RAM speed. Although the power of the GX2 is less than the 7900 GTX, each card is more powerful than the 7900 GT.

Many issues in this implementation of a dual-GPU unit convinced Nvidia to restrict its sale to OEM companies. The card is extremely long, with only the largest e-ATX cases being able to hold it. Two of the cards operating in quad-SLI also required extremely well designed airflow to function, and demanded a 1000 watt power supply unit.

GeForce 7950 Series

GeForce 7950 Series is the last addition in the GeForce 7 series. Officially this series was meant to only support PCI Express interface but some companies have released AGP versions as well.

Two models are available: 7950 GT and 7950 GX2.[24]

Advanced Features Support

The 7950 series supports following advanced features:

Intellisample 4.0 Technology
Scalable Link Interface (SLI) Technology
High dynamic range rendering Technology
UltraShadow II Technology
CineFX 4.0 Engine
Nvidia PureVideo HD Technology

GeForce 7950 GT

On 14 September 2006 Nvidia released the 7950GT. Announced with a 550 MHz core clock, 700 MHz (1400 MHz effective) memory clock, 24 pixel shader units, standard configurations come equipped with both 512 MB GDDR3 memory and HDCP support. At an introductory price of US$300, the GeForce 7950 GT replaces the older GeForce 7900 GT and improves performance: the GeForce 7950 GT has a fillrate of 13,200 Megatexels/s and a memory bandwidth of 44.8 GB/s (versus 10800 Megatexels/s and 940 Megavertices/s for the 7900 GT).

Performance Specs
  • Memory Interface: 256-bit
  • Memory Bandwidth: 44.8 GB/s memory bandwidth
  • Fill Rate: 13.2 Billion pixel/s
  • Vertex/s: 1.1 Billion
  • Shader Power: 24 pixels per clock
  • SLI Support (PCI-E model only)
  • Memory Type: GDDR3

NOTE: XFX has developed and released AGP versions of this card. [25]

GeForce 7950 GX2

This is essentially a dual-GPU video card that takes up only a single PCIe x16 slot, allowing for 4 GPUs to run with only two PCIe x16 slots, in standard SLI motherboards. Unlike the 7900 GX2 before it, this version is available to consumers directly.[26]

The 7950 GX2 was released to retail on June 5, 2006, and shares similar specs to the GeForce 7900 GX2, with 500 MHz GPU clock, and 1200 MHz effective RAM speed. 512 MB of memory per GPU, for a total of 1 GB, however total performance is more in line with 512 MB since each GPU can only access its own memory and not the memory of the other one. It does not offer any advantages over single-GPU cards with 512 MB, memory wise.

This card is designed for the DIY market; it addresses many problems which the previous 7900 GX2 had suffered from, such as noise, size, power consumption, and price. The 7950 GX2 requires only a single PCIe power connector, in contrast to the twin-connectors of its predecessor; technically, this is understandable, as there is no need for a ring bus configuration – frames need only be passed on to the primary GPU. It is much shorter, fitting easily in the same space as a 7900 GTX. Lesser board layout and the removal of cooling vents on the bracket have greatly declined cooling, allowing the fans to run at a lower speed, thereby lowering noise. As of September 2006, the board can be found for $299, half the cost of a 7900 GX2.

According to some review sites (such as Tom's Hardware - see above), a single 7950GX2 draws less power than a single ATI Radeon X1900 XT – some consider this an amazing feat considering the GX2 employs a pair of GPUs, when the Radeon uses only one. Other review sites say that a GX2 is quieter than the aforementioned Radeon,[27] despite the GX2 boasting a pair of identical GPU coolers – however 'loudness' is highly subjective without the proper tools and testing conditions. If true, this would make a pair of GX2 cards cooler, quieter, and less power hungry than a pair of X1900 XT cards in CrossFire. However, there is no appreciable performance gain from pairing two 7950 GX2 cards in most applications, while dual X1900 XT configurations see large performance boosts in CrossFire mode.[citation needed]

Performance Specs
  • Memory Interface: 2x 256-bit
  • Memory Bandwidth: 76.8 GB/s memory bandwidth
  • Fill Rate: 24 Billion pixel/s
  • Vertex/s: 2 Billion
  • Shader Power: 48 pixels per clock
  • Memory Type: GDDR3

On August 9, 2006, Nvidia released initial 91.45 drivers for Windows 2000 and XP that support Quad SLI.[28] The Quad SLI support was soon merged in with the normal WHQL driver package, when version 91.47 was released on October 16, 2006.[29]

GeForce Go 7 Series

Nvidia has not only targeted the desktop market but also the notebook market with the GeForce 7 series.[30]

Advanced Features Support

The GeForce Go 7 series supports following advanced features:

The GeForce Go 7 GPU series line-up

The GeForce Go 7 GPU series line-up consists of following models:

  • GeForce Go 7950
  • GeForce Go 7900
  • GeForce Go 7800
  • GeForce Go 7700
  • GeForce Go 7600
  • GeForce Go 7400
  • GeForce Go 7300
  • GeForce Go 7200
  • GeForce Go 7150
  • GeForce Go 7000

 

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