MSI NX7800GTX SLI Review

[MikeC]

I have completed my review of MSI's NX7800GTX SLI. This product has provided the most visually impressive gaming experience I have ever had. Instead of attempting to describe the experience, all you need to do is to pay close attention to the settings that were used to obtain the results that are documented in the benchmark and game play sections.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gtx_sli/images/graphics_cards_s.jpg

Check it out here (http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gtx_sli/index.shtml).

[ragejg]

Grand Slam award indeed. :D Those 2 cards sure do provide quite a bit of AA headroom, among other stupendous things. :)

[Clay]

Dang Mike how many hours did you pour into this review? Tons of great stuff in here to check out. :cool:

[fatal1ty]

Wish I had the money for another 7800 GTX, 16X AA looks freakin' awesome!!

[Sazar]

I like that you still have a Morrowind benchie in there :)

Nice work.

Now go get some sleep :D

[superklye]

Frickin' awesome review, man. I want SLI GTXs, so bad. :(

/me is jealous

[MUYA]

Nice analysis Bossman. I see that after all the time you went through to putting this review has finally paid off.
Great stuff

[BrianG]

Using the AA screenshot comparison tool, I found the difference between 8xS vs. SLI 8x very intersting. Tremendous review.

[retsam]

wow great review....maybe i missed it but is that the new 16x pci-x chipset that allows both cards to run at 16x in sli mode ?

[Rytr]

Very interesting with loads of detail! Two 7800GTXs really takes advantage of 16x12 resolution!

[Mudcrutch]

crap i love the image comparos on this page: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gtx_sli/page_7.shtml

must. have. now.

[MikeC]

Dang Mike how many hours did you pour into this review? Tons of great stuff in here to check out. :cool:

Thanks. I worked on the review off and on for 7 weeks. I fell behind when I learned that all of the benchmarks I originally ran were in quality mode instead of high quality due to the application profile bug.

[GlowStick]

Wowzers, amazing review!!! Really shows how well sli flxes's it muscles in current games!!

The IQ shots were also impressive also, and great selection of games!!

[MikeC]

Wish I had the money for another 7800 GTX, 16X AA looks freakin' awesome!!

I'll drink to that :beer:

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gtx_sli/images/mw/mw_16x_vs_8xs.jpg

[MikeC]

I like that you still have a Morrowind benchie in there :)

Nice work.

Now go get some sleep :D

That particular scene I use in Morrowind is great for AA comparisons. It also helps that when you load a saved game, you start at the same location every time.

No time to sleep. I've been neglecting my other chores while I was working on the review :)

[MikeC]

Frickin' awesome review, man. I want SLI GTXs, so bad. :(

/me is jealous

Thanks. One topic I did not cover in the review is cost. There's not much I can do about that other than point out that SLI is a hot commodity and prices of high-end SLI graphics cards will remain high in the near term.

The good news is that prices will eventually drop and many gamers will eventually be able to buy into SLI technology. NVIDIA wants to sell as many SLI systems as possible and will get the ball rolling by dropping the price of the nForce 4 SLI chipset.

This in turn will lower the price of nForce 4 SLI motherboards. DFI's LanParty and MSI's K8N Neo4 are around $110 and it won't be long before we see SLI motherboards selling for less than $100.

[superklye]

Thanks. One topic I did not cover in the review is the price. There's not much I can do about that other than point out that SLI is a hot commodity and prices will remain high in the near term.

The good news is that prices will eventually drop and many gamers will eventually be able to buy into SLI technology. NVIDIA wants to sell as many SLI systems as possible and will get the ball rolling by lowering the cost of the nForce 4 SLI chipset.

This in turn will lower the price of nForce 4 SLI motherboards. DFI's LanParty and MSI's K8N Neo4 are around $110 and it won't be long before we see SLI motherboards selling for less than $100.
That's fantastic news, and at the same time, it's making me a little angry. I spent almost $100 on my EPoX 9NDA3+ nFORCE3 Ultra board a couple months ago.

The crazy-low prices on GTXs are awesome, too. Yeah, they're around 500, but considering that in a lot of instances a single GTX is faster than SLI-ed 6800 Ultras and last year those were going for $500 each (and are still around $300 each), $500 for a single card that is faster than too of those is one HELL of a deal.

sigh. I love being a computer enthusiast, I just don't have the bank to keep it up right now. Though I s'pose I could just drop out of school and save $25,000/year... ;)

[MikeC]

wow great review....maybe i missed it but is that the new 16x pci-x chipset that allows both cards to run at 16x in sli mode ?

Thanks for the reminder! I failed to mention it in the review, but yes, MSI's K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI has two PCI-Express 16X slots.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4_Platinum/SLI&class=mb

Time for an update :)

[MikeC]

crap i love the image comparos on this page: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gtx_sli/page_7.shtml

must. have. now.

Glad that you enjoyed the comparisons. I'm going to run a few game play benchmarks in Half-Life 2 this weekend with those settings enabled at 1600x1200.

[MikeC]

Wowzers, amazing review!!! Really shows how well sli flxes's it muscles in current games!!

The IQ shots were also impressive also, and great selection of games!!

Thanks. I had planned on testing Battlefield 2 and Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth, although I understand it's capped at 30 fps. I will include them in an update though.

[OWA]

This product has provided the most visually impressive gaming experience I have ever had. Instead of attempting to describe the experience, all you need to do is to pay close attention to the settings that were used to obtain the results that are documented in the benchmark and game play sections.

Wow, great review Mike and I 2nd your comment above! :)

[JonathanM]

The amount of time invested into the review really shows.

Truly, an awesome review.

[retsam]

Thanks for the reminder! I failed to mention it in the review, but yes, MSI's K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI has two 2 PCI-Express 16X slots.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/...um/SLI&class=mb

Time for an update nice ...i think you sold me for my new rig

[FraGTastiK]

I found new love for my 7800GTX! one of the best reviews I've seen on nvnews so far.the presentation was well planned and nicely crafted.

I'm sure the SLI AA section would make many single 7800GTX owners to go for the second card.it worked on me!

good job,quality review.:thumbsup:

[V. Slayer]

Awesome review, Mike. Absolute overload of information! :D