MSI NX7300GS Review

[MikeC]

Having used a couple of GeForce 6800 GT graphics cards in SLI during the past few months, we brought Kyle Kerley back down to earth by asking him to take a look at MSI's budget-oriented NX7300GX graphics card.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7300gs/images/MS-V034-02S.jpg

Was he impressed or is he using it as a paperweight? Find out here (http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7300gs/index.shtml).

[zoomy942]

very well written article. reminds me of how impressed I was the 6200 back in the day. Those budget chips really canget it done.

[superklye]

hahaha...I love your post Mike. :)

And thanks Paul. I gave a long hard thought to keeping that card in, but I just couldn't say no to the GTs. I'm still very impressed with the 7300GS, drivers notwithstanding, and am going to recommend it to anyone looking for a budget graphics card.

[MikeC]

Nice job Kyle. :)

[zoomy942]

The magic that budget chips bring never Stops amazing me. sure, we're living the high life with upper end cards, but the feats that the little guys accomplish is awesome. It's more than enough for themajority of PC users.

[OWA]

Nice review!

[Clay]

Nice job Kyle, I like the shorter, more concise (yet still informative) reviews.

[superklye]

Thanks, OWA and Clay. :) I like the shorter ones, too...there's a lot to be said for both formats, but sometimes it's best to let the hardware just speak for itself. :D

And I noticed that there's a weird little ? after the s in "bees." It's supposed to be an apostrophe. That's weird it's showing up like that...

[Rytr]

Very well done! Seems you were impressed with the card.

[Clay]

And I noticed that there's a weird little ? after the s in "bees." It's supposed to be an apostrophe. That's weird it's showing up like that...I'll fix it now...you guys gotta quit using Word/FrontPage :p Stick to valid HTML characters, none of that fancy curly quote crap from Office. :D

[superklye]

Very well done! Seems you were impressed with the card.
Thanks! And I was very much so impressed. It would be cool if TurboCache was a feature that could be turned on and off at will so that the extra 256MB could be utilized by another program if needed, but then again: It's rare that I go below 1.5GB of free memory, so I guess it doesn't matter all that much. :p

I think one of the main reasons I fell in love with this card is because the first dedicated GPU I ever owned was an old GeForce2 MX400. Upgrading from my onboard graphics was night and day and this card is a throwback to that budget card. It's a great card and definitely won't get the credit and respect it deserves.

I'll fix it now...you guys gotta quit using Word/FrontPage :p Stick to valid HTML characters, none of that fancy curly quote crap from Office. :D
Well, I copied from Word, yes...but when I displayed in Firefox from my machine, I saw no issues until it was put onto the server...weird. Sigh, that's MS for you. :p

[Clay]

Yeah, Word is a necessary evil at times I know. It's happened to me plenty of times.

[Mr_LoL]

Ugh Kyle that was absolutely rubbish. I mean come on. Only kidding :p That was short, sweet and to the point:D May I ask why you were getting N/A at certain resolutions?

[superklye]

Oh, well, BFME2 doesn't support 1280x1024 without messing with some .ini file and the other games were tested at 1280x1024 because that was the highest resolution the my monitor allowed. So I didn't test at 1280x960 if 12x10 was available.

[ragejg]

Nice writeup klye. :)

Um, do you think it's possible to get some 3dmark 03 and Doom3 demo @ 10x7 benchies, and maybe an Aquamark3 score? I'm thinking that this card might be the first 4-piper to usurp nv3x performance...

[superklye]

Thanks. :)

Yeah, I can run those programs, but not until this weekend. I don’t currently have the card in my system and due to working full-time right now for spring break and prior commitments I have regarding projects for people outside of work, I’m just not going to have the time to do anything until Saturday.

Also, for the record, I will NOT be using the MSI drivers that came with the card when these tests are done.

[V. Slayer]

Nice review, Kyle!

[superklye]

Nice review, Kyle!
Thanks man! :D

[Clay]

Also, for the record, I will NOT be using the MSI drivers that came with the card when these tests are done.Nobody ever uses IHV supplied drivers anyway (I never do at least). They're usually outdated.

[superklye]

Nobody ever uses IHV supplied drivers anyway (I never do at least). They're usually outdated.
Heh, yeah...at the time, I couldn't find another set of drivers that supported the 7300GS. I checked the drivers forum and don't recall seeing one, though I definitely could have overlooked one of the threads in the anger-induced blackouts being caused by my mouse not working. :)

I seem to recall a driver set supporting the 7300GS coming out a day or two after I put the card in, but by then it was far too late.

I'll snag up one of the latest beta sets this weekend and use those. :)

[Rytr]

EVGA had the 83.91's on the driver disk that came with the 7900 GT. Like Clay said the drivers that come with the card are usually outdated, however, that was not the case this time and performance was very good. I am now using the 84.20's which also seem to be very good.

[Clay]

That's interesting for the 83.91s to be on the CD with 81.98 being the latest WHQLs out. Cool!

[zoomy942]

all you need to do to make any driver work is find the device id in the inf File and plus it in any driver you want. Thaïs what I have to do for My mobile chip.

[killahsin]

my xfx 7900 gt 520 oc came with the 83.90 driver on the cd. but i basically just installed the 84.20 never installed the 83.90 is that a good driver or?

[Superfly]

nice review - now were's the 7600Gt review on NVNews????