MSI NX7900GT Review

[MikeC]

Kyle Kerley has posted a review of MSI's NX7900GT graphics card. Factory overclocked out of the box, Kyle takes the card for a spin in F.E.A.R., Serious Sam 2, Oblivion, and Prey.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_nx7900gt/images/card_1.jpg

Think he was impressed?


"The NX7900GT absolutely blew me away. No matter what I threw at it, the NX7900GT chewed it up, spit it out, and wanted more."

Check it out here:
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_nx7900gt/index.shtml

[Rytr]

Hmm, after reading the review I think you kinda like this card. :D
BTW, good review!

[amenx]

I bought the stock clocked version (450-1320mhz). Havent tried it yet since I'm waiting for my PCI-e mobo/Core2 duo to arrive. But funny thing is, it looks exactly like the review sample here with red PCB and full cooler covering the memory chips. Other reviews I've seen had the green PCB and small cooler. Which makes me wonder if my unit is clocked at stock or higher.

Cheers.

[superklye]

Hmm, after reading the review I think you kinda like this card. :D
BTW, good review!
Yeah, you could say that. :D And thanks!

I bought the stock clocked version (450-1320mhz). Havent tried it yet since I'm waiting for my PCI-e mobo/Core2 duo to arrive. But funny thing is, it looks exactly like the review sample here with red PCB and full cooler covering the memory chips. Other reviews I've seen had the green PCB and small cooler. Which makes me wonder if my unit is clocked at stock or higher.

Cheers.
Nice! Hopefully they screwed up and put one of the OCed cards in your box...good luck!

[coldmist]

I just bought this card for a new Asus P5W DH/Conroe 6600 system I am putting together. I pulled the cooler off tonight to get ready for installing a water block, so here are some under-the-hood pics that the review is missing.

The card (http://www.ldsinfobase.net/ads/MSI_7900GT_1.jpg)
Close up of the GPU itself (http://www.ldsinfobase.net/ads/MSI_7900GT_2.jpg)
Ram details (http://www.ldsinfobase.net/ads/MSI_7900GT_3.jpg) (Samsung link: K4J55323QG-BC14, ie 700/1400MHz (http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconductor/GraphicsMemory/GDDR3SDRAM/256Mbit/K4J55323QG/K4J55323QG.htm))
Heatsink, the bottom side (http://www.ldsinfobase.net/ads/MSI_7900GT_4.jpg)
Thermal pad for the ram (http://www.ldsinfobase.net/ads/MSI_7900GT_5.jpg)

(If someone can tell me how to put thumbnails in here, I will. I made them, but they wouldn't show up.

Anyway, I was surprised to not see the extra "support" ring around the GPU itself, like my 6800GT has. I hope I don't crack the chip when I install the block. The thermal pads on the ram are not sticky at all, and the white stuff is like marshmellow, in both color and stickyness. The entire cooler is held on by only 4 spring-loaded screws.

The ram is only rated to 1400MHz, but is clocked to 1540 by default. We'll see how high it can really go. There are part types on the linked page for 500/600/700/800MHz data rates, so I hope these 700MHz parts have some headroom.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed by the thermal pads on the ram. I am going to put some copper ramsinks on them and water-cool the GPU itself and see where it ends up.

When I get it together later this week, I'll post my overclocking results.

[coldmist]

I bought the stock clocked version (450-1320mhz). Havent tried it yet since I'm waiting for my PCI-e mobo/Core2 duo to arrive. But funny thing is, it looks exactly like the review sample here with red PCB and full cooler covering the memory chips. Other reviews I've seen had the green PCB and small cooler. Which makes me wonder if my unit is clocked at stock or higher.

Cheers.

MSI usually refreshes their coolers after 6 months or so to upgrade them from the early reference design to a better design. The newer ones have HDCP and the newer heatsink. The older cards are missing an extra 2 letters on the end of the product SKU and have the smaller heatsink.