Gainward Ultra/3500PCX XP Golden Sample (GeForce 7800GTX)
Performance analysis and conclusions
So, meet the most powerful air-cooled solution to date - Gainward Ultra/3500 PCX XP Golden Sample! As usual, Gainward is not content with the generally accepted standards but raises the performance bar even higher.
Certainly, speaking about the most powerful solution we mean only the single-slot cards, omitting the SLI configurations based on GeForce 7800GTX which will be a matter of our forthcoming material. Putting a special emphasis on the air-driven cooling, we mean to say that Gainward's product line also offers a solution on the base of 7800GTX CoolFX series which we'll be also testing shortly.
It goes without saying that we should test ultrahigh-end solutions with one very important reservation - to make the most of their capabilities, the other system components should be fully on par with the video card itself. Putting it simple, we would have to fork out for a very powerful processor. That is not cheap indeed.
As regards the prices for GeForce 7800GTX in particular, currently the Moscow retail offers quite a limited number of offerings and the prices are high enough to shock even us - about $700.
We all very well remember the "interlunation" of shortage last year when GeForce 6800GT was swept off the shelves despite the price $500+, but anyway we are not losing hope that soon as the market gets saturated, this situation will change to the better. For example, the recommended price for the Gainward card in question is about $620, which does not make a big difference from the $599 recommended by NVIDIA. The final price is already up to the sellers, so it is highly probable that the board will sell at absolutely insane amount. It is useless cursing the vendor for that - it's better to spend your efforts looking for a shop that offers more sensible price, which will be there much than today because the potential demand for new-generation solutions is very high, and soon many leading distributors of partners by that Californian company will flood the shelves with G70-based products. Therefore, prices will more likely to break even.
For now, the most reasonable option is not to rush out for the freshly baked 7800GTX boards but patiently wait for the R520 whose announcement is expected late in summer. In the end, even if the Canadian new-generation flagship does not match expectations and performs not that well (which is highly doubtful because at this stage the company simply can't afford that), the assortment of GeForce 7800GTX will expand and prices will be more reasonable. If you don't care about the price and monthly upgrades is a common thing for you, the best and most powerful option to date is the SLI configuration on the base of 7800GTX by Gainward which offers more powerful solutions than boards of standard specifications.
Coming back to the hero of our today's material, we note the superb overclocking capability - 525/1340MHz under standard cooling without additional blower. In so doing, the temperature did not exceed 68 C, which is a rather good result.
Once again, Gainward has proved its overclockers' appeal of its products and a high rating at the manufacture of graphic cards. Judging by the results of today's tests, Gainward Ultra/3500 PCX XP Golden Sample (GeForce 7800GTX) has been awarded by the 3DNews Editor's Choice medal.
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