Gainward Introduces 7900 GT for AGP

[CKTurbo128]

Gainward just introduced yet another AGP card today, the Gainward GeForce 7800 GS 512 MB GS+: 7876-BLISS 7800GS Silent 512MB GS+

It's important to note that this is not the same card as the 20-pipe G70 Gainward Bliss GeForce 7800 GS 512 MB AGP that Gainward introduced a month ago. Although they are selling it under the 7800 GS moniker, this card is using a GeForce 7900 GT core with 24 pipes. Looks like Overclockers UK is taking pre-orders for it now; here's a description from OCUK:

A 256-bit memory interface and fast GDDR3 memory enable blazing graphics performance with the quality set to max so you don?t have to choose between frame rates and image quality. Need a break from gaming? The GeForce 7900 GPU also delivers smooth, high-definition video playback and crisp picture quality thanks to its advanced NVIDIA® PureVideo? technology. If you are searching for an extreme HD gaming and video experience on the PC, look no further than a Geforce 7900 GPU. This is a one production run of 7900 GT's made available for AGP users making these truly the quickest AGP cards ever produced and extremely overclockable with 500MHz core speed easily achievable along with 1400MHz memory speed when overclocking.

Gainward do it again! This is the only 7900GT card with 24 pixel pipelines available on AGP. Then along with its 512MB of super-fast GDDR3 memory making this the worlds fastest AGP card ever produced. There is only 1500 units available worldwide!! So be quick as this is a deal not to be missed!

- GeForce? 7900 GT GPU running at 450MHz+ (Great Overclocking Potential)
- 512MB 1250MHz+ high speed GDDR3 memory (Great Overclocking Potential)
- Superscalar 24-Pipe GPU Architecture
- SILENT Cooling solution
- High-Speed DDR 256-bit Memory Interface
- Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
- Designed For Extreme HD Gaming ? Delivering Ultra Realistic Gaming Experiences
- Built for Windows Vista ? The next generation operating system
- Dual link DVI support
- Shader Model 3.0 Support
- True High Dynamic Range Rendering Support ? Based on Open EXR technology

Price: £299.95

Source: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7800AGP_Series.html#agx_2d032_2dgw

Nice specs for an AGP card, but it's still too expensive (and unavailable for those in US/CA).

 

[SynthDude2001]

Interesting...but yeah, isn't £299 like $500 or something? I doubt many people would actually buy this (even if it were not "limited production quantities")...IMO most people still using AGP cards aren't holding out for a new $500 AGP card to buy, they're most likely waiting until they can do a PCI-E upgrade and get a lot more video card for that money. At least that's what I'm doing anyway

 

[BassBomb]

i agree with synthdude ... im also waiting for G80 i guess.. this rig will last me another year almost

 

[v8envy]

The $200 premium over a PCIe 7900GT is just about enough for a motherboard + cpu better than what's in most obsolete boxes. Non-obsolete people just need to upgrade the motherboard.

Seems a bit on the pointless side.

 

[Wreckage]

There should be a 7600GT AGP coming soon. The GPU fits in a 6600GT socket, so they could just plug it in and update the bios

 

[DeathReborn]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Interesting...but yeah, isn't £299 like $500 or something? I doubt many people would actually buy this (even if it were not "limited production quantities")...IMO most people still using AGP cards aren't holding out for a new $500 AGP card to buy, they're most likely waiting until they can do a PCI-E upgrade and get a lot more video card for that money. At least that's what I'm doing anyway

£299 is only £50 more than the PCI-e 7900GT costs and considering it's limited supply & 512MB GDDR3 you can see why. It's very good value for the money and i'd jump on one if I wasn't already using PCI-e.

 

[Lonyo]

Instead of taking absolute values, take relative ones.
This card is 25% more expensive than a PCIe 7900GT 256MB.

 

[webdev511]

I have to agree.

$500 is a bit steep for that card, BUT if you're really married to your AGP system and don't feel like building a whole new one from scratch, the premium might be worth it.

Keep in mind that there is no direct upgrade path from any of the AMD based AGP chipsets to PCI-e (don't know about intel) so even if you do a sysprep, or user settings migration, there will still be a lot of work required to get back to where you used to be.

IMHO nVIDIA blew it. the 7800GS AGP was too little too late. Most of the people with AGP rigs (like myself) have 6800's (GT's or Ultras) and given the launch of AM2 and the G80, the February release of the 7800GS was just poorly timed. $300 on a card that's slightly better than current setup, or wait 6 months and upgrade the whole rig and get superior performance?

 

[Cooler]

Now if ATI will only make a x1900 AGP.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

No way anyone would (or should) pay $500 to stay with AGP, you can move to PCI-e for that much money. New mobo and video card.

 

[Powermoloch]

still happy with my x850xt agp


why pay so much?

get a pci-e board and be done with it.

 

[Netopia]

I'll give you one scenario where some of this makes a little sense.

I have an AGP Shuttle box (SN45G). Since there really isn't any way to only upgrade the motherboard, I'm probably going to stay with this box for at least another couple of years. I'm not a super hard core gamer, and this box is only used for gaming so I'm not looking to spend a ton of money upgrading the entire box. Currently I have a 5900Ultra, but for some things (like CS:S) it just doesn't do well in DX9 mode, so I'm interested in getting a 6x00 or 7x00 card. For me, I imagine that an AGP 7600GT would be the ticket. If they could somehow lower the power consumption a little, that would be even better.

I suppose in a couple of years I'll build another small form factor (SFF) box that has ... what.... a PCIe x32 slot with a GeForce 10x00 series card... but that's a couple of years off!

Joe

 

[Rune]

I just published the info below in another forum (on TomsHardware), but thought that some readers on this site may find some of the information interesting:

"After reading several messages in this forum I thought I would publish some of my thoughts regarding the Gainward "7876-BLISS 7800GS Silent 512MB GS+".

The RAM issue.
First of all this is not really a 7900GT card. It is much more. No standard 7900GT video card comes with 512MB of onboard ram. So stating that a standard 7900GT 256MB PCIe is much cheaper is not a valid argument against the 7900GT 512MB AGP, since you simply cannot compare 7900GT 256MB with 7900GT 512MB - it is like comparing apples to oranges (stating that a 7900GTX can be bought for a similar price for faster clock speeds and SLI possibility actually are valid arguments against the 7900GT 512MB AGP).

The NOISE issue.
Again, the Gainward 7900GT 512MB AGP is no normal 7900GT 256MB PCIe card - not only due to having 512MB ram, but especially due to the cooler. The standard 7900GT 256MB PCIe video card has a very loud and irritating cooler - measured under full load at 4.4 sone (47 dBA), while the 7900GTX reached only 0.7 sone (23.9 dBA) by the German magazine PC Games Hardware (issue 05/2006). Using a cooler from Arctic Cooling (known for the HIS IceQ-coolers) the Gainward 7900GT 512MB AGP seems to be MUCH more quiet than a normal 7900GT 256MB PCIe:

"It is fast, it is dead silent and it can overclock like hell"

Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30502

Note that replacing the loud cooler on a standard 7900GT 256MB PCIe in theory will void your warranty and therefore cannot be recommended.

Summing it up and adding a few comments.
The Gainward 7900GT 512MB AGP is probably the closest thing that users of AGP mainboards will come to using a real 7900GTX video card. The 7900GTX is silent - and the 7900GT 512MB AGP is silent. The 7900GTX has 512MB ram - and the 7900GT 512MB AGP has 512MB of ram. Furthermore that 7900GT 512MB AGP should not use more than about 60 watts (normal 7900GT 256MB PCIe use max. 48 watts, while 7900GTX uses 84 watts) and therefore the 7900GT 512MB AGP should be better suited for AGP-systems than if Gainward had tried to use a real 7900GTX GPU. The source for 7900GT(X) power consumptions can be found here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7900gtx_6.html

So we should be able to sum up the most important things about the Gainward 7900GT 512MB AGP:

Pros
1. Similar to a real 7900GTX running at 70% of normal speed.
1a. 512MB ram.
1b. Silent cooling.
2. Probably great overclocking potential due to "Gainward Golden Sample" (and possibility to obtain performance close to GeForce 7800GTX-512 or 7900GTX).
3. Easy and significant upgrade for AGP users (only the video card needs to be replaced).
4. Low power consumption - 350W PSU should be fine even for users of fast Athlon 64 X2 processors.

Cons
1. The price is similar to a real 7900GTX (650/1600MHz GPU/RAM), but the Gainward 7900GT 512MB AGP is slower (450/1250 MHz GPU/RAM).
2. No possibility to use SLI.
3. Limited supply - only 1500 samples made worldwide.

Prices in Europe:

Germany = 400 Euros
http://www.alternate.de/html/shop/productDetails.html?artno=JBGWA2&artno=JBGWA2&

Denmark = 470 Euros
http://www.midtdata.dk/asp/index.asp?va...00-7876&goto=productinfo&mainfunc=link

England = 510 Euros
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_7800_Series_363.html

And of course one can ague if 400 Euros really is expensive for the 7900GT 512MB AGP - unfortunately is does seem that the British people get an extra-ordinary expensive treatment from Overclockers.co.uk... At least compared to Australia, where the price is very low:

Australia = 360 Euros
http://www.nintek.com.au/x/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=5992

There is just one quite important problem concerning shopping in Australia quoting the shop: "Due to excessive demand and restrictive supply, NO MORE ORDERS ACCEPTED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE""

 

[Netopia]

Rune,

Very nice post!

Joe

 

[Remedy]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
No way anyone would (or should) pay $500 to stay with AGP, you can move to PCI-e for that much money. New mobo and video card.

While I do agree. But, you have to understand. Some of us having AGP workstation Opteron motherboards and can't justify moving the whole platform to utilize that one slot and one slot only.

For example: Tyan Thunder K8W. Which, supports Dual-Dual-core Opterons and 16GB of memory. Why upgrade this bundle that's ready and stable for PCI-express when a similar card can also be had in AGP format? Prolonging the life of the board.

Some of us still have the ZmaxDP. Which supports 4GB and Dual-Dual-core Opterons.


The whole argument of "just upgrade your motherboard to PCI-express" is a bit far fetched considering the factors some of us may or may not be in for.