X-bit labs

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

GeForce Go 7800 GTX: Desktop Performance on Mobiles. Web-site Benchmarks GeForce Go 7800-Powered Notebook

Bit-tech.net has looked at one of the first notebooks to use the new NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX mobile graphics chip. The web-site had managed to obtain Evesham’s Voyager C720 notebook equipped with the latest graphics chip from NVIDIA and benchmarked it against a desktop system featuring similar graphics component.

“This laptop is something of a stunner. It’s form factor is the best we’ve seen for 17” mobile PCs, and the battery life we obtained was pretty damn impressive. We like the fact that hardcore gamers - and let’s face it, who else is going to buy this thing? - can have a DVI output for a secondary display. However, the most amazing thing about this laptop is the price. The 2.0GHz model comes in at £1349, which for the graphics power you are getting, is absolutely outrageous. Even with the extra processor speed, the uprated display and the faster hard drive, it’s still only £1700 - which for the amount of PC under the hood, is brilliant, in this form factor,” writes bit-tech.net.

Evesham Voyager C720 computer boasts with Intel Pentium M 770 CPU clocked at 2.13GHz, 1024MB of dual-channel DDR2 memory operating at 533MHz, 17” WXGA X-Bright display with native resolution of 1440x900 pixels. The notebook sports dual-layer DVD-RW recorder and wireless mini PCI 802.11 a/b/g LAN adapter. The total weight of this DTR mobile PC is around 3.9kg.

The new mobile graphics processing unit (GPU) from NVIDIA is called the GeForce Go 7800 GTX and inherits specifications of the desktop brother, the GeForce 7800 GTX, e.g. supports DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 and other capabilities. The novelty sports 24 pixel processors as well as 6 vertex processors, which is similar to the desktop flavour of the component.

“Frankly, we didn’t believe NVIDIA when it told us that this mobile chip was going to be as fast as the desktop chip. However, leaving aside the fact that desktop enthusiast mainboards and chips are faster than laptops, the graphics chip itself appears to be almost exactly as fast as the 7800 GTX – that’s an incredible feat. NVIDIA have done another hard launch with Go 7800 - you will be able to go out and order laptops based around the chip tomorrow. If you’ve got a LAN party coming up this weekend, you could be the belle of the ball - or, rather, the Lord of the LAN, the Power of the Party,” concludes bit-tech.net.

• bit-tech.net: Evesham Voyager C720 with 7800 GTX Go.
• NVIDIA Pressroom: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 Achieves Broad Notebook PC Industry Adoption.

The Competitor for NVIDIA SLI Shows Itself Off. ATI CrossFire Platform Reviews Hit the Web

ATI Technologies has been supplying aerospace industry with graphics processor for multiprocessor graphics sub-systems for about half of a decade already, whereas its first and only dual-chip consumer 3D accelerator Rage Fury MAXX released in 1999 has been nearly forgotten. Following NVIDIA with its multi-GPU tech called SLI, ATI Technologies reintroduced its multi-processor graphics technology for consumers targeting the market of enthusiasts and gamers who are eager to pay any money for the highest performance possible at all.

On September 26, ATI has lifted the wraps off the benchmark results of the RADEON X8-series in the CrossFire mode. The technology appears to work, but it has some serious limitations in its current implementation. Various web-sites have published reviews of the technology in order to make it easier for consumers to decide whether the current CrossFire is the right thing to get.

“Playing Half-Life 2 in AFR mode at 1600x1200 with high levels of IQ (although not Super AA) for an extended period (all in the name of serious evaluation you understand!) caused the coolers to both spin up to the full-speed that caused us to write what we did at the X850 XT Platinum Edition launch. One cooler of that sort is bad enough at full speed. Two in the same system is truly horrible in this reviewer’s opinion. I’d even go so far as to call it easily the most obnoxious graphics setup my poor ears have had to suffer,” notes Hexus.net.

“Just like with NVIDIA SLI 10 months ago, we cannot say that idea of CrossFire is bad or defective. However, the current situation is hardly favorable for getting a CrossFire based system. As for the solution offered by some ATI partners, namely to buy a second CrossFire Edition graphics card to upgrade the video system, it will hardly arouse a lot of enthusiasm, because many users will also have to replace their mainboard with a CrossFire one. It is much easier to go for a single GeForce 7800 GT, GeForce 7800 GTX or the upcoming RADEON X1800 XT, which is anticipated to be as fast as a pair of RADEON X850 XT cards but will not depend on the driver support for the given games and will definitely have no resolution limitations,” concludes X-bit labs.

• AnandTech: ATI’s X8xx CrossFire Graphics Arrive.
• Beyond3D: ATI Crossfire.
• DriverHeaven.net: ATI Crossfire.
• ExtremeTech: ATI CrossFire Review.
• FiringSquad: ATI CrossFire Performance Preview.
• [H]ard|OCP: ATI Radeon X850 XT CrossFire Review.
• HEXUS.net: ATI Crossfire - X850 Crossfire Edition and Platform Basics.
• PC Perspective: ATI CrossFire Review - Dual X850 XTs Are Finally Here.
• t-break: ATI X850XT CrossFire.
• The Tech Report: ATI’s CrossFire Dual-Graphics Solution.
• TrustedReviews: ATI CrossFire - Dual GPU Graphics Platform.
• X-bit labs: Swords Crossed: ATI CrossFire Platform Review.