Test: BFG 7900GT OC

Konklusion

Innovation og Teknologi 4-point. Det er svært ikke at være begejstret for dette grafikkort med Geforce7900GT-chippen. NVidia har fjernet transistorer, hævet frekvensen, bevaret ydelsen og sænket strømforbruget. Til gengæld er der ikke kommet meget nyt til. Selve chipdesignet er meget lig Geforce7800-serien, hvilket er grunden til at det ikke scorer toppoint.

Bundle og tilbehør 4-point. Bundlen er desværre ganske fattig. Der er alt nødvendigt til at starte op som drivere, manual, dongles og kabler. Men derudover er pakken faktisk tom og kedelig. Hvorfor jeg bevæger mig op på 4point skyldes BFG's 24/7support livstidgaranti og direkte ombytning, som må betegnes som en del af bundlen.

Design og layout 3-point. På design og layout har BFG gjort det rigtige at de har valgt nVidia's standard-design med deres standard-køler. En ganske kedelig løsning der dog ikke er dårlig. Set i forhold til f.eks. Geforce6800 og 7800GT er der tydelig forbedringer, især i køleren der faktisk ikke siger en lyd i 2D-miljø, men dog stadig er ganske støjende i 3D.



Software 3point. Når man bruger et BGF-kort vil man få installeret nVidia's Forceware-driver. NVidia's driver benytter ikke NET som ATi's CCC, og er derfor hurtigere at åbne. Ved hjælp af nvidia-ikonet på proceslinien er det også meget hurtig at indstille de vigtigste egenskaber som FSAA og filtrering.
Til gengæld er driveren ikke så avanceret som ATi, og der er færre indstillinger at pille ved.

Ydelse 5point. Når man ser hvor meget ydelse men får for prisen, render kortet praktisk taget fra alle, selv fra klassen over. X1800XT har f.eks. problemer med at holde dette kort bag sig, ligesom Geforce7800GTX faktisk er langsommere.

Pris 2point. Her ligger hagen. SHG har dette kort prissat til pænt over 3000kr. De billigste 7900GT'ere er ganske vist ikke overclockede og har ikke livstidsgaranti osv. Men BFG's bundle ligner noget fra et discount-firma som f.eks. Club3D og her ligger kortene godt 800-900kr billigere i dag. BFG mangler lige det sidste før at jeg ville føle det var et godt køb, da det jo ikke er sikkert man får brug for de fine garantier. Noget synligt som et spil eller en bedre køler ville helt sikkert have gjort udslaget.

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UK Summary

Innovation / Technology 4 points. It is hard not to become enthusiastic of the graphic card with the GeForce7900GT chip. NVidia has removed the transistors, raised the frequency, preserved the performance and dropped the power consumption. In return not many new things have been integrated. The actual chip design is very similar to the GeForce7800-series, which is the reason why the product doesn't get the top score.

Bundle / Accessories 4 points. The bundle is regrettably quite poor. There is everything you need to get started such as drivers, manual, dongles and cables. But besides that the box actually is quite empty and boring. Which reason I give the product a score of 4 is due to BFG's 24/7 support, lifetime warranty and directly replacement that constitute a part of the bundle.

Design / Layout 3 points. Talking about design and layout BFG did the right thing when they choose nVidia's standard design with the standard cooling solution. I quite boring solution but it isn't bad at all. Compared with ex. GeForce6800 and 7800GT there is clearly improvement, especially in the cooler that doesn't come out with a noise in 2D environment but is quite noisy in 3D.

Software 3 points. When you use a BFG-card you will get the nVidia Forceware driver installed. nVidia's driver doesn't take advantage of .NET like ATI's CCC and is therefore quick to start. By clicking the nVidia icon in the process bar it is also possible quickly to setup the most important properties like FSAA and filtering.
In return the driver isn't as advanced as the ATI and there is less possible actions to play with.

Performance 5 points. When you look at the performance vs. the price the card performs better than all the others, even from the class above. X1800XT has ex. problems to keep up with this card just like the GeForce7800GTX actually is slower.

Price 2 points. Here's the snag in it. SHG has priced this card for over 3000 DKR. The cheapest 7900GT's is of cause not over clocked and doesn't have lifetime warranty and so on. But BFG's bundle looks like something from a discount firm like Club3D that sells their card 8-900 DKR cheaper. I miss a little more from BFG before I would feel it is a good buy because it isn't sure you will need the warranties. Something like a game or a better cooling solution would certainly have been the decisive factor.