Inno3D GeForce 7900 GS iChill review

Graphics cards 1048 Page 2 of 15 Published by

teaser

Page 2

GeForce 7900 GS: the micro architecture

So let's talk about the graphics core for a moment here. Purely the "reference" stuff from NVIDIA. The "default/normal" clocked GeForce 7900 GS is based on a 90nm fabrication process, runs with a core frequency of 450 MHz and has a default memory frequency of 660 (1320 MHz effectively). So in regard to that matter this is a GeForce 7900 GT (7950 GT) with 4 less pixel processors and one vertex processor disabled. Think about it for a second and realize that's a lot of punch for the money.

This little creature will punk out the GeForce 6800 Ultra easily which was the most extreme high-end card a year and a half ago ? Okay, some other specifications.

  • 7 Vertex Shading Units
  • 20 Pixel pipelines
  • 256MB 256-bit 2ns (8x32) GDDR3 Memory
  • PCI Express x16 Compatibility (PCI Express Compliant)
  • Integrated NVIDIA TV Encoder (HDTV, S-Video, Composite,)
  • Integrated NVIDIA VIVO (S-Video, Composite,)
  • Dual DVI-I Connectors
  • NVIDIA PureVideo Technology
  • DVD + HDTV Decode assist up to 1920x1080p resolution
  • Integrated Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
  • Two Dual Link TMDS DVI Connector
  • NVIDIA Digital Vibrance Control (DVC) 3.0
  • Support for Microsoft Video Mixer Renderer (VMR)
  • Advanced adaptive de-interlacing

And for the freaks... 278 Million transistors, 7 Vertex Shader processors, 20 Pixel Shader processors which all bind at 16 ROPs. But now, let's have a look at the specifications from Inno3D and see what they have done with this card, they really pimped the card here.

The Inno3D GeForce 7900 GS 256MB iChill

So once you open up the box you'll physically see that you have bought something special with gold plated DVI connectors and a new cooling solution. What immediately strikes me is that the PCB is green. How cool would this card have been with a black PCB huh ?

Anyway, that's pretty much the only discomfort you'll hear from me in this entire review.

Let me run you through some of the good stuff you'll get with this iChill version. The i-Chill offers a really nice 3 year warranty, which is a lot considering how fast this card is pre-clocked for you (we'll explain that in a second). Next, over the entire board you'll find  top quality solid capacitors for stable power voltage and obviously durability. The gold plated DVI connectors ensure better signal quality and less oxidization.

As you just learned the "normal" models of the 7900 GS have two clock frequencies (well actually two more) but two main clocks. The graphics core is running at 450 MHz and the memory at 1320 MHz. This iChill version comes with a default pre-overclock at 550 Mhz on the graphics core and 1500 MHz on the memory. This by itself offers a large additional chunk of overall performance over the competition. It's really nice to see this. But can we maintain steady temperatures with such an overclock ? Yeah...  moving onwards towards the cooler, it does look weird doesn't it? I've been thinking about it and I say it looks like a scorpion, whether that's intentional or I'm completely off track here I don't know. Again, imagine that on a black PCB. Now, the cooler is manufactured by Arctic cooling. We reviewed some of their coolers ourselves, and as you might recall the company HiS has been using these coolers in there IceQ range as well. Two things you really need to know about these coolers is that they work silently and offer great cooling. The design is actually the NV Silencer 6. The good thing about these coolers is that they draw air from inside the case and exhaust warm air outwards. So heat is not dumped inside the PC. Great stuff, and we'll show you some results later on.

Also notice the smaller details; even the memory has little ramsinks (which quite honestly have no use with BGA memory these days), but they do look cool! :)

Alright let's have a look inside the box shall we. Once we open it up we'll see:

  • GeForce 7900 GS with AC NV Silencer 6 cooler
  • Driver CD
  • Full game - RACE the WTCC game
  • 6-pin to molex power connector
  • HDTV 3-way RCA (analog) component connector.
  • Composite VIDEO cable
  • DVI-VGA dongle

So that's a pretty impressive bundle here. You receive the enhanced graphics card plus all the stuff you need for connectivity and even a free game is included.

table_tl.gif

 

table_tr.gif
blank.gif Inno3D GeForce 7900 GS iChill review blank.gif
table_bl.gif blank.gif table_br.gif

 

Share this content
Twitter Facebook Reddit WhatsApp Email Print