BFGTech & XFX GeForce 7800 GT

Game Play Summary:

The additional clock speed that comes on the XFX GeForce 7800 GT is put to some great use in some of the newer games coming out at the moment. In Battlefield 2, the 25MHz increase in clock speed meant that we were able to increase our best-playable settings from 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF 'High' Detail to 1600x1200 2xTRSS (Transparency SuperSampling) 8xAF with the same detail settings. When we attempted to run at the same settings on the BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC, we were left with a minimum that was in the low 20's - not strictly playable by any means.

With SLI, we were able to increase the details further in this title - we could apply an additional 2xAA to the single card best-playable settings on a single card in order to find the best-playable settings on the two GeForce 7800 GT SLI combinations. We also found that the second video card massively increased our average frame rates, while the minimum frame rate remained fairly static around the 30 fps mark.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was another title that showed performance increases between the two single 7800 GT configurations. With XFX's card we were able to apply Soft Shadows to the scene, along with HDR, Parallax Mapping and Tone Mapping. The BFGTech 7800 GT OC lagged a little too much for our liking at 1280x1024 with all of the advanced shader options turned on. Thus, we had to disable the Soft Shadow option on this card. We had to lower the shadow resolution on the two single GeForce 7800 GT configurations.

When we installed another card, we found that we were able to completely max out the detail settings on both video cards - the XFX 7800 GT SLI recorded higher minimum and average frame rates than the BFGTech 7800 GT OC SLI and we found that the game play delivered by the pair of XFX's was slightly smoother than what we experienced on the BFGTech's.

Unfortunately we found a bug in single card mode in Far Cry, meaning that HDR was not playable - once the bug is fixed, the game will be completely playable at 1280x1024 0xAA 8xAF with HDR set to '2'. In SLI mode, we didn't have this problem and both pairs of GeForce 7800 GT's were more than willing to do the business at 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF HDR '2'.

We didnt' see much of a difference in performance between the two pairs of cards in both single and SLI mode over both Half-Life 2 and NFS: Underground 2, however we did see some healthy performance increases in F.E.A.R. - we found that the slower BFGTech card delivered slightly lower image quality, in that we were only able to apply 4xAF to the scene, rather than the 8xAF - we also saw an increase in the average frame rate on the XFX GeForce 7800 GT.

Final Thoughts...

To say we are somewhat overwhelmed would be a slight understatement at this moment in time. Both of these cards have their merits, the major one that both have in common is their rather hard to believe price point. These cards should cost you around £300 in the shops. In fact, XFX have quoted a £269+VAT price for their GeForce 7800 GT, which means it'll be around £316 once you add on the extra's.

In some cases, a single XFX GeForce 7800 GT is able to keep up with a reference clocked GeForce 7800 GTX - slightly slower, but not a great deal behind it. The gap is even closer, and XFX's card actually performs better than a reference GeForce 7800 GTX in some instances too.

BFGTech's GeForce 7800 GT OC does the basics right - the warranty is unmatched in the industry at the moment, but they haven't done much more than the basics with this video card. The card is marketed as an overclocked GeForce 7800 GT - that's true, but there are faster cards out there, as we have shown today with XFX's 7800 GT.

The XFX GeForce 7800 GT only comes with a 2 year warranty, we'd like to see a little more than this from XFX - another year would make a lot of difference. However, the bundle and the improved clock speeds make this one of the best GeForce 7800 GT's on the market at the moment. It's fast, and you get a lot for your money. Of course, that is not to say that the BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC cannot be overclocked, but in doing that you will void your warranty - BFGTech explicitly state that they will not replace cards that have died as a result of overclocking.

Final, Final Thoughts...

So, out of the two, which would we plump for?

It is hard to say, in all honesty, as both video cards are great in their own right. BFGTech's card is geared slightly more towards the user who wants that peace of mind that if anything goes wrong throughout the life of the card they will be able to replace it, whereas XFX's card gives you that peace of mind for two years. You get more speed out of the box from XFX's GeForce 7800 GT, and in some cases the performance can match the GeForce 7800 GTX for sheer image quality and playability. Add to that the excellent bundle that comes with it and you've got yourself a pretty kick ass deal for around the £300 mark.

XFX's GeForce 7800 GT gets the nod from us - the aesthetics need to be worked on over the coming weeks, so that it looks like it's not just rolled up from NVIDIA's factory. On the performance side, we cannot fault this card in the slightest - in fact, you can't fault either card in that respect - they force a rather large bag of nails in to the coffin of the Radeon X850 XT PE with its current asking price. ATI have nothing to do but lower the price of their current-flagship video card in order to remain competitive on price with the GeForce 6800 series.