7800 GTX Extreme Edition Head-to-Head

Overclocking:

As we have mentioned many times before, the GeForce 7800 GTX is an outstanding overclocker. It is a major reason why board partners have been able to increase their shipping core and memory clocks from the reference clocks of 430/1200MHz. Both XFX and Leadtek have been able to ship their Extreme Editions with a guaranteed 490MHz core speed - the highest available at the moment.

XFX also equip their Extreme Gamer Edition with the same memory frequency as the Gainward Ultra/3500PCX Golden Sample - an impressive 1300MHz. On the other hand, Leadtek chose to ship with a slightly lower 1250MHz memory frequency. We overclocked both video cards to give an idea of what the respective video cards are capable of with their retail cooling solution.

We found that XFX's Extreme Gamer Edition was limited to 495/1355MHz. While some may think that 5MHz is not that much of an increase, bear in mind that the video card already has a 60MHz core overclock. We tried to overclock the core on its own, but found that we were stuck at 499MHz as the maximum core speed that would pass NVIDIA's internal driver test. However, we experienced visible artefacts on screen at anything above 495MHz when the memory was clocked at 1355MHz.

Leadtek's dual slot cooler really aided overclocking the core. We found that it was possible to overclock the Leadtek PX7800 GTX Extreme to an impressive 535MHz core and 1310MHz memory. It becomes clear why Leadtek did not ship this video card with a 1300MHz memory frequency - there isn't a lot of headroom above 1300MHz on this card. Our initial thoughts about the cooling solution are true - the dual slot cooler helped to improve the achievable clock speeds quite noticeably.

Gameplay Summary:

In general, we found that the Leadtek PX7800 GTX Extreme and XFX 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition performed fairly similarly in titles that were shader limited, but performed quite differently in bandwidth limited situations.

In Day of Defeat: Source, we found that the two Extreme Edition video cards performed very similarly, but the XFX 7800 GTX delivered a smoother gaming experience due to the much higher minimum frame rate that was witnessed. Also, the Gainward 7800 GTX Golden Sample was slightly smoother than the Leadtek because of the additional memory bandwidth available for making use of transparency supersampled Anti-Aliasing.

Battlefield 2 was also similar to Day of Defeat - we found that the XFX, Leadtek and Gainward overclocked 7800 GTX's were all able to deliver the same in-game image quality at their highest playable settings. The XFX GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition was able to attain the smoothest gameplay out of the three video cards, while Leadtek's PX7800 GTX Extreme was marginally slower than the Gainward due to the bandwidth requirements related to using transparency supersampled Anti-Aliasing again. We also had similar experiences in Need For Speed: Underground 2, where the XFX 7800 GTX was the fastest video card by a small margin, while the Gainward and Leadtek 7800 GTX's performed quite similarly.

In Rome: Total War, we saw some large differences in average frame rate, but the minimum frame rate remained very constant over the three video cards. The XFX 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition was the fastest video card, while there was quite a large drop off in average frame rate for both the Leadtek and Gainward 7800 GTX implementations.

In Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, we saw very small differences in performance between the Leadtek and XFX video cards. The game doesn't appear to be bandwidth limited at all, as the two Extreme Edition 7800 GTX's delivered average frame rates that were within a single frame per second of each other, while the minimum frame rate remained the same. We did have to lower the shadow resolution to medium on the Gainward Golden Sample in order to achieve a minimum frame rate above 20 frames per second. On the whole, the performance and the highest playable settings were very similar.

Finally, we saw some differences in playability in the F.E.A.R. single player demo, where the XFX 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition stamped its authority on the game. We were able to attain a smooth gaming experience at 1280x960 2x transparency supersampled Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering with all details except soft shadows turned up to their maximum. We found that we had to lower the Anti-Aliasing quality to transparency multisampled AA on the Leadtek 7800 GTX Extreme, while we had to lower the Anisotropic Filtering quality to 8xAF on the Gainward Ultra/3500PCX.

Pricing:

We reviewed and awarded Gainward's Ultra/3500PCX Golden Sample bit-tech's Excellence Award in August, because of its fantastic performance and awesome value. At that time, the street price was some £50 cheaper than the price of XFX's GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition. As you can see, the performance is very close and the extra performance delivered by the XFX Extreme Gamer Edition didn't warrant a £50 premium.

However, since then, XFX's flagship 7800 GTX has come down in price by a considerable amount, thanks to the excellent yields and time on the market. In fact, it is now selling for £363.65 on Scan while Gainward's Ultra/3500PCX Golden Sample is currently available for £352.85 on Micro Direct - the price difference is now only £11. Looking at Leadtek's current asking price of £399.44 on Overclockers UK, we can't help but feel that it is priced out of the market a little - there are faster video cards available for less money.

Final Thoughts...

Looking back, there are a few performance differences between the Leadtek PX7800 GTX TDH Extreme Edition and the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition, but for the most part the highest playable settings were the same. In scenarios where the highest playable details were exactly the same, we found that the XFX Extreme Gamer delivered a generally smoother gaming experience. When our highest playable details weren't the same, XFX's Extreme Gamer was the faster of the two.

Depending on the situation, Leadtek's 7800 GTX Extreme Edition performed either similarly to the XFX Extreme Gamer, or similarly to the Gainward Ultra/3500PCX. Both of these video cards can be purchased for much less than the Leadtek PX7800 GTX TDH Extreme. We feel that the reason for the higher price on Leadtek's card is down to the dual slot heatpipe cooling solution that they have used. However, it is also clear that the cooler has really helped with overclocking the core, while the XFX Extreme Gamer struggled to overclock much further than its shipping core speed. Leadtek's dual slot cooler implementation may not suit everyone though, as it will not fit in to many small form factor PC's because the cooler occupies two expansion slots.

Having said that, bit-tech and its readers are renowned for their crazy computer modifications. As such, fitting an Arctic Silencer or water block to one's video card is not uncommon to many of our readers. If you're really in need of more performance than the XFX 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer can deliver at its default clock speeds, the cooler is easily changeable. If you are looking for the fastest video card that money can buy, today, the XFX GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Gamer Edition is it.