GeForce 7 series

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File:Geforce7series.jpg

The GeForce 7 Series is the seventh generation of NVIDIA's GeForce graphics cards.

GeForce 7 series

The major improvement of the GeForce 7 series over the GeForce 6 is an increase of 8 pixel pipelines over the GeForce 6's 16 pipelines. However, the number of Render Output units (ROPs) remains 16, indicating that NVIDIA feels that increasing the raw pixel output is less important than supporting more computation per pixel. Each pipeline has also been augmented to improve performance of complex shaders. The number of vertex pipelines has also been increased to 8, up from 6. The other major changes are hardware processing of HDTV H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and WMV9 streams and better quality anti-aliasing.

Geforce 7 Series base features:

  • NVIDIA Intellisample 4.0 technology
  • NVIDIA CineFX 4.0 engine
  • NVIDIA UltraShadow II technology
  • NVIDIA PureVideo technology
  • Transparency Supersampling (TSAA) & Transparency Multisampling (TMAA) Anti-Aliasing
  • 64-bit Texture Filtering and Blending
  • NVIDIA nView multi-display technology
  • NVIDIA Digital Vibrance Control 3.0
  • 128-Bit Studio-Precision Computation
  • 256-bit Memory interface
  • PCI Express support
  • Complete DirectX support, including DirectX 9.0c and lower
  • OpenGL 2.0 and lower support
  • NVIDIA SLI Multi-GPU ready
  • Dual DVI-I + VIVO + HDTV

GeForce 7300 series

The 7300 series cards are currently available in three versions: the 7300GT, the 7300 GS (announced January 18, 2006) and the lighter version, the GeForce 7300 LE. (see here). The 7300 series video cards are entry level video cards. They were originally released in January as a replacement to the Geforce 6200 series video cards.

GeForce 7300 GT

The 7300GT was quietly slipped out the door sometime April/May 2006. It has 8 pixel pipelines, 4 vertex units and a 128-bit memory interface. Technically, it is a more advanced part than the 6600 DDR2, although the clockspeeds of 350Mhz Core and 667Mhz GDDR2 prevent it from competing directly. The only thing it shares in common with its lower powered brothers, is the 90nm process. Even though it is named a 7300 Series part, it's based on the same core utilized by the 7600 Series.

GeForce 7300 GS

On January 18, 2006, NVIDIA officially announced the immediate release of the GeForce 7300 GS graphics card. Like most of the GeForce 7 series, the 7300 GS is currently only available with a PCI Express interface. The RAMDAC is still at 400MHz like the original 7800 GT, but NVIDIA has scaled the memory interface down to a mere 64-bit interface.

The 7300 GS (G72) series was designed to replace the 6200 TC (NV44) series. With the same improved pipelines and pixel/vertex shading power inherited from its bigger brother, the 7800 series, albeit scaled down to fit budget market needs, the 7300 GS should have around double the performance of the 6200 TC. The 7300 GS also has the same Transparency AA feature and now supports FP16 Blending & Filtering, neither of which was in the 6200 TC.

GeForce 7300 LE

A lighter version of the 7300GS, It has DDR memory opposed to the 7300 GS having GDDR2/GDDR3 memory, it also has slightly lower core clock speed(450 MHz vs. 550 MHz) according to Anandtech. It is only available in the PCI Express interface. The 7300 LE has a good performance-to-price ratio. However, it is considered to be the "light graphics card" for many PCs.

GeForce 7600 Series

NVIDIA announced immediate availability of the GeForce 7600 series on March 9, 2006. Models currently available are GeForce 7600GT & 7600GS. See here.

GeForce 7600 GT

This is the latest mid range product in the 7 Series family.

Quick specifications for GeForce 7600 GT from NVIDIA documents:

  • PCIe native
  • 560 MHz core frequency
  • 128-bit memory interface
  • 22.4 GB/sec. memory bandwidth
  • 6.72 Billion pixels/sec. fill rate
  • 700 Million vertices/sec.
  • 12 pixels per cycle
  • Built in dual-link DVI support for 2560x1600 resolution

The 7600 features all the features of the GeForce 7 family, and is priced rather low for the mainstream market. It was made to provide a Geforce 7 series card to the mass market. It sells for around $184 USD. By using the exact same PCB and GPU socket as the 6600, manufacturing costs should be lower due to available parts left over. It compares well against ATI's counterpart, the Radeon X1800 GTO, which is a little more expensive at around $250 USD but the X1800 GTO performs better due to its 256 bit memory bus, higher peak pixel fill rate and more raw shading power.

GeForce 7600 GS

On March 22, 2006, NVIDIA announced the immediate availability of the GeForce 7600 GS GPU targeted at the mid end. This new GPU will officially assume the place of the GeForce 6600GT which has been around for quite some time.

Some quick specifications:

  • PCIe native
  • 400MHz Core frequency
  • 128-bit memory interface
  • 12.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth
  • 4.8 Billion pixels/sec. fill rate
  • 500 Million vertices/sec.
  • SLI support
  • passively cooled (NVIDIA reference)

Preliminary testing showed that the GeForce 7600 GS outperforms a GeForce 6600 GT and Ati's counterpart, the ATI Radeon X1600 Pro.[1]

The retail price for the GeForce 7600 GS is $129-$149 US. Or the AU price can be between $350-$400.

GeForce 7800 Series

GeForce 7800 GTX

The GeForce 7800 GTX (codenamed G70, and previously NV47) is the first GPU in the series, launched on June 22 2005 with immediate retail availability. The GeForce 7800 GTX supports the latest version of vertex and pixel shaders, currently at 3.0. It is a natively PCI Express chip, but use of a bridge chip could allow an AGP version to be produced (early versions of the GeForce 6800 series were natively AGP and used a bridge chip to convert to PCI Express). SLI support has been retained and even improved.

A 512 MB version of the GeForce 7800 GTX was released on November 14 2005. This version appears to be the rumored GeForce 7800 Ultra, of which there has been much speculation for the last few months, as the card features more than simply an increased frame buffer from 256 MB to 512 MB. The card features a much improved core clock speed of 550 MHz vs. 430 MHz (27.9% increase) and fast 1.1 ns GDDR3 memory clocked at 1.7 GHz vs. 1.2 GHz (41.7% increase), when compared to the original version. Like ATI's X1800XT, the addition of another 256 MiB of memory, and to a lesser extent, the increased clock speeds, have raised the heat and power output significantly. To combat this, the GeForce 7800 GTX 512 sports a much larger yet quieter dual slot cooling solution when compared to the original 256 MiB version. [2]

According to PCworld.com, the 7800 GTX is "one of the most complex processors ever designed". The GPU has 300 million transistors (the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ CPU has 233.2 million transistors), along with 24 pixel and 8 vertex pipelines. Rumours had suggested that the card actually had 32 pixel pipelines, though this has since turned out to be incorrect as the GPU's transistor count is insufficient for 32 pipelines. This card includes new standard features, such as subsurface scattering, HDR lighting, and radiosity, to name a few. The mainstream success of this card will depend on how much the double-exponentially expanding technology sector can drive down the initial price ($599 USD) of this card; currently the 7800 GTX can be found for around $449 USD.

GeForce 7800 GT

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The GeForce 7800 GT is the second GPU in the series, launched on August 11 2005 with immediate retail availability. It has 20 pixel pipelines, 7 vertex shaders, 16 ROPs and a 400 MHz core clock, 500 MHz memory clock (1 GHz effective) using GDDR3 memory.

The GeForce 7800 GT has been introduced as a more affordable alternative to the 7800 GTX. As of February 2006, online retail prices as low as $250 (after rebate) USD have been seen, eliciting comments from some enthusiasts that this card may represent the new video card "sweetspot" in terms of price versus performance.

There has been speculation by some gamers that CPU limits and the potential for unlocking/overclocking may imply that the 7800 GT has the potential to perform at the same level as the 7800 GTX.

Efforts to enable the unlocking of the last "quad" (NVIDIA's name for groups of four pipelines) and the remaining vertex shader have been unsuccessful because NVIDIA uses a new technology called laser locking, which severs the internal connections to the quad and renders it impossible for any software to unlock it.

Here is how the released versions of the "GeForce 7" series family compare to NVIDIA's previous flagship GPU, the GeForce 6800 Ultra, in addition to ATI's newly released Radeon X1800 XT:

GeForce 6800 Ultra GeForce 7300 GS GeForce 7600 GT GeForce 7800 GTX GeForce 7900 GTX ATI Radeon X1800 XT ATI Radeon X1900 XTX
Transistor count 222 million 112 million 178 million 302 million 278 million 321 million 384 million
Manufacturing process 0.13 μm 90 nanometer 90 nanometer 0.11 μm 90 nanometer 90 nanometer 90 nanometer
Die Area 288 mm² 77 mm² 125 mm² 333 mm² 196 mm² 288 mm² 352 mm²
Core clock speed 400 MHz 550 MHz 560 MHz 430 MHz 650 MHz 625 MHz 650 MHz
Number of pixel shader processors 16 4 12 24 24 16 48
Number of pixel pipes 16 4 12 24 24 16 16
Number of texturing units 16 4 12 24 24 16 16
Number of vertex pipelines 6 3 5 8 8 8 8
Peak pixel fill rate (theoretical) 6.4 Gigapixel/s 1.1 Gigapixel/s 4.48 Gigapixel/s 6.88 Gigapixel/s 10.4 Gigapixel/s 10.0 Gigapixel/s 10.4 Gigapixel/s
Peak texture fill rate (theoretical) 6.4 Gigatexel/s 2.2 Gigatexel/s 6.72 Gigatexel/s 10.32 Gigatexel/s 15.6 Gigatexel/s 10.0 Gigatexel/s 10.4 Gigatexel/s
Memory interface 256-bit 64-bit 128-bit 256-bit 256-bit 256-bit ext (512-bit int) 256-bit ext (512-bit int)
Memory clock speed 1.1GHz GDDR3 810MHz GDDR2 1.4GHz GDDR3 1.2GHz GDDR3 1.6GHz GDDR3 1.5GHz GDDR3 1.55GHz GDDR3
Peak memory bandwidth 35.2GB/s 6.5GB/s 22.4GB/s 38.4GB/s 51.2GB/s 48.0GB/s 49.6GB/s

GeForce 7800 GS

On February 3, 2006, NVIDIA announced the 7800 GS as the first AGP video card in the GeForce 7 series lineup. An AGP version of the high end Geforce 7 Series, this new card is boasted by NVIDIA as "the fastest AGP card in existence", though notably it has only 16 pipelines instead of the 20 that the 7800 GT has. Clockspeeds are 375 MHz for the graphics core and 600 MHz (1200 MHz DDR) for the memory. Different vendors may deviate from the standards. More info on the 7800 GS

GeForce 7900 Series

NVIDIA officially announced availability of the GeForce 7900 series on March 9, 2006. See here.

NVIDIA's 7900 series is a product refresh and not a new generation of NVIDIA's GPU, running at 550mhz.

GeForce 7900 GTX

The GeForce 7900 GTX is the latest revision of the (G70 Core), this 90 nm produced G70 (named G71) features all the same features as its older brother the 7800 GTX but is built upon the smaller manufacturing process.

Featuring a clock speed of 650 MHz, opposed to the 550 MHz speed of the 512 GTX, this card offers up to an 8 - 15% performance increase. It features a new 24-pixel pipeline superscalar GPU model, much like the 512 MiB 7800 GTX, but offers faster performance due to "improved pipeline design". "We changed the ROP performance as well as reconfigured some of the pipelines to make sure the card was more optimized over G70," NVIDIA said (see [3]).

Due to shortages of memory modules for the 512 MiB GTX, NVIDIA decided to use the more readily available 1600 MHz memory. This also allows the card to be priced very competitively, giving ATI Technologies a harder time. In turn, ATI made a massive price slash in its current lineup.

It was was released on March 9, 2006.

GeForce 7900 GT

This video card was released on 9 March 2006. Like the 7900 GTX, it is a revised version of the G70 GPU(G71) that is produced at 90 nm. It too offers all the features of the 7800 series as well as an attractive performance-to-price ratio.

Featuring 24 pixel pipelines, it is actually faster than the 256 MiB version of the GeForce 7800 GTX, yet has an MSRP of $299 USD (for the base clockrate). The overclocked versions are priced up to $349 USD.

Shortly after the initial launch of the 7900GT CO/KO/Superclock series, a trend of hardware instability became more and more prevalent. Some symptoms of the unusually large number of defective cards include: artifacting while rendering graphics in graphics benchmarks such as 3DMark03, 3DMark05, 3DMark06 and Aquamark3, artifacting while playing games, BSODs (Blue Screen of Death), total system restarts, and blinking screen.

A large batch of the 7900 GT XX (note: XX may signify CO/KO/SC variants of the 7900 GT) are believed to have defective and/or malfunctioning memory modules, thus causing instability and ultimately, total card failure. Another proposed cause of large-scale instability among the 7900 GT XX include undervolting from the factory. That is, the 7900 GT XX run at a 1.2 volt GPU core voltage, while their higher end relatives, the 7900 GTX, have 1.4 volt GPU voltages, thus permitting higher clock frequencies (GPU/RAM). The 1.2 core volt coupled with factory clocks of up to 520/770 (1540 effective) may suggest that the core voltage is simply too low to allow for higher clock speeds. Another point to note is that the 7900 GT XX and the 7900 GTX are both based around the exact same core, featuring a 90nm process, allowing for a smaller die size and fewer total transistors within the core itself; it now becomes apparent that the 7900 GT XX are actually meant to run at 1.4 volts, much like the 7900 GTX, but are factory undervolted to 1.2 volts. Also a factor contributing to the large numbers of "defective" graphic processing cores is caused by overclockers volt-modding their 7900 GT to increase the voltage going to the core(v1.4,v1.5,v1.55)driving their video cards to an early grave as the g70 core has some very serious frequency limitations.

GeForce 7900 GS

NVIDIA has recently released the 7900 GS, which is designed to fill the gap between the GeForce 7600 GT and the GeForce 7900 GT. As of late, Dell is the only computer manufacturer that sells the 7900 GS.

The GeForce 7900 GS has 20 pixel processors, 7 vertex processors, 256-bit memory bus, and comes clocked at approximately 470 MHz/1320 MHz for core/memory, which should provide slightly sub-par performance to the 7900 GT. The GeForce 7900 GS is powered by the latest graphics chip code-named G71, thus, comes with dual-link DVI outputs and other advantages the G71 has over predecessors, particularly, very low power consumption.[4]

The predicted retail price of the 7900 GS is $250 USD.

GeForce 7900 GX2

This video card was not released for the consumer market directly, but rather distributed to the OEM companies Dell and Alienware (which is now owned by Dell). The GeForce 7900 GX2 is two videocards stacked to fit as a dual slot solution. This is not like products such as the ASUS Dual GeForce 7800 GT, where two GPUs are on the same card. This enables quad-SLI on two PCI Express x16 slots. Other OEM companies have access to the GX2 and now is available from numerous vendors.

The card features a 500 MHz GPU and 1200 MHz effective RAM speed. Although the power of the GX2 is less than the 7900 GTX, each card is more powerful than the 7900 GT.

Many issues in this implementation of a dual-GPU unit convinced nVidia to restrict its sale to OEM companies. The card is extremely long, with only the largest e-ATX cases being able to hold it. Two of the cards operating in quad-SLI also required extremely well designed airflow to function, and demanded a 1000 watt power supply unit.

GeForce 7950 GX2

This is essentially a dual-GPU video card that takes up only a single PCI x16 slot, allowing for 4 GPUs to run with only two PCI x16 slots, in standard SLI motherboards. Unlike the 7900 GX2 before it, this version is available to consumers directly.[5]

The 7950GX2 was released to retail on June 5, 2006, and shares similar specs to the GeForce 7900 GX2, with 500 MHz GPU clock, and 1200Mhz effective RAM speed. 512 MB of memory per GPU, for a total of 1 GB.

This card is designed for the DIY market; it adresses many problems which the previous 7900 GX2 had suffered from, such as noise, size, power consumption, and price. The 7950 GX2 requires only a single PCIe power connector, in contrast to the twin-connectors of its predecessor, and is much shorter, fitting easily in the same space as a 7900 GTX. Superior board layout and the addition of cooling vents on the bracket have greatly improved cooling, allowing the fans to run at a lower speed, thereby lowering noise. As of June 2006, the board can be found for $599, half the cost of a 7900 GX2.

In contrast to the twin-SLI connectors of the 7900 GX2, the 7950 only has one, shared for both GPUs. Technically, this is understandable, as there is no need for a ring bus configuration - frames need only be passed on to the primary GPU. Unfortunatly, NVIDIA has decided to block the ability to use a pair of 7950 GX2s in SLI, saying that they need more time to perfect quad-SLI drivers. The reason given is poor performance, with existing image compositing modes not scaling well enough to four GPUs. A finished driver is expected for a late-summer 2006 release.[6]

According to some review sites (such as Toms Hardware - see above), a single 7950GX2 draws less power than a single ATI Radeon X1900XT - some consider this an amazing feat considering the GX2 employs a pair of GPUs, when the Radeon uses only one. Other review sites say that a GX2 is quieter than the aforementioned Radeon[7], despite the GX2 boasting a pair of identical GPU coolers - however 'loudness' is highly subjective without the proper tools and testing conditions. If true, this would make a pair of GX2s cooler, quieter, and less power hungry than a pair of X1900XTs in Crossfire, with the dual-GX2 undoubtedly being faster, depending on how efficient future NVIDIA drivers are.

Upcoming products

No new GeForce 7 Series products are officially announced, although there is some speculation about an AGP version of the 7600GT, and certainly the 7600GS.

G80 (or, using the old naming philosophy, NV50) is NVIDIA's next GPU, with rumors pointing to either a Summer or Fall release in 2006. It will feature more than 300 million transistors, OpenEXR FP16 HDR with anti-aliasing, WGF 2.0 (DirectX 10) with Shader Model 4.0. It is rumored to be fabricated on the 80nm process.

See also

External links

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