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MSI GeForce 7600 GS 256MB PCI-E Review |
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Written by Zombie
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Wednesday, 10 May 2006 |
Legion Hardware presents a review on the MSI GeForce 7600 GS 256MB PCIe video card. Nearly almost every graphics card available today has some kind of cut down version, for example the GeForce 7900 GTX has the GeForce 7900 GT. The cut down versions are often more appealing than the fully fledged thing as they deliver almost the same level of performance for a greatly reduced price. However, not all cut down versions are good news, as some suffer from serious performance hits due to greatly decreased memory bandwidths. Recently NVIDIA finally updated the very successful GeForce 6600 GT graphics card with the GeForce 7600 GT.
 MSI GeForce 7600 GS 256MB PCI-E Review
After recently reviewing the GeForce 7600 GT, I was extremely impressed with what this $180 option could do. Shortly after announcing the GeForce 7600 GT, NVIDIA went ahead and unleashed the GeForce 7600 GS, a cut down version of the original card. Currently the average GeForce 7600 GS graphics card costs $50 less than existing GeForce 7600 GT cards, which is a 40% saving. Given how affordable the GeForce 7600 GT is, the GS is certainly going to be difficult to refuse for bargain hunters and I am sure this is something NVIDIA are betting on.
So what exactly makes the GeForce 7600 GS a cut down version of the GeForce 7600 GT? In short not a lot; like the GeForce 7600 GT the GS version uses the same G73 core featuring all 12 pixel pipelines along with the 5 vertex pipelines. Furthermore the GeForce 7600 GS still offers support for all the new rendering technologies and is capable of utilizing SLI mode. The GeForce 7600 GS also uses the same 128-bit wide memory bus and 256MB of onboard memory just like the GeForce 7600 GT. Where the two differ is of course in the memory and core clock frequencies.
While the GeForce 7600 GT comes with a core clock of 560MHz, the GS version is clocked at just 400MHz. The memory frequencies are a similar story, as the GeForce 7600 GS comes clocked at a lot less as the memory operates at just 800MHz DDR. These two factors alone are obviously going to limit the performance of the GeForce 7600 GS, the question is how much? Given the GeForce 7600 GS features a 90nm design it uses less power than previous versions and therefore it pumps out less heat. Unlike more high-end products this graphics card does not require additional power.
The NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS is exceptionally good value at $130 and with the MSI version currently retailing for just $115, they are unbelievably good value. At this price the GeForce 7600 GS is cheaper than the older GeForce 6600 GT. In fact it is even cheaper than the Radeon X1600 PRO. Sure the MSI GeForce 7600 GS is quite a lot slower than the GT version, but with a $65 price discrepancy who cares? What's more, if you are prepared to carry out a little overclocking, this MSI GeForce 7600 GS graphics card comes quite close to delivering GT like performance.
Currently for this price bracket, there are no other current generation graphics cards that offer a better bang for your buck than the GeForce 7600 GS. Furthermore, you would be hard pressed doing better with a past generation graphics card as well. The GeForce 7600 GS really does fill the $100-130 price bracket very well. Performance and price aside there is more that impresses about this graphics card; take for example the completely passive design. Though it is all very well and good to use a passive design with this MSI graphics card, does it run at a reasonable temperature?
So the MSI GeForce 7600 GS offers amazingly good performance for just $115, features the latest GeForce 7 technologies and uses a very suitable cooling solution. Now you are probably wondering what is bad about this product. If you are then I am happy to report that there is nothing negative to be said about this product. Of course all you kids out there will cry about the performance because it's not a GeForce 7900 GTX, but at the same time it does not cost +$500, so deal with it. As far as value for money is concerned the GeForce 7600 GS is a winner in my eyes.
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