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Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT 256MB DDR2 Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Friday, 07 July 2006 |
Hardware Zone comes with a review on the Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT 256MB DDR2 graphics card. Those who checked the Gainward BLISS 7300 GT Limited Edition would be surprised with its performance. While it is no doubt rather refreshing to find a GeForce 7300 series card hitting way above its hierarchy in the benchmarking, in the process eclipsing the GeForce 7600 GS, the fine performance was due to the rather extreme specifications of that GeForce 7300 GT. Most GeForce 7300 GT cards would more likely stick to their low-end roots and come equipped with inexpensive memory and more mundane clock speeds. Given the freedom to tinker by NVIDIA, one can expect to find quite a range of clock speeds for this product from the usual partners.
 Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT 256MB DDR2 Review
Of course, such a situation means that the marketing folks can really stretch the truth and their minds trying to come up with ways to distinguish their products. One typical approach is to introduce a higher clocked special version and benchmark it against the standard version. That is exactly what we found on the box packaging of Gigabyte's GeForce 7300 GT 256MB DDR2, which has been dubbed the TurboForce edition. More importantly, the blurb on the box claims that the Gigabyte is up to 15.1% faster than the GeForce 7300 GT standard. But is there really such a thing for the GeForce 7300 GT?
Like many low-end graphics products, Gigabyte's version features a passive cooler. While NVIDIA may not have issued any edict regarding the kind of cooling on the GeForce 7300 GT, the trend does appear to favor the silent type. Such a design would emphasize the suitability of the GeForce 7300 GT in HTPC setups and make it more attractive to budding HTPC enthusiasts. The cooler on the Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT utilizes heat pipe technology to transfer the heat to a special section of cooling fins, which should dissipate heat faster than the conventional chunk of aluminum heatsink.
Gigabyte's idea of TurboForce is to clock the core of its GeForce 7300 GT to 450MHz. As the lower limits of the range specified by NVIDIA for this SKU is 350MHz, the Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT should be faster than some of the slower and cheaper GeForce 7300 GT products out there. In that sense, the Gigabyte probably holds up to its claims of being 15.1% faster than the competition. The DDR2 memory chips are rated at 2.5ns and clocked at 800MHz DDR, which is quite tame compared to the GDDR3 memory clocks on the Gainward. So the jaw dropping performance of the Gainward is unlikely to be repeated.
For the mainstream consumer, the GeForce 7300 GT offers another low-end alternative to the ubiquitous integrated graphics found. Together with the more affordable GeForce 7300 GS, NVIDIA has bolstered its low-end offerings to cater to different needs. The almost unprecedented amount of flexibility in terms of the clock speeds for the GeForce 7300 GT means that this chipset can span the entire low to mid-range segment. As we have already seen with the Gainward, with the right blend of hardware and frequencies, it likely even obsoletes NVIDIA's own GeForce 7600 GS.
However, again we have to caution that not every GeForce 7300 GT is equal and checking its clock speeds carefully before making a choice between the various offerings would probably save you some grief. For the Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT, its aims are decidedly more modest. Its clock speeds fall roughly in the middle of the prescribed frequencies and so Gigabyte's version of the GeForce 7300 GT is more down to earth. It has a narrow edge over the GeForce 7600 GS for some benchmarks while at the same time, conceded a few too. Generally, you should expect competitive results with the GeForce 7600 GS.
If you already have a GeForce 6600 GT, the Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT does not provide that much of an incentive to upgrade, unless the dual-link DVI and the better PureVideo support found in the GeForce 7 series is something that you require. The passive cooler should also skew it in favor of HTPC users, especially since gaming performance is not their main priority. Besides, the GeForce 7300 GT should perform decently in most games at standard resolutions without enabling too much eye candy. Being a low-end mainstream product, price probably ranks among the higher considerations for the GeForce 7300 GT.
For the Gigabyte, it can compete against the GeForce 7600 GS for overall performance but the best thing is that it's priced lower than a GeForce 7600 GS. With the GeForce 7600 GS costing around $125-140, the Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GT has the price edge, given that it's available locally at around $100. It is precisely this combination of price and performance that makes the GeForce 7300 GT an excellent choice for those who just require a decent budget graphics card. Is there any more reason to get a GeForce 7600 GS anymore?
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