|
MSI GeForce 7900 GT 256MB HDCP Ready Review |
|
Written by Mavke
|
|
Saturday, 05 August 2006 |
PCStats reports about their review on the MSI GeForce 7900 GT 256MB HDCP Ready graphics card. TV output has become standard feature for virtually every video card. Mainstream and higher end graphics cards support a whole range of output options from composite to component. In an effort to combat movie piracy, next generation high definition players and TV's will incorporate hardware level encryption that cannot be disabled by the user, and so too must video cards if you plan to watch high definition movies from your computer. The movie industry has already conceded piracy of DVD movies but it's doing its best to make sure it doesn't happen with High Definition videos.
 MSI GeForce 7900 GT 256MB HDCP Ready Review
HDCP or High bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a hardware digital rights management tool developed by Intel to protect high definition video and audio content during transmission from the player to the screen, in whatever form those two devices may take. Essentially what this means for consumers is that we'll all need to have HDCP compatible components in order to view High Definition content. If one device in the chain not support HDCP, content will be downgraded to a 540p signal at best, audio to DAT quality. At the very worst, rumor has it that protected content will not play at all....
With this in mind, those of you who are thinking about building an entertainment computer, media PC, or home theatre PC had better plan your purchases wisely as HDCP compatible video cards are hard to come by. Microsoft Windows Vista will natively incorporate HDCP support, so it's wise to plan ahead at this stage in the game if movies are your passion. MSI has just released its GeForce 7900 GT HD which is HDCP compatible, this is the first HDCP enabled PCI Express video card from the company. That's right, this card is not just a 3D gamer's baby, it also plays nicely with High Definition hardware as well.
Build around the redesigned G71 core, the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT GPU is normally clocked at 450MHz but the MSI GeForce 7900 GT HD is clocked at 500MHz. Its pixel pipeline has remained the same at 24, and the vertex pipeline at 8. The GeForce 7900GT core continues on with Intellisample 4.0 technology, CineFX 4.0 engine and supports DirectX 9.0C and OpenGL 2.0. The memory controller remains at 256-bits, and the GDDR3 memory has a default clock speed of 1.3GHz. Once again the MSI GeForce 7900 GT HD has its memory clocked higer, up 210MHz to 1530MHz.
The first wave of the transition to HDCP enabled hardware is happening now, and its good to see video card manufacturers are getting into the game early with their hardware encryption rather than later. Failure to include this new form of hardware encryption anywhere in the chain between player and monitor (or HDTV) means high definition content is played at lesser quality. That defeats the purpose of High Definition content in the first place. With the new MSI GeForce 7900 GT HD video card, half of the puzzle is complete and all you need is a HDCP compliant monitor or TV and you're ready to rock and roll.
Performance of the MSI GeForce 7900 GT HD video card was excellent on the whole, it is a GeForce 7900GT based graphics card after all. The GeForce 7900 GT HD excelled in virtually every benchmark, this card has enough power to take on pretty much any game on the market right now. In terms of overclocking the MSI GeForce 7900 GT HD was quite feisty. With stock cooling the card was able to reach a top speed of 575MHz for the core and 1527MHz for the memory, both are definitely very quick speeds. With a third party cooler on the video card GPU, there's little doubt that it might go even faster.
The best thing about the MSI GeForce 7900 GT HD though has got to be its price. At $295 the GeForce 7900 GT video card is an absolute steal! If you're looking to upgrade, it's definitely a good deal; HDCP support, lightning fast framerates and an aggressive price, there really isn't much more you could ask for!
Related Articles
Forsa GeForce 7900 GT 256MB PCI-E Review
EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT KO SuperClock Review
XFX GeForce 7900 GT 256MB Extreme Edition Review
|
Galaxy 9800GT PCIe 512MB - Rev 01
