Leadtek PX7900GT-Extreme 256MB Video Card Review

[RobRich]

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The 7900's physical layout has gone through a fairly impressive size reduction since the 7800 card was en vogue. With both a noticably smaller heatsink, and about 3/4 of an inch cut off the backend, you might be tempted to think that you're getting less for your money, and if physical mass were an evaluative factor for video card testing, you might be right. The beauty is that in terms of computer silicon, smaller is cooler, and cooler is almost always better. Because the G71 chip under the hood has undergone a die shrink since the 7800 (down to 90nm from 130nm) it generates MUCH less heat. As a result, Nvidia was able to both increase clockspeeds while shinking its heatsink cooler. Usually, I'd say this was a great move, as a smaller heatsink means a smaller fan and a smaller fan means less noise, but I can't help but notice that this smaller cooler has no contact at all with the 256 mb of ram on the 7900 card. As the card has higher memory clocks than the 7800 cards before it, it would seem that ram cooling isn't all that much of a crucial factor in this card generation, but the overclocker in me can't help but think that the lack of ram cooling represents a missed opportunity when it comes to pushing performance. Luckily, for those willing to push those boundaries, aftermarket video card cooling solutions are either readily available, or will be soon.

Source: Auphan Online