Review of 2 silent Asus cards â€“ 7800GT & 7600GS

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Sat May 13, 2006 9:35 am

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2756

cAPSLOCK · Post by **cAPSLOCK** » Sun May 14, 2006 1:31 am

I'm dissapointed with the 7600GS, I thought it would be cooler - cool enough to make a truly passive gaming PC with a core duo and picoPSU....

jebusau · Post by **jebusau** » Sat May 27, 2006 10:58 pm

you have to keep things in perspective, i dont think you can find a card that runs THAT cool at THAT performance level. but otherwise i do agree with you - it would be nice if this card did what it did at a lower temp, isnt thats what we all want here? hehehe...

david25 · Post by **david25** » Sat May 27, 2006 11:35 pm

Try one of these instead

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/VGA/P ... 76T256D-RH

jebusau · Post by **jebusau** » Sun May 28, 2006 8:22 am

david25 wrote:Try one of these instead

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/VGA/P ... 76T256D-RH

That's a nice card but its going to run even hotter than the 7600GS

david25 · Post by **david25** » Sun May 28, 2006 10:48 am

Hi, mine idles around 50'c and 70'c when loaded, not too bad I think.

In a Lian pc60, this is fine (plenty of space) and 3 80mm fans

tempeteduson · Post by **tempeteduson** » Sun May 28, 2006 10:52 am

Does anyone know if the ASUS 7600 GS is much better at cooling than the reference passive 7600 GS (eVGA, XFX)? The heatsink wraps around to the bottom of the card, which faces up so that that part of the HS can get some airflow from the exhaust fan and/or CPU fan.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sun May 28, 2006 3:05 pm

david25 wrote:Hi, mine idles around 50'c and 70'c when loaded, not too bad I think.

In a Lian pc60, this is fine (plenty of space) and 3 80mm fans

Around 50C at idle and 70C around loaded sounds absolutely good to me.

Looks like Gigabyte's Silent Pipe II is a success.

david25 · Post by **david25** » Sun May 28, 2006 10:38 pm

The new 7xxx range from nvidia does use less power, i think around 20 watts idle and 50-ish for the 7600gt, i'd recommend at least one case fan to circulate some air (I need a little because I also have a zen fanless psu)

jebusau · Post by **jebusau** » Sun May 28, 2006 10:58 pm

david25 wrote:The new 7xxx range from nvidia does use less power, i think around 20 watts idle and 50-ish for the 7600gt, i'd recommend at least one case fan to circulate some air (I need a little because I also have a zen fanless psu)

they sure do - from what i've been led to believe the 7600gs reference card was designed explicitly for HTPC / silent / power-conscious computing, i think they have done such a good job that they realised they can even make fanless 7600GT's without too many additional considerations - hell, there's even a fanless 7800GT out there somewhere...

if you need the extra grunt or are happy to pay the extra US$50 or so, then i would definitely get a fanless 7600gt. Just keep in mind that at idle, the core/memory clock speeds of a 7600GT run faster (ie hotter & more power) than a 7600gs (7600gs = 400/400 core/memory clock speeds and 7600gt = 500/700 core/memory clock speeds), so while both are relatively cool compared to a fanless 6600gt's, the 7600gs is going to be a better option for anyone that's not going to be using the card for gaming... imho...

ideally - you get a 7600gt and underclock it for when you dont need the extra grunt and then turn it back up when required!

david25 · Post by **david25** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:05 am

Do anyone know if its possible to underclock a 7600gt when idle or in windows? Then normal clock when in 3d?

Thanks

jebusau · Post by **jebusau** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:04 pm

Its my understanding that the card comes with software to modify the core/memory clock frequency, also i believe you can do this with third party software like RivaTuner. I don't know this for 100% as i haven't recieved my card yet...

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:23 pm

There's a review of the Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH on HardwareZone. According to the review, the Asus EN7600GT Silent seems to offer better passive cooling performances:

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue May 30, 2006 3:27 pm

there is like no point in running anything besides a 7800 GT if you want to game. a 7600 sounds only 200 smaller, but does less than half the desired effect of the 7800GT. the power to performance of a 7800GT and now factor in price, is really the sweet spot for the near silent gamer like me. a 7600, and for that matter, any reduced number from the primary card version, has half the memory bus. the 128 with slower clocks massively bottlenecks those cards.

I however have a x1900 all in wonder, which, i have in a reserator system and that all cost a crapload when you add it up. But... if you look at the numbers, a 7800GT is a swell deal. 7900GT is swell as well, just more pricey.

I would get an EVGA 7800GT and work on it with spcr skills. it retains lifetime warranties even if you tinker with the card, plus, they get very high gaming scores, as well as being cheaper than other brands.

However, dont get me wrong, it will compete with a 6600gt which kills a 9800 pro, which means that it can do SOMETHING, but why buy a half product if you want to game?

just my vent on this topic

Engine · Post by **Engine** » Tue May 30, 2006 3:52 pm

~El~Jefe~ wrote:there is like no point in running anything besides a 7800 GT if you want to game.

Well, it /does/ depend on what games you want to play, and at what resolution, and with how much eye candy. I'm perfectly satisfied with a 7600GT, personally, and have gotten by for a while now with my much-hated 9700 Pro. But I got by with a GeForce2 GTS for quite a long while. Not everyone's looking to play BF2 at 1280x1020, you know.

My recommendation is to look at the games you want to be able to play, and the quality you want to play them at, and then buy a card that can do that. If you have the luxury of extra cash, by all means, plan a little headroom for the future. But ultimately...well, it's only video games anyway, you know?

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:11 pm

BLASPHEMER !!!!!!!

EasyRaider · Post by **EasyRaider** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:23 pm

~El~Jefe~ wrote:there is like no point in running anything besides a 7800 GT if you want to game. a 7600 sounds only 200 smaller, but does less than half the desired effect of the 7800GT.
[...]
However, dont get me wrong, it will compete with a 6600gt which kills a 9800 pro, which means that it can do SOMETHING, but why buy a half product if you want to game?

Are you talking about the 7600GS? That is a bit faster than 6600GT on average.

OTOH, 7600GT is much faster than half 7800GT. The 6800GT gets thoroughly beaten, even though 7600GT has just 70% of the bandwith.

Which card is the better buy depends on pricing, but most gamers should be fine with 7600GT (or X1800 GTO) for a while.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed May 31, 2006 2:14 am

Well, we all have our priorities.

Eyecandy is nice, but I also have ears, which dont like noise. Which is more important?

I want warranty, so I only look at VGA cards, which comes passive as standard.

Where I live, the Asus 7800GT Silent is double price, compared to a Asus 7600GT Silent. But appearently the 7800GT aint double as good. Basically, both are dead silent, but it wouldnt surprice me, if the 7800 requires more airflow. And probably suck more juice out of the PSU -> more noise.

So the way I look at it, the 7800 got less speed for money, and is more noisy. Not interesting - to me.

Each to his own.

Engine · Post by **Engine** » Wed May 31, 2006 7:59 am

Ja. Same here. A 7800 would be faster, but it's almost inevitable that it's going to cost more and make more noise. I don't need the extra few FPS, and my priority is silence over performance. [Although I like a little of both.] For me, the 7600GT is in the price/performance sweet spot.

I'm still /not/ sure if I'll buy a passive one, or an active one and an Accelero. It does get pretty warm where I live, and I'd rather prolong the useful lifetime of the device versus getting another few decibels lower. Again, it's priorities; that's why there's no "one best" computer.

david25 · Post by **david25** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:29 am

Hi, couple of things;

The Asus 7600gr passive has no availability in the UK, so rahter than waiting I choose the Gigabyte.

Understand the 7800/7900gt are better cards, but I'm happy with the 7600gt coming from a 800xl. BF2 is fine at 1280x1024, all medium and 100% distance, HL2/Sin happy at 1280x1024, all high with 2x aa.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:39 am

affordability is of course the main rational thing that should drive everyone to purchase something vs another thing.

The 7800GT in a pre-made passive setup is lame!! just buy the cheapest evga 7800gt and work the spcr way. a 120mm Nexus on 8-9 volts is inaudible in a case and beats any passive cooling attempt. The only issue is that the case temps are now increased, something that is hard to deal with using some psu's that ramp up when the case gets hotter. the 7800GT is VERY easy to cool down in its own right though. I would bet a lot of cash that it could use the blue zalman sandwich cooler and a nexus 120 and be fine and dandy. reason being that it uses fairly equal wattage to a 9800 pro, a card that is easily cooled by the Zalman blue sandwich and low flow fan.

Heck, I cooled down my x1900 allinwonder with a zalman 2nd generation vga block on the reserator1 cooling circuit. It runs cooler than my 9800pro did on the same circuit using the same block. No one has reported this, but I think that is because no one around both owns a near silent watercooled system and a x1900 allinwonder. (price gets in the way, plus fear of the x1900 series and heat)

An x800xl is significantly faster than a 6600gt (double the speed in most games). most tests show that a 7600 is the same speed in most games and slightly faster in other games than a 6600GT. x800xl is a cool running card, cooler than a 9800 pro by a slight watt or two...... eh.... 7600 is not faster than a 6800gt by any noticable means, if its cheaper and cooler though, its a win of course.