GeForce 7800 GTX architecture features
Despite the noticeable increase in performance, this architecture should not be considered fundamentally new - it is clearly a development and improvement of the well-known NV4X architecture.
Especially GPU codenamed NVIDIA G70 vs NV4X :
Technical process NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX contained more than 300 million transistors, manufactured using a 0.11 micron process technology at TSMC. Despite the increased complexity, the chip's clock speed is higher than its predecessor, as is its overclocking potential.
Pixel shaders The number of G70 pixel processors was 24, at the same time they themselves underwent a number of changes compared to those used in the GeForce 6800 Ultra. In particular, mini-ALUs have been added, aimed at optimizing the execution of the most popular shader instructions. As a result, we saw a significant increase in the performance of the GeForce 7800 GTX over its predecessor in those theoretical tests where the main bottleneck is the performance of pixel processors.
Rasterization units The number of rasterization units (ROPs) has remained unchanged since the GeForce 6800 Ultra, which means that the number of texture samples per clock cycle did not change and amounted to 16. As studies have shown, in the case when the main emphasis of the application was on a large number of textures, the new product was not much superior to the GeForce 6800 Ultra.
Vertex shaders The number of NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX geometric processors is 8, versus 6 for the previous generation chip, and they themselves had a number of architectural optimizations. Despite this, due to the relatively low clock speed, in a number of theoretical tests, the new NVIDIA flagship showed worse results compared to the RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition, operating at a higher frequency.
Frequencies The memory clock frequency of the NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX was 1200 MHz, which is slightly higher than the 1100 MHz of its predecessor and caused a number of cases when the difference in performance between the chips was minimal.
Performance Thanks to the increased number of pixel processors and their ability to handle high dynamic range color, NVIDIA promised a 60% increase in performance for the GeForce 7800 GTX over the GeForce 6800 Ultra in HDR modes.
Quality NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX promised a significant increase in the quality of anti-aliasing of microgeometric objects thanks to Transparent FSAA. The quality of trilinear and anisotropic filtering in the GeForce 7800 GTX was equal to or higher than what the previous generation architecture offered. In terms of trilinear filtering quality, the GeForce 7800 GTX was fully consistent with the GeForce 6800 Ultra, and the quality of anisotropic filtering in the new NVIDIA product was even slightly higher.
Energy consumption For the new product, this approximately corresponded to the same indicator for the GeForce 6800 Ultra, and the heat dissipation, judging by everything, is even somewhat lower - the GeForce 7800 GTX made do with a relatively quiet single-slot cooler, while its predecessor has a bulky and noisy cooling system on board.
Characteristics of NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
| Name | GeForce GTX 7800 |
| Core | G70 |
| Process technology (µm) | 0.11 |
| Transistors (millions) | 302 |
| Core frequency | 430 |
| Memory operating frequency (DDR) | 600 (1200) |
| Bus and memory type | GDDR3 256 Bit |
| Bandwidth (Gb/s) | 38,4 |
| Pixel pipelines | 24 |
| TMU on conveyor | 1 |
| Textures per beat | 24 |
| Textures per pass | 24 |
| Vertex conveyors | 8 |
| Pixel Shaders | 3.0 |
| Vertex Shaders | 3.0 |
| Fill Rate (Mpix/s) | 6880 |
| Fill Rate (Mtex/s) | 10320 |
| DirectX | 9.0c |
| Anti-Aliasing (Max) | SS & MS - 8x |
| Anisotropic Filtering (Max) | 16x |
| Memory Capacity | 512-256 |
| Interface | PCI-E |
| RAMDAC | 2 x 400 |
Architecturally, the NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX, which was the founder of the new family of accelerators, was a successor to the GeForce 6, however, with significantly increased efficiency, as well as a number of innovations. In this regard, it made sense to talk about the GeForce 7800 GTX not as a breakthrough in the field of functionality, but as a product that raised the bar in the field of performance and image quality to unprecedented heights, and also provided a certain foundation for the future.
The greatest strength of the GeForce 7800 GTX was the performance of pixel shaders, which could be seen in games such as Half-Life 2 and FEAR. All games whose speed is limited precisely by the mathematical abilities of the GPUs demonstrated a stunning increase in speed compared to its predecessors - the GeForce 6800 Ultra and RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition.
The new product from NVIDIA also had weaknesses, for example, the presence of 16 rasterization units and a relatively low memory clock speed. The second sometimes did not allow the new graphics chip to show all its power in the case of full-screen anti-aliasing.
The GeForce 7800 GTX had virtually no driver issues. All games and applications ran quickly and without any problems with image quality. In other words, GeForce 7800 GTX buyers received an absolutely stable and complete product: they did not need to resolve any issues related to software and drivers.
Although the power consumption of the GeForce 7800 GTX was slightly higher than the power consumption of the previous flagship, this is not a disadvantage, since the difference of 3W is negligible, while the performance is twice that of the GeForce 6800 Ultra – was undoubtedly an achievement.
FEAR
