The Chronicles Of Riddick - Escape From Butcher Bay

We've left out the X850 scores here since there was something really wrong with our results. For some reasons, after repeated tests, we were never able to get over 15fps. This is odd, since the actual gameplay was similar to the 6800 GT (slightly faster). As for the Albatron 7800 GTX, the card finished on top, beating out the 6800 GT in SLI by a small margin.

Overclocking

While we appreciate the smaller cooler, it did limit us in overclocking out of the box. The default 3D clock speed on Albatron's 7800 GTX was 430MHz core and 1.2GHz memory. Idling on the Windows desktop (2D core clock is 275MHz), we were seeing temperatures in the high-40s (°C). After a couple benchmarks, we were in the high-70s.

We managed a maximum overclock of 473MHz for the core, and a mere 6MHz bump for the memory. At these speeds, the temperature only crept up a couple degrees, topping out at 82°C. Unfortunently, gaming performance didn't scale as well as the core speeds, with only a 3% improvement on average.

Final Words

If we could choose one word for the Albatron 7800 GTX, it would be fast. The card tore through all of our tests with aplomb, and did so at high levels of image quality. In fact, I thought the quality in gaming surpassed ATI in all scenarios, though using the DVI connection to our Dell 20.5" widescreen, I still feel ATI is still stronger in desktop quality.

None of the games, even the tough ones like Half-Life 2, proved to be any problem for the Albatron 7800 GTX. Average framerates only tell part of the story, and the actual experience with the 7800 GTX was positive overall. The card proved to be faster than even a pair of 6800 GTs, which is about the same price for the pair, but obviously with a lone 7800 GTX, you do have the option of SLI with that as well.

If there are any flaws with the card, they are merely cosmetic. Being one of the first to market, there is nothing remarkable about Albatron's 7800 GTX. We're faced with stock cooling, a minimal bundle (pretty much zero for out of the box fun), but at the same time, the pricing should be very competitive given the card is really the star of the show. Overclocking was average, but since we're seeing the 7800 GTX close to its limits already, we were not too put off by this.

The big question owners of current high-end cards may wonder is "do I need this?"

In a single card environment, there's pretty much no question that the Albatron 7800 GTX is pretty much on top. Not only in benchmarks, but gameplay and gaming image quality as well. However, depending on the games you play and your current setup, it may not be a required purchase, especially if you just dropped a wad of cash not long ago for a 6800 GT/Ultra or an X8xx series video card. With the exception of the single 6800 GT in some scenarios, all of the cards we've tested today provided a similar gaming experience.

While the gaming experience was similar, overall we feel the Albatron 7800 GTX is more future-proof (not surprisingly since it's the newest of the bunch) than the others, and with the ability to setup SLI, you'll have a setup gamers would frag for.

Pros: Fastest single card. Period. SLI capable.

Cons: Expensive. No bundle, generic configuration.

Bottom Line: Performance like this doesn't come cheap, but you get what you pay for. In this case, the Albatron 7800 GTX will provide lightning quick performance with the image quality to match. The bundle is nothing to boast about, but nobody usually cares about that anyway.