Vendor Cards: BFG GeForce 7800GTX OC

Conclusion

In performance, the numbers show that the BFG GeForce 7800GTX OC comes out on top overall. This is essentially because of the factory overclock. It has the highest core and memory clock speeds out of the box, but it's the memory overclock that really makes a difference. With a memory core set at 1.3GHz, the highest that we've seen yet, those who like enabling AA with higher resolutions should definitely consider this card. Even if you don't care so much about AA, you'll still see slightly better performance out of the box with this card than with the EVGA or MSI version.

At the time of writing this article, the deal that we mentioned in the MSI review where EVGA's overclocked 7800GTX came bundled with Battlefield 2 for $500 is no longer available. That card is selling for about $25 more now. Also consider that the MSI's 7800GTX is selling for $480 and comes with The Chronicles of Riddick. However, the downfall of the MSI card is that it doesn't have the benefit of the factory- overclock that EVGA's has.

The BFG 7800GTX OC reviewed today is selling for about $525, and while it doesn't come with any games, it's still not that much more to pay, considering that it will outperform both of the other two off the shelf. To be fair, however, for those who like to do some overclocking of their own, you might very well be able to bump up the speeds of both the EVGA and MSI cards just as high, if not higher, than the BFG. Like we've said before, each individual card overclocks differently, so you can't be sure how high one will go until you take it home and try it for yourself. Since the price market is so dynamic on the GeForce 7800GTX series right now, you might want to take a look at our Price Engine for the lowest prices on 7800GTX cards.

This is what makes it difficult for us to say which card out of the three it is that we would recommend. If you're not going to overclock manually, we would say that the MSI is the weakest card of the batch. As we mentioned before, however, The Chronicles of Riddick is an excellent game and given that it's the lowest priced 7800GTX, the MSI might be a worthwhile pick. If you absolutely must have the best performance regardless of cost, then BFG's 7800GTX OC is your card. The EVGA 7800GTX performs almost as well as the BFG and comes with Battlefield 2, one of the most popular games out now. It is actually cheaper to buy the card with the BF2 bundle right now than to purchase the game separately (though, we can say the same of the MSI card and Riddick).

Overall, the EVGA 7800GTX bundle comes out on top for the third time in a row, although the gap between the cards seems much closer this round. Interest in the game bundles combined with the games that you already own may well be the deciding factor. Something else that we'd like to congratulate EVGA on is their recent decision to offer a lifetime warranty for their cards starting June 22, matching BFG in that respect. We'll see if EVGA can hold the title in our next article on the XFX 7800GTX. As always, please email or comment if there is any way that we can make these reviews more helpful to you when considering in which 7800 to invest.