Nvidia Geforce 7800 GTX 512

While ATI is struggling to get its flagship X1800 XT off the ground, Nvidia has just announced the brand new Geforce 7800 GTX 512.

Using the same G70 chip that was the driving force behind the 7800 GTX, this new model, as the name suggests, houses double the memory at 512MB. Clock speeds have also been given a boost.

Whereas the 7800 GTX has a core clock of 430MHz, the 7800 GTX 512 runs at 550MHz as standard. However, as with the 7800 GTX, we expect graphics card manufacturers to improve on this slightly. Memory clock speeds are similarly impressive - 850MHz DDR, which equates to a staggering 1.7GHz effective.

We ran our reference sample through the usual set of benchmarks. In most tests, Nvidia's new baby out-paced the ATI X1800 XT and you can find detailed results here.

Conscious that gamers want low operational noise as well as top performance, Nvidia has spent a lot of time on the cooling system for the 7800 GTX 512. Using a combination of heatpipes and an extra large fan, it's incredibly quiet.

Of course, this sort of technology doesn't come cheap. Nvidia runs a well-oiled machine when it comes to making their new cards available on the day they're announced and the 7800 GTX 512 can be purchased today for £516. Unless you're a hardened gamer who demands the best at any price, we'd recommend opting for a 256MB 7800 GTX, saving yourself around £200.

The 7800 GTX 512 scores points not just for being insanely fast, but also for its effective and quiet cooling system. It's managed to push the Radeon X1800 XT to the sidelines but, in the highly competitive world of graphics cards, we don’t expect ATI to let Nvidia hog the limelight for long.

Geforce 7800 GTX 512 performance results

Compare it to all graphics cards