Gainward's AGP is a wolf in sheep's clothing

IT FINALLY seems that the boys at Gainward woke up. It was about time as we always knew that the company could do better. There has been a lot of internal changes since last summer but those are finally in the past. The company was working on the new strategies and the new design and was happy to introduce it at CeBIT.

The card we had on our table is a nice example of what the company wants to do. It wants to sell as one of the king performance brands and it is doing a great job. To be more precise it wants to be the king but it is not that easy anymore. The market is getting more complicated as companies such as XFX, EVGA, BFG and others are chasing the same customers.

Once we plugged the Gainward 7800 GS in our AGP testing rig we expected that the card had to be slower than the just reviewed EVGA's 7800 GS. You can check it here. Gainward's card is clocked at 425MHz core and 1200Mhz memory so it was natural to expect that this card will lose against EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz. Well it didn't!

At the end we found out why, but we will tell you later, we don't want to spoil the surprise. We even tried to overclock the card and the results were extraordinary. The greatest thing about this card is that it actually has 512 MB memory and this is probably the fastest card with the most of memory that your money can buy. It has eight memory chips working at 1200 MHz but they could be clocked even more. The card has 425MHz core but it worked just as fine at 460MHz.

This card's magic is that it actually has G71, Geforce 7800 GT PCIe core bridged down to AGP. It has G70 core with full 20 pipelines that worked at 425 MHz and famous BR2 chip managed to bridge the card down to AGP. It finally made perfect sense as 20 pipelines has to be faster than the 16 that you get with EVGA card. EVGA 7800 GS card works at 460 MHz 1350Mhz core and we managed to reproduce the same clocks with the Gainward card. Gainward uses Arctic cooling for this card and we can tell that it does the job. It is very silent and it will keep the card cool and even let you overclock a lot.

Benchmarketing:
We used :
Athlon FX 57 2800 MHz
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB
EVGA 7800 GS 460 MHz /1350 MHz
Abit AV8 , K8T800 based motherboard
512 MB Corsair PC 3200 memory
Western Digital 8MB 160GB IDE drive
Akasa AK128 EVO Athlon 64 cooler
Akasa 650W multi rail PSU

Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	100.6	96.8	91.4	69.5
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	100.2	96.7	87.1	64.3
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	96.8	91.3	76.5	48.8
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	93.1	76.3	60.4	39.4
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	90.3	73.6	54.9	35.7
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB 256MB	75.8	54.7	39.2	22.0
Far Cry	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	72.77	72.16	70.92	63.72
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	71.76	70.59	69.58	61.67
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	71.14	70.29	67.67	50.09
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	67.12	64.61	58.12	37.88
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	71.15	66.33	53.76	35.97
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	69.27	64.93	47.69	26.55
Counter Strike Stress Test	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	194.76	187.15	151.37	108.93
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	177.92	173.55	145.52	108.83
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	158.38	149.98	124.09	93.46
Counter Strike Stress Test FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	190.82	165.50	115.56	80.84
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	172.62	158.27	114.96	80.68
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	158.07	134.28	96.42	61.92
Half Life 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	69.20	69.93	65.68	60-03
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	67.93	67.61	65.06	59.29
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	69.21	68.88	65.86	55.88
Half Life 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	68.60	64.34	61.61	48.46
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	68.78	64.00	59.57	47.94
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	67.81	61.51	53.95	39.23
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	127.0	121.7	114.9	91.5
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	125.6	171.4	110.2	85.4
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	124.6	116.7	103.3	66.6
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	118.4	108.0	92.6	65.0
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	113.0	105.0	86.6	59.4
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	110.6	90.7	70.5	42.3
FEAR	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	93	71	50	35
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	87	63	48	32
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	80	52	40	25
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	63	42	31	20
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	59	41	28	19
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	47	32	22	11
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	16539	134.4	110.8	92.1
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	15469	124.3	102.7	85.9
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	14240	109.9	91.8	83.3
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Vertex Shader
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	4803.3	8573.9	42.5	342.0
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	4259.7	8257.8	39.6	319.2
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	3719.3	7117.7	37.8	298.4
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	7724	34.1	22.4	38.6
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	7312	32.9	21.0	36.2
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	6802	30.4	19.6	33.8
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	5487.4	9085.8	279.7	64.6/45.1
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	4893.0	8374.4	254.8	59.3/41.3
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	4134.4	7235.5	220.3	57.1/44.4
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	4357
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	4056
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	3656
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	1700	13.689	14.652
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	1578	12.666	13.639
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	1441	11.430	12.590
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	1744	15.302	19.581
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	1610	14.054	18.154
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	1387	12.344	15.406
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB	1869	0.590	0.948
Gainward Bliss 7800GS 425/1200 MHz 512MB	1803	0.575	0.904
EVGA 7800 GS 460/1350 MHz 256MB	1809	0.579	0.904

AS you can see 7800 GS with 7800 GT chip inside, swipes all of the competition out of the way. Naturally the overclocked card is faster than the other cards in Doom 3. At 2048x1536 overclocked Gainward Bliss card is actually full 20 frames faster. It is almost twice as fast in Doom 3 FSAA 4X and 16 X aniso. 7800 GT is showing its mussels even in AGP variation.

Far Cry is again fastest with the fastest overclocked Gainward Bliss 7800GS 460/1350 MHz 512MB card. The difference is narrow in without effects but as soon as you turn them on there is a difference of up to 9 frames or 25 percent at the highest resolution.

Counter Strike just loves high clocks. Bliss 7800 GS is roughly 20 frames faster than the competitors and if you overclock it gets you even more juice. The difference remains even with 4X FSAA and 8X aniso.

Half Life 2 is very CPU limited and there is no any significant difference before you turn the effects on and even then you can just see a few frames difference at the highest resolutions. It gets up to eight frames faster and that's about it.

Quake 4 likes overclocked 7800 GT with the 7800 GS on the sticker. The fastest clocked card wins and GT chip is definitely doing the job. It can get up to 30 frames faster than the Normal 7800 GS. The difference remains with the effects on and the card can be up to 50 percent faster in the highest resolution. That is a lot.

FEAR likes to torture cards. The overclocked one is the fastest and it can run as much as 20 frames faster or should we say 30 per cent. The difference remains with the effects on.

Naturally, Bliss 7800 GS with 7800 GT wins all the marks. Default clocked Bliss is around 1000 mark faster than EVGA and overclocked one is 1000 marks faster than the default clocked one. The difference is smaller with 3Dmark05 but still Bliss is 500 marks faster than EVGA card and overclocked card is about 1000 marks faster. Linearly 3Dmark06 shows even smaller difference and the overclocked bliss is around 300 marks faster than default clocked one and this card is 300 marks faster than the EVGA card.

Conclusion
It is not rocket science. Gainward 7800 GS Bliss card is the fastest AGP card that we came across. It smashes the competition and it comes with 512MB of memory. This card is definitely going to get you the top performance out of your AGP system. It should roughly cost €400 with VAT in Euroland and will definitely give you all you need.

It is fast, it is dead silent and it can overclock like hell. They don't call it goes like Hell for nothing. µ

* Tested and reviewed by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic