Gainward 7900 GS overclocks like mad, beats 7900GT

GAINWARD still likes to be different. Everyone announced their 256MB 7900 GS cards but the red company announced a 512MB one. That's not all - it overclocks like crazy, and it really gives faster cards such as 7900 GT a run for the money.

The company didn't just take Nvidia's reference design and put its sticker on it. It changed the cooler and made the card look really fancy. The black cooler cowers the whole card and cools it very quietly and efficiently.

Gainward uses the G71 chip with 20 pipelines enabled. It is cheaper than the 7900 GT card but this baby can be overclocked for quite a bit. Gainward BLISS 7900GS uses a core that works at 450MHz and memory that works at 1320MHz. The card is, naturally, PCIe and if those clocks sounds familiar I can say that they are the same as the 7900 GT clocks. The card uses Samsung 1.4 ns memory and the memory can be overclocked to the sky. Gainward uses the G71 -N-A2 chip. The chip, as you can see, uses Nvidia's old logo.

Gainward still uses its nicely designed box that has a nice lady on the front and a significant sticker to remind you that the card has 512MB of memory. The box includes the card covered with this nicely designed cooler, a driver CD, Muevee producer editing software, Cyberlink Power DVD 6, quick start manual, two DVI dongles, a PCIe power cable and a HDTV cable.

We initially tested the card at its 450MHz core and 1320MHz memory and compared it with 7900 GT clocked at the same speeds. Then we decided to include 7600 GT, the card that used to be the king of €199 market and as la cr?me Sanjin managed to overclock the card to an astonishing 654MHz core, 4MHz faster than the 7900 GTX core speed and 1600MHz memory, to match the 7900 GTX speeds. Bear in mind that 7900 GTX has four pipelines more but we expected to get better scores than 7900 GT and we did. The Nvidia driver didn't let us overclock the memory faster than 800MHz, 1600MHz in DDR mode but even with an external tool we could not reach higher than 1640MHz stable anyway. Gainward also has a 256MB version of the card, obviously cheaper.

Benchmarketing
We used :
Foxconn C51XE M2aa Nforce 590 SLI motherboard
Athlon FX 62 2800 MHz 90 nanometre Windsor core
2x1024 MB DDR2 Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3 memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon Athlon 64/X2/FX cooler and Intel CPU's
Silverstone Strider ST60F, 600W ATX 2.0 SATA

Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	17024	129.7	109.3	95.6
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	17743	135.4	115.3	101.2
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	21580	171.6	142.7	126.5
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	13786	97.1	84.9	84.4
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	4297.5	8573.1	43.5	227.4
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	4295.3	10445.7	46.9	366.9
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	5410.7	12142.6	59.0	289.3
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	2392.1	6400.3	38.9	287.0
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	7691	34.5	22.8	36.9
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	8117	35.7	24.7	38.8
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	10266	43.7	31.5	49.8
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	6097	26.8	18.6	29.2
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	5049.7	8555.4	261.5	60.8/44.7
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	5174.8	10644.9	303.1	61.2/47.1
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	6245.6	12730.1	360.2	79.6 /61.4
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	2830.8	663 4 .8	185.0	51.5/37.7
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	4290	?	?	?
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	4604	?	?	?
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	5744	?	?	?
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	3375	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	1667	13.457	14.322	?
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	1807	14.518	15.605
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	2347	18.972	20.150
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	1325	10.790	11.300
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	1663	14.631	18.628	?
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	1798	16.086	19.880
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	2312	20.436	25.804
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	1210	10.623	13.579
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	2080	0.664	1.043	?
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	2098	0.673	1.047
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	2132	0.679	1.071
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	2129	0.669	1.064
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	128.7	115.4	95.1	65.5
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	128.4	116.5	97.7	68.1
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	128.8	127.4	116.9	88.0
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	119.3	95.2	72.0	47.4
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	106.5	76.3	56.4	36.4
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	106.5	76.7	56.4	34.7
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	120.6	96.2	73.0	46.9
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	73.8	49.1	35.9	21.1
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	OK 1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	165.9	152.9	129.3	90.7
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	168.9	157.3	137.6	98.8
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	163.1	155.1	145.2	124.1
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	158.1	131.3	100.0	70.1
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	149.7	121.8	93.7	62.7
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	152.3	126.0	97.5	65.2
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	157.5	144.7	121.5	82.2
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	121.7	85.1	63.9	36.3
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	OK 1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	99	73	52	34
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	107	79	56	38
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	126	99	73	49
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	79	57	40	26
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	67	48	33	21
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	71	49	34	22
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	89	64	44	29
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	46	32	22	13
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	95.32	84.71	61.38	39.86
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	97.48	85.88	62.19	38.93
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	95.70	95.13	80.71	52.66
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	82.92	56.12	39.60	23.18
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	152.2	120.4	87.6	60.7
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	158.3	133.0	97.9	68.9
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	159.4	153.8	123.0	86.3
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	125.4	93.0	66.2	45.6
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 HDR	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	113.5	81.4	56.6	38.2
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	118.6	85.3	59.2	40.3
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	147.1	112.6	78.0	52.8
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	81.0	57.1	38.6	25.8
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	115.9	86.2	62.0	43.9
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	123.0	91.4	65.8	44.4
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	147.9	117.0	84.3	60.1
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	83.5	60.7	42.7	26.9
?	?	?	?	?
Half Life 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	85.02	82.87	78.20	67.17
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	84.45	84.97	81.78	74.52
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	85.35	86.46	84.96	82.62
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	84.90	74.00	65.70	52.46
?	?	?	?	?
Half Life 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 450/1320 MHz PCX	84.40	76.02	66.46	51.18
NVIDIA 7900GT 450/1320 MHz	84.27	80.37	72.81	53.09
Gainward BLISS 7900GS 654/1600 MHz PCX	85.12	85.68	81.81	70.47
NVIDIA 7600GT 560/1400 MHz	81.55	59.33	48.17	29.28

Geforce 7600 GT stays behind in every single benchmark. It is 4000 slower in 3Dmark03, 1500 slower in 3Dmark05, 900 marks slower in 3Dmark06 or up to seventy five percent slower in games at 20x15 resolutions. This is of course the most drastic case but still it can show that the 7900 GS is far superior. In Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X 7600 GT is 71 percent slower than the 7900 GS. We included this card just to show you how much Nvidia accomplished with the new card.

Naturally 7900 GS is slower than 7900 GT but just slightly. Despite the same clock speeds 7900 GT has four pipelines more than the 7900GS. You can see the power of four extra pipes at any higher resolution or settings. 3Dmark03 runs 700 points faster on 7900 GT, 3Dmark05 some 400 points faster, 3Dmark06 again 400 points faster. Doom 3 shows only slight difference at all resolutions, up to two and a half frames per second in 7900 GT advantage, nothing really impressive. Even with FSAA and Aniso on both cards performs almost the same. Same thing happens in Quake 4 with and without effects. FEAR shows a difference from four to eight frames but jet again with 4X FSAA and 16 X FSAA 7900 GT is just slightly faster, usually just for a single frame.

Far Cry runs almost identically on both cars with one or two frames difference. Gainward's 7900GS even wins by a frame at 20x15. Serious Sam 2 can run even thirteen frames faster but it is usually up to eight frames faster while in the same game with HDR on the difference drops to five frames only. Serious Sam 2 with FSAA and Aniso on is one to eight frames faster on 7900 GT. 7900 GT wins in Half Life 2 on higher resolutions but for three to six frames, and the same game with effects on scores one to six frames.

Now for the la cr?me the test. We overclocked the card at astonishing 654 MHz core and 1600 MHz memory. This score wiped 7900 GT out of its twenty four pipelines feet.

We could not believe how fast this card can be. Once overclocked it beats 7900 GT by 4000 in 3Dmark03, 2100 in 3Dmark05 and 1100 in 3Dmark06. it is 500 marks faster in Shader model 2.0 test, and jet again 500 mark faster in HDR and Shader model 3.0 test.

In Doom 3 it runs nine frames faster at 12x10, nineteen frames faster at 16x12 and twenty frames at 20x15. we are talking about twenty three percent performance advantage. The trend continues with FSAA and Aniso on as the card is between eight and twenty frames faster. At most common 12x10 resolution it is twenty frames faster and that is the score that really matters.

In Quake 4 7900 GT wins in first two resolutions by five and two frames but as soon as you move to 16x12 7900 GS overclocked wins by eight frames or astonishing twenty five frames at 20x15. FEAR likes overclocked 7900 GS Gainward card and runs nineteen frames faster at 10x7, twenty frames faster at 12x10, seventeen frames at 16x12 and eleven frames at 20x15. 7900 GS runs some twenty percent faster in this test. Even when you turn the FSAA and Aniso on Gainward runs some seventeen frames faster at 10x7, fifteen at 12x10, ten at 16x12 and seven at 20x15.

Serious Sam 2 runs up to 20 frames faster without effects on, with HDR on its almost thirty frames faster at 10x7 and twenty seven frames faster at 12x10, nineteen frames faster at 16x12 and eleven at 20x15. the same advantage stays with the game with FSAA and Aniso on.

Half Life 2 runs one to six frames faster while in Half Life 2 with 4X FSAA and 8X Aniso Gainward runs one frame faster at 10x7, five frames at 12x10, nine frames at 16x12 and seventeen frames at 12x10. All the games except FEAR get you more than sixty frames per second even at the highest 2048x1536 resolution and FSAA 4X and Aniso 8 to 16X on.

In short
We are impressed with the overclocking potential of this card. It will dominate over the default clocked Geforce 7900 GT in every single case. Even when not overclocked, it will be just slightly slower than the 7900 GT.

Gainward made a great card and with a price of €220+ or €229 at Alternate it makes a great buy. It is silent, it overclocks like crazy and performs up to twenty per cent faster than the default clocked 7900 GT. It beats the hell out of the good old 7600 GT card so it is a good upgrade even for guys who own 7600 GT cards.

We will have to compare it with ATI cards as well, but we can hardly think of an ATI card that can beat this performance at this price, maybe X1950 PRO, RV570 stands a chance but we are sceptical about it. Gainward 7900 GS Bliss is a card that I can simply recommend to anyone as it makes a difference at a super attractive price. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic