SLI EVGA 7900 GT Signature Series card tested

WE ALREADY wrote about the single-signature edition card and you'll find that here. We showed that this overclocked beast can run even faster than a more expensive 7900 GTX.

Now we've been lucky enough to get a hold of two of such cards and to test them in SLI. You can actually order this nice-looking box of tricks today. You can get this very limited edition for exactly $750 at Newegg and I am sure that there will be a few of these show-off cards in Europe.

It's a good price an,d if you burn one or both of the cards, you will get a replacement the next business day. What more can you ask?

Both cards are clocked at 600MHz core and 1600MHz memory and the package includes a nice photo manual, a driver CD, two DVI dongles, power cable, S VIDEO cable and HDTV cable. You get everything you need, though we would have liked to see a game inside.

EVGA's cooler covers the memory as well, so it will make the card a little bit stable. It is interesting that even when we heavily overclocked the cards we didn't have any stability issues. Both cards have dual DVI and TV out.

Benchmarketing
We used :
Asus A8N32 Deluxe Nforce 4 SLI X16 motherboard
Athlon FX 57 2800 MHz 90 nanometre San Diego core
2x1024 MB Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Akasa AK913 EVO 33 Athlon 64 cooler
Silverstone Strider ST60F, 600W ATX 2.0 SATA
Nvidia Forceware 84.21_forceware_winxp2k_whq

This time we managed to run the memory at even 1920MHz, quite amazing as the memory declared that it should work at 1800MHz only, that is at least what Samsung says. We also tested at 1850MHz memory settings, as 1920MHz was not stable at all times, but it sure is cool to run it.

Just like in previous tests, we tested a single EVGA 7900 GT signature edition card at 600MHz core and 1800MHz memory. We also tested two cards together in SLI and compared them to the same cards overclocked to 665MHz core and 1850MHz memory. We then compared them to Nvidia's Geforce 7900 GTX SLI setup at reference clock of 650MHz core and 1600MHz memory. We wanted to see whether the two cards could defeat the faster Nvidia setup. They did well.

You'd expect two 7900 GT Signature edition cards to be faster than one. If you don't use FSAA and Aniso, you have to get to 20x15 to get a noticeable difference. Even the overclocked version won't do much better, as the game is CPU-limited at these settings. A 7900 GTX SLI is slightly faster than the other cards.

Once you turn the FSAA and Aniso you can see the real power of two cards. The pairing can be up to 25 frames faster and, if you test the two overclocked cards, you can gain an additional twelve frames at 20x15. Under these settings, this card can even beat a 7900 GTX SLI but in all the other resolutions the 7900 GTX SLI will manage to be a frame or two faster.

Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	105.6	105.2	100.5	83.5
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	103.9	103.5	103.2	100.2
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	104.1	103.6	103.6	101.3
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	105.2	105.5	105.0	103.9
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	102.4	86.3	68.5	43.8
7900GT Signature EVG 600/1600MHz SLI	103.2	100.1	93.3	63.8
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	102.6	100.8	96.7	79.7
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	105.2	104.3	100.9	78.6
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	83.51	83.46	73.96	45.73
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	81.49	80.75	79.95	76.21
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	81.70	80.10	80.17	78.45
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	80.72	80.03	80.58	78.24
?	?	?	?	?
Half Life 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	72.24	73.18	71.94	65.22
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	66.13	62.94	62.16	60.91
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	66.42	63.04	62.19	61.29
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	65.89	63.03	62.23	60.66
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	147.9	142.3	137.7	120.6
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	145.1	143.2	142.4	137.4
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	145.2	143.8	142.6	139.6
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	144.5	143.9	142.4	129.0
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	139.2	129.2	112.5	80.6
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	141.6	138.7	132.9	117.7
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	143.2	140.2	135.7	125.8
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	143.1	135.6	129.0	118.8
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	119	98	73	51
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	123	117	108	84
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	123	121	112	92
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	124	119	110	85
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	86	63	44	27
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	111	101	77	48
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	114	103	85	56
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	114	104	80	55
?	?	?	?	?
Battlefield 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	98.46	92.96	72.81	44.78
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	92.92	91.74	86.86	73.12
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	93.78	91.80	88.74	77.01
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	96.36	94.92	94.70	90.65
?	?	?	?	?
Battlefield 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	97.39	90.02	70.13	41.55
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	93.17	91.55	88.00	69.17
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	93.19	91.63	89.04	72.52
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	95.18	94.87	94.58	88.10
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Nature
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	20646	171.1	139.6	121.5
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	33416	293.2	244.3	213.3
7900GT Signature EVGA 650/1816MHz SLI OC	35130	311.1	255.9	227.3
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	35223	308.4	255.2	231.2
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	5389.4	13711.3	58.2	457.0
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	10618.9	26584.9	106.3	805.2
7900GT Signature EVGA 650/1816MHz SLI OC	11965.3	28454.7	108.7	855.3
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	10597.7	28840.0	109.5	880.7
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game3
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	9920	41.5	30.9	48.7
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	13176	47.0	36.9	84.5
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	13485	47.1	36.9	90.0
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	13431	47.1	36.9	89.3
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS /VS complex
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	6324.8	14092.3	389.7	76.7/61.0
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	12444.6	27331.5	746.9	151.3/117.6
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	14356.0	30096.4	822.8	170.6/130.6
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	12307.4	29609.3	810.7	164.5/128.5
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	4994	?	?
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	7064	?	?
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	7216	?	?
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	7171	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	2363	18.985	20.394
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	3866	31.791	32.639
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	3893	32.184	32.702
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	3908	32.380	32.747
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	2305	20.738	25.361
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	3995	37.421	41.680
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	4200	41.611	42.389
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	4110	39.782	42.421
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz	1100	0.346	0.559
7900GT Signature EVGA 600/1600MHz SLI	1098	0.346	0.559
7900GT Signature EVGA 665/1850MHz SLI OC	1100	0.346	0.559
7900GTX NVIDIA 650/1600 MHz SLI	1098	0.346	0.558
?	?	?	?	?

Far Cry with FSAA and Aniso runs 31 frames faster than a single card or, should I say, eighty percent faster. The other cards are really tight and perform roughly the same.

Half Life 2 was a shocker as a single card works better than ANY SLI setup we tried. If you play Half life 2 be sure to turn off the SLI as it can make things slower. We don't know what happened here but we tried it a few times.

Quake 4 loves the 7900 GT Signature SLI and can run up to seventeen frames faster than a single card. Both the default and overclocked EVGA Signature Edition SLI beat two 7900 GTXs at the highest resolution by ten frames. With FSAA and Aniso on, both EVGA SLIs are faster than two 7900 GTX SLI cards except the fact that the non-overclocked one loses by a frame at the higher resolution. Two overclocked EVGA cards run seven frames faster than two 7900 GTXs.

FEAR also likes overclocked cards. Two non-overclocked Signature cards can run 33 frames faster, while the overclocked SLI runs up to seven frames faster than two 7900 GTXs. Even with the FSAA 4X and 16X Aniso overclocked, the EVGA 7900 GT SLI can beat or keep up with two 7900 GTX cards while the non-overclocked card will lose by a few frames. Two overclocked 7900 GT cards run more than 100 per cent faster than a single card. That is a rather impressive score.

Nvidia's two 7900 GTXs are top in Battlefield 2 and can run up to seventeen frames faster. You get more than sixty percent performance increase in SLI, versus the single card test. Same scenario repeats in Battlefield 2 with FSAA and Aniso turned on, with the two 7900 GTX cards winning out.

3Dmark03 was a tricky one as it simply didn't want to run on 665MHz core and 1850MHz memory. That was the only test that refused to work at these settings and therefore we tested this one at 650MHz core and 1850MHz memory. Two overclocked 7900 GT Signature cards in SLI almost match two 7900 GTXs in performance. There is a less than 100 points difference but some games do run faster on two overclocked Signature cards. Two cards will run 13000 to 15000 marks faster in this test and that is a lot.

There is a four- to four-and-a-half thousand marks difference in 3Dmark05 between a single and double SLI card. The overclocked 7900 GT Signature SLI is slightly faster than two 7900 GTX SLIs.

Two overclocked cards are winning the 3Dmark06 test but just by an insignificant fifteen points, but, hey, they are still faster. You gain 2000 marks from two cards and the overclocked SLI is the fastest in Shader model 2.0, 3.0 and the CPU tests.

In Short
We are not disappointed with running the two cards together. In most of the cases, they are either faster or they will run at the speed of two 7900 GTX cards. It costs $750 for both cards and they will perform quite nicely. I can always recommend SLI for anyone that loves to play with FSAA and Anisotropic on. You won't have much luck with FSAA and HDR together but that is the only bad thing that can happen to you when you buy the current Nvidia monster.

The cards are available now and have superb customer support. As we mentioned, if anything happens to your cards you will get a new one on the next business day, which is great. We don't need to say much more than that, with the FSAA 4X and Aniso 16X on, it can get a smashing 104 percent faster than a single card at 20x15. Now, that is a score that might justify the spend.

What can I say, other than two are better than one? ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic