The GeForce 7800 GTX Card

One of the most apparent differences between the GeForce 7800 GTX and the GeForce 6800 Ultra is the cooling solution used. In the new GeForce 7800 GTX, NVIDIA chose to adopt a single-slot solution, instead of the bulky dual-slot solution seen in the 6800 Ultra.

Front of the card

While the "slimmer" cooling solution saves space, the GeForce 7800 GTX is unfortunately still a long card. In fact, at 22.9 cm long, it's slightly longer than the 6800 Ultra! Although it's hard to see from the photo above, the extra length will make it harder to install or remove memory modules on most motherboards.

Here's a size comparison of the 7800 GTX (in the center) with the 6800 GT (left) and the 6800 Ultra (right).

From left to right : 6800 GT, 7800 GTX, 6800 Ultra

Even though the PCI Express slot is capable of providing up to 75W of power, it's not surprising to see the GeForce 7800 GTX sporting an additional PCI Express power connector at the top right end of the card. We did not test the power consumption of the 7800 GTX, but NVIDIA claims its power output is slightly less than that of the 6800 Ultra, even with 80 million more transistors.

This reference card also comes with two DVI connectors and an S-Video output, just like what we have seen in the GeForce 6800 cards. Even the location of the SLI connector remained unchanged.

S-Video Out

The back of the card features a single X-plate for the GPU cooler as well as a C-shaped heatspreader for the GDDR3 memory chips.

Back of the card

The layout of the card hasn't change much since the 5900 Ultra days. The arrangement of the memory chips remained the same, but on the 7800 GTX, NVIDIA decided to utilize both sides of the PCB.

Front, cooler removed

As you can see from the pictures above and below, there are empty spots for additional GDDR3 memory chips on both sides of the PCB. The 7800 GTX's PCB was evidently designed to allow manufacturers to quickly increase the amount of onboard memory to 512MB, if there is demand for such a configuration.

Back, cooler removed