Hypersonic Aviator EX7: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX First Look
by Josh Venning on October 10, 2005 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
Overall, what we have here is a very impressive mobile gaming part. Those looking for the highest performance in notebook gaming need not look any further than this. NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7800 GTX, while not quite as fast as the standard version, still lives up to its name and handles the native 1920x1200 resolution with ease, even with 4x AA enabled. This will make any unit that is fitted with one attractive to those who want a complete and compact package, offering the power that they need to run any game at the highest settings. While the limited battery life that you'll probably experience in a laptop like this is a drawback (these types of systems usually only have 1 or 2 hours of battery life), the portability factor makes it ideal for LAN parties, and it will be sure to impress, regardless of your gaming abilities. But with prices that can get as high as $5,000, you'll be paying top dollar for the performance.
The Hypersonic Aviator EX7 is one of the best laptops that you can buy for gaming right now, but many companies who offer desktop replacement laptops will most likely offer a version fitted with a Go 7800 GTX. With the Hypersonic, we were very pleased at how all of the games ran smoothly at even the highest settings, so you definitely wouldn't be disappointed with the performance of this card. Some people might not like the fact that it's not clocked quite as high as the normal version, and due to obvious reasons (heat, etc.), the card can't really be overclocked. But because most laptops don't incorporate screens larger than 1920x1200 and no games are going to truly bring the Go 7800 GTX to its knees at this resolution, there's not much else right now which would require you to do so.
It's interesting to note that in the past, ATI has generally been the leader in mobility parts over NVIDIA. Since the Go 6800 Ultra hit the scene (and the rest of the mobile 6 series line up), NVIDIA has been gaining ground in performance and desirability. We're curious to see how ATI will respond to the Go 7800 GTX, as this looks like yet another major blow from NVIDIA. Especially considering the fact that NVIDIA had availability of a mobile part the day it launched from multiple vendors including Dell and Hypersonic. ATI couldn't even pull that off with a desktop product launch.
At the same time, as we've seen with Intel hardware, leaner hardware with high clock speeds tend to scale less forgivingly with power than wider architectures with a lower clock speed. We are very interested to see if ATI will be able to drop anything like their 625 MHz X1800 XT into a notebook without melting the plastic casing. Power draw on the high end part is higher than their previous generation, and won't likely fit into the same TDP envelope as the X850 XT as easily as the Go 7800 GTX does.
But this industry is all about surprises, and we won't count out ATI until we see hardware. Of course, no matter how good their hardware is, the longer they take to bring a mobile part to market, the more ground they will lose.
Overall, what we have here is a very impressive mobile gaming part. Those looking for the highest performance in notebook gaming need not look any further than this. NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7800 GTX, while not quite as fast as the standard version, still lives up to its name and handles the native 1920x1200 resolution with ease, even with 4x AA enabled. This will make any unit that is fitted with one attractive to those who want a complete and compact package, offering the power that they need to run any game at the highest settings. While the limited battery life that you'll probably experience in a laptop like this is a drawback (these types of systems usually only have 1 or 2 hours of battery life), the portability factor makes it ideal for LAN parties, and it will be sure to impress, regardless of your gaming abilities. But with prices that can get as high as $5,000, you'll be paying top dollar for the performance.
The Hypersonic Aviator EX7 is one of the best laptops that you can buy for gaming right now, but many companies who offer desktop replacement laptops will most likely offer a version fitted with a Go 7800 GTX. With the Hypersonic, we were very pleased at how all of the games ran smoothly at even the highest settings, so you definitely wouldn't be disappointed with the performance of this card. Some people might not like the fact that it's not clocked quite as high as the normal version, and due to obvious reasons (heat, etc.), the card can't really be overclocked. But because most laptops don't incorporate screens larger than 1920x1200 and no games are going to truly bring the Go 7800 GTX to its knees at this resolution, there's not much else right now which would require you to do so.
It's interesting to note that in the past, ATI has generally been the leader in mobility parts over NVIDIA. Since the Go 6800 Ultra hit the scene (and the rest of the mobile 6 series line up), NVIDIA has been gaining ground in performance and desirability. We're curious to see how ATI will respond to the Go 7800 GTX, as this looks like yet another major blow from NVIDIA. Especially considering the fact that NVIDIA had availability of a mobile part the day it launched from multiple vendors including Dell and Hypersonic. ATI couldn't even pull that off with a desktop product launch.
At the same time, as we've seen with Intel hardware, leaner hardware with high clock speeds tend to scale less forgivingly with power than wider architectures with a lower clock speed. We are very interested to see if ATI will be able to drop anything like their 625 MHz X1800 XT into a notebook without melting the plastic casing. Power draw on the high end part is higher than their previous generation, and won't likely fit into the same TDP envelope as the X850 XT as easily as the Go 7800 GTX does.
But this industry is all about surprises, and we won't count out ATI until we see hardware. Of course, no matter how good their hardware is, the longer they take to bring a mobile part to market, the more ground they will lose.
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cryptonomicon - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Wouldn't it have made the benches slightly more accurate if the same processor was used?Don't tell me intel doesnt give parts to AT to review anymore..
fishmonger12 - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
i did a double take when i first saw the processors used... however, at high resolutions such as the ones used, the game wouldn't be very cpu limited. it still might account for a 3-5 frame difference though...timmiser - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
I'm thinking AT should just redo this just to prove their point!ElFenix - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
in the second to last article it claims that the power draw for the X1800XT is higher than that of the X850XT. but according to your initial X1800XT review, power draw for that part is lower than the X850XT. i can only imagine that what you really meant is the X800XT mobile part.ElFenix - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
as was stated early on, far too warm and too big to sit on your lap for any time. they probably shouldn't be called notebooks either. 13 lbs would put your leg to sleep. no, these should be called portables.what i really want, and no one really seems to provide, is a truely mobile notebook computer with good gaming capability. there is a big gap between the x300 type graphics you get on a laptop with good mobility and the 6800gt/7800gt/x800 graphics you can get on a portable that weighs as much as 2 text books and is too big to possibly open on an airplane or a cramped college desk. the acer ferrari/travelmate 8100 laptop is about as close as it gets (x700, under 7 lbs, 15" screen) but i find the warranty to be a bit lacking.
Johnmcl7 - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Dell have the Precision M70 which comes with a GeForce 6800 class card although since it's a Quadro you obviously pay a lot more for the machine.John
ElFenix - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
hmmm... looks like a latitude d810 with better gfx... i wonder why you can't get that gfx card in a d810? i wonder how much it would be to order the gfx card as a spare part for your d810? actually... comparing prices between the M70 and d810 it isn't that differentbbomb - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Didnt they just release the 6100 and 6150 GO mobile parts? And now a week later the 7800GTX Go part? Why did they even bother with the 6x series then?JarredWalton - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Because they don't cost $500+ for just the GPU. Those are the budget offerings for laptops. If you want a $1000 lappy with okay graphics, that's what you'll get.yacoub - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
I'd totally pay $1800 for one of those. Sadly, it probably retails for almost three times that much. Laptops are the ultimate rip-off. Shame, 'cause it'd be nice to finally replace the desktop with something still decent for gaming. It's simply not worth paying three to four times as much though. $1500 will get you a high end AMD-based system with a real 7800GTX.