EVGA 7800GT $360 After $40 rebate + Free 939 NF4 SLI mobo

[gundamit]

eVGA Geforce 7800GT 256-P2-N518 Video Card - Retail Be sure to check off the combo box to get the mobo.

The rebate is in effect for a while so better deals may be coming. The mobo may not be the best in class but you might be able to sell it off or use it in a mild build. Tip of the cap to FW for the deal.

EDIT: Sold out in just a few hours. They had 30+ when I first posted. Not surprisingly they went fast.

10/28 Edit This deal is back. Although no $40 rebate so $400 instead of $360Here is the direct link to NewEgg.

10/28 Only! TigerDirect also has this deal with an additional $20 rebate and no sales tax to those who might have to pay to shop with the Egg in CA and NJ.

12/16 Update: Now just $349 less $20 EVGACPL coupon code drops the combo to $329! Register your card with eVGA and get Quake 4 free.

[HousERaT]

I'm still looking for some solid benchmarks with this card. Any idea how well these things work?

[gundamit]

These won't clock higher than any other standard reference design, and its all luck of the draw from GPU to GPU.

Reveiw @ Techgage

I like the performance gain for BF2 running SLI. At this price, why not buy two?

Auto-detecting at close to 500 on core. Lucky?

[HousERaT]

thanks for the info...... it appears this card is quite superior to the X850XTPE for just a few dollars more..... I'm gonna have to rethink my purchase of a new card.

[en4cer]

Looks like a good buy. I'd like to upgrade to the 7800 series.

[Lithan]

came today. Very well packaged. (HUGE box) Videocard was box inside a box inside a box.

[gundamit]

Dang. Both my orders are still in transit. One combo from NJ. They split my other combo between NJ(mobo) and CA(7800) warehouses.

[Perc]

where is the combo box at? i only see the video card with the rebate nothing showing a free mb?? i gues you snooze you loose!!!

peace perc,

[gundamit]

Yeah the deal was done in just a few hours. I think a version of it will return when the mobo comes back instock. The rebate will be active until the end of the month. I just wonder if NewEgg will take $50 off the MSRP next time. The EVGA site had the same deal but no rebate, no free shipping and full MSRP. ZZF and Monarch also have done a version of this deal.

Too bad more XS members didn't get in on this deal. I've always wondered why this section wasn't more active and how it could be a better resource for members. A "deal alert" auto-email based on keywords in the title would be a cool feature. Come to think of it, that might be a good feature for all sections.

[gundamit]

came today. Very well packaged. (HUGE box) Videocard was box inside a box inside a box.

Final box also had foam pads on four corners and plastic clamshell inside. Overkill? My split order is still in transit but at least I have one combo to play with this weekend.

Big wildcard on this mobo (built by Jetway) will be the max HTT. Seems as though I've seen some unimpressive ones but Anandtech got their Jetway to 300+ easily. BTW my first mobo is revision 2.2.

[Lithan]

Mine is 2.2 too, and yeah I found it funny how they packed the retail box videocard with the hard drive style foam corners.

[gundamit]

Early testing on the mobo is right in line with what I'm reading on the EVGA boards. I've got it stable at 244HTT 1:1 with my OCZ TCCD 2.5-3-3-7 1T but at 250 it a no go. I threw a divider at it to eliminate the memory as the problem but its losing its mind at 260. This is with the E04 bios.

Outside of the mediocre right out of the box OC, I'm left with some other initial impressions:

+ Green PCB. Its so old school I was startled by it.
+ Power and reset switches right on the board.
- CMOS jumper isn't positioned next to the battery. The USB jumper is. I'd be embarrased to admit how many times I tried to reset the bios with the USB jumper.
- Northbridge cooler is super cheap. Although I don't think its holding up the OC party.
- The CPU bracket and back plate are non-standard so I had to pull the one off my DFI to mount my water cooling.
- Memory settings in bios are minimal. The divider setting is such you can see the actual memory speed without consulting a chart, calculator or straining your brain, but with the limited OC action, it won't get much work.

There was no way this mobo was going to be a world beater for this price, but its seems like a decent board. Maybe its just a bios revision away from higher OCs but I'm thinking its more likely I'll be packaging these boards into game rigs for people on my Xmas list.

[dogsx2]

I was close to buying that package but didn't. I can't figure out how Anandtech got the results they did. How do the 7800gt's compare to the 6800gt's you were using?

[gundamit]

Its still sitting in the box. I'm testing the mobo with my trusty x800XL. Lol. I'll test a bit when get the second video card arrives next week. Don't have much time right now since lately I'm spending a lot of time at work. I don't think there will be any suprises with the 7800GTs. Once I figure out how/what kind of water cooling I'm going to use on them, I'll get down to some serious benching. I might actually wait until I get my Opteron 939 to try and crack my 12K 3Dmark '05 personal best. Aren't you suppose to be trying to find me an Opty Mr. DealMaster? Get me one as nice as that X2 you found.

@Lithan - Can you work on some results that'll make me hang my head in shame. Then I can blame my results on my poor OC skills.

[dogsx2]

Does anyone know why they seem to get some AMD cpu's over in eastern Europe before we get them in the US? One dual core is all I want, I want to try out a 144.

[Damien]

Crazy deal though, let us know if anyone notices it comes back, I would jump on it.

[gundamit]

Still not making much headway on the HTT, but at least now I finally cracked 250 with ClockGen and a Tweaker adjustment on the TREF.



http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=38999

[Lithan]

Its still sitting in the box. I'm testing the mobo with my trusty x800XL. Lol. I'll test a bit when get the second video card arrives next week. Don't have much time right now since lately I'm spending a lot of time at work. I don't think there will be any suprises with the 7800GTs. Once I figure out how/what kind of water cooling I'm going to use on them, I'll get down to some serious benching. I might actually wait until I get my Opteron 939 to try and crack my 12K 3Dmark '05 personal best. Aren't you suppose to be trying to find me an Opty Mr. DealMaster? Get me one as nice as that X2 you found.

@Lithan - Can you work on some results that'll make me hang my head in shame. Then I can blame my results on my poor OC skills.

Cpu comes on thursday, then I'll see what I can make it do. I suspect the problem is no good bios though... so you'll need to get a hold of a bios modder to see some real results.

[gundamit]

Cpu comes on thursday, then I'll see what I can make it do. I suspect the problem is no good bios though... so you'll need to get a hold of a bios modder to see some real results.

I was thinking about trying the Jetway bios, but I seem to recall someone trying that and their mobo stopped posting. I'll have two boards so I might be able to read up on hot swapping the bios chips and be able to restore the native bios if something goes wrong. Of course that'll be after I test the second board. Just need to confirm at least one successful bios swap. At that point I'm sure my curiosity will get the upper hand on my judgement and I'll do the deed.

[Lithan]

Do jetways do any better HTT-wise in practice?

[gundamit]

Haven't seen any threads on the XS for the Jetway. All I've seen is the Anandtech review.

[Lithan]

Anyone know how I can read temps in windows with this board? Just hooked it up and testing now... but temps were insane in bios (50*C @ stock with big typhoon).

[gundamit]

I've been using Jetway Myguard MBM software. Temps in bios look good though right? I never even looked on th CD for any MBM software. Think I read about the Jetway MBM on the Anand thread. You can see part of Myguard MBM in my screenie. I though the DFI MBM was ugly, Jetway has topped them.

[Lithan]

Well, either board or ram tops out at 240. (Ram/board topped on at 250 with my dothan/p4c setup... so could be the ram... but I suspect it's the board. I'll test in Memtest later to verify (Pass memtest, but not stable windows = 99.9% certainty it's the board.) This is much worse than expected. I might have to sell this to a non/moderate overclocker and get a dfi. Might look into a jetway bios first and see if those help overclocking any.

Off topic: can current DFI ultra-d's still be unlocked for SLI?

[gundamit]

Well, either board or ram tops out at 240. (Ram/board topped on at 250

Plenty of people are saying this board is picky about memory and the Polygon over at Rebel's Haven is saying any 2x512mb set won't go over 250. 2x256 stays at 1:1 over 300HTT.
http://www.rhcf.com/sisubb/ultimateb...pic/14/12.html

I dropped a 133 divider on my TCCD and I think this is what Anand must have done on their review of the Jetway.



Hopefully a bios revision or hack will resolve this problem. Makes me want to try 2x1gig. Maybe I'l have to drop a 100 divider on it. Lol. Have to use Clockgen to do the final HTT setting since even with the divider 260+ in the bios is a no boot.

Off topic: can current DFI ultra-d's still be unlocked for SLI?

The rumor I've been hearing is no.