AOpen Aeolus 7800GTX SLI
15. Conclusion
The high-end AOpen 7800GTX DVDC256 card is the best solution AOpen has to offer for great gaming performance and picture quality. The card comes with all you will need to get your VGA board working on any CRT/TFT monitor, or even on your TV set. In the retail package you will also find two games that take advantage of the advanced features on these cards, producing excellent video quality. If all these could be achieved with only one AOpen 7800GTX card, imagine what you can do with two of them in SLI mode!
In all our test runs, there was no competitor that could match the performance of the 7800GTX SLI cards. This was the first time that we saw the 3DMark05 10,000 barrier broken so easily, without the need to overclock. A great set of features, and especially IntelliSample 4.0 technology, will produce more vivid pictures, making gaming more realistic. It was also the first time that we saw Doom3 reaching its limit, reporting 110fps in the demo run.
However, the device drivers keep the card on a leash at times, when there is no demand for high GPU power. When testing these cards, there were occasions where we had low, perhaps even misleading results at low screen resolutions, indicating lower framerates than the other cards. The advantage of this behaviour is that you get as much power as is required, which also helps keep noise levels down, since the fans spin at lower rotation speeds. On the other hand, the cards can get pretty noisy at higher resolutions, with higher graphics demands, but in any case, still quieter than the older 6800Ultras.
Usually, performance is proportional to temperature, and the Aeolus 7800GTX DVDC256 is no exception. The cards can get really hot, even to the touch. But don't think that temperature will keep these cards from overclocking. We managed to go as high as 499MHz for the core clock, and 1390MHz for the memory clock.
The target group of these AOpen 7800GTX DVDC256 cards is PC enthusiasts who will pay any price for the best system they can have. And they will surely get that with these cards. One of these graphic boards costs approximately US$560.
Pros:
- Awesome performance in all tests
- Relatively low noise levels
- Great nVidia features for unique image quality
- Very good retail package
- Require only one PCI slot
- S.L.I.
Cons:
- High price, aimed at PC enthusiasts
- Average but adequate cooling system
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