NVIDIA GeForce 7900GT 256MB

Receiving the retail unit for the GeForce 7900GT, the official title for this EVGA graphics card is the e-GeForce 7900GT CO SUPERCLOCKED 256MB. The EVGA part number is 256-P2-N565-AX. As has been a common occurrence with recent NVIDIA product launches is the immediate availability of these products (also known as a hard launch) and today is no different. The various NVIDIA GeForce 7900 products should be available at the popular e-retailers and brick-and-mortar shops as of this morning, or they should be arriving shortly. End-users should not experience the supply issues that had come about with the GeForce 7800GTX 512MB. The EVGA 7900GT retail unit used eVGA's traditional package design as well as assortment of accessories. On the front of the packaging is an image of this PCI Express graphics card as well as listing some of its features -- 550/1580MHz, GDDR3, 256MB, SLI Ready, and PCI-E. For those Microsoft Windows users, this card is also slated to be built for Windows Vista. On the sides of the packaging are the system requirements and the included free trial software as well as why users should "NSIST" on NVIDIA. As was brought up in previous Phoronix EVGA articles, EVGA Corporation is rare in the fact they offer a step-up program for trading in their existing EVGA graphics card and can trade it for the latest-and-greatest presently available. In addition, EVGA also offers a lifetime warranty on their products. EVGA's lifetime warranty is surprising in the fact they allow the card to be overclocked, BIOS flashed, cooling solution altered, and cooling solution using water cooling. This warranty is frankly like none other in the industry. Getting back on track with the rear side of the packaging, the contents as well as features are listed. Some of the stated e-GeForce 7900GT features include: SLI Ready, Microsoft DirectX 9.0, Shader Model 3.0, True HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting, NVIDIA PureVideo, built for Microsoft Windows Vista, dual dual-link DVI support, 2560 x 1600 resolution supported, CineFX 4.0, Intellisample 4.0, ForceWare Unified Driver Architecture, nView multi-display technology, PCI Express, and OpenGL 2.0 support. The external appearance of the packaging is quite conservative compared against other manufacturers with their goblins and mythical figures that generally coat the exterior.

Opening up the EVGA packaging, the accessories were sorted from the actual graphics card by using a plastic coffin-like housing. As was also shared in past articles, eVGA's technique has proved to be quite reliable in our tests of protecting the product from being damaged during routine transportation. The contents of the graphics card container was the EVGA e-GeForce 7900GT, EVGA driver install CD (Windows) and trial software (Beyond Media and Ulead DVD MovieFactor), two DVI to VGA dongles, HDTV output, 6-pin PCI Express power adapter, S-Video cable, user's guide, and EVGA sticker pack. Another trait of EVGA products is the lackluster accessories. While some NVIDIA partners are full-fledged on providing every imaginable accessory, EVGA takes the moderately slim route of only providing the needed components -- which can often equate to end-user savings. Overall, the package selection is intact with all of the needed components, while nothing too extraordinary has been included with the induction of the GeForce 7900 series. However, let's jump to the beauty -- the SUPERCLOCKED 256MB.