Introduction

While the arrival of the GeForce 7900 family was an important achievement for NVIDIA, it can be argued that the GeForce 7900’s little cousin, the G73-based GeForce 7600 family is just as critical, if not the more important product for NVIDIA. “Why?” you ask? Because while the GeForce 7900’s performance grabs the most press and headlines, it is the GeForce 7600 line that brings in the bulk of graphics card sales for NVIDIA and their board partners. After all, not many users are willing to budget $300-$500+ for a high-end video card, especially now that Windows Vista and DirectX 10 are right around the corner.

Even more significant is OEM adoption. System manufacturers like Dell and HP buy value and mainstream graphics cards like the GeForce 7600 by the truckload. These cards then go into the $900+ systems that are becoming increasingly popular with computer shoppers tired of spending $2,000 or more on a new PC.

The XFX and EVGA GeForce 7600 GS cards

Another shot of the boards

Today’s latest mainstream graphics cards pack quite a punch too. While they don’t sport the wider 256-bit memory interface found in more expensive graphics cards, they’re capable of delivering performance equivalent to the high-end DX9 cards of just a few years ago.

The GeForce 6600 GT for instance was capable of outperforming the Radeon 9700/9800 Pro in many cases, while its successor, the GeForce 7600 GT, is a better overall performer than NVIDIA’s once mighty GeForce 6800 GT despite the fact that it has fewer pixel shaders and a narrower 128-bit memory interface. The GeForce 7600 GT is largely responsible for making the GeForce 6800 GS irrelevant.

GeForce 6600 GT and GeForce 7600 GT cards with GeForce 7600 GS

But we’re not here to talk about the GeForce 7600 GT today, that article is coming shortly. Instead we’re talking about its younger sibling, the GeForce 7600 GS. The GeForce 7600 GS shares all of the key architectural features found in the GeForce 7600 GT, including its 12 pixel shaders and five vertex shaders. Like the GeForce 7600 GT, the 7600 GS utilizes two 64-bit memory controllers, for a 128-bit (total) memory interface. The only difference between the 7600 GT and 7600 GS lies in clock speeds. Whereas the GeForce 7600 GT runs at 560MHz, the GeForce 7600 GS runs at 400MHz. On the memory side, the GeForce 7600 GS ships with 256MB of DDR2 memory running at 400MHz. In comparison, the GeForce 7600 GT’s reference specifications call for 256MB of GDDR3 memory running at 700MHz.

Because of the card’s slower speeds, you’ll never confuse a stock GeForce 7600 GS board for a 7600 GT, but the lower clocks allow NVIDIA’s board partners to cool the card passively – a fan isn’t required for operation. In fact both of the boards we’re featuring today boast silent operation. Let’s get started by taking a look at the EVGA e-GeForce 7600 GS.