Sager and the Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX

I notice the Sager 9750 comes with a 256MB Nvidia Geforce 7900 GTX. Over at Dell's site the Dell XPS M1710 comes with the option of a 512MB Nvidia Geforce 7900 GTX. Any idea if Sager is planning on offering the option of a 512MB 7900 GTX card?

 

I cancelled my dell order after finding out that sager is coming out with the ridiculous 512 mb card in early july. I gurantee you I will be all over it. I dont even game much but I want it since it is ludicrious.

 

Here's a discussion thread with the 512MB Go7900GTX + availability with the NP5760 and perhaps other Sager notebooks:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=53518&page=3&highlight=512
Post #29 has good info.

Chaz

 

yes, I am soo glad I talked to paladin at powernotebooks, and I will order the sager with this video card the day it comes out. Of course I will shop around choose from one of the top vendors. They all seem to post here except laptopdiscounts.com

 

Sager will also be releasing the Quadro 512MB FX2500 video card. ETA 6/30 on the NP9750 NP9890, with the 512MB 7900GTX shortly after and including the NP5760.

 

Hmmmmm, early July eh? Maybe I should hold off on ordering, or not. Can't decide.

 

You might want to wait ,512 mb video card is required for Next Gen games to unlock all display options (resolution, texture, etc), such as Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and the Unreal Engine 3 (Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, UT2007, Coded Arms: Assault (if it gets to go to PC), etc) games that are soon to be released.

I know, my 7800 Go GTX 256mb is not good enough for Ghost Recon to unlock the resolution settings, so I had to tweak the config files to forced the resolution. I wouldnt mind upgrading if there was a 512mb option.

Game On People,
-Gophn

 

just hold off...a month is nothing, and the card would be worth it. imo.

 

Hmmmm, do I really need a 512MB video card though? I'm not a huge gamer. Most of the games I'll play on this machine are at least 3 years old (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Soldier of Fortune 2, etc.). This machine, if I get it, will also be used for video transcoding, photo editing, dual booting with Linux, etc.

 

The nVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M w/512MB is NOT a gaming card...it is an engineer's workstation card. So unless you are an engineer doing 3D modeling there is no reason to even consider this card.

 

I really like to find out the performance difference with a 7900GTX 512mb vs 7900GTX 256mb.

I already compared "The Precious ..." Futuremark benchmarks vs the Dell XPS M1710 that was reviewed here recently.
Considering that My 5760 is only T2500 2.0 ghz CPU and 7900GTX 256mb and the reviewed Dell XPS M1710 has a T2600 2.16ghz CPU and 7900GTX 512mb, I was surprised at how littl difference in performance I have seen.

By just using FutureMark's 3DMark05, 3dMark06 and PCMark05 it is really a small performance difference.
The Dell XPS M1710 outperformed my 5760 by only around 2-13% difference, and the Dell XPS had a better CPU and Vid Card.

FutureMark Comparison Chart:

3DMark05

Dell XPS M1710 = 8524
"The Precious ..." = 7834

Winner = Dell XPS M1710 by 690pts or 8.09%​

3DMark06

Dell XPS M1710 = 4744
"The Precious ..." = 4608

Winner = Dell XPS M1710 by 136pts or 2.87%​

PCMark05

Dell XPS M1710 = 5333
"The Precious ..." = 4626

Winner = Dell XPS M1710 by 707pts or 13.26%​

Please note that the Dell XPS M1710 reviewed has a better CPU and Vid Card than my 5760.
Just imagine if "The Precious ..." has a T2600 2.16ghz CPU and a 7900GTX 512mb!!!​

It is also documented that the 7800GTX 512mb gives around 10-20% performance increase vs the 7800GTX 256mb.
Just food for thought.

I am still working on finishing up my review and hope to be done with it sometime next week.
Will make sure I will have more detailed product comparison on my benchmarks also.
Just had to post a quickie observation.
I actually already finsiehd my F.E.A.R., Oblivion and BF2 benchmarks also that I will include in my review.

 

It is pretty tough to actually "see" a 13.26% performance difference (particularly when measured by a synthetic benchmark software), and the most reliable Benchmark for the Core Duo is the 3DMark06 that is only showing a 2.87% difference.

I don't think it would be worth spending $5 to get that smidgen of a difference.

 

That is exactly what I mean.
My 5760 is only T2500 2.0ghz CPU and 7900GTX 256mb.
The reviewed Dell XPS M1710 has a T2600 2.16ghz CPU and 7900GTX 512mb.
That is the major difference between those 2 models I believe yet the performance difference is VERY insignificant.

With that said, I do not think the 7900GTX 512mb will make any major, at least significant difference, when put in the 5760.
But I bet it would kick the XPS M1710's butt if the 5760 has the exact same CPU and Vid Card, which can be made possible sometime next month!

In a year when I will upgrade to Merom, maybe I will see if its worth upgrading my Vid Card also ...

PS:
I like how Paladin, as a reseller, even states that an upgrade to T2600 2.16ghz CPU and 7900GTX 512mb is really such a small performance increase and not really worth it for the cost.
Every other salesman would insists it will be better than sliced bread because it cost more.
Hence I give props to Paladin for being such an unbiased person and reseller

 

I think the major concern regarding the 256MB and the 512MB 7900 GTX is the "cache thrashing" (hope I got the term right) that will occur when a particular scene requires more than 256MB of VRAM and system memory is used. Now this is probably a very rare occurence today and I know the 256MB version is more than adequate. For all I know cache trashing is not even an issue, so I defer once again to the experts...

 

YA I understand what you are trying to say.
A good friend of mine actually showed me another great article about 256mb vs 512mb Vid Cards.

I think in it, it states that unless you have a Vid Card better than low-mid end card, you will not get the benefit of 512mb memory.
Yes in the future the 512mb will be helpful of course.
But by the time it will be mainstream I bet there will be even better Vid Cards by then.

The replacement for the Nvidia 7x00 series and ATI X1x00 series is near.
This is the cold hard truth of technology.
Of course we would like to milk the technology we have as much as possible specially for the amount of cash we have spent for it.

I think that at this time there really isn't enough ways to test it.
I could be wrong of course.
Really need to find that other 256mb vs 512mb article I read that was pro 512mb.

<edit>
I think I found the article I was talking about:
Video Card Memory Analysis: 256MB vs. 512MB

Heres a nice quote from the reviewer:

In that article, it pretty much shows that the benefit of the 512mb increases as the resolution increases.
Considering that the 5760 will be in WSXGA+ or WUXGA+, you will see a better benefit of the 512mb on the WUXGA+ models.

Its a big debate of course and I still think about it to this day.
Why when the 7900GTX 512mb comes out for the 5760, I am hoping I can be able to compare my test results with someone else with similar setup as me.

From that article alone.
I think it is safe to say that for WSXGA+ owners, having 256mb or 512mb does not matter much as the performance difference should be insignificant.

 

The performance was so high on the Dell XPS that you wouldn't notice even a ten percent drop. The difference between the that and the NP5760 is insignifigant indeed.

Here is where you can find a discussion of 256MB vs. 512MB. Conclusion in short: you'll have zero problems with 256MB of VRAM.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1387294&highlight=7900#post1387294

 

I think this is the article you're talking about?

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article33.html

I agree that the 512MB 7900 GTX's clock has already begun to tick and it will soon be replaced by some bigger, badder card in the near future. I mean look at that new desktop monster 7950 GTX (I think?) that just came out. And ATI is sure to answer back.

But in the end I think you did good by getting that $100 discount--because you still got a GREAT card, and those who want the 512MB will end up paying $150-300 extra for it (counting of course the $100 discount that was lost).

 

Is this also true for the 19" sli notebooks?

Right now they are 256 7800GTX

But with 512 7900GTX... That would be godly.

 

I personally think having ONLY a WSXGA+ Resolution in a 19" screen is just a waste
Should have at least WUXGA or higher for a 19" SLI.

As you can see on the article I linked above, a Video Card with 512mb shows its benefit more in Higher Resolution and this would have been great if the 19" SLI has WUXGA+ or higher resolution.

Besides, I am slightly biased when it comes to SLI.
Just because it is just do not look like its worth it for the Price/Performance ratio and specially when it is time to upgrade it.

 

Will those cards be avalible for the SLI system though? I know they are different cards because there is only 7800gtx for the SLI atm...


I did read your article. Very informative!

 

No idea on that.
Maybe Paladin can inform us on his next visit here.

BTW, its not my article I just linked it

I do wish I find a job where I get to do what I enjoy and get paid for it lol.

 

We all agree that the 19" would be much nicer at a higher resolution, but finding a screen manufacturer that makes such a screen is virtually impossible. Do you see anyone else out there that has one?

The DUAL NVIDIA® GeForce Go 7800 GTX PCI-Express™ 16X Modules in SLi with 256MB per module (512MB total) GDDR3 Video Memory with a 3DMark score of 10,149 is pretty awesome as it is. To increase the video card specs without also increasing the resolution would be a total and complete and verifiable and gigantic WASTE!

 

Over at widow pc they have the 512mb 7900GTX as a $150 upgrade, albiet it says that it may delay your order.

Thats not as expensive as I thought it would be actually.

 

The Sager upgrade, once released, will be much less than $150. Current projections are quoted by Sager to be between $50 and $100 from Sager resellers.

 

That's a nice price on the upgrade.

Blue Sphere, I am sure the availability of better cards will come for SLI notebooks. But as everyone has mentioned, the lower resolution makes it a waste. Also, if you have ever looked at Dell's website, then you know that the cost to use top-end GPUs in SLI is RIDICULOUS (unless of course you MUST have the BEST and have NO MONETARY LIMITATIONS) even in desktops. And GPUs mature so quickly that six months after you get your 7900GTX SLI, there will be something better out anyway.

Just my $.02