Thanks! And I just realized - tomorrow (July 12th) will be this card's 10th anniversary based on the purchase date! Unreal!

Posting this question here because it's a similar build to the stuff I'm working with at the moment.

I just tested my BFG 7800 GS OC. It's clocked at 400 MHz for the core and 1200 for the memory.

It does beat the 6800 GT, but when you overclock the 6800 GT to 6800 Ultra levels, the 6800 GT is ahead in most benchmarks. The BFG 7800 GS OC is ahead in a few tests, like AquaMark3 and Codecreatures Pro.

That surprised me a bit, though it's a testament to how good the 6800 Ultra is.

I think I'll just OC the BFG 7800 GS OC a bit further and use that for my AGP tests going forward. The ATI cards, even much faster ones, don't benchmark as quick in many tests, so I'm sticking with NV for that reason.

shamino wrote:

Given the rarity and unique performance level of that Gainward card (fastest AGP NVidia card ever made), I suggest being very cautious with keeping it cool. NVidia GPUs of that time period unfortunately don't have a good reliability record.

Love the system, I wish I had some of that hardware.

I believe the 7950GT AGP is the fastest?

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Posting this question here because it's a similar build to the stuff I'm working with at the moment. […]
Show full quote

Posting this question here because it's a similar build to the stuff I'm working with at the moment.

I just tested my BFG 7800 GS OC. It's clocked at 400 MHz for the core and 1200 for the memory.

It does beat the 6800 GT, but when you overclock the 6800 GT to 6800 Ultra levels, the 6800 GT is ahead in most benchmarks. The BFG 7800 GS OC is ahead in a few tests, like AquaMark3 and Codecreatures Pro.

That surprised me a bit, though it's a testament to how good the 6800 Ultra is.

I think I'll just OC the BFG 7800 GS OC a bit further and use that for my AGP tests going forward. The ATI cards, even much faster ones, don't benchmark as quick in many tests, so I'm sticking with NV for that reason.

I've had similar results in older benchmarks (2001-2004), but in newer games (2005+) the 7800 is quicker. It is also better on AA, AF and higher resolutions.

Yes, in F.E.A.R. it is ahead. Good call on AA, didn't consider that 😊

vetz wrote:

shamino wrote:

Given the rarity and unique performance level of that Gainward card (fastest AGP NVidia card ever made), I suggest being very cautious with keeping it cool. NVidia GPUs of that time period unfortunately don't have a good reliability record.

Love the system, I wish I had some of that hardware.

I believe the 7950GT AGP is the fastest?

Could be - I shouldn't have said "fastest ever" because I don't really know much about the more obscure cards beyond the 7800GS. But anything at that level still using an AGP interface is pretty precious. 😀

vetz wrote:

shamino wrote:

Given the rarity and unique performance level of that Gainward card (fastest AGP NVidia card ever made), I suggest being very cautious with keeping it cool. NVidia GPUs of that time period unfortunately don't have a good reliability record.

Love the system, I wish I had some of that hardware.

I believe the 7950GT AGP is the fastest?

It is but finding one at a decent price is very rare even though I had the chance to buy one a few months ago for around $60 nos open box. I did get a xfx 7900 gs agp for $25 earlier this year and it runs circles around the 7800 gs. The problem with the 7800 gs is that it is so gimped one is better off buying a 6800 gt/ultra (often cheaper) or looking for the rarer 79x0s.
Owned two 7800 gs over the years and kinda done with that card, nvidia should have done a better job with that card and it could have easily been a good bit faster like the Gainward cards.