Review of the XFX GeForce 7900GS Extreme Edition Video Card

The first thing on every gamers list of stuff to buy for their custom gaming rig is the video card. This one device is what will make your games look beautiful or look like something that runs on an Atari.

One of the many considerations for this item is it's price to performance ratio. One could go off and buy an nVidia 8800GTX for $600 and have top of the line graphics, but for many of us we are stuck getting the best for about $150-200.

The XFX 7900GS immediately stuck out as a card that will do what one would need it to, and last for about one to one and a half years while still running most games at least on medium graphical settings.

The XFX 7900GS Extreme Edition is a pre-overclocked version of the 7900GS. It comes with 256mb GDDR3 memory running at 1550mhz, up from the standard 1320mhz. The GPU core runs at 525mhz, up from the standard 450mhz. These were both later able to be overclocked to 610mhz core and 1800mhz memory.

Upon first receiving the card you will notice the black color of the card, this is a rather interesting feature seeing that not many video cards actually have any real look to them color wise anywhere but the heat sink and fan. The black color of the card is a nice accent to some computer cases as well as the other parts. The card also comes with a DVI-VGA adapter for those of you still using CRT monitors, as well as an S-Video cable so that you can hook your computer up to your TV or whatever may have an S-Video input. It also comes with a 6 pin PCI-E to 4 pin molex connector so that older systems can connect to power the card without the PCI-E connector.

This card requires Windows XP to run and also supports Windows Vista. You will need at least a 450W power supply in your computer to keep sufficient power to the card. For older systems without the PCI-E connector you will need two 4 pin molex connectors to be free to power the card. You will also need a PCI-E x16 slot to put the card into, so that means if you have an AGP board it's probably time to upgrade.