The production of computer components is a rapidly growing industry. Almost every quarter, large companies like Intel or Nvidia are introducing new products that have improved performance compared to their predecessors. The problem is that not everyone can afford to constantly update the hardware of their computer, so many users are sitting with outdated components. In this article, we will talk about the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS graphics card, which was discontinued in 2007, but has been successfully used by many users to this day.
Relevance today
Undoubtedly, this video card is outdated for a long time and does not support most modern technologies, but it will allow you to assemble a computer for little money, for example, to surf the Internet or launch undemanding games.
It is already impossible to buy an Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS 256Mb video card in the store, but finding it with your hands is quite realistic, in addition, its price will be extremely low.
If you already have this video card, then from this article you will learn about its characteristics and capabilities.
A bit of history
In 2005, the most productive product of Nvidia was the GeForce 6600 GT, but its capabilities were not enough for a comfortable game in the novelties of that time, so the company was seriously thinking about releasing a new line - the GeForce 7-series.
It is impossible to call a new series revolutionary, however, it significantly exceeded its predecessor. Speaking about the distinctive characteristics of the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS video card , first of all, it is worth noting the new graphics processor - G73, which was carried out according to the new 90-nm process technology, which gave a significant increase in performance. Another important advantage was the increase in the number of vertex and pixel pipelines. The new processor had 5 and 12 of them, respectively, and the old version of the video chip had 3 and 8 of them.
New graphics cards were to the taste of users and began to sell quickly. In addition to the increased power of the new product, Nvidia surprised at an affordable price, which was about $ 300 at the time of sale. The company won a lot of money, but the 7-series video cards did not linger on the market.
Technical specifications Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS
Nvidia announced the following parameters:
- The frequency of the video chip is 400 MHz.
- Effective memory frequency - 800 MHz.
- The amount of video memory is 256 MB or 512 MB.
- The memory bandwidth is 12.8 GB / s.
- The video memory bus is 128 bits.
- Graphics Bus - PCI Express or AGP.
It makes no sense to dwell on each item, because now these indicators are extremely weak, but it is worth telling more about the amount of memory. The fact is that the line of video cards has always been released, focusing both on people with large incomes and small ones. This happened with the 7th series of GeForce. The company released two options: Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS at 256 MB and 512 MB. The second video card was better, but it cost more. Now only a more expensive option can provide comfortable work with a computer, since 256 MB is not enough even for normal video viewing through a browser.
GeForce 7600 GS Technologies
Analyzing the technical characteristics of the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS, it is also worth talking about the technologies that this video card supports. The list of the most important is as follows:
- DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 is a fairly old technology that is used in many modern games. It allows you to reproduce complex effects of high quality. At the time of the start of sales, the video card supported all the features of this technology, however, problems may arise with the implementation of modern queries created according to the DirectX 9.0 standard.
- NVIDIA SLI allows you to install two video cards, combining them using a special cable. This will increase productivity by 2 times, but be careful, because to implement this technology you need two free PCI Express slots in the motherboard.
- NVIDIA Intellisample 4.0. Surely you met such a parameter as anti-aliasing in the game settings. It is for its implementation that this technology is needed, which significantly speeds up the process of processing textures, avoiding excessive load. As a result, this gives a high-quality image without a drawdown in frame rate.
- PureVideo is a technology responsible for the quality of video playback. Her work consists in hardware acceleration, adaptation of the processor to new formats, video scaling without loss of quality and color correction. PureVideo also allows you to play TV-signal in good quality, if you connect the receiver to the appropriate port.
- Support for PCI-Express and AGP 8x.
It’s worthwhile to dwell on the last point, because he talks about supporting various technologies responsible for bus bandwidth, which is one of the important characteristics of the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS video card or any other.
PCI-Express and AGP are bus architectures; however, it can also be called the interface for connecting the video card to the motherboard. The main difference between these buses is bandwidth - the speed at which the card receives and transmits data.
AGP 8x is a long-outdated technology operating at speeds up to 2.1 Gb / s. On a motherboard that supports only such an architecture, the card will produce much lower performance than on a PCI-Express bus, whose throughput is 4 Gb / s both for writing and reading. These days, using AGP makes no sense.
ASUS Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS
GPU companies such as Nvidia and Radeon do not produce graphics cards on their own. Delivery of the finished product is carried out by partner companies. Further in the article we will analyze the technical specifications of the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS from ASUStek, Leadtek and Gainward.
Let's start with a graphics card from ASUS. ASUS EN7600GS TOP SILENT - its full name. ASUS video cards have always been distinguished by build quality and configuration, however, their prices were slightly higher than for products from competitors.
Their main difference was the amount of video memory, which was 512 MB. The rest of the manufacturers on our list focused on the lower price of the finished product, so they used the option with 256 MB, but often this did not bring the desired demand, because users were more interested in the performance that was better with ASUS.
Top silence is not just a postscript, it talks about the absence of a cooler on the video card cooling system, and, accordingly, the noise from it. This was a very risky move, given that ASUS also increased the frequency of the video chip to 550 MHz, which is 150 MHz more than the ones announced from Nvidia. Such acceleration entails an increase in the heating of the video card, however, strangely enough, the passive cooling system copes with its task.
The radiator installed on the video card on the reverse side was also unusual for the market of that, and of our time. It consisted of two parts: the main one was fixed over the video chip, which was also placed on the back of the video card, and the second part was attached to the first through a kind of loop that allows you to bend the radiator part for better cooling. The whole calculation of such a system was for an additional air flow from the processor cooler, however, in its absence, the card also does not overheat. Be careful! For normal operation, you will need at least some kind of active ventilation in the system unit.
Back to the video memory again. There are 8 memory chips on the board, which should work at a frequency of 500 MHz, but in fact this figure is underestimated to 475 MHz. This is due to the location of the cooling system, which does not come into contact with memory chips. In the work, such a drawback is hardly noticeable.
Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS from Leadtek
The full name of the video card is as follows: Leadtek WinFast PX 7600 GS TDH. The video cards of this company have always been distinguished by a low price, good assembly, as well as ample opportunities for overclocking the frequency of the video chip. In addition, they subdivided their products into budget and more expensive ones, which had an Extreme. It meant that the video card would be able to withstand high loads during overclocking without wearing out.
The performance of the video card is quite standard. It has an aluminum radiator located above the chip, as well as a quiet cooler, the presence of which is due to overclocking capabilities.
The memory of this video card will not please modern users, because its volume is only 256 MB, which is not enough even for the simplest games. The frequency of the video memory is also not impressive: the video card has 8 memory chips, but they work at a frequency of 400 MHz. The video chip itself operates at a standard frequency of 400 MHz.
Speaking of overclocking capabilities, the memory frequency can reach 450 MHz without damaging the video card. You can also overclock the video chip.
Gainward BLISS 7600 GS
This video card is unlikely to be found anywhere, since it was rare even at the time it went on sale.
Gainward has always been a non-standard approach to the execution of the cooling system. It has an aluminum radiator, hidden under a plastic casing, as well as a powerful cooler. The cooler itself provides excellent cooling, but it is very noisy, which at one time caused a lot of negative customer reviews.
The performance of the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS by Gainward is pretty disastrous. Despite the fact that the manufacturer increased the core power to 450 MHz, the memory chips operate at a frequency of only 333 MHz - this significantly reduces the performance of the video card, given its video memory capacity of 256 MB.
Whose graphics card is better?
Analyzing only the technical specifications of the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS video card from different companies, we can say that ASUS went much further than its competitors. Now we can evaluate the feedback from users who also praise the products of this company.
All the competition with ASUS at that time was in price, but now they will cost no more than their counterparts, because you can only buy them with discounted prices. If you decide to build a computer for little money for simple tasks, then the ASUS GeForce 7600GS is an excellent choice.
What games will go on the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS?
On this video card will go all the news of that time, but a complete list of them can be given endlessly. The most striking of all games are:
- Far cry.
- FEAR
- Half-Life 2.
- "Stalker" all parts.
- Call of Duty 2 and many others.
In general, the video card will be able to pull newer games, but here you will have to focus on the system requirements specified by the game developer. Also, do not forget that for a comfortable game you need a suitable processor and RAM.
Conclusion
The Nvidia GeForce 7600 was a hit of its time, but now it will be difficult to get it anywhere, because many years have passed since its launch. She has not supported gaming news since 2010, and everyday tasks like watching videos can also cause problems - it all depends on the quality and format. If you still decide to build a computer for simple programs and run old games for little money, then this option is very good, but it is always better to give preference to newer models.