In the fight for graphics supremacy there is no greater equalizer than price. Framerates and features will get you on the field, but winners are declared when bang meets buck. This is especially true for the mid-range and budget performance markets, where price is the first consideration with framerate capability and features taking second fiddle.

In this market arena we’ve recently been introduced to the new 7900 GS from NVIDIA, a $199-$249 pixel pusher that promises an attractive price and segment leading performance.

The 7900 GS is pretty close in specs to NVIDIA’s previous 7800 GT, released last summer. It features 20 pixel shaders, 7 vertex shaders, and 256MB of GGDR3 memory connected to the G71 GPU via a 256bit memory bus. Core and memory clocks are a respectable 450MHz and 660MHz respectively. The 7900 GS slots in nicely behind NVIDIA’s recently announce 7950 GT and above the 7600 GT. The current lineup looks something like this:

NVIDIA's Lineup
Enthusiast	7950 GX2	$549
	7900 GTX	$449
Performance	7950 GT	$299 - $349
Mainstream	7900 GS	$199 - $249
	7600 GT	$169
Value	7600 GS	$129
	7300	$99

In this review we are checking out a 7900 GS from NVIDIA partner PNY Technologies, the PNY Verto Geforce 7900 GS.

Looking at the above chart you will notice that there are a couple cases where NVIDIA has set a price range for their graphics cards instead of a solid single price like we normally see. This gives their partners some flexibility in designing their cards and offering features that can help differentiate themselves from other partners. This often involves a more efficient cooler and higher core and memory frequencies to attract customers.

PNY’s Verto 7900 GS has a suggested price of $229, putting it on the higher side of NVIDIA’s suggested price range, but disappointingly that does not include a more effective cooler or even factory overclocking.

Let’s take a closer look at the card and see what it has to offer.