Retail versions of the 7800 GT are still available, although mostly in pre-overclocked packages, which is why the XFX card on test here is the Extreme Edition.

It has single-link and dual-link DVI ports, plus a TV-out socket that supports component and S-Video output via the supplied adapter. There’s no other software, but Call of Duty 2 is a bonus.

The GT is essentially a GTX with four of its 24 pipelines disabled and slower clock speeds. To make the tests consistent, we clocked the XFX down to standard 7800 GT settings of 400MHz and 500MHz for core and memory respectively. At 1600 x 1200, we saw 26fps in Far Cry and 21fps in Call of Duty 2, putting it with the Radeon X1800 XL at the bottom of the high-end cards. But the Extreme Edition comes clocked at 450MHz, with memory at 525MHz, which boosts Far Cry to 32fps and Call of Duty 2 to 23fps.

Unfortunately, this and many other 7800 GT models are becoming increasingly hard to buy for the simple reason that the new 7900 GT is around 23 percent faster than a standard 7800 GT for even less money. In light of this, we can see few reasons to recommend a 7800 GT.