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As the 7300GT is so similar to the 7600 range of cards, I decided to do some experimentation. Using RivaTuner I modified the device ID of the 7300 GT from 393 to 391. This tricked the system into thinking that the card was in fact a 7600 GT. This doesn't unlock any pipelines (which nVidia has managed to restrict quite well in the 7xxx series). However, when a real 7600 GT was put in to the system along side it, it actually worked in SLI – despite the pipeline differences.

All of which makes this, as far as I know, the world's first case of mixed card SLI. nVidia doesn't officially support this, but looking at my results – I wonder why not. We did testing using two 7300 GT cards, two 7600 GTs and the mixed 7300 GT and 7600 GT combination. Because this card overclocked so well, we increased the clock speed of the 7300 GT to 560MHz so that it matched the 7600 GT.

Due to a limitation in either RivaTuner or SLI, I could only change the device ID on the primary card. This meant in the mixed card situation, the 7300 GT was the primary card. This means when you are using a game that doesn't have an SLI profile – you will only be getting 7300 GT performance.

If you take a look at the SLI performance graphs, it is first of all worth noting that there is a significant improvement when running two of these 7300 GT's in SLI – as much as 100 per cent. Obviously, the two 7600 GTs have the greatest performance, but most interesting is how the mixed cards performance is almost exactly in-between the two. This shows how well GPU load balancing is working.

The significance of this comes down to the fact that the higher clocked Inno3D 7300 GT is half the price of a 7600 GT, but when added in as a second card has almost comparable performance as running two 7600 GTs. In most cases the difference was three or four frames per second. So anyone who currently has a 7600 GT and is looking to upgrade can get a significant increase in performance for very little money.

Verdict

I felt a bit bad comparing the Sapphire X1300 to the Inno3D 7300 GT, as the pricing is slightly different and they are almost extremes of each other. However, judging by the results, even the higher clocked X1300 Pro wouldn't come close to the performance and value of the 7300 GT. However, I must emphasise that this is not a standard 7300 GT and that most of them will be using DDR2 memory. I fully intend on reviewing one of the slower DDR2 cards, as well as an X1300 Pro.

However, there is no denying that the Inno3D 7300 GT packs an amazing punch for only £67.99. Right now, I'd suggest this card over the 7600 GS, and even over the 7600 GT as I believe it offers a lot more value for money. Adding a second card gives significant performance increases, even when put alongside a 7600 GT.

The Inno3D 7300 GT is my choice card, especially as you can buy two of these for almost the same price as a single 7600 GT. Big kudos go out to Inno3D for this interesting variant on the 7300 GT line.

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