Fall '06 NVIDIA GPU Refresh - Part II: GeForce 7950 GT and SLI
by Derek Wilson on September 14, 2006 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Retail 7950 GT Cards: EVGA and XFX
In a testament to NVIDIA availability, we have retail products from two different vendors today. Aside from giving us the ability to test SLI with the 7950 GT, we can take a look at what we can expect to see from cards that are currently hitting the shelves. From EVGA, the e-GeForce 7950 GT KO offers overclocked core and memory with a fairly conventional HSF (which covers the RAM in addition to the GPU). XFX has made a very bold move with their 7950 GT and is offering two different silent models: the one we have features an overclock as well. Let's take a look at the EVGA card first.
This card doesn't look much different than we would expect an EVGA card to look. It's a very straightforward design with a copper HSF covering the RAM and GPU. The XFX design is a little more extreme as we can see here.
While we certainly expect overclocked products from EVGA as we have seen many in the past, XFX offering a passively cooled overclocked 7950 GT is quite a statement: the 7950 GT is a very efficient card. In spite of the fact that the X1950 has done a better job on power, heat and noise than the X1900, ATI just doesn't make a card at the $300 price point that could ever hope to be passively cooled. With the 7950 GT essentially being an underclocked 7900 GTX, we are quite impressed that this GPU doesn't need more powerful cooling.
In a testament to NVIDIA availability, we have retail products from two different vendors today. Aside from giving us the ability to test SLI with the 7950 GT, we can take a look at what we can expect to see from cards that are currently hitting the shelves. From EVGA, the e-GeForce 7950 GT KO offers overclocked core and memory with a fairly conventional HSF (which covers the RAM in addition to the GPU). XFX has made a very bold move with their 7950 GT and is offering two different silent models: the one we have features an overclock as well. Let's take a look at the EVGA card first.
This card doesn't look much different than we would expect an EVGA card to look. It's a very straightforward design with a copper HSF covering the RAM and GPU. The XFX design is a little more extreme as we can see here.
While we certainly expect overclocked products from EVGA as we have seen many in the past, XFX offering a passively cooled overclocked 7950 GT is quite a statement: the 7950 GT is a very efficient card. In spite of the fact that the X1950 has done a better job on power, heat and noise than the X1900, ATI just doesn't make a card at the $300 price point that could ever hope to be passively cooled. With the 7950 GT essentially being an underclocked 7900 GTX, we are quite impressed that this GPU doesn't need more powerful cooling.
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Calin - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
Maybe they just ignore some visual artifacts if the playing experience is good.DerekWilson - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
winners don't use drugs :-Palso, I'm not trying to imply that we would like more fps for free -- just that (with oblivion) turning up the settings offers better playability (things don't pop out of no where right next to you) and a better visual experience than a higher framerate with less eye candy.
plus, my wife hates jaggies. jaggies and bad anisotropic filtering. I've not seen her react to lag, as she doesn't usually play games where lag is a factor. but she definitely hates waiting for anything, so I'd guess she'd hate lag too.
LoneWolf15 - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
Personally, I hope the Frag Dolls kick your butt for that remark. I'd pay money to see it.yacoub - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
PASSIVELY-COOLED top-tier GPU?! SWEET. Finally. :)goatfajitas - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
I would really like to see the 256mb version of 7950GT tested against the 512mb version (biostar makes both, but clocks are easy enough to adjust on any card) at various resolutions with and without 4xAA to see when/if the 512 megs helps speed things up.tuteja1986 - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
7950GT availability is terrible.. its looks like a 7800GTX 512MB launch.. few card released on day and none to seen for weeks ?Surprising I see ATI not having a paper launch with the X1950XTX which is amazing if you see ATI track record with delays after delays
At the moment i don't think its wise to buy them , as i hear G80 product start next month and early November launch.
I also hear that R600 has run in some trouble and i don't think they will be out this year and will lag 3months behind G80 launch. I would say Mid Jan if they fix what ever problem the engineers are having at ATI.
DerekWilson - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
a 256mb version should really be branded as an overclocked 7900 GT, but I won't argue that too much :-)we are planning on doing a roundup of 7950 Gt cards, and we will address this issue at that time.
thanks,
Derek Wilson
goatfajitas - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
Thanks. I should have guessed something like that would be coming from AT.retrospooty - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
cool. thanks.R3MF - Thursday, September 14, 2006 - link
i wonder if its possible?that with a Core 2 Duo 6600 would be a hell of a SFF combination!