The Verdict
So then, here we arrive at the point where manufacturers are stumped with joy, or crying their eyes out while shouting ... "why Hilbert WHY ?"; the Verdict!
The verdict. Let me handle less pleasant stuff first as Galaxy is facing a couple of issues with the Masterpiece series. First off they are competing with the NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 which I agree is not a single PCB based card like the Galaxy card is. But the development of a single card solution led to a few compromises .. three of them actually. The first being the cooler, it's really out there when you play games. Fact is it's really hard to place two very warm GPU's close to each other on one PCB. So you simply need good cooling. I'm a silence freak myself so I weigh in this factor more than the normal user.
The second compromise is the loss of a SLI connector which disallows you to do QUAD-SLI in the future, and while that really is not a concern for like 99% of you guys this is a absent feature. Then the last restriction is that you need to seat the Masterpiece range of products on a NFORCE4 SLI mainboard (for now). And that is restricting enthusiast users who want to migrate to a newer platform like the NFORCE 570/590 SLI series.
With that out of the way we just have to look at the Masterpiece series from another side .. I just have to say this, I find it so damn daring what Galaxy is showing us today. This is a 100% self-developed multi-GPU based graphics card that in fact works incredibly well considering the limited environment is requires.
In short though, the Masterpiece product is not yet a Masterpiece mostly due to that noisy cooler and the NFORCE4 restriction. But it's really close and most definitely is at the least something very special. All things considered, it's a damn fine, respectable and interesting project that Galaxy has started here and I so can appreciate a manufacturer finally doing something else for a change.
The performance honestly is flabbergasting. We tested it with an AMD FX-57 single core processor yet you can bet on it that with a mainboard like the ASUS P5N32 SLI SE DeLuxe and a Core 2 Duo Conroe based processor the scores would have been significantly higher, which in the end would be my recommendation. There are a few NForce 4 mainboards out there right now that support a Conroe (Core 2 Duo E6600/E6700 & X6800) processor and I guarantee you that's a golden combination as you really can use the processor horsepower to give this Masterpiece the juice it needs to fully perform to it's optimal ability.
In closing I'd like to say that despite the few quirks I mentioned in this conclusion this is a really good product. Your games will run like a junky on XTC, performance is fantastic. We did not have any compatibility issues throughout all our tests. With a card like this in your system you'll receive a very special product. And covered by a life-time warranty, it's a really impressive card to own. The price is slightly higher than a 7950 GX2 and way lower than two 7900 GTX 512MB cards. You can buy this product for 599 USD or 540 EUR.
Congratulations to Galaxy for pioneering their first dual-GPU graphics card series. For packaging + bundle, the product, awesome gaming performance and obviously the innovation itself I would hereby like to grant them a Guru3D.com Editor's Choice award.
Galaxy GeForce 7900GT Dual Core Masterpiece
Company: Galaxy
Price: 599 USD -539 EUR
Info: galaxytech.com
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