GeForce 7950 GT 512MB Shootout (review)

Graphics cards 1048 Page 18 of 18 Published by

teaser

Page 18

The Verdict

GeForce 7950 GT 512MB

Sorry no hardware rap today (Ed: and for that I'm sure we are all very grateful)! Well then it's a little with dual feelings that I'm looking at the GeForce 7950 GT. Obviously this is a really nice product being sold at a fair price, nobody will deny that. But the reality is what we are seeing here (performance wise presented) is not really that new at all. There have been many GeForce 7900 GT 512MB cards out on the market for a while now. They are in the exact same price range and due to their standard higher clocks often offer the exact same performance. There was a good reason why I included the Sparkle Calibre 790+ (512MB 7900 GT card) in today's results as I wanted to show you that performance was pretty much parallel, this is an example of such a 7900 GT 512MB product delivering exactly the same features and performance.

So then, we established that the GeForce 7950 GT is a refresh product and nothing more than that. This is why I state mixed feelings as I have already tested products 100% similar like the 7950 GT, yet carrying a slightly different name. In short we've seen it already. When I take that little observation out of the context a little and look at the product from another point of view I must admit, it's a really gorgeous graphics card to have. For roughly 300 bucks you'll receive a very fast 512MB, highly featured videocard that'll ensure you some decent bragging rights and a stack load of gaming pleasure in that gaming rig of yours.

Something else does come to mind though, it's Windows Vista. If you buy a 200 USD GeForce 7900 GS you don't have to dive deep into your wallet next year as you can upgrade way more easily to get a DirectX 10 product (because you did not spend a lot of money). Sure, this card will be Vista compatble. But investing 300 bucks on a product with no DirectX 10 compatibility with Vista a couple of months away .. that might be a something you need to keep in mind to make an objective purchase. Please rest assured that with Windows Vista all games will play fantastic in DX9 compatibility mode yet you'll miss out on some new DX10 features, Crytek's Crysis is such a title and a really good example of what DX10 is going to offer.

HDCP. Woah Nelly, good gosh man! It scared me when I saw it on the boxes, both the POV and XFX cards are HDCP compatible, in fact ALL GeForce 7950 GT cards can manage HDCP. Next year with Vista when you want to playback HDCP content (movies) on your monitor... the resolution will be dumbed down or even worse, your screen will go black during playback, if you do not have a HDCP encoder chip working on the graphics card. So close to the reference cooler you'll notice a small Atmel EEPROM slash CryptoROM doing that magic for you. Mind you that if you like to playback media files with a HDCP ready graphics card... you'll also need a HDCP compatible monitor (hey don't look so angry .. don't shoot the messenger!).

So then, all GeForce 7950 GT cards can handle HDCP, yes you read that properly!

The Point of View GeForce 7950 GT

guru3d_edit_125_single_gold.jpgPOV has grown a lot over the past two years, they became a very reliable and known board partner from NVIDIA. They do seriously good stuff, while their videocards usually remain totally reverence based they do offer tons of fun stuff with the bundle. Today again exactly that is shown. You'll receive everything needed to hook up that graphics card to pretty much anything you like, and then there's the included two full games, which is just great. The included games are getting a little dated though. But hey you get them pretty much for free as the package as tested today will set you back 309 EUR including the two games. That's just real good value for your money and less expensive than the XFX "Extreme" product. What I loved about the card is that it overclocked extremely well and overclocking says two things to me personally, you can push another 10% performance out of the card. But also at default you are not pushing the card to its maximum. And that guarantees you a long lasting product for sure. See it's like this, what car would last longer, the one that you overdrive constantly or the one you drive at your designated speeds? This theory is exactly the same and applies to graphics cards. This will be an extremely reliable graphics card. The Point of View GeForce 7950 GT is a small beast, you'll love the performance, bundle and its features for sure! Highly recommended. For r the great bundle and tweaking capability the POV card will get an editor's choice although it would be really cool to see POV do something else with these cards in terms of cooling or, PCB color, standard slighly higher clocks etc.

The XFX GeForce 7950 GT.

besthardwareaward4.jpgXFX again delivered a product to me that is really impressive. It's didn't clock so "extreme" as the GS we tested last week (man that is a really good card). None the less they again offer you slightly higher clocks straight out of the box and yet again you can still overclock the card a little. XFX often does something extra with the card itself where their package bundle normally is a little more sober. But hey, the inclusion of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter seriously made my day for real. Then there is that black PCB, the cool layout and that passive cooling. It's hard not to fall in love with this little gem isn't it? But although the product is called extreme, the passive cooling will scare away the tweakers and overclockers as the high load temperature will not allow you any significant overclocks. I recommend that you PC is ventilated properly, especially during gaming.

Yet for me personally this is one heck of an interesting card and based on its inaudibility. It would be my card of choice as I just LOVE that stuff (Joost... you just lost a card as it mysteriously dropped into my HTPC :) ). You can buy the normal version (with standard cooler) from XFX for roughly 329 EUR and the Extreme version as tested today for 30 bucks more at 359 EUR. And thinking about that passive cooler, you know I won't do a rap this time (Ed: thank you) but "Baby got back" from Sir Mixalot certainly comes to mind ;)

To sum it up in one line, the XFX GeForce 7950 GT again is a very trustworthy and well performing product. Once you buy it, you'll fall in love with it. And that passive cooler, man I just love that stuff.

Well then, let me bring this product review to an end. Obviously the GeForce 7950 GT series are going to bring you a broad and fantastic gaming experience up to resolutions 1920x1200 and sometimes even higher easily; at give or take 300 bucks they are priced just about right and thus highly recommended by yours truly.

XFX obviously will receive an best hardware award for obvious reasons.

Nice gear for sure.

Info:
GeForce 7950 GT 512MB Reference (NVIDIA.com)
GeForce 7950 GT 512MB Extreme XFX (XFX Graphics)
GeForce 7950 GT 512MB POV (Point of View)

Hilbert

Review: GeForce 7950 GT 512MB - Copyright Guru3D.com 2006

 

Share this content
Twitter Facebook Reddit WhatsApp Email Print