XFX 7950GX2 & FX 60 - Air cooled impressions

[mdzcpa]

I picked up one of the XFX GX2 cards just to try it out. I liked the idea of lower power consumption, a solid price/performance ratio, and the simplicity of dealing with only one card. Since my current rig is pretty basic (and used for daily work as well as play) I thought it might make a nice test bed for the average joe. (FX-60 on air, Expert, 2g Ballistix, 5 HDs, X-fi, +misc)

Anyway, for those interested, here are a few shots of what the XFX 7950GX2 is capable of with a mild air cooled FX overclock at 3Ghz and a GX2 with stock clocks.










I found the card not to run as hot as I might have been lead to beleive. With decent case cooling, my card was warm, but not too hot IMO. It idles at 57c and loaded at 76c.

I found the driver install to be a bit cumbersome. I needed to install the drivers manually from the Device Manager. Running the OEM CD gave me a "Non Nvidia" adapter message. Odd.

I tried it on my son's MSI NEO4 (non SLI) and it worked just fine. Just FYI.

Anyway, this thing crushes anything single card and beats a pair of GTs pretty nicely...at stocks clocks anyway. Considering I paid much more for my 7800GTX 512 cards, the performance is pretty impressive.

I'll overclock the card tomorrow and get the CPU on water for some better average overclocking results.

[einCe]

almost 15k 05 stock, pretty decent id say

[Supertim0r]

really nice
still have you phase change ?

[mdzcpa]

really nice
still have you phase change ?

Yep. I never sold my mach II. I have all my water cooling gear too. I'll be putting a conroe phase/water system together pretty soon. I may try quad SLI at that time too.

But, to finish out this final AMD run, I'll be sticking with water and air.

[Geforce4ti4200]

whats it get in 3dmark 2001?

[mdzcpa]

whats it get in 3dmark 2001?

I'll add this to the list of benches tonight when I add overclocked results.

[eva2000]

sweet .... which drivers were these on cd 91.27 ?

[k|ngp|n]

Nice numbers mdz,especially considering it's air.! Should give a hell of a sendoff to your FX60. Look forward to more.

[TaPaKaH]

Nice results ...
7950GX2 @ stock (FX-60 @ 3GHz) = our DI cooled 7900GTX @ 850/1850 (955XE @ 5.2GHz)

What will happen if ya put 7950GX2 QualSLI under LN2

[mdzcpa]

sweet .... which drivers were these on cd 91.27 ?

Yep, the 91.27s. I'm not sure why I had trouble installing from the cd though. I shot a few emails to some of the reviewers I know, and no one esle had any issues. It must have been something in my own system as this card was just slapped into my existing daily rig that has tons of OS service and sys tray bloat now.



If I can get some cracked (or new drivers) that enable quad SLI soon enough, I'll put the FX60 back under phase and give the quad set up a whirl. Should be fun

[Dumo]

Nice run on air there mdzcpa

Quad SLI would be awesome

[eva2000]

Nice run on air there mdzcpa

Quad SLI would be awesome

actually still wondering why it's called quad sli...

Usually when you think

SLI = 2 cards
Dual SLI = 4 cards
Quad SLI = 8 cards

Hehe

[hicookie]

actually still wondering why it's called quad sli...

Usually when you think

SLI = 2 cards
Dual SLI = 4 cards
Quad SLI = 8 cards

Hehe

indeed, 7950gx2 is not 7900x2,sli different

[afireinside]

Damn that's fast! Out performs my old 7800GT SLI setup at balls to the walls air speeds with vmods. If it didn't run so hot I might get one. How much longer is it than the 7900GTX though?

[mdzcpa]

Damn that's fast! Out performs my old 7800GT SLI setup at balls to the walls air speeds with vmods. If it didn't run so hot I might get one. How much longer is it than the 7900GTX though?

I'm at work now, but I think its the same length. It fit in my case just as easily as my 7800GTX (actually easier because the GX2 is lighter and a bit thinner).

BTW, the heat hasn't been an issue so far. I have everything mentioned above stuffed into my case with some basic fans. The case is fully enclosed. The heat didn't stop me from clocking to 620/825 just using coolbits. The card isn't running as hot as I thought it would, nor is it reacting poorly to the higher temps either. Just my 2 cents on the heat issue.

[Garrett]

What scores do you get at that 620/825?

[afireinside]

Well the problem is my case is the super lanboy which leave me with hardly any room past the mobo. I don't know if it would fit very well. The case is tiny and a heat trap to.

[mdzcpa]

What scores do you get at that 620/825?

I'll have the scores posted tonight

Well the problem is my case is the super lanboy which leave me with hardly any room past the mobo. I don't know if it would fit very well. The case is tiny and a heat trap to.

If you want, tonight I'll post up some measurements and case pics so you can check it out.

[afireinside]

Well is it shorter than the mobo? If so then that's all I need to know. I can't wait to see OC'd scores!

[mdzcpa]

Well is it shorter than the mobo? If so then that's all I need to know. I can't wait to see OC'd scores!

The card IS shorter than the mobo by about 1/2 inch.

Here some fitment pics.

Pic 1 is the card installed in my case:



Pic 2 is how much shorter the card is than the mobo:




I'm creeping along with my overclocked results. This Exos II is nice for a work computer but its tough getting good CPU clocks from it. Instead I'm just working on my card clocks. Here's the same CPU clocks as above, card at 600/800:

[Hell-Fire]

Thanks for the info mdz.

Was going back and forth between the 7900GTX SuperClocked and the 7950GX2 cards. Decision made.

I need to bone up on some reviews, and since I dont have the card in front of me....how feasible is it to expand the cards for better cooling?

[afireinside]

Thanks for the pics 03 is nice, some serious GPU power.

[mdzcpa]

I need to bone up on some reviews, and since I dont have the card in front of me....how feasible is it to expand the cards for better cooling?

Its doable, but it'll be tricky. The key is that you need a longer bridge card that connects the two cards (in the middle of the PCB).

Here's some pics to help (sorry for the crappy quality):

The card:


Stock spacing using a quarter for reference:


Here's a pic of the connection bridge:


So, to widen the gaap requires a longer bridge. Tricky but I think someone will do it.

Also, there is a thread here that shows a block design that is coming out for the 7950. Flow rate might suck though.

[Hell-Fire]

Thanks for the pics and explanation mdz.

Thats defintely doable. Could I persuade you to take a pic of the back of the board(s) where the connection bridge solder points are?

[mdzcpa]

Here's a nice 3D05. A few more CPU clocks. Card 610/810.




I'll work on those card pics...