EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2: report

[ALT-F13]

Just today I received two EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 for testing. First impressions are following:

1. Card pwnz And main reason is not the speed itself but possibility to work on ANY PCI-Express-compatible motherboard, not only NF4/NF5x0 SLI series.

2. Speed is just a bit faster than two 7900GT in SLI mode. Of course, GTX SLI is still the fastest due to much higher clocks.

3. Without proper airflow through case, card is quite hot. But not hotter than mentioned above GT SLI combo. But with open side panel and humble Coolink 120 mm fan (just 65 CFM) core temperature don't rise over 72C during testing.

4. Overclocking is not that bad. From stock 500/600(1200) MHz one of my cards reached 600/775(1550) MHz in conditions described above. The other one is still untested, I'll report later. For SLI solution with awful cooling system it is nice achievement, as for me.

Now regarding the results. These are results for plain review which I'll publish today/tomorrow on ModLabs.net. So no voltmodding, no CPU overclocking, no cooling modifications - NOTHING EXTREME AT ALL

Testbed specs:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60/Asetek WaterChill/Foxconn NF4SK8AA/2x512MB HyperX @ 2-6-3-3-2T/Seagate 300GB/Creative X-Fi Platinum/Hiper Type-R 580W/Win XP Pro SP2/ForceWare 91.29 beta

EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 (500/1200) vs. EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 @ 600/1550 vs. 2x EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTX @ GT (450/1320)

3DMark 06: 7797 - 7648
3DMark 05: 12372 - 12350
3DMark 03: 28702 - 28288

Information about overclocked 7950 GX2 performance, as well as comparison with 7900 GTX SLI combo will be added in an hour...


UPDATE: http://modlabs.net/index.php?locatio...rl=evga7950gx2 - my review (in Russian) with pictures and diagrams

[Zeus]

Pictures? Links?

[$ilver]

[ALT-F13]

No links and no diagrams as I still work on the review text.

As for the pictures. Mostly they are also will be in the review tomorrow but here are the few:


Test rig with card installed and 3DM06 result on screen - the first benchmark I ran on 7950GX2


7950GX2 versus 7900GTX pictured on EVGA banner.


Card back with EVGA stickers.

[Cooper]

Looking forward for review by Real HardCore OCer

[perry_78]

Nice cards. On an off note, I'll be attempting to take your 5750 WR down after summer A64 or prescott style, no conroe cheating.

On Newegg, the Asus cards are listed at 99.999 usd

[Big_Sam]

3DMark 06: 7797 - 7648
3DMark 05: 12372 - 12350
3DMark 03: 28702 - 28288

These results have reminded me ...

3DMark 06: 7047 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=327091
3DMark 05: 12787 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2048941
3DMark 03: 29110 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=4814666

but only on 2 x 7600GT Same - NOTHING EXTREME AT ALL

[shuRe]

I might be missing something really simple here, but arnt the GX2's dual core as such on a single pcb, where as the the 7900GT's are just single core.

So 2 cores vs 4 cores and there isnt a real visable improvement?

Could this be a driver problem or cpu limitation?

[IvanAndreevich]

I might be missing something really simple here, but arnt the GX2's dual core as such on a single pcb, where as the the 7900GT's are just single core.

So 2 cores vs 4 cores and there isnt a real visable improvement?

Could this be a driver problem or cpu limitation?

He is comparing ONE GX2 card vs. TWO 7900GTX@GT's.

[Zeus]

Wow, double PCB???
What the chewing gum on the memory? Thermal pads?

[ALT-F13]

These results have reminded me ...

3DMark 06: 7047 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=327091
3DMark 05: 12787 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2048941
3DMark 03: 29110 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=4814666

but only on 2 x 7600GT Same - NOTHING EXTREME AT ALL

ROFLMAO! Well, FX-60 on stock speed is definitely the bottleneck in my case. I'll have much time with these cards and Conroe soon - no need to hurry...

I'll be attempting to take your 5750 WR down after summer A64 or prescott style, no conroe cheating.

Good luck! I still have the card so it might be a nice race
LOL. Conroe is already considered as cheating?

[Cornelious0_0]

Very nice stuff...I was waiting to see some pics...I'd still go with dual 7900GT's for the same money though.

Still a nice card.

[perry_78]

Conroe is cheating if you are comparing 01se to a64's and prescotts. Its just not the same. I just need to figure out how these nvidia cards work, ATI has been too good to me these last few years. Hell, my x600xt still has higher car high, drag high and lobby high than some x1900xt results here And on a 2944mhz opteron.

Im sure it will be fun, need to find a solder to get some vmods in. Card seems to clock tolerably well, but its horrible for GTA SA

[Big_Sam]

ROFLMAO! Well, FX-60 on stock speed is definitely the bottleneck in my case. I'll have much time with these cards and Conroe soon - no need to hurry...

It just have reminded me ... no more Because it was couple of days back... Let's wait for Conroe results, I think it it will be interesting.

[Cornelious0_0]

It just have reminded me ... no more Because it was couple of days back... Let's wait for Conroe results, I think it it will be interesting.

No kidding...it's nice that there's finally CPU's coming forth that're eliminating some CPU bottlenecks we've been dealing with for so long...I can't wait for Conroe.

[Kunaak]

No Quad SLI?

[ALT-F13]

No Quad SLI?

EDIT: =Forget what was said here before. Working now maybe will get some results on this field =

[Nordling]

ALT-F13
I mast see XTREM result of the test!!!

[Big_Sam]

ALT-F13
I mast see XTREM result of the test!!!

Just for you: http://www.translate.ru/text.asp

[ALT-F13]

Big_Sam

:applause:

[ALT-F13]

Nope. No chances for Quad SLI - enabling SLI in current drivers really _decreasing_ performance A LOT (~1.5 to 4 times versus 7950GX2) in any application. So maybe it is really not ready yet

[perry_78]

Thats a shame - though i can imagine the system not really being able to cope with quad sli at the moment, with the dawn of quad core's i'm pretty sure things will get better.

[naelq]

for getting the cards!!

ALT-F13, would you please measure the space between the two attached PCB's please? cause i wonder if my DD Acetals (Low Profile Maze4GPU) will fit!!

[ALT-F13]

Nordling, stop crapping this thread with your bulls**t, OK?

[ALT-F13]

naelq, it is 19 mm, but you'll have only 15 between GPU and other board SMDs...