XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme

Features of the XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme

Double Lifetime Warranty

This is something so strange in a world of overclocked graphics cards, you may be sitting slack jawed wondering exactly what it means. XFX is so sure of the quality of their cards that no only will they give you a lifetime warranty, but if you sell the card or give it away the second owner also gets the lifetime warranty. Warranty is something that few gamers consider when shopping for a graphics card, but you need to be looking. XFX has the best warranty you will find.

PureVideo, SLI & XHD Gaming

Just like all the 7900 series graphics cards, the XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme is SLI compatible. Extreme High Definition Gaming (XHD) is also supported with SLI on the 7950 GT allowing it to run comfortably at 1920 x 1200 in SLI mode on a 23" or 24" display. PureVideo is supported on the XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme as well via a combination of GPU based processing and software drivers. the 7950 GT can accelerate decoding of HD video in H.264, VC-1, WMV/WMV-HD and MPEG-2.

HDCP

Just like the XFX 7900 GS Extreme I reviewed the 7950 GT is capable of supporting HDCP, but it is up to the card maker to install the crypto-ROM that is needed to decode the HDCP signals. What this means is that you will see 7950 GT cards on the market that do and don't support HDCP. The XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme does not have the crypto-ROM installed.

Other XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme Features

All the 7900 series cards share very similar features and capabilities, the remainder of the features of the 7950 GT are:

• Transparency Antialiasing
• HDR
• DirectX 9.0 shader Model 3.0 Support
• CineFX 4.0 Engine
• Intellisample 4.0

XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme Specifications

XFX typically produces a standard version of the NVIDIA reference designs, and a souped up version or two. For the 7950 GT XFX over clocked the card out of the box and called it the XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme. The specifications are:

• Core Frequency: 570 MHz
• Memory Frequency: 1.46 GHz
• Video RAM: 512 MB DDR3
• Outputs: S-Video, Dual DVI-D, HDTV

Cooling & Profile

Unlike many of the higher performing graphics cards around, the 7950 GT is a single slot design. To further set it apart, XFX completely passive cooled the card, which means it is dead silent making it an uber quiet PC card.

XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme in Use

Test System

The test machine I used to benchmark the XFX 7950 GT is as follows:

• CPU: AMD FX-62
• Mainboard: ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe
• RAM: OCZ DDR2 PC2-8000 2 x 1GB
• PSU: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 1KW

Benchmarking & Testing

I used my standard testing suite for the 7950 GT consisting of runs with 3DMark06, FEAR and Quake 4. All tests and benchmarks were ran at default settings on the games and applications unless otherwise noted. The graphics card settings were at default values.

3DMark06

3DMark06 is a synthetic test that works graphics cards and the CPU pretty hard. When comparing scores, be sure to check the CPU out as that could affect the score. The XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme performed as follows:

• 3DMarks: 5442
• SM2: 2192
• HDR/SM3: 2167
• CPU: 2161

• Return to Proxycon: 17.607
• Firefly Forest: 18.927
• Canyon Flight: 19.370
• Deep Freeze: 23.974
• CPU 1: 0.686
• CPU 2: 1.089

FEAR

FEAR remains one of my favorite games and benchmark tests. This game still puts some serious pressure on hardware. For testing I used the FEAR in game test loop and for the first run I allowed FEAR to choose the settings it thought were ideal for my test rig. The settings I ended up with were:

• Single player physics: Max
• Multiplayer physics: Max
• Software sounds: Med
• Particle bouncing: Max
• Shell casings: On
• World detail: Max
• Corpse detail: Max
• Effects details: Max
• Model decals: Max
• Water resolution: Max
• Reflections & displays: Max
• Volumetric lights: On
• Volumetric light density: Med
• FSAA: Off
• Light detail: Max
• Enable shadows: On
• Shadow details: Max
• Soft shadow: Off
• Texture filter: AF 4x
• Texture resolution: Max
• Video resolution: Max
• Resolution: 1024 x 768
• Shader: Max