The following photographs compare a reference GeForce 7950 GX2 on the left to the GeForce 7900 GTX from EVGA.
GeForce 7950 GX2 vs. GeForce 7900 GTX
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The circuit boards on both graphics cards have similar dimensions. The original quad-SLI GeForce 7900 GTX was much longer and only available through system builders.
GeForce 7950 GX2 vs. GeForce 7900 GTX
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The engineers did a great job in designing a cooling system for the GeForce 7800 and GeForce 7900 Series. Coming up with a design that minimizes fan noise and is effective at cooling a high-end GPU is a challenge. The challenge appears to have been met when they designed the cooling solution for the GeForce 7950 GX2.
GeForce 7950 GX2 vs. GeForce 7900 GTX
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TEMPERATURE READINGS
The first order of business upon installing the GeForce 7950 GX2 was to monitor the GPU temperatures using the reading provided by the driver applet. The room temperature was a comfortable 72° F when testing began with the computer case closed. At idle and under load from rthdribl, the GPU was running about 10° C higher than the GeForce 7900 GTX, which can be expected given the close proximity of the circuit boards.
GeForce 7950 GX2 Close Up
The GPU was registering a temperature of 54° C at idle and stabilized at 75° C under load. I was initially alarmed at the higher reading, but realized that the fans were not generating any more noise than I am accustomed to hearing from a GeForce 7900 GTX running in SLI. I am sure the fans can rotate at much higher speeds when necessary.
