The GeForce 7950 GX2 turned out to be somewhat historical as it marks the first time I have had to swap out a motherboard in order to preview a graphics card. Five days before the preview, I discovered that a BIOS update for the Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard was not going to be available. My plans to use the A8N-SLI to test the GeForce 7950 GX2 were shot.
GeForce 7950 GX2 Compliant Motherboard
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I placed a rush order for the A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, which appears on the compatibility list under BIOS version 1205, which had already been released by Asus (A8N321205.ROM). Since the A8N and A8N32 are based on the nForce4 architecture, I swapped motherboards and hoped that the system would be usable without having to re-install the operating system. I've done this before with success and it would certainly save me some time if it would work now.
It didn't turn out to be a good idea this time. Certain games crashed or became unstable and inconsistencies between options and settings in the classic and new beta driver control panels were found. After spending a few hours on debugging, I proceeded to install a fresh copy of Windows XP on another hard drive and boot using it.
Beta Control Panel Bug
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I had better success after installing a fresh copy of Windows. In fact, I used the new beta control panel exclusively during the entire preview.
NEW CONTROL PANEL
The new control panel is receiving mixed reactions from the community, although I welcome the improved interface. Most of my time was spent adjusting global settings for image quality, antialiasing, and texture filtering. The Manage 3D Settings page is always one click away and becomes easier to use when the show advanced features box is left unchecked.
Manage 3D Settings
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Temperature monitoring is a popular feature on high-end graphics cards. Temperatures can also be logged over time.
Monitor Temperature Levels
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The adjust and real-time preview applet is a useful feature for inexperienced users. Image quality changes are made in real-time as pre-set configurations for Performance, Balanced, and Quality are selected. Notice that Fraps is able to report on the frame rate as shown in the top right corner of the preview application.
