View Full Version : GeForce 7950 GX2 Preview
It's been a crazy weekend, but we sucked it up and managed to complete a short preview of NVIDIA's latest flagship GPU - the GeForce 7950 GX2. This is one review I was really looking forward to...
http://www.nvnews.net/previews/geforce_7950_gx2/images/card_1s.jpg
Check it out here:
http://www.nvnews.net/previews/geforce_7950_gx2/index.shtml
GJ Mike! I am sure you will have further investigations to do with the gx2 card, especially overclocking to near 7900 GTX speeds! :)
Yes I will continue to work with the card for the next week or so and add to my review. :)
wow, great review!!....i cant wait for you to post some over-clocking result. the only thing thats really disapointing to see is the compatibilty list... i would think that there would be more boards on that list especially the dfi boards considering they are very popular with the high end crawd. hopefully nvidia works this out soon....good job mike!!
911medic
06-05-06, 11:56 AM
Nice preview, Mike. I am curious, though, as to why you had to lower the resolution in the Doom3 benchmarks as you increased antialiasing with the GX2. It would have been interesting to see the fps at 1920x1600 for the 8x and 16x AA modes. Are higher levels of AA not supported at that resolution?
Nice job, though!
Nice review Mike. Too bad ASUS didn't have the bios ready in time. The chart has given me hope though. :)
tornadog
06-05-06, 01:33 PM
Great preview/review. I will definitely get this in the next 3 years but by then this will be outdated. What an irony.
GlowStick
06-05-06, 04:47 PM
Great review,
One question I have though is since the card is in a sli like configoration, dose only one dvi port work? Or can this support two monitors while useing both gpus?
Edit: Nevermind, not sure I was answering your question.
Is this what you're asking?
If you're in multi-display mode, one of the GX2's GPUs will output to two different displays concurrently and drive them like any other card would. In order to harness all of the GX2's 3D horsepower, though, you've got to switch into multi-GPU mode, at which point one of those two displays will go blank. Frustrating, but that's life with SLI.
Nice preview!
too bad no supported BIOS for many DFI boards yet though :/
Nice preview, Mike. I am curious, though, as to why you had to lower the resolution in the Doom3 benchmarks as you increased antialiasing with the GX2. It would have been interesting to see the fps at 1920x1600 for the 8x and 16x AA modes. Are higher levels of AA not supported at that resolution?
Nice job, though!
Thanks. I plan to re-visit OpenGL performance again, but I didn't have time to include any more results. Plus, I recall that the in-game 8X and 16X AA modes are especially demanding. Here are results from the GeForce7800 GTX 512MB running alone and in SLI.
http://www.nvnews.net/articles/athlon_64_dual_core_upgrade/benchmarks/doom3_2.png
Mike, you have a very big e-pen0s :eek:
Nice review Mike. Too bad ASUS didn't have the bios ready in time. The chart has given me hope though. :)
I was checking NVIDIA's web site a few minutes ago and I see that a BIOS update is now available for the A8N-SLI Deluxe. Had that been made available week ago, I wouldn't have had to dish out $230 for the A8N32-SLI and overnight shipping.
If that's not bad enough, I was really irritated that the space between the graphics cards on the A8N was not available on the A8N32-SLI :angry:
http://www.nvnews.net/previews/geforce_7950_gx2/images/motherboard_comparison.gif
I plan to put the A8N motherboard back and run an emergency Ghost restore using the save I took right before I swapped motherboards (nana2)
Also, nTune ran fine on the A8N-SLI, but didn't with the A8N32-SLI.
RMA?
What extra connectors does the bottom board have that the one on top doesn't have?
Mike, nice preview, but I am puzzled by one thing.
This card is targeted at extreme resolutions. It seems only fair that when you are doing comparisons you use said extreme resolutions at some point in the review.
This SLI in a single slot solution is interesting, but doesn't seem to make sense from a price/performance point of view. The only use really for these IMO is for the Quad SLI setup, in which case it "should" blow away anything at extreme resolutions, though not necessarily at more commonly used resolutions. It will be interesting to see your review of two of these. :)
Cheers,
DJB
I was checking NVIDIA's web site a few minutes ago and I see that a BIOS update is now available for the A8N-SLI Deluxe. Had that been made available week ago, I wouldn't have had to dish out $230 for the A8N32-SLI and overnight shipping.
If that's not bad enough, I was really irritated that the space between the graphics cards on the A8N was not available on the A8N32-SLI :angry:
I plan to put the A8N motherboard back and run an emergency Ghost restore using the save I took right before I swapped motherboards (nana2)
Also, nTune ran fine on the A8N-SLI, but didn't with the A8N32-SLI.
I wonder why they changed the layout in the 32 version. Like you, I prefer the A8N-SLI Premium layout. A co-worker was recently purchasing a new motherboard and I suggested the the A8N32-SLI but showed him the layout of mine also. The first thing he said was that he liked the slot layout of the A8N-SLI Premium better.
This SLI in a single slot solution is interesting, but doesn't seem to make sense from a price/performance point of view.
Why would you say that. A single 7900 GTX is $475. So for SLI you're looking at $950. The 7950 can be had for as little as $582 (right now on sale) and has performance that is between a single card and full-blown SLI, plus there is still the potential to add another one later to go quad (whenever they decide to support that).
911medic
06-06-06, 04:02 AM
Thanks. I plan to re-visit OpenGL performance again, but I didn't have time to include any more results. Plus, I recall that the in-game 8X and 16X AA modes are especially demanding. Here are results from the GeForce7800 GTX 512MB running alone and in SLI.OK. I look forward to your more in-depth follow up! I know that higher levels of AA in D3 are tough on cards.
Mike, nice preview, but I am puzzled by one thing.
This card is targeted at extreme resolutions. It seems only fair that when you are doing comparisons you use said extreme resolutions at some point in the review.
This SLI in a single slot solution is interesting, but doesn't seem to make sense from a price/performance point of view. The only use really for these IMO is for the Quad SLI setup, in which case it "should" blow away anything at extreme resolutions, though not necessarily at more commonly used resolutions. It will be interesting to see your review of two of these. :)
Cheers,
DJB
Thanks for the feedback. I could substitue a 21-inch CRT and test performance at 2048x1536. But I heard that I might get really lucky on fathers day. I'll keep you posted.
People are going to form their own opinions about the 7950 GX2, which is great. It is unique in that it works on a variety of motherboard chipsets. The 7950 GX2 now becomes an appealing solution for a broader range of customers, which is good for NVIDIA as they begin to penetrate into the non-SLI market.
JonathanM
06-06-06, 08:35 PM
Sucks about the BIOS update being released only afterwards there Mike.
Going to get really lucky on father's day? Hrm.. lucky you ;)
Nice quick preview Mike, and as always, looking forward to your added updates.
superklye
06-06-06, 09:00 PM
I haven't really had a chance to look at this yet until now (and I'm still at work, hehe), but man...great (p)review Mike! :D Those GX2s are mouth-wateringly amazing.
Great preview/review, as always, MikeC.
Sidenote; You have a typo on the NVNews main page of this review, not the main page of the review. You typed 7900 instead of 7950. Just thought I'd let you know. :D
http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/123/7950reviewtypo7hx.th.jpg (http://img454.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7950reviewtypo7hx.jpg)
Shutesie
06-11-06, 09:44 PM
I was checking NVIDIA's web site a few minutes ago and I see that a BIOS update is now available for the A8N-SLI Deluxe.
Is this a correct? I see the Premium edition in the list but I don't see the Deluxe.
V. Slayer
06-11-06, 11:12 PM
Great review/preview, Mike. The 7950 GX2 looks pretty sweet.
Mike, nice preview, but I am puzzled by one thing.
This card is targeted at extreme resolutions. It seems only fair that when you are doing comparisons you use said extreme resolutions at some point in the review.
This SLI in a single slot solution is interesting, but doesn't seem to make sense from a price/performance point of view. The only use really for these IMO is for the Quad SLI setup, in which case it "should" blow away anything at extreme resolutions, though not necessarily at more commonly used resolutions. It will be interesting to see your review of two of these. :)
Cheers,
DJB
Disagree.
1. 19X12 is as "extreme resolution" as it gets for most of us. Not many 3007s in use yet, lots and lots of 23-24" LCDs. (and not many CRTs anymore, and even the FE 2111SB I paid $550 for a few years ago only goes to 19X14 if you want to stay at 75Hz refresh)
2. It makes a lot of sense price/performance. I ordered a XFX XXX edition from ZipZoomFly for $652 shipped second day air on Saturday. It's clocked at 570/1550, and if you Google some reviews of that card, you'll see it offers 7900GTX SLI performance for $650.. You can't buy 7900GTX SLI for anywhere close to that, and the superclocked 7900GTs are near that, but have 256MB RAM, no HDCP, and no Quad upgrade path.
I'd say it was a STEAL for $650..(nana2)
Good preview Mike- even if my heart stopped when I saw you had to sell your A8N SLI Premium. (that's what I use) Glad to see Asus has the bios up now. :)
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