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ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2 1024MB PCI-E Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Wednesday, 23 August 2006 |
3DAvenue comes with a review on the ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2 1024MB PCIe graphics card. While NVIDIA rekindled the world of multi GPU gaming in the form of SLI a few years ago as a result of the 3dfx acquisition, a few hurdles along the way has made SLI more or less a luxury for the hardest of the hardcore gamers who don't mind spending more on video cards than some gamers spend on entire system upgrades, and that's just the video cards. You needed an SLI enabled mainboard, which weren't cheap, and a capable PSU, which were also quite pricey due to the limited selection. However, things are changing as the SLI solution is now starting to become slightly more mainstream.
 ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2 1024MB PCI-E Review
However, the one remaining hurdle for NVIDIA is the fact not everyone chooses to spend extra on SLI capable motherboards and PSU's, or they choose some incompatible products. After all, unlike ATI's CrossFire technology, NVIDIA's SLI is only officially supported on motherboards with NVIDIA chipsets. What NVIDIA needed to do was somehow allow SLI to work on any PCI Express supporting motherboard with any respectable modern PSU, and ideally even mainboards without a second PCI Express slot. What it needed was put to SLI on one video card, with efficient design for cool operation and acceptable power consumption.
Enter the GeForce 7950 GX2, one such video card. Thanks to the GeForce 7950 GX2, dual GPU's are now possible on just about any modern system that features a PCI Express 16x slot with a 450W or so PSU. However, don't think that means dual PCI Express SLI motherboards and mega PSU's are now redundant, as NVIDIA have single handedly created the new hardest of hardcore gaming market with the introduction of Quad SLI. That's right, two GeForce 7950 GX2's in SLI. While we don't have Quad SLI today, we do have is one ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2, put up against a similarly priced single Radeon X1900 XTX video card.
The ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2 defaults at 500MHz on the core and 1.2GHz on the RAM, which is considered the default standard clock speeds of the GeForce 7950 GX2. Some vendors release higher clocked versions but these are more or less overclocked out of the box. In fact, some vendors sell GeForce 7950 GX2's at 570MHz on the core and 1.5GHz on the RAM. While I couldn't quite achieve numbers like those with the ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2, I did manage a quite respectable 550MHz on the core and 1.4GHz on the RAM using. Not everyone is an overclocker so this potential could be going untapped amongst ASUS buyers.
The ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2 is quite the video card. Utilizing two GPU's but only using one PCI Express slot is really combining the best of both worlds when it comes to the high-end market. Obviously, the Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire setup used in comparison is going to out edge the GeForce 7950 GX2 in most instances, but you're looking at $1500 on video cards alone for a Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire system. The Extreme N7950 GX2 on the other hand is around $700, which is actually towards the upper end of prices for the GeForce 7950 GX2's but the software package is better than most other GeForce 7950 GX2's.
Still though, if I had to ask 100 gamers which package they would prefer, a cheaper video card without included games or a slightly more expensive video card with included games they may or may not already have, I get the feeling the former will be the more popular choice. When it comes down to it, there are a lot of choices when it comes to high end videocards but if you want quality SLI action with a good retail package, but without the hassles of two physical cards, the ASUS Extreme N7950 GX2 is not going to disappoint. If you want Quad SLI, I doubt it would disappoint there either.
However, given it looks more or less identical to the reference NVIDIA design, the premium price of the ASUS version seems to be due to the brand name and software package, and whether or not you want to pay around $75 over other GeForce 7950 GX2's for the ASUS badge and some extra software and games is up to you. Also, given the price, it would have been nice to see clock speeds above the standard 500/1200MHz as some other vendors are doing. At the $650-700 range you could get a GeForce 7950 GX2 that defaults at 570/1550MHz. All in all, another good video card from ASUS but not the absolute best value on offer.
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