Enhanced Performance & Overclocking

Well, as most of the GeForce 7950 GT based cards do overclock quite well we did give it ago ourselves. After all some free performance is always a great added value. First, we need to point out one major point of interest and that is the actual BIOS of the GeForce 7950 GT accelerator. The BIOS itself has two possible voltage levels which are 1.25V and 1.35V. Of course most cards are currently shipped and set at only 1.25V which limits the overclocking potential. Actually our reference NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT accelerator was set at 1.35V from default. So let's see what this baby can do...

Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
GeForce 7950 GT 512MB	AquaMark 3 Score
550/1400MHz (Reference)	92750
575/1450MHz (Low OverClock)	95842
600/1500MHz (Med OverClock)	98945
625/1550MHz (High OverClock)	101942
650/1600MHz (Max Overclock)	104207
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Yeah, the NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT reference card does quite well on our overclocking attempt. With the default voltage at 1.35V we could run it stable at 650/1600MHz which is quite an improvement from stock 550/1400MHz clock speeds. So if you really want to take it one step further, and do understand that this you do at your own risk and warranty, you backup the original BIOS and update the 3D voltage level from 1.25V to 1.35V and save the BIOS. I would strongly advice to use NiBiTor (NVIDIA BIOS Editor) software to do so. Then just flash your graphics card with this updated BIOS. Now your G71 core will be fed in 3D mode with 1.35V, leading to better overclocking results in the end.

Final Thoughts

NVIDIA did it once again, a simple refresh of their GeForce 7900 GT turned out to be one hell of performer. The NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT is definitely a very fast card coming at an attractive price tag. The GeForce 7950 GT has become available right when NVIDIA said it would, and at just the prices they indicated. Some vendors are shipping slightly overclocked models; some are sticking to the reference specifications as laid out by NVIDIA. Most of the latter group are selling for the base $299 price. On top of that it is a single slot accelerator featuring a small though silent fan.

The GeForce 7950 GT itself is a very well positioned chip in terms of performance and price. The newcomer slices the performance spectrum right down the center between the GeForce 7900 GT and GTX and does so at an equivalent price point to a GeForce 7900 GT. The extra memory is sure to help in certain situations where high resolutions and high filtering levels are being employed. In SLI, two of these cards will allow for very good performance at those higher settings, where the platform will separate itself from the competition.

On top of that, NVIDIA added an interested feature to the G71 based GeForce 7950 GT related to video quality and content protection. Full support for HDCP content protection, including the crypto-ROM, is standard on all models which makes it a better choice for home theater PC's. Secondly adding a total of 512MB memory does come in handy at processing large textures. Well you get the picture, 512MB is becoming a new standard and NVIDIA couldn't yet fall behind. So an excellent mix between the former GT and the GTX accelerator.

We actually liked the NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT as it offers decent performance, and you can unlock some extra potential. We got a very pleasant surprise when overclocking the GeForce 7950 GT, and could reach a top speed of 650MHz core and 1600MHz memory. Yeah you saw that right, which is the same setting as the GeForce 7900 GTX comes at, but at a far price point. The NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT offers stellar performance, 512MB of memory, and features of the flagship GeForce 7900 GTX in a single slot solution. What more can you ask for?

Pros

• Excellent and Stunning Performance
• SLI Ready, Multi-GPU Enabled
• Fast Infineon GDDR3 (1.4ns) Memory
• HDCP Ready & Compliant
• Amazing Overclocking Capability
• Outstanding Gaming Performance
• Attractive Pricing

Cons

• N/A

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