Question about my Geforce 7950 gx2 1 gig

[beenwrong2002]

I have an older vid card, geforce 7950 gx2 1 gig pci express. Even when i first installed it a few years ago I didnt receive the fps gains I thought I would in games. Ive ran a few benchmarks in the past where it showed only showed 512 mb of ram on my vid card. Is there a setting anywhere that might be bottle necking my video card? Im not a computer expert so go easy on me. Why was the vid card discontinued so fast? Was it over rated? I paid $625 for it the day it came out : \ Also if I had around $250 for a new vid card, what would yall recommend? My rig:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Hard Drive: 160 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 1 GB
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)

 

[nforce4max]

Memory isn't combined like the 98.4% of the population thinks but is mirrored so it is only a copy of the primary gpu. This card has two and is a second gen GX2. As for performance sli mode might not be enabled but you are lucky that it has lasted this long as many tend to run such cards into the dirt ware they fail. If you are looking to upgrade a GTX460 if you are still want to stay with Nvidia. It will blow your old card away but one thing don't get rid of your current card as it is getting to be rare enough that it might be a collectible with appreciating value.

 

[beenwrong2002]

Memory isn't combined like the 98.4% of the population thinks but is mirrored so it is only a copy of the primary gpu. This card has two and is a second gen GX2. As for performance sli mode might not be enabled but you are lucky that it has lasted this long as many tend to run such cards into the dirt ware they fail. If you are looking to upgrade a GTX460 if you are still want to stay with Nvidia. It will blow your old card away but one thing don't get rid of your current card as it is getting to be rare enough that it might be a collectible with appreciating value.

I thought sli mode was for briding two of these cards togather? How do I check if its in sli mode? Old video cards go up in value? Can you give me an example?

 

[nforce4max]

Software must not have thought about it you

In hardware yes and I know this card fairly well and got the older and much larger version. Go under the Nvidia control panel and see if it is enabled if not give it a try. If it already is then look into a single gpu card. If the GTX460 is to much of a power hog then maybe a wonky GTS 450 or a ATI 5770.

 

[cheesesubs]

Software must not have thought about it you

In hardware yes and I know this card fairly well and got the older and much larger version. Go under the Nvidia control panel and see if it is enabled if not give it a try. If it already is then look into a single gpu card. If the GTX460 is to much of a power hog then maybe a wonky GTS 450 or a ATI 5770.

the "older & larger" version was 7900gx2, not 7950gx2. however if he ran 7950gx2 effortlessly with his current psu then gtx 460se will be good for him.

 

[nforce4max]

the "older & larger" version was 7900gx2, not 7950gx2. however if he ran 7950gx2 effortlessly with his current psu then gtx 460se will be good for him.

Not necessarily, unlike mo st people that can only remember one or two generations back and have the attentions span that of a garden pest the 7950gx2 uses a lot less than any standard GF104 gpu. I got two 7900 gtx duos (oem alienware) and the gpu behind both cards uses very little power compared to modern gpus. 60w each tops depending on the clocks. The only version that allowed for more was the 7900gtx and the max was around 120w for the whole card including vram and losses to the power stage. The 7900gtx duo and the 7950gx2 didn't reach such high clocks as the single gpu cards. So he can support a GTS 450 no problem and maybe just maybe a GTX460 but he didn't say what spec, brand, and model is the unit. The 5770 and 55nm G92 GT use around 80w at stock depending on the clocks.

 

[cheesesubs]

Not necessarily, unlike mo st people that can only remember one or two generations back and have the attentions span that of a garden pest the 7950gx2 uses a lot less than any standard GF104 gpu. I got two 7900 gtx duos (oem alienware) and the gpu behind both cards uses very little power compared to modern gpus. 60w each tops depending on the clocks. The only version that allowed for more was the 7900gtx and the max was around 120w for the whole card including vram and losses to the power stage. The 7900gtx duo and the 7950gx2 didn't reach such high clocks as the single gpu cards. So he can support a GTS 450 no problem and maybe just maybe a GTX460 but he didn't say what spec, brand, and model is the unit. The 5770 and 55nm G92 GT use around 80w at stock depending on the clocks.

dual gpu card are known having same issue on gpuz and some certain application like cinebench even with sli/crossfire enable on control penal not to mention scaling performance on each game not quite same. that is the main reason why i rather stick with single gpu solution. and 7900gx2 aint use little power compare to modern gpu when they are "combined" even at idle it will draw as much power as g104(768&se) if not more. gts 450 is a handicap card and ran even slower than g92/juniper/770xt&pro in most of dx9/10 game while the power consumption is just as high as gtx 460...but one thing for sure he'd have to list his psu spec because gtx 460 require larger 12v output. of else we can't provide any idea.

 

[beenwrong2002]

the power supply unit i have is Antec TRUE480 480W ATX Power Supply. I spent a couple thousand putting this thing togather 5 years ago, trying to make it last as long as possible

 

[cheesesubs]

the power supply unit i have is Antec TRUE480 480W ATX Power Supply. I spent a couple thousand putting this thing togather 5 years ago, trying to make it last as long as possible

is that the tp-2 version? if so it's 12v combine rate is 33a...so far gtx460 need at least 40a, even the 768 and se version require 36a or more.....so the best you can is stick with g92 based like gts 250 or 5770.

 

[beenwrong2002]

is that the tp-2 version? if so it's 12v combine rate is 33a...so far gtx460 need at least 40a, even the 768 and se version require 36a or more.....so the best you can is stick with g92 based like gts 250 or 5770.

lol all i know is it was top of the line 5 years ago. I just want money to rebuild a whole new system i dont think i can even play COD Black Ops, its the first game that my system couldnt handle since i bought it

 

[cheesesubs]

lol all i know is it was top of the line 5 years ago. I just want money to rebuild a whole new system i dont think i can even play COD Black Ops, its the first game that my system couldnt handle since i bought it

black ops isn't really resource hog like metro2033 and crysis warhead. basically if you can run mw2 smooth then no doubt black ops will be any challenge as their system requirement hasn't change since modern warfare 1's day. cod series are mostly focus on xbox platform and other relate console platformlike wii that rely on driect3d(ps3 is opengl mainly) so if you really want the best image quality i'd suggest you go for 5770 or 4890 but if you cares about maximum frame rate and cost then gts 250 will be better choice because amd's driver tend to lock the fps down to 60fps.

 

[beenwrong2002]

black ops isn't really resource hog like metro2033 and crysis warhead. basically if you can run mw2 smooth then no doubt black ops will be any challenge as their system requirement hasn't change since modern warfare 1's day. cod series are mostly focus on xbox platform and other relate console platformlike wii that rely on driect3d(ps3 is opengl mainly) so if you really want the best image quality i'd suggest you go for 5770 or 4890 but if you cares about maximum frame rate and cost then gts 250 will be better choice because amd's driver tend to lock the fps down to 60fps.

i did one of those system online requirement checks for games and it said my system was below the requirements for cod black ops. I dont see anywhere in my control panel to check if sli is enabled. Here is a screen shot of the nvidia control panel.

 

[nforce4max]

i did one of those system online requirement checks for games and it said my system was below the requirements for cod black ops. I dont see anywhere in my control panel to check if sli is enabled. Here is a screen shot of the nvidia control panel.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s204/beenwrong2002/screenshot.jpg

I do -_-

"setup multy gpu configuration"

 

[Mousemonkey]

is that the tp-2 version? if so it's 12v combine rate is 33a...so far gtx460 need at least 40a, even the 768 and se version require 36a or more.....so the best you can is stick with g92 based like gts 250 or 5770.

A GTX460 does not require anywhere near 36 amps, the entire system might but the card itself does not.

 

[cheesesubs]

i did one of those system online requirement checks for games and it said my system was below the requirements for cod black ops. I dont see anywhere in my control panel to check if sli is enabled. Here is a screen shot of the nvidia control panel.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s204/beenwrong2002/screenshot.jpg

i think the reason why your gfx didn't pass it is because it doesn't support hdr well and no directx 10 feature. even on xp's directx end user pack already packed with 60% of directx 10 feature on directx 9c makes older gfx like 7950gx runs more slower due to lacking feature. try to lower it down to medium setting and lower shader/texture detail while keep higher resolution and you're good to go. because these effect/shader heavily relate to dx10 feature despite it's under the camouflage of dx9c end user pack..

i knew this that is because i had august 2010 pack and it driven my 9600gt like dog.....(however it look more awesome compare to old dx9c when in highest setting.)

A GTX460 does not require anywhere near 36 amps, the entire system might but the card itself does not.

yes. mostly count the whole system 12v consume rate. to be safe you have to get a 40a or higher psu if you want to install gtx 460. even lower model will require 36a or higher. especially his 4400+ is 90nm version and it has tdp rating of 120w and rest of spec are consume as much due to older fabrication which a 40a psu is the safety bottom line.

 

[Mousemonkey]

yes. mostly count the whole system 12v consume rate. to be safe you have to get a 40a or higher psu if you want to install gtx 460. even lower model will require 36a or higher. especially his 4400+ is 90nm version and it has tdp rating of 120w and rest of spec are consume as much due to older fabrication which a 40a psu is the safety bottom line.

I have one running on a 30amp PSU and it runs without issue.