Test Setup

TOM'S HARDWARE GUIDE > Articles > Components > Graphics Cards > Nvidia Tightens Up Midrange Performance With The $300 GeForce 7950GT

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6:34 AM - 10/04/2006 by Darren E. Polkowski

System Hardware
Processor(s)	AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 2.6 GHz, 1.0 GHz HT-Link, 1 MB L2 cache
Platform	Nvidia: Asus AN832-SLI Premium NVIDIA nForce4 SLI, BIOS version 1205 ATI: Asus A8R32-MVP Premium ATI Xpress 3200 CrossFire, BIOS version 0404
RAM	Corsair CMX1024-4400Pro 2x 1024 MB @ DDR400 (CL3.0-4-4-8)
Hard Drive	Western Digital Raptor, WD1500ADFD 150 GB, 10,000 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA/150
Networking	On-Board nForce4 Gigabit Ethernet Onboard Marvell Gigabit Ethernet
Graphics Cards
ATI Based Cards	ATI Radeon X1900XTX 512 MB GDDR3 650 MHz Core 775 MHz Memory (1.55 GHz DDR) ATI Radeon X1900XT 256 MB GDDR3 625 MHz Core 725 MHz Memory (1.45 GHz DDR)
Nvidia Based Cards	PNY GeForce 7900GTX 512 MB GDDR3 675 MHz Core 820 MHz Memory (1.64 GHz DDR) XFX GeForce 7900GT 256 MB GDDR3 550 MHz Core 815 MHz Memory (1.63 GHz DDR) Nvidia GeForce 7950GT 550M 256 MB GDDR3 550 MHz Core 700 MHz Memory (1.40 GHz DDR) PNY GeForce 7900GTX 256 MB GDDR3 430 MHz Core 600 MHz Memory (1.20 GHz DDR) PNY GeForce 7900GS 256 MB GDDR3 450 MHz Core 660 MHz Memory (1.32 GHz DDR) PNY GeForce 7800GTX 256 MB GDDR3 430 MHz Core 600 MHz Memory (1.20 GHz DDR) EVGA GeForce 7800GT 256 MB GDDR3 445 MHz Core 535 MHz Memory (1.07 GHz DDR)
Power Supply	PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1,000 W
System Software & Drivers
OS	Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2
DirectX Version	9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Graphics Driver(s)	ATI - Catalyst 6.6 WHQL NVIDIA - Forceware 91.47 WHQL

Benchmarks Results

3DMark05

In 3DMark we tested at all resolutions with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering disabled for the first run. The second time around we increased the image quality with 4xAA and 8xAF.

In 3DMark05 we saw mixed results that leaned towards the GeForce 7900GT. The GeForce 7950GT only won at 1024x768 at the default settings (No AA / No AF) and with everything cranked up at 2560x1600. In every other discipline the GeForce 7900GT won the head-to-head competition. The differences could be from the advantage that the XFX card has in terms of memory speeds, or from driver limitations.