Final Thoughts
All of the recent developments are exciting, as we like seeing more cards hit the market. For a single card setup, the GeForce 7900GS places well at the $200-250 price point, and from our updated results with the GeForce 7950GT, the $300-350 level is king. Above that are the big cards: the Radeon X1950XTX and GeForce 7900GTX and 7950GX2. We are happy to see the new fan controls for better acoustics on both the Nvidia cards, as well as the new cooler design for the ATI X1900XTX.
While some GeForce 7950GT cards will become available with higher clock speeds, the test sample we received ran at Nvidia's specification. Keep an eye out for card makers to set different prices on overclocked models as they will be guaranteeing higher performance and clock speeds. Based on our overclocking results with the Nvidia test sample it is possible to see cards available with a 10% overclock. If you like to overclock, the GeForce 7950GT is a decent performer.
Overall, we welcome the new cards and are glad to see more price point options for those seeking gaming performance at a frugal price. ATI brought better performance to the $275-300 range and now Nvidia has done it in the $200-250 and $300-350 ranges. If you are or were planning on upgrading to a GeForce 7900GT, you should look at the 7950GT instead. It has higher reference clock speeds and the speed controller on the fan makes the acoustics much better than those of the GeForce 7900GT.
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