Nvidia's Board Partners Bring GTX 950 To Life With 18 Graphics Cards

Today, Nvidia launched the GTX 950. We've already published our review of the card (using Asus's Strix card as a tester), but we also wanted to bring you a roundup for all the cards.

The GTX 950 is a mid-tier card that comes with 768 CUDA cores, 48 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and has a reference GPU clock of 1024 MHz and boost clock of 1188 MHz. The 2 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 6.6 GHz over a 128-bit memory interface, and the entire package should stay relatively cool within its tiny 90 W TDP, accomplished by the GPU with its Maxwell architecture, built on a 28 nm lithographic process.

So, without further ado, here are the cards from all of the major vendors, sorted alphabetically.

Asus

Asus only has a single card in its lineup on launch, and it is the Strix GTX 950. This is the exact card that we used to review the GTX 950, which comes with a DirectCU II cooler with the new Strix styling. Some of its key features include a respectable overclock, a 0 dB fan mode that turns off the fans below a certain temperature, and a premium board design. It is also manufactured using Asus's Auto-Extreme technology, which in short is the industry's first fully-automated graphics card manufacturing process.

This card features two modes: gaming mode and OC mode. In gaming mode, the card is clocked at a boost frequency of 1329 MHz, while OC mode will bring it up to 1355 MHz.

EVGA

EVGA's GTX 950 lineup is comprised of four different cards, each with their subtle differences. Of course, between all the variants the clock speeds are different, but that's not all there is to it. The entry-level version, for example, comes with a single-fan ACX 2.0 cooler, while the remainder of the cards come with dual-fan ACX 2.0 coolers. The top-tier "FTW" edition model even comes with a backplate, and for the "SSC" model, the backplate is optional.

Gigabyte

Like many vendors, Gigabyte has two cards: a basic version with a single fan, and a more elaborate version with two fans. They both fall under the WindForce branding, and are known as the GV-N950OC-2GD and the GV-N950WF2OC-2GD, respectively. Both feature UltraDurable 2 tech, and have a unique fan blade design with special ridges.

The smaller card is actually only 17 cm long, which means that it fits perfectly along the length of a Mini-ITX motherboard, making it ideal for compact builds.

Gainward

Gainward is one of the few vendors that's unveiling only a single card, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; it usually means that it's a fairly basic card, enabling lower price points. Gainward's card runs at stock frequencies of 1026 MHz at the base, and a typical boost at 1190 MHz. The cooler is a simple single-fan unit that works with a solid heatsink -- no heatpipes here.

Galax

The weirdly named Galax (which is formerly Galaxy and KFA2, but they merged to a single brand) has two GTX 950 cards. One of the cards is a single-fan variant that uses a solid heatsink, called the GTX 950 OC, while the other is a dual-fan version that comes with white fans, a white shroud, and a heftier heatsink with multiple heatpipes. The latter version is known as the GTX 950 EX OC.

MSI

For this release MSI is carrying three different graphics cards, in varying flavors. One is a simple reference card with a teeny overclock, while the other two are custom cards with a bigger and a badder overclock. The mid-tier card comes with an Armor 2X cooler, which features a white and black design, making it match perfectly with the Krait-themed motherboards. The MSI GTX 950 Gaming 2G comes with the Twin Frozr V cooler, and it has a 40 MHz memory frequency overclock.

Note that we spotted some inconsistencies in the information for the GTX 950 2GD5 OC, so we decided to leave the information out until we get verification.

Palit

Palit joins the club with two cards, the GTX 950 StormX and the GTX 950 Storm X Dual. The difference between the two is, you guessed it, the one has a single fan, while the other has two. Additionally, the dual-fan model comes clocked a little higher, and the single-fan variant sits just a couple MHz (literally) off from the reference frequencies. Lastly, the StormX Dual has a 0-dB mode, where it switches off its fans below a certain operating temperature.

Zotac

Zotac is carrying three GTX 950 cards, which range from a lightly overclocked model to a properly overclocked model. The plain GTX 950 comes with a simple cooler and a single fan, while the OC variant and AMP! Version come with dual fan coolers, with the top-of-the-line AMP! version's IceStorm cooler featuring a "Carbon Exoarmor," which includes a backplate. All three coolers feature the so-called "FREEZE" tech, which simply turns off the fans below a certain temperature threshold.

Aside from Asus's Strix card, we weren't provided MSRP pricing information for any of the cards. Of course, use your reasonable judgement when making a purchasing decision. Nvidia's suggested price for the GTX 950 is $159, so if you're paying more than that, be sure that you're getting a nice overclock and cooler for your money.

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