Radeon HD 7950 3 GB: Six Cards, Benchmarked And Reviewed

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With Nvidia's GeForce GTX 670 readily available for $400, AMD's Radeon HD 7950 shifts to the upper middle class of graphics card performance. We test six third-party interpretations in anticipation of pricing more in line with its competitive position.

MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III

MSI's HD 7950 Twin Frozr III cooling solution is one of the most powerful available, and it still fits within two slots. This card's Tahiti GPU is factory-overclocked to 880 MHz.

Like Asus' board, the Twin Frozr III also employs a dual axial fan design. It's the only card in our round-up covered in metal (the others are plastic). Ports and connectors are easy to reach, and quality is generally top-notch, making MSI's submission the best-built card. Only Asus' HD 7950 DirectCU II gives it a run for its money.

We used a newer version of this card's BIOS for our acoustic measurements, as it provided some noticeable improvements in fan behavior. Unfortunately, the newer version didn't reach us in time for the performance benchmarks, though we were able to confirm that it didn't sacrifice any of its speed.

Igor Wallossek
Igor Wallossek
Contributor

Igor Wallossek wrote a wide variety of hardware articles for Tom's Hardware, with a strong focus on technical analysis and in-depth reviews. His contributions have spanned a broad spectrum of PC components, including GPUs, CPUs, workstations, and PC builds. His insightful articles provide readers with detailed knowledge to make informed decisions in the ever-evolving tech landscape