Test: BFG Geforce 7950GX2

Konklusion

innovation og teknologi 5-point. Man må sige at nVidia har lavet noget effektivt. Det er ikke hurtigst alle steder, men at teknologien virker kan vi se når vi presser kortet. I alle test ser vi at kortet render fra bl.a. Geforce7900GTX når vi presser det. Sammen med deres nyeste BR03-chip ser vi også at SLi kan virke på flere måder. tidligere skulle chipsne kommunikere gennem bundkort og oftest også et forbindelsesled. Dette er væk nu, og BR03 hjælper til med at fjerne SLi-fejlene og at udnytte båndbredden bedst muligt.

Bundle og tilbehør 4-point. Bundlen er desværre ganske fattig. Der er alt nødvendigt til at starte op som drivere, manualer, DVI-dongles og kabler. Det er sjovt med T-shirts og teflon-pads til mussen, men jeg savner et moderne spil med i pakken. Den gode garanti hiver kortet op på 4point.

Design og layout 5-point. Skal kortet se sådan ud, så må man sige at det er blevet gjort godt.. Det er ikke for langt og kan sidde i mit mATX-kabinet, og der er kun et strømstik, og blæserne er trods samme design som i 7900GT og 7600GT ikke nær så støjende. Jeg må sige at jeg er glad for at de har valgt en løsning med to mindre printplader end en stor og tror det er svært at lave noget der et mere perfekt, hvis man nu skal tænke så voldsomt.


Sådan ser 7950 ud i SLi, men det må vist vente til en anden gang

Software 3-point BFG har valgt at vedlægge nVidia's controlpanel-driver. En net-driver som ATi's. Jeg fik den dog til at crashe et par gange, især pga. jeg havde den åben når jeg åbnede et spil.. ikke smart. Men derudover må jeg sige at der er bedre respons end med ATi's udgave, dog kan den være svært at forstå for mange, da man ofte skal grave ganske dybt i driveren for at finde indstillingerne. Man kan dog ved et enkelt klik skifte til det gamle driver layout. Havde driveren været mere stabil havde den fået 4point

Ydelse 5point. Læs testen... dette kort er bare toppen.

Pris 3point. For det første er det nvidia's top-kort for det andet er det lavet af BFG og det til sammen gør det ikke bare dyrere, men meget dyrt. Dette koster godt 500dkk mere ned de biligste modeller (ca. 10% eller 5000-5500dkk.) Er man ligeglad med bundle og glad for BFGs livstidgaranti er det jo najs. Men hvor vil jeg gerne have set et eller andet der gør at man trods garanti stadig kan mærke man har givet 500dkk ekstra når man har købt dette kortet.

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Summary

Innovation and technology 5 points. You have to admit that nVidia has created something very efficient. It's not the fastest in every aspect, but that the technology works is evident when you really push the card to the limits. In every test we see the 7950 X2 leaving cards like the GeForce 7900GTX behind. The new BR03 chip shows that Sli can be used in new ways. In the past the chips had to communicate through the mainboard and often also some wired connection. Not anymore, and the BR03 also helps eliminate the SLi errors and utilize the bandwidth much better.

Bundle and accessories 4 points. The bundle is unfortunately very sparse. There are the items needed to get running, such as drivers, manuals, DVI dongles and cables.
T-shirts and Teflon pads for the mouse is all good and well, but I'd have liked to see a modern game too. However, the splendid warranty raises the score to four points.

Design and layout 5 points. If the card has to look that way, you have to admire a job well done. It's not overly long, it fits inside my mATX case, there is only one power connector, and despite the fans being designed like on the 7900GT and 7600GT they're less noisy. I am glad they've chosen to combine two smaller PCB's rather than one large, and I think it would difficult to devise a better solution.


This is how the 7950 looks in Sli, but that may have to wait to another time

Software 3 points. BFG has chosen to include nVidia's control panel driver. A .NET driver like Ati's. However, I did manage to make it crash a couple of times, probably mainly because I had it open when I launched a game.not a good idea.
I must say it is more responsive than ATi's offering, but it can be hard to use for newcomers, as you often have to dig pretty deep inside it to find the settings. However, you can change to the old driver layout with a single mouse click.
Had it been somewhat more stable it'd have got 5 points.

Performance 5 points. Read the test... this card is the top dog.

Price 3 points.
First of all this is nVidia's top end card, secondly it's made by BFG, and this makes it not just expensive, but very expensive. It costs around 500 DKK more than cheaper models (around 10% or 5000-5500 DKK.) If you don't care about the bundle, and you'd like the warranty it's very nice - but I'd really, really have liked to see something that I could point at and say - this is what I got for those extra 500 DKK.