GeForce 7950 GT: Point-of-View versus XFX

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XFX GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme

XFX have taken a completely different approach to that of Point-of-View when it came to designing their version of the 7950 GT. The card is passively cooled and this is quite unique in the high end of the market. The XFX has an aluminium heat sink which is mounted on the GPU and memory on the front side of the PCB, two heat-pipes connect the front heat sink to another heat sink on the back of the card. This additional heat sink is cooled by the airflow generated by the CPU cooler and rear case fan which adds up to a reliable and efficient cooling design. The cards design is in line with other cards in the XFX line-up with a black PCB and green connectors, the characteristic steel bar for extra "support" which we have seen on other XFX cards is also present here.

Two heat pipes connect the front and rear heat sinks.

The rear heat sink is cooled by air flowing from the CPU to the rear case fan.

The name says it all, the XFX 7950 GT carries the 570M Extreme moniker which indicates that it comes factory overclocked, with the GPU running at 570 MHz instead of 550 MHz and the memory at 730 MHz instead of 700 MHz. This might not seem like a huge step up from the stock clock speeds, but when taking into consideration that this card is passively cooled then these speeds are quite impressive. You would be forgiven for thinking that you wouldn't be able to get much more out the card due to the passive cooling solution, but this is where the card changes from impressive to amazing. We managed to further overclock the GPU to no less than 631 MHz and the memory to 797 MHz and this with a passive cooling solution! All in all good for a 3Dmark06 score of 6174 points.

XFX in a class of its own: the characteristic bright green DVI connectors

The card is somewhat thicker due to the extra heat sink.

It seems like XFX has said goodbye to their trademark X shaped packaging. The card comes bundled with one game and not a bad game at that: Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter.

Gone are the days of X shaped boxes.