Geforce 7950 GX2 - Is it good?

[NeroDevil]

Yeah, for the last while I've been using a piece-of-shit Radeon HD 4350. I was on work experience today at my local IT shop, and there was a graphic card sitting there for months that I never asked about. Then me and my boss were discussing my rig and he asked if I liked gaming - of course I said yes, and he talked to me about the previously mentioned graphic card - the Gigabyte Geforce 7950 GX2, a dual GPU monster of a thing! He said I could have it and he'd take the money out of my wages.

My question is - is this card good enough for modern games?

 

[pparks1]

I don't think that I would do it. I play some modern games with my 9800GTX+....but I've thought about upgrading numerous times. Unless you get it for a steal, I don't think I would go for it.

 

[NeroDevil]

Hmm, well I've heard/seen it run Crysis on High settings no problem, as well as many other modern games with ease. I'm basically getting it for free too.

 

[pparks1]

If it's free, why not. I had read your post wrong thinking it was going to cost you nearly $200.

 

[NeroDevil]

I thought that alright Well I mean, I can't go too wrong since it easilly beats my Radeon HD 4350! Man, that thing is so slow And my model in particular is even worse since it's not PCI-E, just the normal PCI bus, which makes it even slower than a normal one - and the normal one is pretty slow! XD

The 7950 GX2 seems to be able for most modern games at mid-high settings, with a fairly high resolution, so it should be fine. Has anyone on the forum got some experience with the card?

 

[Darician]

The closest experience I have is with a 7950 GT and it runs most modern games decently well provided a decent CPU is being used. The only drawbacks are it doesn't do DirectX 10 and doesn't really support video acceleration as that didn't really come into play until the 8 series. If these drawbacks are non-issues for you, then it it is definitely a decent performer and will without a doubt beat the 4350 you currently have. And if it's cheap enough (which seems to have been indicated), then go for it.

 

[Everlong]

Hmm, well I've heard/seen it run Crysis on High settings no problem, as well as many other modern games with ease. I'm basically getting it for free too.

Well that's only because it's running Crysis in DX9. That's a big difference to Crysis in DX10. If you don't mind have a 5 to 6 year old card, then go for it.

I'd personally only go for it though if I was getting it for under £40. Anything higher and I'd spend a bit extra and get something like a GTX450 for example.

 

[Maguscreed]

They are dx9 cards, but probably the best dx9 cards ever made.
I had two of the ones with the big passive cooling heat sinks on them, and never had any real complaints. Though I did finally upgrade to a 8800gtx for dx10, and then later to a ati 5850 for dx11.

For what they are, they are damn good cards though.

 

[NeroDevil]

Thanks for the information guys, looks like I'll be using this little puppy so!

I have one more quick question though, for those who have used the card in question: Heat. What sort of cooling will I need to tame the 7950 GX2?

 

[Bill]

Thanks for the information guys, looks like I'll be using this little puppy so!

I have one more quick question though, for those who have used the card in question: Heat. What sort of cooling will I need to tame the 7950 GX2?

You really shouldn't need any extra cooling, if you leave the card at stock speeds. It should have sufficient cooling already installing on the card.

I had a 7900 card at one point, was not a bad card at all. Replaced it with a 9800GTX, just replaced that card with a 460GTX.

For modern games, you'll be able to play at low to medium settings, depending on the resolution.

Bill

 

[Maguscreed]

Yeah, their primary weakness when compared to a new model card is a lack of streams. This makes them chug along a bit with heavy shaders.
If you get problems with one I would suggest killing shaders first, as they are the hardest thing on them.

 

[NeroDevil]

Thanks Bill, hopefully it'll keep at a fairly safe temperature. And thanks to you too Maguscreed, I don't really mind about the quallity once the newer games are playable at medium-ish settings and resolution.

Glad to here relatively positive information on the card! Should be good. But while I'm here, what power supply should I buy? Nvidia recommends a 400w power supply, which I have, but it's a pretty basic poor model from some no-name company called EVO Labs, so even though I have the card here now, I won't install it yet untill I buy a new PSU. :/ Anyone know of a PSU I should get that's able to handle the card, while not being very expensive?

 

[Maguscreed]

The 7 series actually isn't that power hungry compared to the 8 series which were power hungry beasts from the depths of the underworld. I wouldn't go overboard for a psu in this situation. A run of the mill 500watt should be more than adequate.

 

[kpo6969]

Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

Rage3D.com : NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 Review [ Introduction ]

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=81328

 

[Darician]

With the 7950 GT I had, I put in a 550W Power Supply about 4 years ago and it's still running so about 500 - 550W should be fine. As Maguscreed said, the 7 series is not nearly as power hungry as the 8 series.

 

[NeroDevil]

Sounds good guys, thanks for all the help!

 

[imeem]

how much r u getting that card for?

 

[NeroDevil]

Pretty much free - my boss just said take it.