MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE GeForce 7950GX2
Performance Summary & Conclusion
Performance Summary: Usually, good price / performance ratios are reserved for more affordable mid-range cards. Flagship cards rarely offer a lot of value, however. That's just not the case with the 7950 GX2, though. It offers performance that somewhat justifies its $550+ price tag. The GX2 performs roughly on par with a pair of GeForce 7900 GT cards, and its price is in-line with the cost of two GTs. And MSI's version of this card proved to be an excellent representative of NVIDIA's flagship.
If you've got a motherboard with a single PCI Express x16 slot, and you're tempted to upgrade your system, you could go get an SLI or CrossFire ready motherboard and pick up a pair of GeForce or Radeon cards, but that may not be the best route with the GX2 on the scene. You just go buy a single 7950 GX2, use your current motherboard, and save yourself some money, and end up with similar performance in the end. From our experience with the NX7950GX2, we recommend adding it to your consideration list.
One thing that you need to keep in mind if you do intend to purchase only a single 7950 GX2 is that you cannot run dual monitors and pseudo-SLI multi-GPU high-performance mode on the card simultaneously. You have to choose one or the other in the driver control panel, just like traditional two-card SLI.
While we do appreciate MSI's attempt to add value to its bundle by including a plethora of handy utilities, we'd still like to have seen the company update its game selection. We would also like to see a factory overclock, but only one of NVIDIA's partners has been allowed to do that so far with the GX2, so it seems MSI's hands are tied on that one, and we can't hold it against them. Based on its features and performance, we are awarding the MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE an 8.5 on the Heat Meter.
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. Excellent performance . 1GB of DDR3 on one card! . SLI on non-SLI mobos anyone? . Add another for Quad SLI! . GX2 is the fastest single card solution available |
. Not the quietest coolers around . Bundle could use an update . Warranty not as good as some of the competition |
