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Review: XFX R7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation graphics card

by Tarinder Sandhu on 31 January 2012, 05:15 4.0

Tags: XFX (HKG:1079)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabbxz

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Testing methodoloy

GPU comparisons

Graphics card Approx.
pricing
GPU clock
(MHz)
Stream
processors
Shader clock
(MHz)
Memory clock
(MHz)
Memory bus
(bits)
Graphics driver
  AMD Radeon HD 6990 (4,096MB) £530 830 3,072 830 5,000 256 x 2 Catalyst 11.12
  AMD Radeon HD 7970 (3,072MB) £450 925 2,048 925 5,500 384 Catalyst 11.12 RC11
  XFX Radeon HD 7950 (3,072MB) £415 900 1,792 900 5,500 384 Catalyst 11.12 RC11
  AMD Radeon HD 7950 (3,072MB) £350 800 1,792 800 5,000 384 Catalyst 11.12 RC11
  AMD Radeon HD 6970 (2,048MB) £255 880 1,536 880 5,500 256 Catalyst 11.12
  AMD Radeon HD 6950 (2,048MB) £185 800 1,408 800 5,000 256 Catalyst 11.12
  AMD Radeon HD 6870 (1,024MB) £140 900 1,120 900 4,200 256 Catalyst 11.12
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 (3,072MB) £620 607 1,024 1,215 3,414 384 x 2 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (1,536MB) £350 772 512 1,544 4,008 384 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (1,280MB) £240 732 480 1,464 3,800 320 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 (1,280MB) £220 732 448 1,464 3,800 320 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1,024MB) £170 822 384 1,645 4,008 256 ForceWare 285.88

High-end test bench

Processor Intel Core i5-2500K (3.33GHz, 6MB smart cache, quad-core, LGA1155)
Motherboard Intel Desktop Board DP67BG
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance (9-9-9-24 @ 1,600MHz)
Power Supply Corsair AX750W
Monitor Dell 30in 3007WFP
Disk drive(s) Crucial RealSSD C300 (256GB)
Chassis Corsair Graphite Series 600T
Operating system Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit, SP1)

High-end benchmark suite

3DMark 11 Performance and Extreme presets
Aliens vs. Predator DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality
Batman: Arkham City DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 8xAA, ultra quality
Battlefield 3 DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, ultra quality
Crysis 2 DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality
Just Cause 2 DX10, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality
Total War: Shogun 2 DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, high quality
Power consumption To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and whilst playing Crysis 2
Temperature To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and whilst playing Crysis 2
Noise A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Crysis 2
Overclocking Pushing the graphics card as far as it will go, we increase speeds and re-run the Aliens vs. Predator benchmark
HEXUS bang4buck A custom metric used to evaluate comparative performance with price factored in

Notes

We're using the AMD drivers supplied with the press card, identified as Catalyst 11.12 RC11. This driver is also used with the Radeon HD 7970, keeping things consistent. All testing, bar overclocking, was done with the Standard BIOS.