XFX GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme

Value:

There are currently two places in the UK that are listing XFX's GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme, but neither has stock available at the moment. Dabs is offering the cheapest price at the moment, at £229.38 including VAT, while Scan is listing it at £242.05 including VAT. Other GeForce 7950 GT's seem to be a little cheaper than XFX's, but that is understandable considering the decent cooling solution that XFX has implemented.

On the other hand, ATI's Radeon X1900XT 512MB is available for around £225-230 with the rather noisy stock cooler, or there is the HIS Radeon X1900XT IceQ3 that comes complete with a quiet cooling solution for £245. The cheapest GeForce 7950 GT's are just under £200, which puts it quite a bit cheaper than the competition coming from ATI.

Rounding Up

Performance & Image Quality: We were quite impressed with the performance of XFX's GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme video card - it provides some small improvements over the reference card that are in line with the clock speed increases. Quake 4 was a clear win for the two NVIDIA cards, while Counter-Strike: Source and Battlefield 2 were relatively even. Oblivion was an achillies heal in an otherwise evenly-matched battle between ATI and NVIDIA. However, we think it is important for us to mention that the Chuck patch is not a part of ATI's official Catalyst driver at the moment.

Testing with multiple driver versions is a headache for us, in much the same way that we're sure it's a headache for end users who want to know what the best driver is for their system. We are told that an 'official' Catalyst driver with the Chuck patch included will be available soon, but there is no clear time frame for this. The sooner it happens, the better, because it will help to alleviate the confusion that there currently is.

Getting back to GeForce 7950 GT, we were impressed with how well it held up at 1920x1200. Playing popular multiplayer games and games like Oblivion on the XFX GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme were pretty good at 1920x1200, especially considering the price and silence that this card comes with.

Image quality wise, ATI's Radeon X1900XT has an edge thanks to its ability to handle HDR+AA at the same time, along with high quality anisotropic filtering. However, if you're happy with NVIDIA's high quality driver setting, you shouldn't be too worried if you start to experience texture shimmering at the default driver settings.

Form Factor & Noise: The XFX GeForce 7950 GT Extreme fits in a single video card slot but it takes up two slots if you are looking to use a pair of them in SLI, because of the overhang from the heatpipe solution that XFX has chosen to use. That's not a bad thing though, in our opinion, because the cooling solution is an impressive feat, especially considering that NVIDIA rates GeForce 7950 GT at around 82W.

Add that to the fact that XFX has delivered a modest clock speed increase and it becomes an even more impressive achievement. We hope that other NVIDIA partners choose to go the same way, or at least move away from NVIDIA's somewhat noisy reference cooler. Another thing worth considering is the aesthetics of the card, as it is something that XFX has spent time working on. The colour scheme works well and it is probably one of the nicest-looking video cards we've seen for a while.

Another benefit to the GeForce 7950 GT is that it is much more frugal than ATI's Radeon X1900XT when it comes to power consumption. If that is something that you're worried about then an NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT implementation is a better solution for your needs.

Final Thoughts...

There is no doubting that NVIDIA's GeForce 7950 GT is faster than the GeForce 7900 GT that launched at the same price point earlier in the year. There is a lot to like about the product, and there is even more to like about XFX's implementation. It's generally a match for ATI's Radeon X1900XT 512MB in popular games, with Oblivion being the only real downside we've found thus far. One area where GeForce 7950 GT does excell is in its connectivity - ATI's Radeon X1900XT doesn't come with the required HDCP crypto-ROM, so you're going to be out of luck when it comes to watching HDCP-enabled content under Windows Vista.

Speaking of which, it is widely known that DirectX 10 is right around the corner with Windows Vista already at the release candidate stage and there is no denying that future-proofing is a concern for many enthusiasts. GeForce 7950 GT launches at an attractive price, but we are getting closer and closer to D-day (maybe that should be DX10-day? - Ed.) - the day when all DirectX 9 cards will become obsolete from a features point of view.

If you've got a little more than £200 burning a hole in your pocket and you're desparate for a new video card then GeForce 7950 GT represents a solid purchase. However, if you've already got a recent video card in your system (GeForce 7800 GT / Radeon X1800XL or higher), we'd recommend holding tight for another few months.

If you do choose to go down the route of GeForce 7950 GT, we'd recommend spending that little bit more on XFX's card too if you aren't planning on overclocking, because the silent heatpipe solution really does make a difference. If you do go down this route though, make sure you've got good airflow inside your case, because otherwise the card is likely to overheat.