Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC Dual-X fleX 3GB Graphics Card Review

[siopao1984]

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Noise is generally the bain of most consumers lives and in the hope of finding the quietest operation, we feel it’s necessary to show you the audio level of components. We use the same components throughout this test and use a sound level meter to record the audio level of the system with a passive graphics card installed. Once we have the level recorded with the passive card, we continue to change the graphics card for the one that we are testing. Due to us having the audio level recorded before installation, it gives us a guide to work with and shows that anything over our initial level is an audio gain.



Moving to the properties of the cooler, we can see the Dual-X doing a good job at both idle and load, with the noise output considerably lower than the reference HD 7950.

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To test power consumption, we monitor the overall power of the system through a plug-in electricity usage monitor at an idle and load state. This allows us to show the fluctuation between how much power draw the graphics card takes at idle and at load. By monitoring the overall usage of the whole system, it gives an easy comparison if you wish to do the same yourself as opposed to buying very expensive individual testing equipment.



The power output overall was slightly higher with this card at both idle and load, but looking at things from face value, the card has the fleX aspect built into the card, as well as having a dual-fan cooler, and a pre-factory overclock, which more than makes up for it.

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Measuring temperatures is all about being consitent, therefore we keep a steady eye on monitoring the ambient room temperature to make sure that it stays the same. While this is constantly being monitored, we measure the idle temperature of the card using HWMonitor over a 15 minute period. Once this has been recorded, we set FurMark into motion for 15 minutes and record the results again.



Lastly, taking a look at the temperatures, the Sapphire 7950 showed temperatures at idle that are a whopping 14 degrees lower and an equally impressive 6 degrees lower at load when comparing to a reference AMD 7950.

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We tend to look at Sapphire cards more than any other brand on both the AMD and Nvidia front, and it’s great to see them keeping up with the market and doing something unique in the process, and that’s exactly what we have here with the 7950 OC Dual-X fleX.

As the name suggests, we have a 7950, but we also have an OverClock Edition, with the Dual-X cooling solution with fleX technology, so why don’t we break it all down slightly.

The overclock has certainly helped boost this card above the reference clocks, which even began to rival the bigger, beefier 7970 in certain tests, and by all means, we know that this card still has some extra juice in it for some even bigger performance numbers if you fancy breaking out Sapphire TriXX to push things further.

The Dual-X cooling solution has allowed for a fairly silent operation, while keeping temperatures at an all-time low level at both idle and load figures, with some extremely attractive numbers being thrown at us. We even managed to see a 14 degrees variance when comparing to a stock, reference 7950 and that’s no mean feat to say the least.

FleX is a fantastic feature that really adds to the value for money aspect as it allows the card to do the hard work so your wallet doesn’t have to. Without a FleX card, if your monitors are native DVI, you’ll be forced to purchase an active dongle to convert from HDMI to DVI which can cost upwards of £60, and when you’re paying over £280 in the first place, the last thing you want to do is to spend another £60 + as you may as well buy the next model up, and then the next one up from that and so on. It’s a never-ending viscous cycle that will leave your partner screaming at you for spending the holiday money.

Speaking of price, a standard Radeon 7950 will set you back around £280 from a reliable retailer. An overclock edition will push things to around the £300 mark, and this little beauty will cost you around another £20 on top of that, meaning that extra £20 gets you a quieter cooler than really does lower your temperatures, while giving you extra functionality when it comes to immersing yourself in a triple screen Eyefinity set-up straight out of the box.

We’ve said it time and time again, that the 7950 really is a fantastic card, and it’s special editions like this one from Sapphire that makes us stand by our decision as it offers an already superb card, but with three added bonus features, which include but aren’t limited to the factory overclock, custom cooler and fleX technology and for those wanting even more, you could always get hold of Sapphire TriXX overclocking utlitity and push the card even further. From first hand experience, we know that this card can go further, a lot further.

With all this in mind, we’re happy to give this card our Editor’s Choice award, as it’s unique, offers good value for money, and can perform straight out of the box, while still giving extra possibilities depending on the user.

[Conrad]

tag pila pud ni sya? naa bay baligya ana diri cebu? or bsag order basis? The card is very nice.