XFX 7950 GT XT - PAGE 8
Geordan Hankinson, Tom Karpik
- Thursday, September 14th, 2006

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Power Consumption

To test power consumption we measured total power draw of the entire benchmark system using each of the video cards. This doesn't give an absolute value for the actual draw of each card, but it does give an accurate idea of the differences in each card's power consumption relative to one another



The power figures here are very encouraging, and despite the extra memory and the boosted clocks, the 7950 GT XT stays within 4 Watts of the 7900 GT OC under load. This compares quite favorably to the X1900 XT 256 MB (and even the X1900 GT) which uses significantly more power than even a 7900 GTX.

Conclusion

The 7950 GT itself is a very well positioned chip in terms of performance and price. The newcomer slices the performance spectrum right down the center between the 7900 GT and 7900 GTX and does so at an equivalent price point to a 7900 GT. The extra memory is sure to help in certain situations where high resolution and high filtering levels are being employed. In SLI, two of these cards will allow for very good performance at those higher settings, where the platform begins to seperate itself from the competition.

XFX in particular have done an outstanding job with their 7950 GT XT card, and we would not hesitate to recommend their board. The cooling solution is sufficient and while we wouldn't overclock with it, it does do its job well, and being completely silent, could potentially make for a whisper quiet, ultra powerful SLI rig when used in a pair. Those with windowed cases will appreciate the effort that XFX have gone to to bolster the aesthetics of what would otherwise be a plain-jane green PCB card as well.

Should the pricing and availability of this card reflect NVIDIA's intentions, ATI's X1900 XT 256 MB will have a strong competitor at the ~$300 price point, and with both cards offering such good performance, equalling eachother in the overall gamut of games we tested with, it will ultimately come down to personal preference in the details and retail bundles. Either board is a good decision and its very nice to finally see a completely balanced performance segment with both companies pushing top notch products out the door, starting today.

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