The last of G71 passive series overclocks great

SHORTLY before the announcement of the G80 we managed to get our hands on rather interesting 7950GT card. This card costs around €300 and gives you a respectable performance for the money. The XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB really is one interesting card.

It doesn't support DX10 but I would not worry about that until the middle of next year at the earliest. XFX decided to innovate with the cooler by using a passive cooler that can cool the card at 570 MHz core and 1500 MHz memory. Despite its passive cooler and can be overclocked and it supports HDCP to boot.

The XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB card

It has 512 MB of 256 bit memory and it comes in a huge box with some kind of wolf, dog, and bear creature with Zoro glasses on the front. It is still a single slot card but because the cooler is passive it's a bit taller than other cards. It won't fit in every casebut it fits in most of them but not the low profile ones. There are two heat pipes that transport the heat from the core to a radiator that can dissipate it. It works well and the card is stable in all cases.

The XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB box

The card support dual-link DVI ports and can run at a resolution of 2560x1600. The box includes the manual, quick installation guide and a full version of Ghost Recon Avanced Warfigter, also known as GRAW. Let's not forget the 2 Molex to six pin power cable, S-Video cables, two DVI dongles and the HDTV RGB cable.

We decided to test this card against a good old Nvidia 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz and Nvidia 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz clocked at reference speed. As the XFX card is slightly faster we got a bit better scores.

Benchmarketing
We used the same setup including:
Foxconn C51XE M2aa Nforce 590 SLI motherboard
Athlon FX 62 2800 MHz 90 nanometre Windsor core
2x1024 MB DDR2 Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3 memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon Athlon 64/X2/FX cooler and Intel CPU's
OCZ 700W GameXstream power supply

The XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB card at the test bed

Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	17743	135.4	115.3	101.2
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	20435	161.9	135.1	117.7
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	20662	164.8	136.6	118.4
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	4295.3	10445.7	46.9	366.9
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	4810.7	12694.9	55.4	259.2
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	4977.8	12742.7	55.7	266.5
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	8117	35.7	24.7	38.8
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	9669	42.1	29.5	46.5
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	9748	42.4	29.7	47.1
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 650/1600 MHz OC	10973	47.7	33.4	53.1
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	5174.8	10644.9	303.1	61.2/47.1
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	5571.2	12833.2	368.7	74.6/55.8
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	5767.7	12819.4	373.6	76.0/56.3
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 650/1600 MHz OC	6363.1	15143.8	423.0	84.8/63.3
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	4604	?	?	?
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	5386	?	?	?
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	5426	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	1807	14.518	15.605
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	2181	17.517	18.836	?
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	2195	17.651	18.934	?
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	1798	16.086	19.880
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	2150	19.174	23.822	?
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	2166	19.395	23.930	?
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	2098	0.673	1.047
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	2094	0.669	1.048	?
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	2115	0.671	1.068	?
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	128.4	116.5	97.7	68.1
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	129.0	124.2	110.0	80.8
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	129.1	124.9	111.3	82.0
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 650/1600 MHz OC	129.3	127.7	118.8	92.7
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	106.5	76.7	56.4	34.7
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	115.4	88.1	65.7	42.4
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	116.9	90.1	67.4	43.6
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 650/1600 MHz OC	122.3	99.0	75.7	47.8
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	OK 1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	107	79	56	38
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	123	95	68	46
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	121	95	68	46
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 650/1600 MHz OC	133	107	79	53
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	71	49	34	22
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	81	59	40	27
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	84	59	41	27
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 650/1600 MHz OC	94	67	46	31
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	OK 1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	168.9	157.3	137.6	98.8
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	171.5	163.6	152.0	117.7
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	173.1	165.0	154.2	118.9
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	152.3	126.0	97.5	65.2
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	155.5	138.8	111.4	76.8
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	160.4	142.1	116.7	78.7
?	?	?	?	?
Half Life 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	85.61	85.38	80.94	67.56
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	84.79	85.34	80.61	68.35
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	158.3	133.0	97.9	68.9
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	160.0	152.2	117.8	83.1
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	159.7	152.6	118.9	83.6
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	123.0	91.4	65.8	44.4
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	142.9	109.4	79.0	56.6
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	143.0	112.0	80.6	57.5
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	96.16	97.22	95.17	74.08
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	97.62	96.64	97.42	87.95
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	96.71	96.26	95.45	88.89
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
NVIDIA 7900GT 256MB 450/1320 MHz	97.48	86.28	62.19	38.93
NVIDIA 7950GT 512MB 550/1400 MHz	97.42	94.46	73.39	47.45
XFX 7950GT 570M Extreme 512MB 570/1460 MHz	97.41	94.12	74.51	48.52

The XFX card is just 200 points faster in 3Dmark03. it runs only 20 MHz faster than the reference clocked card and has only a 60 MHz higher memory clock. It is still almost 3000 marks higher than the 7900 GT card. In 3Dmark05 the XFX card runs less than 100 points faster. Then we decided to overclock this card. Despite its heatpipe cooler and no fan at all, in cold environment 15 to 20 Celsius we managed to push the card to amazing 650/1600 MHz clock. You might want to add an additional fan to blow the heat off the card but it worked in case free environment for us. With the overcocked card you gain 1200 more marks and it runs almost 1300 marks faster than the default clocked card.

The XFX card is slightly faster in 3Dmark06, but by less than 50 points, nothing to be thrilled about. Doom 3 gains 10 FPS at 20x15 from the XFX card but you sure need to overclock it at 650 / 1400 MHz. Doom 3 FSAA and 8X Aniso gain you up to 10 frames or 12 percent from the massive overclock.

FEAR gains again a magical 12 percent performance increase from the overclocked card. Non overclocked, the card is almost the same as the default one. It can be a frame faster with FSAA and Aniso on but overclocked card gains an additional 10 FPS, and no one will say no to that.

Quake 4 is just slightly faster with and without FSAA and Aniso. We are talking about four to five FPS difference. Half life 2 in both scenarios almost scores the same and so does Serious Sam 2 and Far Cry even with the effects on.

IN SHORT
It is a cool innovative card, with an interesting package and a huge box. We like the fact that it is completely silent. You can even overclock it to massive 650 MHz core and 1600 MHz memory but if your card is in the case I advise to get some active fan to blow the heat out of the massive heat pipe cooler.

At around €300, given that it will run all the games very fast makes it a great buy. It gets you all you want and as the G80 comes in €450 - 500 or more price point you can not even dream about one for €299.

Geforce 7950 GT is still one of the best cards for the money on the market. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic