Product Reviews

ATI's Radeon X1900 XT has long been one of our favourite graphics cards. Powerful and affordable, it's capable of running modern games at a resolution of 1,600x1,200 in high detail. Nvidia has just launched the GeForce 7950GT, which competes directly with the X1900XT. We have two cards that use this graphics chip: Foxconn's 7950GT and XFX's GeForce 7950GT.

Both might be based on the same graphics chipset, but the two companies have built significantly different cards. The main difference is cooling. While Foxconn has used a standard heatsink and fan, XFX has built a passively cooled card. A thin heatsink covers the GPU, while a heatpipe distributes heat to a secondary heatsink mounted on the card's rear. This makes XFX's card bulkier than Foxconn's, but for a silent computer it's worth it. XFX has done a better job of building silent cards than Asus, which typically uses an unwieldy and large heatsink that hangs off the back of the card. However, the extra bulk caused by the heatsinks means that this card may not fit in mini PC cases and in full-size cases it will probably block another expansion slot.

XFX's card is also more attractive than Leadtek's; the GeForce 7950GT's black heatsink and luminous green DVI-I ports look great.

Foxconn has used the standard clock settings for its 7950GT, so it has a core speed of 550MHz and 512MB of GDDR3 memory running at 700MHz (1.4GHz effective). XFX has overclocked its card slightly and its 7950GT has a core speed of 570MHz and 512MB of GDDR3 memory running at 730MHz (1.46GHz effective). Both cards have 24-pixel pipelines, though.

Performance was good from both cards, with XFX's 7950GT just pushing ahead of Foxconn's card. Both cards showed that they were capable of playing games at higher resolutions as well. Running Call of Duty 2 at 1,600x1,200, we managed to get 36.5fps from XFX's 7950GT and 32.1fps from Leadtek's 7950GT. Both cards are capable of playing the latest games at high resolutions and detail settings.

Performance was still slightly behind ATI's Radeon X1900 XT in all tests bar Doom 3 and this is because ATI's OpenGL performance isn't as good as Nvidia's, due to ATI's graphics drivers. The X1900 XT has one big advantage over Nvidia's cards, however: it can also cope with high-definition

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rendering (HDR) and anti-aliasing, used by new games such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Nvidia's cards can do HDR or anti-aliasing, but not both, so they're not going to be as good for newer games.

Despite the huge box, you don't get a lot extra with XFX's 7950GT bar a copy of Ghost Recon. Foxconn is far more generous with its package. As well as the RestoreIT Pro backup and VirtualDrive Pro 10 CD-emulator software, you also get a USB game pad. Similar in style to the PlayStation 2's controller, it has dual analogue controls, a digital direction pad, four fire buttons and four shoulder buttons. It felt well built and made playing games such as FIFA 2007 considerably easier. If you're serious about games you'll probably want to buy a more expensive pad, but for the occasional game Foxconn's is pretty good.

Both cards have identical outputs: two DVI ports and a TV-out (component and S-video). However, these are Nvidia's first cards to be fully HDCP compliant, as both boxes happily proclaim. HDCP is the DRM technology that HD movies will use to prevent copying. To play movies at their best, you need HDCP support on both the playback device (in this case, a graphics card) and the video device, such as a TV.

While HDCP hasn't been fully implemented on the first set of movie discs, it will be at some point in the future. If you don't have a fully compatible setup, one of two things happens, depending on the disc you're trying to watch: the video refuses to play, or the resolution is lowered from HD to standard definition. HDCP-compliant hardware, therefore, is going to be important and it's good to see support for HDCP here.

The GeForce 7950GT graphics chipset puts Nvidia much closer to the performance we've seen from ATI's cards. The 7950GT is a good graphics chipset, particularly if you need HDCP and you have an SLI motherboard. Both cards reviewed are capable of playing the latest games at high detail and resolution settings and are priced well, but choosing the card you want is tricky and will depend on your needs.

If you're looking for a competent all-rounder, Foxconn's 7950GT is the best value out of the two cards reviewed here, costing £30 less than XFX's card. It's remarkable value considering the extra software and games pad that you get with it. If you already have a games pad and are more interested in performance, XFX's GeForce 7950GT is an excellent card. Its silent cooling and overclocked graphics chip make it a brilliant choice for those looking for power without the usual noise involved.

However, if you just want a single graphics card, ATI's X1900 XT is still slightly better. Asus's version of the card is just £210 including VAT (www.eclipsecomputers.com). For a fast single card, the X1900 XT is still our choice.