Conclusion
Conclusion
In the graphics card market, a few days can be the difference between success and failure. Had we done this review a few weeks ago, our opinion of these cards would have been completely at odds with the current realities. Back then, the HD 7950 had the dubious distinction of being thoroughly trounced by NVIDIA’s GTX 680 – a GPU that came in at only $50 more. The MSI Twin Frozr III and Gigabyte WindForce 3X fared even worse since their partially non-reference nature resulted in a $20 premium over a typical reference design. Now that AMD’s price cuts have come into full effect, both of these products have been given a new lease on life.
Let’s start things off with the Gigabyte WindForce 3X since it embodies every positive aspect of the HD 7950’s new price and then goes a few steps further. Normally a manufacturer-based overclock of just over ten percent wouldn’t be enough to turn heads and it certainly isn’t sufficient to boost performance by noticeable amounts but the higher clock speeds are paired up with one hell of a cooling solution. Gigabyte has always been near the forefront of heatsink technology and the WindForce 3X has once again proven it is one of the best designs around. We’ve also seen the beginnings of a small price war break out between AMD’s board partners and as a result you can get this card for $399. Let’s say that again for emphasis: the WindForce 3X OC doesn’t cost one penny more than a reference-based HD 7950. To us, that makes it a phenomenal value.
MSI’s HD 7950 Twin Frozr III may not boast a core clock of 900MHz but a mere 20MHz shortfall really won’t make all that much of a difference in-game. Like the WindForce 3X its heatsink design is one of the best around, resulting in a cool running core and a near silent acoustical profile. The big difference is one of cost. The Twin Frozr III OC is a good $15 more expensive so even though both solutions are on a relatively even footing, MSI is in a bit of a tough position here. From our perspective, their card really isn’t worth more than what Gigabyte is offering. However, from an anecdotal perspective, MSI does have several RMA centers spread throughout North America (including one in Canada) so turnaround times should be better than what Gigabyte offers.
While AMD’s price drops will be a great selling point for the now-$399 HD 7950, it is nearly impossible for us to choose a “winner” between the two cards in this review. From performance to temperatures to acoustical profiles, you couldn’t split the difference between them with a razor. For the time being, MSI may on the wrong end of some very aggressive pricing on Gigabyte’s part but at $415, their Twin Frozr III OC is still a great buy.