Gigabyte HD 7950 WindForce & MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Review

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Metro 2033 (DX11)

Metro 2033 (DX11)

For this test we use a walkthrough and combat scene from The Bridge level which starts at the beginning of the level and lasts for about 3 minutes of walking, running and combat. Famerates are measured with FRAPS and Advanced PhysX is turned off.

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Shogun 2: Total War (DX11)

Shogun 2: Total War (DX11)

Due to its very nature, Shogun 2 is a tough game to benchamark since the in-game tool doesn’t accurately convey an in-game experience. So we took a pre-recorded battle which pits three large armies against one another and includes camera zooms, fog, gun smoke and other items. Using a pre-recorded sequence also effectively removes the CPU from the equation since it doesn’t have to process AI.

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The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (DX9)

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (DX9)

Being one of the most popular and best looking RPG games released in the last few years, Skyrim needed to be included in our reviews, regardless of the fact that it uses an older DX9 rendering engine. For our test sequence we used a typical runthrough interspersed with some combat. A modded .ini file along with the official high resolution texture pack was used in order to ensure image quality was up to expectations.

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Wargame: European Escalation (DX11)

Wargame: European Escalation (DX11)

This may not be the most popular game on the market but through its DX11 rendering path it can display some amazing visuals. For our benchmark we used a combination of wide angle zooming, close quarters combat and camera pans in order to simulate as many in-game scenarios as possible.


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The Witcher 2 (DX9)

The Witcher 2 (DX9)

The Witcher 2 may be a DX9 based game but its graphics quality is beyond reproach. In this benchmark we take an area out of The Kayran mission and include one of the toughest effects the graphics engine has in store for the GPU: rain. Throughout this sequence, rain plays a large part but explosions, combat and even some sun shafts are included as well.

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Taking Image Quality to the Next Level

Taking Image Quality to the Next Level

In this section we take a number of games we have tested previously in this review and bring things to the next level by pushing the in-game settings to the highest possible level. All other methodologies remain the same.


Batman: Arkham City

Crysis 2

Dirt 3

Metro 2033

 

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Taking Image Quality to the Next Level (pg.2)

Taking Image Quality to the Next Level (pg.2)

In this section we take a number of games we have tested previously in this review and bring things to the next level by pushing the in-game settings to the highest possible level. All other methodologies remain the same.

Shogun 2: Total War

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Wargame: European Escalation

The Witcher 2

 

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Temperatures & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Temperature Analysis

For all temperature testing, the cards were placed on an open test bench with a single 120mm 1200RPM fan placed ~8” away from the heatsink. The ambient temperature was kept at a constant 22°C (+/- 0.5°C). If the ambient temperatures rose above 23°C at any time throughout the test, all benchmarking was stopped. For this test we use the 3DMark Batch Size test at its highest triangle count with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled and looped it for one hour to determine the peak load temperature as measured by GPU-Z.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 15 minutes and recorded the peak temperature.

While both heatsinks display phenomenal results, Gigabyte’s WindForce 3X has the edge over the Twin Frozr III but not by much. It seems like both solutions are more than adept at keeping the heat produced by the Tahiti Pro core under control.

Acoustical Testing

What you see below are the baseline idle dB(A) results attained for a relatively quiet open-case system (specs are in the Methodology section) sans GPU along with the attained results for each individual card in idle and load scenarios. The meter we use has been calibrated and is placed at seated ear-level exactly 12” away from the GPU’s fan. For the load scenarios, a loop of Unigine Heave 2.5 is used in order to generate a constant load on the GPU(s) over the course of 20 minutes.

Regardless of the lower temperatures both heatsinks are capable of achieving, Gigabyte once again holds a small lead over MSI. But let’s be honest here: there’s no way you’ll hear either of these cards over the sounds of your favorite game.

System Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well.

Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.

Neither of these cards posts surprising results here since as usual, lower temperatures equate less power consumption. As such, both are overclocked but they don’t suck down all that much more juice than a reference-based card.

 

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Overclocking Results

Overclocking Results

To overclocking these cards, we used MSI’s AfterBurner tool and maxed out AMD’s PowerTune limits. Nonetheless and perhaps ironically, both of these cards overclocked to nearly identical points and neither was really all that impressive either. Rather than setting records, we’d call these results middle of the pack when it comes to HD 7950 overclocking.


Gigabyte HD 7950 WindForce 3X OC

Core: 1002MHz
Memory: 5908MHz (QDR)


MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC

Core: 998MHz
Memory: 5940MHz (QDR)

 

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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.