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Foxconn have taken the value-add route with their FV-N79GM3D2-HP GeForce 7950 GT. With no cooler, spec or clock changes, they rely on a bundle that's attractive by virtue of the game controller and the software applications in order to tempt you into a purchase. It's a little odd to see backup software shipped with a graphics board, but the VirtualDrive PRO inclusion is a nice one for the gamer if he or she plays a bunch of games and is sick of swapping the optical media for each. Just be sure it works with your software build, as noted before.Therefore if the Foxconn retails for little more than other 'bare' 7950 GTs currently on sale, which means around £200 here in the UK including VAT, then the bundle makes it tempting as a value-add proposition, all other things being equal on the board itself. However, much more than that £200 and it impinges too much on Radeon X1900 XT pricing to make much sense. The Radeon is faster and offers better IQ, and while the Foxconn's cooler is undoubtedly easier to live with than that on a stock Radeon X1900 XT, taking less power from the mains to boot, for this end of the market those things matter less than the performance and how good the pixels look.
Current ATI pricing therefore makes the 7950 GT as a whole a hard sell, and therefore Foxconn's entry price for this SKU is crucial. We can potentially recommended it, but without a final selling price yet available, that recommendation depends on what you'll be asked to pay for it. Further, Foxconn's graphics hardware availability is currently poor, so finding it on the shelves in short enough order for it to make sense might be tough, too.
To that end it's a wait and see game, so we'll do just that. A fine example of GeForce 7950 GT, but hard to find and at an as yet unknown price in most markets, and not quite the special event we had hoped for back at Computex this year, Foxconn sticking resolutely to the reference specifications in all ways.
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Foxconn FV-N79GM3D2-HP
HEXUS Where2Buy
The Foxconn GeForce 7950 GT 512MiB card is available to buy at Microdirect right now for around £190.
