Thoughts, awards, right2reply, where2buy
Inno3D's produced a GeForce 7950 GT 512MiB SKU that performs in almost identical fashion to any other reference-clocked model. Performance, then, is decent enough, but by having utilised a double-width cooler in the form of the all-aluminium Zalman heatsink, we had hoped for some hardwired overclocking. You can, of course, delve into overclocking yourself and the cooler should help maintain higher overclocks than a reference model, but Inno3D has missed a serious chance to differentiate its product from the homogeneous reference designs put forward by AIBs who simply don't want to tinker with the quietish single-slot reference cooler.Inno3D's warranty is also something of a disappointment. In case of failure, the card needs to be returned to Inno3D's H.Q. in Hong Kong, so there's little hope of receiving a working model back within, say, a week. That puts Inno3D at a disadvantage compared to most other NVIDIA AIBs, who have U.K- or European-based service centres.
Finally, we've scoured our usual long list of etailers and haven't been able to find this particular SKU for sale. Dabs.co.uk appears to offer a non-Zalman-equipped version for close to £185, though. We'd imagine this SKU will ship at around £200, so just above reference-card money, but that's assuming you can find one in stock.
We don't believe the Inno3D GeForce 7950 GT 512MiB Zalman Edition has enough positive attributes to garner a recommendation for a £200 video card. XFX. for example, offers an overclocked, passively cooled 7950 GT for the same money, available from a number of etailers in the UK, and, thinking of the broader picture, ATI's Radeon X1900 XT 256MiB SKU, which is comfortably on a performance par with the GeForce 7950 GT, is available for around £35 less.
In summary, then, £200 will buy you a better GeForce 7950 GT 512MiB card for your money, with a higher-quality warranty and stocked at a wider range of e-tailers. The same £200, or less, will also buy you a highly competitive card from the competition. In view of this, we'd recommend you look elsewhere. That's frank, honest buying advice, folks.
HEXUS.certification
HEXUS.certification is awarded to products that pass our stringent testing without failure.
Inno3D GeForce 7950 GT 512MiB Zalman Edition
