GIGABYTE HD7950 Windforce x3 Review
Introduction
Product on Review: GIGABYTE HD7950 Windforce 3
Manufacturer: GIGABYTE
Street Price: £371.99 inc. VAT
The AMD HD7950 has impressed us thus far with its fantastic performance so when GIGABYTE offered up their Windforce cooled HD7950 we were understandably excited. The Windforce cooler we first saw last year on their GTX560 was held in high acclaim thanks to it's ability to keep heat at bay thereby allowing higher overclocks while not sounding like a jumbo jet mid take-off. The GIGABYTE HD7950 Windforce cooler however increases the twin fan setup on the heatsink to three. This may seem like overkill as the reference HD7950 is hardly a roasting hot graphics card so it remains to be seen if the custom cooled card from GIGABYTE can raise the benchmark and make use of that extreme cooling design with some extra ordinary overclocks.
The custom cooler is but one difference from the reference AMD design though as GIGABYTE have created their own power circuit board. The card however does retain the stock 3GB of GDDR5 which is twinned with the Tahiti Pro core, a slightly trimmed down version of the flagship Tahiti XT found on the HD7970. As we have seen in previous reviews, the HD7950 is quite a capable overclocker and can easily outpace both a GTX580 and the HD7970 with these clockspeeds dialled in so with the additional cooling and redesigned power module, we expect some scorching, or should I say, 'cool' results from the GIGABYTE HD7950 x3.
Let's take a look at the specification of today's review sample...
Product on Review: GIGABYTE HD7950 Windforce 3
Manufacturer: GIGABYTE
Street Price: £371.99 inc. VAT
The AMD HD7950 has impressed us thus far with its fantastic performance so when GIGABYTE offered up their Windforce cooled HD7950 we were understandably excited. The Windforce cooler we first saw last year on their GTX560 was held in high acclaim thanks to it's ability to keep heat at bay thereby allowing higher overclocks while not sounding like a jumbo jet mid take-off. The GIGABYTE HD7950 Windforce cooler however increases the twin fan setup on the heatsink to three. This may seem like overkill as the reference HD7950 is hardly a roasting hot graphics card so it remains to be seen if the custom cooled card from GIGABYTE can raise the benchmark and make use of that extreme cooling design with some extra ordinary overclocks.
The custom cooler is but one difference from the reference AMD design though as GIGABYTE have created their own power circuit board. The card however does retain the stock 3GB of GDDR5 which is twinned with the Tahiti Pro core, a slightly trimmed down version of the flagship Tahiti XT found on the HD7970. As we have seen in previous reviews, the HD7950 is quite a capable overclocker and can easily outpace both a GTX580 and the HD7970 with these clockspeeds dialled in so with the additional cooling and redesigned power module, we expect some scorching, or should I say, 'cool' results from the GIGABYTE HD7950 x3.
Windforce
GIGABYTE introduces WINDFORCE™, the latest cooling technology that differentiates the brand’s graphics cards from the rest. GIGABYTE understands that a fan is crucial to the graphics card, so only the fan with the most efficiency is selected for WINDFORCE™.
To qualify for WINDFORCE™, a cooling solution must be equipped with anti-turbulence inclined fans, ultra quiet PWM fan and pure copper heat pipe. Inclined fins help to reduce excessive heat and turbulence. Depending on its orientation, there are 4 types of inclined-fan designs: outward-inclined, 3D-inclined, parallel-inclined, and mirroring-inclined. Each type generates excellent exterior airflow for efficient heat dissipation from the interior GPU core.
GIGABYTE introduces WINDFORCE™, the latest cooling technology that differentiates the brand’s graphics cards from the rest. GIGABYTE understands that a fan is crucial to the graphics card, so only the fan with the most efficiency is selected for WINDFORCE™.
To qualify for WINDFORCE™, a cooling solution must be equipped with anti-turbulence inclined fans, ultra quiet PWM fan and pure copper heat pipe. Inclined fins help to reduce excessive heat and turbulence. Depending on its orientation, there are 4 types of inclined-fan designs: outward-inclined, 3D-inclined, parallel-inclined, and mirroring-inclined. Each type generates excellent exterior airflow for efficient heat dissipation from the interior GPU core.
Let's take a look at the specification of today's review sample...
