XFX HD7950 Black Edition Overlocked Review

The XFX HD7950 Black Edition is the fastest solution we have received on launch day and as the results show, it is only a little slower than the reference clocked HD7970 in a variety of games and synthetic benchmarks. This in itself is a heck of an achievement. The core boost to 900mhz and memory increase to 1375mhz helps to improve frame rates with all the software we tested.

This is the second time we have looked at XFX's latest iteration of the Double Dissipation cooler and it continues to impress. It generates a high level of airflow, while improving on the reference card noise emissions. XFX thankfully didn't make the same mistake as HIS today, who released their HD7950 with butchered, undersized cooling solution and poor choice of fan.

The HD7950 Black Edition ships with one of the finest cooling solutions available on the market today. If you want to get even more performance from the card, then there is massive headroom still available with only a little effort. With Sapphire's TriXX software, the core on our review sample could be increased from 900mhz to 1,138mhz, yielding ultimate performance higher than the HD7970.

AMD are releasing their HD7950 today, around the £350 inc vat mark. This Black Edition will have a slight price premium, but we do feel it is worth the extra money due to the massive headroom and dramatically improved cooling solution.

The XFX HD7950 Black Edition does face stiff competition from the custom cooled Sapphire HD7950, which has also been released today … but ultimately they are very closely matched.

Pros:

• Great dual fan cooling solution, with multiple bios options.
• massive overclocks ‘out of the box'.
• our sample exhibited massive additional core headroom (200mhz+).

Cons:

• Sapphire's card is just as impressive.
• Ditch the warranty invalid stickers on the screws guys.

Kitguru says: Another winner from XFX and worth a small premium.

You can buy various HD 7950's from Aria in the United Kingdom

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