EVGA 7950GX2 The Black Pearl
Author: Luka Rakamaric
Date: 07 Nov 2006

Today we take at the most powerful single slot graphics solution on the market, at least for today. Consider this review as a farewell to high-end nV-based Series 7 cards, because the new boss is around the block - the 8800 series. EVGA took an ordinary 7950GX2, if we can call these cards ordinary at all, and strapped a water cooling block on it. Of course, water-cooling doesn?t make much sense without overclocking, so they raised the GPU core frequency to 600 MHz. Memory frequency has also been raised by 100 MHz, to 700 MHz. We got the card without any water cooling parts, aside from the blocks already on the card. The retail package should contain everything necessary for a DIY water cooling system.
For the purposes of this review, we used a CoolerMaster Aquagate water cooling system. We removed the CPU water cooling block, and directed the flow through the blocks on the 7950GX2. Since DIY water cooling radiators usually have larger radiators than the Aquagate, you can expect lower temperatures than the ones we recorded when using a retail product.

The blocks on the card are made by Innovatek, which was also responsible for the now discontinued line of Gainward?s CoolFX products. This means that they have enormous experience in designing water blocks. Since the 7950GX2 is a dual board card, two blocks have to be used. They are connected with a manifold part that comes on top and which splits the waterflow to both blocks. The blocks are shaped to cover the memory as well, so that it is properly cooled while working at increased frequencies. Other than these changes, the Black Pearl is the same as any other 7950GX2 card on the market. However, as we are about to see, these changes are very significant.