Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2 GB

[W1zzard]

Gigabyte's new GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming is the company's new flagship GTX 950. It comes with a large overclock on both the GPU and memory, making it the fastest GTX 950 we tested so far. An idle-fan-off feature is also present, and the card runs quiet during gaming.

Show full review

 

[pky]

In gaming, the card does get quite warm, getting close to the 84°C temperature limit at which NVIDIA's Boost will start reducing clocks to keep the card at a maximum of 84°C.

How exactly is 62 close to 84 again?

 

[W1zzard]

How exactly is 62 close to 84 again?

Fixed, thanks.

 

[dj-electric]

Hmmm
overclocks like shit...
consumes like a GTX 960
cost only 10$ less..

well... its a no brainer. DOA it is.

 

[W1zzard]

Hmmm
overclocks like shit...
consumes like a GTX 960
cost only 10$ less..

well... its a no brainer. DOA it is.

 

[dj-electric]

well... not like shit, but just not enough to save a 10 over a 960. not a bit.

 

[ShockG]

It is overpriced for sure and should be at most $10 more expensive than reference, but overclocking like "sh!t" it does not.
1600MHz here, with stock cooler 3DMark FireStrike Ultra passed.
1792Mhz under extreme cold with no mods. That I wouldn't say overclock's like poorly. In fact no other GTX 950 can match the clocks.

 

[Casecutter]

I find it amazing that no other manufacture has offered a 380 (or another 285) for W1zzard to review? The 285 that's on the charts, has always seemed a little peculiar from the instant it posted... and power number for that Sapphire were always wonky. PLEASE some AIB send a 380 to W1zzard so we can determine if there some movement over the year, not saying it's going to miraculously change the numbers, but a least we'd have a second set of data points.

With a half dozen R9 380's on NewEgg pricing at between $170-180 (with rebates of $10-20); while most nicer custom OC'd (1165-1200Mhz) GTX950's running $160-170 (working $10 rebates) it seems AMD is getting in and working the price even when the Nvidia die is so much more cost effective being 37% smaller.

 

[W1zzard]

I find it amazing that no other manufacture has offered a 380 (or another 285) for W1zzard to review? The 285 that's on the charts, has always seemed a little peculiar from the instant it posted... and power number for that Sapphire were always wonky. PLEASE some AIB send a 380 to W1zzard so we can determine if there some movement over the year, not saying it's going to miraculously change the numbers, but a least we'd have a second set of data points.

With a half dozen R9 380's on NewEgg pricing at between $170-180 (with rebates of $10-20); while most nicer custom OC'd (1165-1200Mhz) GTX950's running $160-170 (working $10 rebates) it seems AMD is getting in and working the price even when the Nvidia die is so much more cost effective being 37% smaller.

I have a MSI R9 380 Gaming here, but it's ultra-low priority to be reviewed

 

[Casecutter]

I have a MSI R9 380 Gaming here, but it's ultra-low priority to be reviewed

Was hoping for the Asus Strix version, but MSI works hop it just the 2Gb with the 1000 MHz clock.
Though now with 6 GTX 950's on the books, I might say it could find a way to move-up on the pecking order.

 

[xChoice]

this card makes my 770 feel a little bad....

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

for those who wanted something really cheap, overclocks well & on a really tight budget, say under $500, this card is worth considering, despite the GTX960 has a little more power for a few bucks more. But if you wanted a cheap card that plays most games on High settings or just want to play all the MOBA games like League of Legends, Dota 2 Reborn & Heroes Of The Storm at maxed out settings, this card would be your pick over the tinny GTX750 & it's Ti variant.

 

[Kriz]

Thank you for this review. Would really like to know your thoughts on the 4GB 960 cards out there. Have you received any for review? I imagine I'm not the only one interested in these.

 

[W1zzard]

Thank you for this review. Would really like to know your thoughts on the 4GB 960 cards out there. Have you received any for review? I imagine I'm not the only one interested in these.

4 GB is useless on anything below GTX 970. The shading power is simply too low on these cards so that you can't run high-res / high-details + AA anyway. So even if you had twice the VRAM, the game would still run at like 8 FPS.

 

[Casecutter]

4 GB is useless on anything below GTX 970. The shading power is simply too low on these cards so that you can't run high-res / high-details + AA anyway. So even if you had twice the VRAM, the game would still run at like 8 FPS.

I mostly agree with your statement above, although I found guru3d take on it on this wanting to press the thinking further. Or, is it that perhaps "mainstream" for him is no longer considered 1080p?
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-radeon-r9-380-gaming-2g-review,1.html
"For mainstream gaming 2GB graphics memory however won't cut it anymore, there is a 4Gb version available as well, we do recommend you to opt for that one." I suppose he might have that come away as guru3d only posted results at WHQD 2560x1440.

I have a MSI R9 380 Gaming here, but it's ultra-low priority to be reviewed

I see by your postings you seem to be on a hiatuses, perhaps you’re on one of those extended European vacations. Hope your 380 sample can find some scheduling antecedence.