Gigabyte gtx 950 xtreme gaming review

Gigabyte, a leader in the manufacture of motherboards, graphics cards, and laptops, recently launched the best GTX 950 graphics card on the market. It is the Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme version that comes well vitaminized with a 1203 Mhz processor and that reaches up to 1400 Mhz with a turbo. Good cooling and incredible aesthetics.

Do you want to meet this little wonder? Don't miss our review!

We thank Gigabyte Spain for trusting the product for its analysis:

Technical characteristics

Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming

The graphics card is protected in a nice large cardboard box. We see a first-class presentation where the logo of the series predominates over the rest of the cover. Already in the back we have the most relevant technical characteristics detailed and that we will see during this analysis.

Protection is maximum with quality polystyrene and the graphics card sealed in a plastic bag. The bundle is made up of:

• Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2GB graphics card. D-SUB to DVI adapter. Quick guide. Sticker. CD with Driver.

The Gigabyte is 240 x 132 x 42mm (L x H x W) and is fairly light in weight. The combination of black and metallic colors give it a beautiful touch . While, in the back area we have a backplate that covers the entire PCB. This serves to stiffen and improve the temperatures of all its components.

The Xtreme cooling system features two 90mm fans using 0DB technology. This means that the fans are stopped (passive) up to 55 ºC, when they exceed this temperature they activate in safety mode. The established curve is very good and we see no need to modify it because this heatsink is capable of cooling a card up to 200W.

To mount the card in our equipment we are only going to need an 8- pin power connector. One of the most interesting details are the customizable LED lights in the colors red, blue, yellow, green, white or random (random)… An ideal extra to display our team in competitions or at home.

It has the bridge of the SLI connection to connect with another twin. Perfect for a future expansion!

To finish we detail the rear connections:

1 x Dual-link DVI-I

1 x HDMI

3 x DisplayPort * 3

Cooling and custom PCB

We start by opening the Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme. The heatsink features a single heatpipe that comes into direct contact with the 28nm GM206 TSMC graphics chip with 2.9 million transistors and a size of 228mm². It has Samsung K4G41325FC-HC28 memories at a speed of 7000 MHz GDDR5 that make a total of 2GB.

As a voltage regulator, the Onsemi NCP 81174 chip is ordered, which has given very good results in other graphic models.

In addition to cooling the chipset, we have a very effective small heatsink for the power phases. We did not like that Gigabyte does not opt ​​for a cooling with direct contact with the memories.

Test bench and performance tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	i5-6600k @ 4400 Mhz..
Base plate:	Gigabyte Z170 SOC.
Memory:	16GB Kingston Savage DDR4 @ 3000 Mhz
Heatsink	Corsair H100i GTX
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO SSD.
Graphics Card	- Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2GB stock. - MSI GTX 960 Gaming 2GB stock. - Powercolor R9 390 Pcs + 1010/1500. - Msi R9 390X Gaming. - Asus 970 Mini. 1280/1753 Mhz
Power supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G2 750

For benchmarks we will use the following titles:

• 3DMark - Gpu ScoreF1 2015Hitman AbsolutionLotR - Shadow of MordorThiefTomb RaiderBioshock InfiniteMetro Last Light

All tests will be passed in their maximum configuration unless it is stated differently in the graph. And this time we will do it in two resolutions, the most popular today: 1080P (1920 × 1080) and a slightly higher one: 2K or 1440P (2560x1440P). The operating system used will be the new Windows 10 Pro 64 bit and the latest drivers available from the Nvidia website.

What are we looking for in the tests?

First, the best possible image quality. The most important value for us is the average FPS (Frames per second), the higher the number of FPS, the more fluid the game will be. To differentiate the quality a bit, we leave you a table to assess the quality in FPS, but we will also have the minimum Fps in the tests that were thus possible:

FRAMES BY SECONDS
Frames for Seconds. (FPS)	Gameplay
Less than 30 FPS	Limited
30 - 40 FPS	Playable
40 - 60 FPS	Good
Greater than 60 FPS	Fairly Good or Excellent

1080P test results

Overclock and first impressions

Note: Remember that overclocking or manipulation carries a risk, we and any manufacturer are not responsible for improper use, use the head and always do so at your own risk.

We have increased the overclocking capacity by +80 which are 1283 Mhz with a boost of 1525 Mhz and memories up to 1760 Mhz. The improvements are more than palpable, as we see in these two screenshots with +200 points in 3DMARK. In this case the temperature never amounted to more than 60ºC.

WE RECOMMEND Radeon RX 560 vs GeForce GTX 960 in current games

Temperature and consumption

And because not only does the power of a card matter, we have also evaluated the consumption and its temperatures. With this table we will have a general reference with other current cards or cards from previous generations.

Consumption and temperatures have been verified by reading the maximum peak, passing the Metro Last Light benchmark 3 times, ideal for how demanding it is.

The Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme has performed efficiently with a standby power consumption of 60W (Whole Equipment Complete) and an average of 211W. In temperatures the performance has also been excellent with 23ºC at rest and 53ºC at maximum power.

Final words and conclusion.

Gigabyte has done a great job with the 2GB GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming. With a highly vitaminized overclock and components that do not have any type of coil whine or temperature problems.

The new Xtreme heatsink is very well studied and is 100% passive up to 55 degrees. Once activated, it maintains very low revolutions thanks to its two 90 mm fans. On a personal note it is a small card, powerful for 1080p resolutions and with a perfect temperature / consumption ratio.

Already in the game section we have seen that the performance is quite good and it has matched with games with great resources such as the Metro Last Light or Tomb Raider.

It is currently in online stores for a price of 209 euros. Somewhat higher than other brands and for 10 euros more we have a 4GB GTX960 card. Your purchase is 100% recommended, as it is the best GTX 950 on the market.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ QUALITY COMPONENTS.	- PRICE IS NOT ATTRACTIVE
+ VERY GOOD FACTORY OVERCLOCK.
+ DUAL FAN AND BACKPLATE HEATSINK.
+ LOW TEMPERATURES
+ CONSUMPTION

And after carefully evaluating both the tests and the product, Professional Review awards him the recommended product and gold medals:

GIGABYTE GTX 950 XTREME GAMING

COMPONENT QUALITY

REFRIGERATION

GAMING EXPERIENCE

SONORITY

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

PRICE

8.1 / 10

PRETTY, POWERFUL AND SMALL.

BUY NOW