ASUS HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP - Meet the New Breed

Introduction

Introduction

As sure as the sun rises and sets, every year, we are sure to witness new graphics cards from both AMD and NVIDIA. As soon as these graphics cards hit the market, we also get them in multiple variants as OEMs put their unique spin on them. One of the most anticipated variants has to be ASUS' DirectCU II TOP series, which boast overclocked performance and a cooling system that keeps the card cool.

The newest addition to grace the DirectCU II TOP series is the AMD Radeon HD 7950. Other than shipping with a more rugged new look, the card has also been given a boost in performance as it now boasts a core clock speed of 900MHz, which is about 100MHz higher from the reference model.

Nothing much has changed with the design of the DirectCU II TOP cooling system, as it looks exactly the same as previous iterations and is still as bulky as ever.

Other features of the card are pretty standard fare, seeing that it was designed mainly for those who want a graphics card that offers superb performance right out the box. As for overclockers, they may want to look elsewhere as the card doesn't come with voltage checkpoints or any special switches.

During our tests, we also found that the card has been tweaked to its sweet spot and when we overclocked it even just a bit higher, the performance actually dropped instead of increasing. With that said, judging by the performance it ultimately offers, there isn't really any need to further overclock the card anymore.

So without further ado, let's take a gander at just how good this card is compared to the other variants and also its predecessor – the AMD Radeon HD 6950.