NVIDIA and ATI HDCP Compatible Graphics Cards Roundup
by Josh Venning on November 16, 2006 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS KO
The first card we have from EVGA is the e-GeForce 7900 GS KO. EVGA has always impressed us with its product quality and customer support, as well as its warranty policy.
EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GT KO
Secondly, we have the EVGA 7950 GT KO. Like the EVGA 7900 GS KO, the card looks very similar to the reference 7950 GT except with a few additions by EVGA to the heat sink.
The EVGA 7950 GT KO comes with a factory overclock of 560MHz on the core and 725MHz on the memory clocks. This isn't quite as much as the super clocked version of this card (which comes with a core clock of 600MHz), but it will help performance nonetheless. Like other 7950 GTs, this card comes with two standard DVI outputs as well as component out, and it requires a 6-pin PCIe power connector.
EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2
The last EVGA card we have is the 7950 GX2. These cards were formerly the highest performance "single slot" cards from NVIDIA, as our performance graphs will show later in the review. Of course, the 8800 GTX has now displaced the GX2 as king of the hill.
The EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 looks very much like a reference 7950 GX2, except with EVGA's trademark black logo design on the heatsink. The e-GeForce 7950 GX2 came to us clocked at reference speeds, with 500MHz on the core and 600MHz on the memory clock. The EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 has the same outputs as the 7950 GT; dual DVI ports and one analog video output.
The first card we have from EVGA is the e-GeForce 7900 GS KO. EVGA has always impressed us with its product quality and customer support, as well as its warranty policy.
EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GT KO
Secondly, we have the EVGA 7950 GT KO. Like the EVGA 7900 GS KO, the card looks very similar to the reference 7950 GT except with a few additions by EVGA to the heat sink.
The EVGA 7950 GT KO comes with a factory overclock of 560MHz on the core and 725MHz on the memory clocks. This isn't quite as much as the super clocked version of this card (which comes with a core clock of 600MHz), but it will help performance nonetheless. Like other 7950 GTs, this card comes with two standard DVI outputs as well as component out, and it requires a 6-pin PCIe power connector.
EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2
The last EVGA card we have is the 7950 GX2. These cards were formerly the highest performance "single slot" cards from NVIDIA, as our performance graphs will show later in the review. Of course, the 8800 GTX has now displaced the GX2 as king of the hill.
The EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 looks very much like a reference 7950 GX2, except with EVGA's trademark black logo design on the heatsink. The e-GeForce 7950 GX2 came to us clocked at reference speeds, with 500MHz on the core and 600MHz on the memory clock. The EVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2 has the same outputs as the 7950 GT; dual DVI ports and one analog video output.
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DerekWilson - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
To be honest, this article was a very long time in production ... we got a hold of the drive almost two months ago iirc. It just took a whole lot of time and energy to get the tests done and the article written. We did go back and add the 8800 and 256mb 1900xt, but the x1950pro seemed to slip through the cracks.Sorry about that. We didn't exclude it on purpose, and we will try to include it in any future articles we write on HDCP protected content and high definition movies.
photoguy99 - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
If the article was done a while ago, does that mean it's now possible to playback h.264/vc1 Blu-Ray on a PC?It would be good to know what the missing link is to make sure we get it if we want to get playback on our own systems.
DerekWilson - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
All BD movies are currently MPEG-2 -- and probably will be for a while.HD-DVD movies use VC1.
peternelson - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
Wrong, the initial BR moves were mpeg-2 encoded content.
There now exist BR discs with content in the other two main formats.
Also discs with dual layers while original releases were single layer.
The wikipedia page for bluray contains titles, launch dates of the non-mpeg-2 discs.
DerekWilson - Saturday, November 18, 2006 - link
I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.balazs203 - Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - link
Thanks for the great review.At this link in the review of the new Panasonic BR player they mention a few non-MPEG2 BD titles they like quality wise:
http://www.ultimateavmag.com/hddiscplayers/1106pan...">http://www.ultimateavmag.com/hddiscplayers/1106pan...
I would be very much interested in an extension of your review with non-MPEG2 titles as obviously I would like to buy a computer which can play back all these titles and MPEG2 is the easisest type. Info about the other types is much more important for me when I consider what parts I want to buy.
JarredWalton - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
The article wasn't *done* a while ago - it was *started* two months ago. It took that long to get to this point, which says something about the state of the technology.lujack26 - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
I was looking around the web for HDMI video cards after I read this article and came across this website E-bargainz.com. They seem to have great prices, a large selection, and reasonable shipping. Here is the direct link to their selection of HDMI video cards http://www.e-bargainz.com/index.php/cPath/143. I also found a coupon code "Thank You" for $5 off your first purchase. I'm going to try them out. Anything to keep from putting another dollar in Jeff Bezos pockets.