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Nvidia GTX 950 – A Three Card Round-Up Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The NVIDIA GTX 950 graphics cards in for review today are available for the following prices:

ASUS STRIX GTX 950 2GB – £145.99 at OverclockersUK
Inno3D iChill AIRBOSS Ultra GTX 950 2GB – Price coming soon, we will update this as soon as stock is available.
MSI GAMING GTX 950 2GB – £142.99 at OverclockersUK

Summary

Each card is admiral in its own right and is a truly great option no matter which you choose, however, one is better than another when looking at key aspects such as looks, performance, and power consumption.

If you were to create a wall mounted computer or even a glass top desk PC, you will want the best looking option and hands down it is the MSI. The clean-cut lines and sharp contrasting colours make for a great focal point. When compared to the completely bonkers AIRBOSS or STRIX models, it makes perfect sense. However, the MSI option is the largest of the three and the red and black colour scheme is played out. The Inno3D AIRBOSS comes a close second thanks to the ability to almost completely dismantle the cooling shroud, but the bonkers styling is something that many would choose straight away. One thing that strikes me a odd if the placement of the DVI ports on the ASUS STRIX card, in the search for space saving, moving them to the centre of the card seems to have opened up more room at the output end of the PCB.

When comparing the performance, the Inno3D card wins hands down, in almost every test it was the leading card with only minor setbacks in a few tests. It also gave the best overclocked performance thanks to the strong increase to 1484MHz. However, that wasn’t the best overclock we’ve seen, the MSI GAMING managed a huge 172MHz. Sadly the ASUS STRIX model lagged behind with a still impressive 94 MHz overclock. Despite having the lowest overclock, the ASUS STRIX still managed an overall second place in the performance ranking.

Now onto power consumption, temperatures and noise. While these will likely be the last things on the mind of most buyers, when considering a graphics card at this price point; it is likely that the existing system is to be of a similar price point when compared to other components. This means that the power supply may only be 350W or the entire system is a HTPC, nestled under a TV. With the entire system at load and the graphics card in an overclocked state, the Inno3D card was the most demanding with a total system draw of 185W. If you wanted the most economical option, the MSI card drew just 168W in the standard form.

All of the cards today are capable of the usual NVIDIA offerings such as NVIDIA Surround, so even though you are considering a cheaper option, buy in the knowledge that you are getting good value for your money.

Now if I had the option to buy one of these cards, it would be the Inno3D model. The styling isn’t a put off for me, but the entire card is extremely compact and the fact that the fans continue spinning down to 30°c would be great feature in my low airflow HTPC.

Pros

Great price to performance ratio
Extremely quiet
Wide range of options
Good overclocking capabilities on the MSI and Inno3D models
Removable fans and cooling shroud make the Inno3D model attractive to modders

Cons

The MSI model is large compared to the other models
Idle temperatures might put some buyers off on the MSI and ASUS models
Red and black colour schemes are becoming dated
The Inno3D model might be too unique for some buyers

“The NVIDIA GTX 950 range settles the sub £150 price point argument with strong performance and many options to choose from. No matter what option you choose, you will be getting excellent performance and quality.”