Asus is launching a new midrange gaming graphics card clad in arctic camouflage. The Echelon GTX 950 Limited Edition is a Maxwell-based card that will come factory overclocked and paired with Asus features normally reserved for their higher end cards.
This dual slot, dual fan graphics card features “auto-extreme technology” which is Asus marketing speak for high end capacitors, chokes, and other components. Further, the card uses a DirectCU II cooler that Asus claims offers 20% better cooling performance while being 3-times quieter than the NVIDIA reference cooler. Asus tweaked the shroud on this card to resemble a white and gray arctic camouflage design. There is also a reinforced backplate that continues the stealthy camo theme.
I/O on the Echelon GTX 950 Limited Edition includes:
- 1 x DVI-D
- 1 x DVI-I
- 1 x HDMI 2.0
- 1 x DisplayPort
The card supports NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology and the inclusion of an HDMI 2.0 port allows it to be used in a HTPC/gaming PC build for the living room though case selection would be limited since it’s a larger dual slot card.
Beneath the stealthy exterior, Asus conceals a GM206-derived GTX 950 GPU with 768 CUDA cores, 48 Texture Units, and 32 ROPs as well as 2GB of GDDR5 memory. Out of the box, users have two factory overclocks to choose from that Asus calls Gaming and Overclock modes. In gaming mode, the Echelon GTX 950 GPU is clocked at 1,140 MHz base and 1,329 MHz boost. Turing the card to OC Mode, clockspeeds are further increased to 1,165 MHz base and 1,355 MHz boost.
For reference, the, well, reference GTX 950 clockspeeds are 1,024 MHz base and 1,186 MHz boost.
Asus also ever-so-slightly overclocked the GDDR5 memory to 6,610 MHz which is unfortunately a mere 10MHz over reference. The memory sits on a 128-bit bus and while a factory overclock is nice to see, transfer speeds increases will be minimal at best.
In our review of the GTX 950 which focused on the Asus Strix variant, Ryan found it be a good option for 1080p gamers wanting a bit more graphical prowess than the 750Ti for their games.
Maximum PC reports that camo-clad Echelon GTX 950 will be available at the end of the month. Pricing has not been released by Asus, but I would expect this card to come with an MSRP of around $180 USD.
Check out our review of the NVIDIA GTX 950: Maxwell for MOBAs
GTX 950 is a much better VFM
GTX 950 is a much better VFM card compared to GTX 960, but only if you go for the cheaper versions. When the price goes up and comes close to GTX 960 it becomes a bad investment. This is 2016, not 2006 to throw close to 200 dollars/euros for an 128bit card. The last good 128bit graphics card that costed 200 dollars was 7600GT.
I just purchased a 380x for
I just purchased a 380x for $195 with a free game (retailing at $50 on steam). I wouldn’t touch this for anything more than $140.
Quite frankly, considering
Quite frankly, considering that this needs a 6-pin WHILE being a low-level card even most of the 1920×1080|60Hz gamers usually would ignore in preference of better offerings, I wouldn’t have bought it even for 100$. 80 dollars TOPS. This is waaay overpriced for what it really is. All looks, but no actual substance. I do NOT deny this is build solidly and has high-quality components inside, but aside from it’s visual appearance and capacitors/backplate/cooler – it’s just that. A pretty and a solidly built card, and nothing else. Underperforming massively while requiring additional power to work, while we already know that GTX 950 is basically an update of GTX 750 Ti…this is essentially exactly like if you’d had bought a 750 Ti that needed an external power connector to work properly. Abso-effing-lutely useless.
What GPU ? I only see fans
What GPU ? I only see fans
The styling is way over done
The styling is way over done in my opinion, especially for the performance level of this thing. It’s like putting a wing on a corolla.
$180 USD for a GTX 950, and
$180 USD for a GTX 950, and this late in the 900 series generation?
I could get an R9 380 with MUCH better performance for similar price – not to mention Polaris and possibly Pascal are expected to release in a relative short amount of time.
The only people I can see buying this are people who absolutely do not have PCI-E cables on their PSU, which I assume is who this GPU is marketed for…
Beautiful, but
Beautiful, but deal-on-arrival and absolutely useless (it’s “aimed” at a heavy gaming segment, but heavy gamers simply DON’T buy such low-level cards, ESPECIALLY if they’re not 100% PCI-e-only powered). This is way too weak AND needs 6-pin also at the same time, hence absolutely worthless. This would’ve been a great offering if it was powered only through PCI-e, but it’s not. Bad form, Asus. Bad form.
I see no point in this
I see no point in this product. Not when better offerings from AMD at this price point are to be had, like the r9 380. Or if you can find a good deal on a GTX 960, you are better off with that then this GTX 950. I wouldn’t even bother with the 950 unless you got the one from Asus that doesn’t require external power connectors. At least that card makes sense.