X-bit labs

Albatron Gigi GeForce FX5700 Ultra Graphics Card Review

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 03/05/2004 | 09:55 PM ]

There are plenty of NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra graphics cards around and if you are looking for one - we have got something tasty for you. Albatron GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is running fast, cool and is bundled with quite some useful stuff. Truly a great option for those looking for a mainstream product!

Table of contents:

• Closer Look
  
• Noise, Overclocking and 2D Image Quality
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• 3D Performance: First-Person 3D Shooter Games
  
• Return To Castle Wolfenshtein: Enemy Territory
  
• StarTrek Elite Force 2
  
• Unreal Tournament 2003
  
• Halo: Combat Evolved
  
• Tron 2.0
  
• Highly Anticipated DX9 Game 1
  
• Highly Anticipated DX9 Game 2
  
• 3D Performance: Third-Person 3D Shooter Games
  
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
  
• Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
  
• Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
  
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
  
• 3D Performance : Simulators
  
• IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles
  
• X2: The Threat
  
• F1 Challenge 99-2002
  
• 3D Performance: Real-Time Strategies
  
• C&C Generals: Zero Hour
  
• 3D Performance: Semi-Synthetic Benchmarks
  
• Final Fantasy XI Official Benchmark 2
  
• Aquamark3
  
• 3D Performance: Synthetic Benchmarks
  
• Futuremark 3DMark03 build 340
  
• Conclusion
  

We have already reviewed products from Albatron, which usually have high quality served with exquisite elegance. Although graphics cards from Albatron don’t feature any amazing technical innovations, their design is neat, while the cooling system is both efficient and quiet.

Albatron’s products come at a reasonable price, so no wonder that they are deservedly popular among the users. Our today’s review will be dedicated to one more graphics card from Albatron.

Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra belongs to the mainstream graphics. Like the NV35-based model, this card came to us in a colorful retail box: this time the company didn’t try to take the possible customer by surprise and we have an ordinary paper box rather than a bag that comes with Gigi GeForce FX 5900 PV. Well, that’s a mainstream, not a high-end card, after all.

Anyway, the package catches your eye with its pseudo-holographic relief coating that sparkles with all the colors of the rainbow. The coloring of the box is designed in the aristocratic combination of black and silver. The front side of the package depicts a hi-tech aggressive-looking elven lass called Dusk, rather than her modest sylvan sister Dawn. The leather-wrapped Dusk standing against a sci-fi hangar will surely appeal to many teenage customers. That’s a nice diversion from the traditional fantasy style with its daemons, hellhounds and the rest of the zoo that graphics card makers seem to like so much. Besides other things, the box carries a sticker with the parameters of the enclosed product and the well-known logo “The way it’s meant to be played”. We open the package to find the following:

Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra comes accompanied with:

• User’s manual;
• D-Sub-to-DVI-I adapter;
• S-Video-to-RCA adapter;
• S-Video cable;
• RCA cable;
• CD with drivers;
• CD with InterVideo WinDVD Creator and InterVideo WinDVD Player;
• CD with Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project;
• CD with demo-versions of Age of Wonders II, Beam Breakers, Max Payne, Rally Trophy and Zax.

The user’s manual is unified for all graphics cards of the Gigi series and covers just the basics. Curiously, its cover still shows Dawn rather than Dusk. The accessories haven’t changed much since Gigi GeForce FX 5900 PV. They haven’t become any fewer, but the games might have been fresher. Anyway, the package and the accessories are just appetizers for the main dish, which we are going to taste now.