X-bit labs

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra against ATI RADEON 9800 XT: Shader Wars (page 2)

Category: Video

by Tim Tscheblockov

[ 10/23/2003 | 03:31 PM ]

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

This solution will be represented by the NVIDIA reference board:

The PCB design of the new GeForce FX 5950 Ultra changed just a little bit compared with the PCB of GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, however, the cooling solution appears to be completely different:

The GPU cooling system of the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra looks very similar to the notorious FlowFX, although this is mostly an external similarity.

In the new cooling system the air is sucked inside through the holes in the graphics card bracket, then transferred through the plastic case to the fan and then is directed further to the heatsink. The air blows through the GPU heatsink ribs and then gets released inside the system case. The advantages of this cooling solution are evident: the graphics chip is always cooled down by the external cold stream of air, and there is no need to worry about the influence of the temperature inside the PC case on the graphics card stability and reliability at work.

The plastic air tube of the cooling system is fastened to the card with a few screws and hold the heatsink tightly pressed to the GPU surface thanks to a metal clip. This is actually very similar to Socket A cooler retention mechanisms, which also include a few tight fastening clips:

The fan installed on the NVIDIA reference card is pretty wide in diameter compared to that of the one used in FlowFX, and rotates at lower speed:

As a result, the cooling system of GeForce FX 5950 Ultra works much quieter compared to FlowFX and even noticeably quieter than a standard cooling system used on NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.