X-bit labs

Gainward FX Power Pack! Ultra/1300XT Golden Sample Review (page 27)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 05/20/2004 | 12:12 PM ]

Conclusion

There are several points we can mention once we tested the Gainward FX Ultra/1300XT Power Pack! Golden Sample:

• The card performs like a GeForce FX 5900 or lower at its regular frequencies;
• The advanced PCB coupled with fast memory chips allow overclocking this card to the level of a GeForce FX 5950 Ultra;
• The frequency of the graphics memory is more important than its amount;
• 128MB of graphics memory is enough for today.

Expanding this brief resume further, I’d say that this graphics card is a truly overclocker product: full-fledged, not simplified PCB design, 2.2ns memory, massive cooler, specially selected GPU capable of maintaining stability at highest frequencies. Having a much lower price than the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, the Gainward FX Ultra/1300XT Power Pack! Golden Sample can easily reach the same frequencies and, accordingly, performance.

Of course, not every specimen can work at such frequencies, but you have a high chance of getting a highly overclockable product because it belongs to the Golden Sample series.

As for disadvantages, I’d mention only the accessories, which might have been more! Thus, the Gainward FX Ultra/1300XT Power Pack! Golden Sample can be recommended to every fan of NVIDIA GPUs, interested in overclocking. There’s one reservation, though. With all its advantages, this product has a GPU not very suitable for playing games with pixel and vertex shaders. Sometimes it is too slow in modern games like FarCry, not mentioning the upcoming projects like Half-Life 2 and Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl.

Moreover, the popularity of NV3x-based solutions will go down as soon as there appear cut-down versions of the NV40 – you may want to wait for them for a while.

According to Pricewatch.com, the Gainward FX Ultra/1300XT Power Pack! Golden Sample is priced at $260-280. For comparison: an ordinary GeForce FX 5900 XT with a simplified PCB design and 128MB of memory costs about $175-190, while the full-featured GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and 5950 Ultra cost $360-390.

Highs:

• A normal PCB from the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra;
• A specially selected GPU, capable of working at high frequencies;
• 256MB with 2.2ns access time;
• High overclockability;
• An efficient and rather quiet cooling system;
• Effective looks.

Lows:

• Few accessories;
• Low performance in new-generation games;
• This card seems to be somewhat behind the times now that there’s the NV40 available;
• High price (for its class).