X-bit labs

Gigabyte Technology Rolls Speedy GeForce FX 5950 Ultra Out.

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 01/14/2004 | 08:17 AM ]

A company who decided to join the so-called NVIDIA camp of AIB partners in Fall 2003 now attempts to target high-margin market of graphics cards with boosted performance.

Gigabyte Technology recently unveiled its new NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra graphics card with higher core clock-speeds by default. In contrast to the majority of products based on the same GPU available today, GV-N595U-GT from Gigabyte is equipped with processors functioning at impressive 520MHz, a 45MHz increase over default speed.

The “Grand Touring” graphics card from Gigabyte is based on NVIDIA’s reference design with 256MB of DDR SDRAM memory at 950MHz and Flow FX-like cooling system.

While there are quite some graphics cards based on mainstream graphics chips with speeds above default level, there are very few overclocked high-end products. Currently only Gainward supplies advanced GeForce 5900/5950 Ultra products with improved performance, while Hercules’ RADEON 9800 XT boasts with moderately improved speed in 3D applications with ATI OVERDRIVE technology enabled. All-in-all, GV-N595U-GT from Gigabyte deserves to be called a rather luxurious and unique solution.

Availability of graphics cards overclocked by default may indicate improved yields of NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900/5950 Ultra chips or even existence of revamped revisions of such GPUs with higher overclocked potential.

Gigabyte remained tight-lipped in regards to availability and pricing of its product.