Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB Video Card Review
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CONTENTS
- Video
card's features
- Testbed
configuration, test tools, 2D quality
- Test
results: performance diagrams
-
Conclusion
Today we are to discuss high-end video cards coming from manufacturers who
were treated with disrespect for quite a long time. Noname cards based on the
GeForce FX 5800/5900 and RADEON 9700 PRO/9800 PRO could be often seen in price-lists.
The experience, for example with cards assembled on the GeForce2 MX/4 MX, showed
that noname is a lottery. Clock speeds can be cut down and the memory bus narrowed.
What is noname in the High-End sector? We know that NDIDIA placed orders
for the cards of the GeForce FX 5800 level with third companies which then made
finished products. Such cards were purchased by vendors, packed in their boxes
and delivered to the retail market, or they were supplied in the OEM packages
for SI, i.e. for assemblers (HP, Dell etc.). The assemblers either refused to
buy them or sent such cards directly to the gray market. This is how the market
got flooded with the GeForce FX 5800 cards which are now selling as noname products.
Noname cards based on the GeForce FX 5900 passed a similar way, as well as
the RADEON 9700/9800, with the only exception that such cards are made on well-known
PC Partner's factories (compared to NVIDIA's secret ones). So, noname
in case of the GeForce FX 5800/5900 and RADEON 9700/9800 implies that their quality
is the same or even better as that of the popular brands. But they come without
any accessories (including cables) and boxes. It should be also noted
that such cards can be made by even such companies as Sparkle, Palit or others
of this kind but sellers haven't recognized them yet and prefer to mask the real
names (they marks such cards simply as NVIDIA GeForce... or ATI RADEON...). One
of such companies whose names sellers are not fond of is InnoVision Multimedia.
Moreover, if you remember, you can find quite a number of faked cards allegedly
from this firm. The High-End cards coming under the Inno3D trade mark
have all needed characteristics expected from expensive products. However, the
negative attitude towards Inno3D's low-end cards and faked cards affects the company's
image. Every firm can have defective goods even in the High-End sector, and you
should simply replace such card. I haven't noticed yet any cases of reducing the
bus bandwidth or clock speeds of the High-End (GeForce3, GeForce3 Ti500, GeForce4
Ti 4600, GeForce FX 5800, GeForce FX 5900, RADEON 8500 (not LE!), RADEON 9700
PRO, RADEON 9800 PRO). Just remember that High-End remains High-End, i.e. it's
too expensive for Chinese unknown firms to make profit with. Besides, such cards
usually leave the market before they get into the low-end sector. Now let's turn
to the GeForce FX 5900. Theoretical materials and reviews of video cards
which concern functional properties of the GPU NVIDIA GeForce FX
The reviews above perfectly cover all strong
and weak points of the GPU and cards based on it. InnoVision Multimedia is
headquartered in Hong Kong and has production facilities in China and branch offices
in Germany and USA. Inno3D's current products have Inno3D's logo painted on the
PCB and respective stickers. Besides, all modern products from InnoVision ship
in retail packages. Card
| Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB |
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| AGP x8/x4/x2 interface, 128 MB DDR SDRAM in 8 chips on both
PCB sides. | | Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900
128MB | | Hynix memory chips of 2.2ns access time, which corresponds
to 454 (908) MHz. The memory works at 425 (850) MHz, the GPU runs at 400 MHz.
256bit memory interface. |
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| Comparison with the reference design, front
view |
| Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB |
Reference card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 |
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| Comparison with the reference design, back view |
| Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB |
Reference card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 |
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Here are some aspects to be pointed out:
- The card is a copy of the new revision of the reference sample
- The memory size was cut down to 128MB (from 256MB) - on the backside there
is empty space for missing BGA chips. But the 256bit bus wasn't shortened because
the card has 8 32bit memory chips (256 bits in all). The card just doesn't support
the dual-bank memory mode.
Here's how the cooler looks like.
The card has no TV codec though the TV-out is realized right in the NV35.
Such cards are usually pretty big
Although the cooler doesn't occupy the first PCI slot, the sink's cover is
just 2 mm away from its center:
As you can see, you can insert only cards with nothing on the back. However,
we wouldn't recommend even such cards because they may affect proper cooling.
Here is the GPU itself:
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| Inno3D
Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB | | Apart from
the card the box contains discs with software, WinFast DVD, 3DMark03 Pro(!), Comanche4,
and 5 demo versions of games. There's also a user manual, DVI-to-d-Sub adapter
and TV-out extenders. |
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| Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB |
| The company has redesigned the package: now it's a thick cardboard
box covered with polygraphic pictures instead of a simple white box in a glossy
cover. Dark colors are replaced with light ones. |
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Testbed and drivers
Testbed: -
Pentium 4 3200 MHz based computer:
- Intel Pentium 4 3200 MHz CPU;
-
DFI LANParty Pro875 (i875P) mainboard;
- 1024 MB DDR SDRAM;
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Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD;
- Windows XP SP1; DirectX 9.0a;
-
ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21") monitors.
-
NVIDIA drivers v45.20.
VSync off, S3TC off in applications.
Overclocking
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| Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB |
400/850 -> 460/950 MHz (good score!) |
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Note that: - during the overclocking you should provide additional
cooling, in particular, for the card (first of all, for its memory):
- overclocking depends on a sample, and you shouldn't generalize the results
of one card to all video cards of this trade mark or series. The overclocking
results are not the obligatory characteristics of video cards.
Test
results
Before we start examining 2D quality, I should say there are no complete
techniques for objective 2D quality estimation because: - 2D quality
much depends on certain samples for almost all modern 3D accelerators;
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Besides videocards, 2D quality depends on monitors and cables;
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Moreover, certain monitors might not work properly with certain video cards.
With the ViewSonic P817 monitor and BNC Bargo cable the card showed excellent
quality at the following resolutions and clock speeds:
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| Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB |
1600x1200x85Hz, 1280x1024x100Hz, 1024x768x120Hz |
The 2D quality is excellent (no deviation from the reference design). But flickering
takes place again. We are still waiting for NVIDIA to solve the problem.
Test results: performance comparison
Test applications: -
Return to Castle Wolfenstein (MultiPlayer) (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL,
multitexturing, ixbt0703-demo, test settings - maximum, S3TC OFF, the configurations
can be downloaded from here
Test order: press '~' to invoke the console then type: timedemo
1 (press Enter)
demo [file name] (press Enter)
- Unreal 2: The Awakening (Infogrames), DirectX 8.1, multitexturing, tested
with the additional packet Bench'emAll! 2.5beta.
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) - OpenGL, multitexturing,
ixbt0703demo, test settings: quality.
Test order: press '~' to
invoke the console then type:
dem_bProfile=1 (press Enter)
start the demo from the menu
- Codecreatures
Benchmark Pro (Codecult) - Direct3D, Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing,
high quality
Test order:
Codecreatures Benchmark
Pro.exe (press Enter) Select a required test in the menu, or run the tests
(in the Official Benchmark submenu) starting from 1600x1200 up to 1024x768.
- Unreal Tournament 2003 v.2225 (Digital Extreme/Epic Games) - Direct3D, Vertex
Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, default quality
ixbt0703demo
test scene.
- RightMark
3D (one of the game scenes) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing, shadow buffers,
vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4).
test settings: pixel shaders 1.1,
shadow buffers OFF.
Performance
- 1. Return to Castle
Wolfenstein -
- 2. Unreal Tournament 2003 -
- 3. Codecreatures
Benchmark Pro
- 4. Unreal 2: The Awakening
- 5. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
- 6. RightMark 3D
Conclusion
If we disregard the problem of flickering so much spoken about
though it infected far not all FX 5900 based cards (but it's still the developers'
fault), we can consider it a good and quality product. Taking into account that
Inno3D usually sets prices lower than those of brand-name cards, even the noisy
cooler wouldn't be so eye-popping (except for fighters for the absolute silence
who look for fanless systems). The Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX5900 128MB offers:
- A very high speed in 3D graphics almost comparable to the RADEON 9800
PRO (in the heavy modes with AA and anisotropy), with the prices being nearly
equal or even lower;
- A finished modern technological solution with
the DX9 support (such games are not far away), though the shaders are slower than
those of ATI's solution;
- A good cooler though not noiseless.
One
more GeForce FX 5900 based card is very similar to the other solutions reviewed.
All of them use the reference design but can capture user's attention with a cooler,
package, accessories, and certainly, their price. In our 3Digest
you can find full comparison characteristics for video cards of this and other
classes.
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