 |
 |
 |
|
||
|
||
| ||
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
||
| ||
|
||
|
 CONTENTS
The IT experts say that the relationship between ATI and NVIDIA is getting tougher. Yet two years ago ATI Technologies had funds 3 times as small as NVIDIA's ones and buggy products but then it pulled its together. NVIDIA, on the contrary, made some serious mistakes. As a result, both companies are going on a par today. Multiple tests prove that. Who remembers Tseng, Trident, Rendition, PowerVR, S3, 3dfx?.. We have ATI/NVIDIA as venerable manufacturers of 2D/3D accelerators, SIS trying to maintain this sector by flooding it with cheap products which are though not always successful, and Matrox who is on its way out of the 3D market (modern functions do not help slow cards to make a good showing). Unfortunately, the chip makers are diminishing in number. The prices therefore grow up from one High-End generation to another. That's good that both companies remain equal competitors because it actually prevents the takeover. The accelrators' race is very exhausting. ATI and NVIDIA are violently fighting though the demand is getting weaker and the market is shrinking. What's now? Monthly announcements? Who will make the cards? No one sober card maker would do it as he would lose income from the previous solutions. No sooner had the FX 5600 reached the market than the improved NV36 appeared from round the corner. But it's the manufacturers' problem. Not ours. Theoretical materials and reviews of video cards which concern functional
properties of the GPU
NVIDIA's partners have to look for the ways of selling new cards though they may be not that popular. Fortunately for NVIDIA, ATI stumbled over the same stone when laucnhed the RADEON 9600/9600 PRO which was slower than its predecessors. They are quits now, but it makes no difference to users. But prices keep on falling down with time, and sooner or later the 5600 will look more attractive. Plus, fast anisotropy the GF4 Ti could only dream about. Besides, every card maker does his best to think out something original, interesting and attractive. The today's card does have some unique technologies. It's not the first time when AOpen makes its presence felt. We do remember its OpenBIOS, interesting mainboard designing solutions etc. So, meet the AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB card. Card
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB |  |
|
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB | |
| AGP x8/x4/x2 interface, 256 MB DDR SDRAM in 8 chips on both PCB sides.
Hynix memory chips of 3.6ns access time, which corresponds to 275 (550) MHz. The memory works at 250 (500) MHz, the GPU runs at 325 MHz. 128bit memory interface. |
 |
| Comparison with the reference design, front view | |
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB | Reference card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Comparison with the reference design, back view | |
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB | Reference card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 |
 |
 |
|
The AOpen uses its own design. According to the specs, the model marked S possesses the following technologies: 
AGMS This is just an improved monitoring technology. It monitors core and memory voltages, as well as conrols them. By the way, the same technology can help if the mainboard has problems with AGP power supply (for example, if the voltage is a bit lower than the default one). AOpen also offers an overclocker (the new version of the utility can define the maximum cooler's rotational speed):   The voltage and fan's rotatinal speed are stored in the card's flash memory, and rebooting thus does not change them. This system controls the rotatinal speed and temperatures: ACS You can either set the cooling fan speed yourselves or let the card control it through the ACS technology. By the way, in 2D the fan remains idle almost all the time (if a certain rotational speed is not set forcedly). But the most interesting inovation is Dr.LED   These are card's status LEDs. You can find out whether the core and memory voltages are within the limits, define the AGP mode, and card's mode (2D/3D). Also, if any parameters deviate from the default values (for example, cooler's rotational speed), the LEDs will let you know. Here is how beautful it looks:    But you would hardly enjoy all those lights even in a transparent PC cases as the LEDs are attached to the card undernearth. The developers should think about moving them to the top. Here's the cooler.
The card is not equipped with an external TV codec, and the TV-out is realized right in the NV31. Here is the processor:  It was made on the 20th week this year (in May). The box contains the following stuff. |
||||
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB | |
| User manual, CD with drivers and utilities, WinDVD, TV extenders, DVI-to-d-Sub, S-Video-to-RCA adapter. |  |
| Take a gander at the package: |
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB | |
| A stylish box in dark colors. The CPU clock is indicated. |  |
| AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX 5600S 256MB | 1600x1200x85Hz, 1280x1024x100Hz, 1024x768x120Hz |
Conventional signs: ANISO 8xP - Anisotropic 8x Performance (earlier it was called Balanced), ANISO 8xQ - Anisotropic 8x Quality, ANISO 16xQ - Anisotropic 16x Quality.
Test applications:
It was expected that the card would perform such way as compared to the 128MB FX 5600 card coming with the faster memory, as well as that it would beat ATI's solutions.
Here the RADEON 9600 takes the lead, and only in 1600x1200 (when the speeds are not playable at all) the FX 5600 outsores it.
Now the FX 5600 leads the group and only in 1600x1200 it falls behind the pack.
The picture is like in Serious Sam: TSE & RtCW.
The FX 5600 is smashed to pieces.
Well, this is an average card based on the FX 5600. I already mentioned before that such cards do not need extra 128 MB at all.
But from the standpoint of a unique product, this card has some interesting features. Overclcokers would be glad to have memory with the speed reserve, changeable voltages, a utility with the temperature control and warning LEDS.
This is a pleasant find for those who like experimenting and overclocking.
In our 3Digest
you can find full comparison characteristics for video cards of this and
other classes.
 |
|
| Most Popular Reviews | More RSS |
| March 2, 2009 · Processors: AMD
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Overclocking |
 |
| May 15, 2009 · System Memory
Phenom II Processors and DDR3 Memory |
 |
| February 16, 2009 · Processors: AMD
AMD Phenom II X3 720 / X4 810 / X4 920 Processors |
 |
| June 3, 2009 · Processors: Intel
Intel Core i7 950 Processor |
 |
| May 27, 2009 · Processors: Intel
Intel Core 2 with Various FSB / Memory Clock Rates |
 |
| Latest Reviews | More RSS |
| July 6, 2009 · 3Digests
i3DSpeed, June 2009 |
 |
| June 26, 2009 · Coolers
Five Premium CPU Coolers In Tests |
 |
| June 22, 2009 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs
NVIDIA GeForce GT2XX Reference |
 |
| June 22, 2009 · Video cards: ATI GPUs
AMD(ATI) RADEON R(V)7XX Reference |
 |
| June 18, 2009 · Sound Cards
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Cards |
 |
| Latest News | More RSS |
| Useful Links | Get listed |
Platform · Video · Multimedia · Mobile · Other · Compare Prices || Feedback · Advertise at iXBT Labs · About us · Affiliates · Forum
Copyright © Byrds Research & Publishing, Ltd., 1997—2009. All rights reserved.
