Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB Video Card Review
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CONTENTS
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Video cards features
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Testbed, test tools, 2D quality
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Summary diagrams
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Conclusion
Together with the release of the most powerful GPU GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
NVIDIA announced the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra targeted at the upper middle-end
sector. This product is to replace the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra, the recommended
price for traders is US$200.
The reviews of these cards can be found in the list of reviews of the
NV3x line.
Theoretical materials and reviews of video cards which concern functional
properties of the GPU NVIDIA GeForce FX
This card generally looks better than its official competitor RADEON 9600
XT. Even faster shaders of the RADEON 9600 XT don't help it win the battle
taking into account that the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is going to thrive on
the Midde-End market for only half a year and then it will be replaced
with a GPU of the NV4x family. Besides, there are still few games that
intensively use shaders.
But it's all about positioning, i.e. about niches invented by marketers.
The reality is that new-comers are usually overpriced. Thus, the 5700 ULtra
is available not at $200 but at $240 or even $250. We could have ignored
it as we can do nothing about traders and because the RADEON 9600 XT is
also pretty dear, but there's one serious fact.
The slowest GeForce FX 5900 has already dropped to the retail level
of US$260-270 (for the end of November 2003). That is why even at 400/700
MHz the FX 5900 (SE/LX/CP - this chip doesn't have its own name, vendors
call it differently) will look stronger than the FX 5700 Ultra at its 475/900
MHz. The prices are almost the same. According to pricewatch the FX 5700
Ultra and FX 5900(SE/LX/CP) have even the same average price of $210.
What to do? When we tested the FX 5900(SE/LX/CP) cards we pointed out
that at the price equal to that of the RADEON 9800 they were going to lose.
At the moment the prices are lower and the FX 5900(SE/LX/CP) looks more
attractive. It affects the FX 5700 Ultra to a greater degree. It's a pure
pricing mistake. Either the prices for the FX 5900(SE/LX/CP) were cut hastily,
or the starting price for the 5700 Ultra was set too high. Besides, the
card itself is too expensive: DDR-II, plus 10-layer PCB...
Will such cards be a success? I really don't know now. Observers of the
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra who carefully analyze the market situation will be
confused as well. According to
Price.ru the market offers only MSI's card on the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
(for the end of November) priced at $US250. At the same time there's the
Leadtek GeForce FX 5900LX available at the same price.
I hope the FX 5700 Ultra will get more favorable conditions soon, the
prices will drop down to $200.
And today we are going to test a card from Albatron which, as usual,
has its own peculiarities.
Card
| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
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The card has AGP x8/x4/x2 interface, 128 MB DDR-II SDRAM
memory in 8 chips on both PCB sides.
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| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
| Samsung (GDDR2) 2.2ns memory chips (corresponds to 450 (900) MHz),
memory clocked at 450 (900) MHz, GPU at 475 MHz. 128 bit memory bus. |
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| Comparison with the reference design, front view |
| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
Reference card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra |
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| Comparison with the reference design, back view |
| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
Reference card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra |
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This is a copy of the reference design, though the PCB is painted sky-blue,
the color typical of Albatron.
Here's the cooler:
| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
| The Wise Fan II technology includes two working fans on
the sink, with one being spare which turns on when one of the other two
stops. Under the sink is a special printed-circuit board with chips. It
also houses a decorative bright blue LED which emits light through a drop-like
hole.
The second version of this cooler has a different shape and different
positions of fans. Also, the third fan can turn on when the chip overheats
(the cooler has its own sensor independent from the processor's one).
The cooler looks attractive. The fans' blades shine in ultraviolet rays.
On the back are only two simple sinks on each pair of the memory chips,
that is why memory overclocking would definitely need additional cooling. |
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The card doesn't have an external TV codec, though the TV-out is realized
through the NV36.
Although the cooler doesn't take the first PCI slot the heatsink stands
only 3-4 mm away from its center, that is why you can insert only a card
with an absolutely smooth backside. But you'd better not use this slot
at all otherwise the cooling would be worse.
Here's the GPU:
Now comes the accessory pack.
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| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
| CD with software, DVD player, Duke Nuken, 5 demo versions; user guide,
S-Video-to-RCA adapter, TV-out extenders. |
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Have a look at the package:
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| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
| The box with a holographic layer looks really amazing. The words are
embossed, and on top is Dusk - a hero of NVIDIA's latest demo programs. |
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Testbed and drivers
Testbed:
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Pentium 4 3200 MHz based computer:
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Intel Pentium 4 3200 MHz CPU;
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DFI LANParty Pro875 (i875P) mainboard;
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1024 MB DDR SDRAM;
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Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD;
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Windows XP SP1; DirectX 9.0b;
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ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21")
monitors.
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NVIDIA drivers v52.16.
VSync off, S3TC off in applications.
Cards used for comparison:
Overclocking
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| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
475/900 -> 550/1020 MHz (in spite of the powerful cooler
the gain is moderate relative to the reference card) |
Note
that:
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during the overclocking you should provide additional cooling, in particular,
for the card (first of all, for its memory):
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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:
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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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| Albatron Gigi GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128MB |
1600x1200x85Hz, 1280x1024x100Hz, 1024x768x120Hz |
Test results: cards performance
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 '~' and type in the console the following:
timedemo 1 (press Enter)
demo ixbt0703demo (press Enter)
- Unreal 2: The Awakening (Infogrames), DirectX 8.1, multitexturing,
tested with the Bench'emAll! 2.5beta
packet.
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) -
OpenGL, multitexturing, ixbt0703 demo, test settings: quality.
Test order: press '~' and type in the console the following:
dem_bProfile=1 (press Enter)
run ixbt0703demo 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
test required in the menu or run the tests (in Official Benchmark
submenu) starting from 1600x1200 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 game scenes) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing, shadow
buffers, vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4). Settings: pixel shaders
1.1, shadow buffers OFF.
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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell v.1.2b (UbiSoft) - Direct3D, Vertex/Pixel Shaders
1.1/2.0, Hardware T&L, Very High quality; demo 1_1_2_Tbilisi
Performance
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1. Return to Castle Wolfenstein
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2. Unreal Tournament 2003
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3. Codecreatures Benchmark Pro
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4. Unreal 2: The Awakening
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5. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
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6. RightMark 3D
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7. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Conclusion
Although the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra beats the RADEON 9600 XT in the games
without or with few shaders, it loses in all benchmarks to the low-end
card of the 5900 family - FX 5900 LX which is nearing US$250. That is why
the 5700 Ultra can be a success only if its price doesn't go over $200-210.
The card itself is perfect, like all other Albatron's solutions! It
has excellent build quality, a good cooler (which is not that noisy), and
a nice package.
In our 3Digest you can find full comparison
characteristics for video cards of this and other classes.
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