Entered CNET Catalog: 03/20/2003
SKU: GEFORCEFX
Manufacturer: ASUSTek Computer Inc.
Manufacturer description
When graphics card heavyweight ASUS meets NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5800, the world's fastest and most powerful GPU, the result is a solution delivering the most realistic visual on PC to date. With the ASUS V9900, based on NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5800 chip, quality graphics that rivals what you see in theaters is finally possible on your PC. Performance of the GeForce FX 5800 triples that of the GeForce Ti4600, allowing the V9900 to inspire a new level of creativity for graphics designers and enhance PC users' digital experience. NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5800 GPU enables 8-pixels per clock cycle. The high graphics bandwidth facilitates the application of complex textures, lighting, and other effects to an entire scene. The world's first Intellisample technology includes both Z and color compression, automatically providing a boost to antialiasing. The combination of the 3rd-generation Lightspeed Memory Architecture and DDR memory offers unprecedented 800MHz clock performance. AGP 8X graphics interface is also included in this revolutionary product. As the first GPU to apply 0.13-micron semiconductor fabrication process, full 128-bit studio-precision pixel processing, and high-level shading languages including Cg, the GeForce FX 5800 GPU is the best development and playback platform for next-generation cinematic-quality games. The NVIDIA CineFX engine delivers the most stunning visual effects, rendered in real-time with full compatibility for OpenGL, Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Pixel Shader 2.0+, and DirectX 9.0 Vertex Shader 2.0+ programmable shading.Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 01/28/2003
Nvidia has earned its reputation for producing the fastest 3D graphics technology around by setting a brutal pace, traditionally releasing new products every six or nine months. The company hasn't been as lucky this time around. Early in the GeForce FX's development process, the company's chip designers bet on a cutting-edge technology, the dense 0.13-micron manufacturing process, that would let them produce a chip that's twice as complex and twice as fast as last year's GeForce4. But manufacturing delays plagued the GeForce FX, and instead of coming out last fall as was originally planned, final graphics cards are now slated to hit shelves in late February or early March.
The GeForce FX has a lot of potential. The specs released at the product's unveiling last November were quite impressive. The fastest of Nvidia's new cards, officially called the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, is clocked to incredible speeds: 500MHz for the core chip and 500MHz (1GHz effective) for the double-data rate 2 (DDR2) memory. And it has next-generation features that go beyond even the basic requirements for full Microsoft DirectX 9 support.
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One hot chip
Nvidia and ATI took slightly different approaches to getting lots of performance out of their high-end cards. Nvidia has stepped up to a new generation of memory, DDR2, that's capable of much higher speeds (200MHz or more above regular DDR) but at the cost of increased power usage and some additional latency. ATI's Radeon 9700 and Radeon 9700 Pro cards have wider pathways between the chip and the local memory, so even with the memory at just 310MHz, the Radeon 9700 Pro offers more raw bandwidth than the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra.
A direct result of the GeForce FX's high clock speeds is that the chip and memory both run very hot, and the card consumes more power than the standard AGP bus can provide. Like 3dfx's Voodoo5 5500 and ATI's recent Radeon cards, the GeForce FX cards must be connected directly to a PC's power supply by means of a standard four-pin hard drive power cable. Some drastic measures are required to dissipate all the heat that the GeForce FX produces. As you can see in photos of the card, there's an extremely large cooling device that covers the top of the chip and the memory, as well as a low-profile copper heat sink on the other side to cool the memory on the back of the card. Not only does this large cooler take up an additional PCI slot inside the PC's case, it also generates quite a bit of noise--much louder than practically any CPU cooler.
Fortunately, these extra precautions are really critical for only the high-end GeForce FX 5800 Ultra card. Nvidia has also announced a couple of workstation cards and a gaming variation called the GeForce FX 5800, which feature lower clock speeds that may allow for less radical cooling. Graphics cards from the likes of PNY, MSI, Leadtek, and others based on the 5800 Ultra are expected to cost $399; the regular 5800 will cost somewhat less.
Now for the numbers
Nvidia has finally released reference boards that are representative of the performance we'll see from retail graphics cards starting next month. While we didn't have much time to test the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, the trials we did run tell an interesting story. As expected, the GeForce FX is a big jump from the fastest GeForce4. The surprise is that Nvidia's best efforts haven't resulted in a card that's any faster than the Radeon 9700 Pro. While Nvidia says the drivers are practically ready to ship--they're reported to be stable, compatible, and complete--performance should improve a bit with optimization over the next couple of months.
The 3DMark2001 SE results provide some insights into the card's mixed performance. While the DirectX 9-based 3DMark 2003 is in the works, the 2001 SE benchmark is still a reliable indication of raw performance under DirectX 8. The theoretical tests break down performance in a few critical areas, and the GeForce FX does particularly well in the fill-rate, eight-light geometry, and pxiel-shader tests. The advanced vertex shader, written specifically for the ATI hardware features in DirectX 8.1, is the one place where the Radeon 9700 Pro has a clear advantage. In any case, these theoretical tests give an indication that the GeForce FX will be an outstanding card in upcoming games--such as Doom III--that use advanced lighting techniques based on many textures and vertex shaders.
The bottom line
As surprising as it may be to those who've followed Nvidia's consistent success over the last few years, the graphics giant's newest offering doesn't look like it will be the clear performance leader it was promised to be. With the current drivers, the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra doesn't surpass the Radeon 9700 Pro by any significant margin. That's a big disappointment for those who've been holding off on a PC upgrade to get Nvidia's newest card. ATI seems to have won this round by virtue of delivering its card sooner. And rumors are flying that ATI has a faster card up its sleeve for release just months after the GeForce FX ships.
For complete coverage on the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, please visit GameSpot.
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3.5 stars
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not bad not great
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