Final Verdict

FiringSquad says:

For starters, we’ll address the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra versus RADEON 9800 PRO debate. Is the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra faster than RADEON 9800 PRO? In some cases yes, and in some cases no. GeForce FX 5900 Ultra certainly improves NVIDIA’s position against ATI, as they’re finally offering a product to compete, but it isn’t the slam dunk it was hyped up to be. NVIDIA’s anti-aliasing, while improved, still doesn’t match the quality of RADEON 9800 PRO, but this may be an issue that will be addressed with an upcoming driver.

Ultimately we feel many NVIDIA supporters will continue to buy NVIDIA-based products, just as ATI users will continue to favor ATI. Think of it as the 3D graphics version of Ford versus Chevy. We do see an increasing number of enthusiasts in the middle that are swinging towards ATI however. So what do we think of eVGA’s GeForce FX 5900 Ultra offering?

eVGA has really impressed us with the e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. True, the card is physically nothing more than an NVIDIA reference card in retail packaging, but how often do you see a graphics card manufacturer overclock their card from the factory? Tyan said they were going to do it, and spread some hype about it actually, but in practice, this never became a reality.

With the flamboyant nature of graphics card marketing today, it’s actually quite surprising to see how understated eVGA is with its e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. There’s literally no mention of the higher clock speeds it boasts on eVGA’s website. As a result, the first wave of enthusiasts didn’t know what to do with their cards: did eVGA make some kind of mistake, or were the enhanced clock speeds for real? Fortunately, the higher clock speeds are authentic; eVGA has every intention of standing behind the e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. We’re quite sure that this feature alone will sell lots of GeForce FX 5900 Ultra cards for eVGA.

This is the primary reason why we’ve awarded the e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra our Bull’s Eye Award. Yes, at $500+ it’s by no means a price/performance winner, but at the same time, being based on a reference design, it’s also not innovative enough for Editor’s Choice.

However, when you combine the fact that you’re getting a card that’s clocked 50MHz higher on the core and memory, plus video input (and corresponding video editing software), for a price that’s $20-$50 over invoice, you can’t help but feel that the e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra is a value among GeForce FX 5900 Ultra cards. We’d gladly pony up the extra dollars for these features in a heartbeat. At $500+ however, we must deduct points from the overall score, as ATI’s RADEON 9800 PRO and to a lesser extent, NVIDIA’s own GeForce FX 5900 128MB are better values. If eVGA would offer a GeForce FX 5900 128MB card clocked at Ultra levels, they could have a real killer product on their hands.

It’s great to see eVGA really tackle the enthusiast market by boosting the speeds on their GeForce FX 5900 Ultra card. And with the prices these cards are currently selling for, we see no reason why the e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra shouldn’t be at the very top of your list of GeForce FX 5900 Ultra cards to consider.