FiringSquad: Home of the Hardcore Gamer - Games, Hardware, Reviews and NewsSubmit your own or view users' CPU overclocking results!

  
 Home   News   THE MATRIX   Deals   Hardware   Games   Features   Media   Products   Forums   FS China 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Home : Hardware : Video Cards : eVGA e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra Review
» Join the Greatest Gaming Community NOW! (It's free)

Already a member? Login
 


So what if it doesn't follow the topic? (0) by ICDP
How to Overclock Guide (2) by SuperCharge
What is so cool about Gigabyte’s Ultra-Durable 3 technology (0) by SuperCharge
T-Shirts! (0) by Skippy989
FTW! (0) by Gh3tTo5oLdIeR
The Bland Addiction: World of Warcraft (17) by Discobiscuits
Funniest thing to do with the OCZ name (4) by SuperCharge
War! Huh! Yeah! (aka Blatant Plagiarism) (1) by ICDP
Guitar Hero 3 - The thing that should not be (UPDATED) (5) by Beefysworld
Guide to Overclocking: OC Juice and Overclocking Your Way to Become a Better Person (2) by jarrodthome

More Blogs >>


 Hottest Topics
New Modern Warfare 2 PC petition created (33)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC Review (33)
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview (12)
BioShock 2 special edition includes vinyl LP (11)
Activision hopes to monetize some aspects of CoD multi (11)
NPD: Wii, Unchartered 2 #1 in hardware, software sales (10)
First Fermi-based Tesla board announced (9)
Steam weekend deal: Crysis for 50% off (8)
Craigslist flooded with modded Xbox 360s (8)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will support DirectX 11 (7)
Supreme Commander 2 coming this Spring (7)
New Bad Company 2 trailer released (7)
Is CoD: MW2's 'Ghost' getting his own game? (6)
JPR: PC gaming hardware market forecast to hit $27B next year (6)
Report says Activision has hired a 3rd dev team to make Call of Duty games (6)
Today's News >>
Today's Siteseeing >>


 News Archive
This Month

October 1 - 31, 2009

September 1 - 30, 2009

August 1 - 31, 2009

July 1 - 31, 2009

June 1 - 30, 2009

May 1 - 31, 2009

April 1 - 30, 2009

March 1 - 31, 2009

February 1 - 28, 2009

January 1 - 31, 2009

December 1 - 31, 2008

November 1 - 30, 2008



eVGA e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra Review
June 20, 2003   Brandon Sandman Bell > [View My Other Articles]
Product Info | User Reviews(3) | Article Images(38) | Image Gallery | Comments | Forum Thread
Final Verdict


87%






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.



Back! Ballistics Report     Back Home
Blog + Share: Digg Del.icio.us Reddit SU furl • More: AddThis Social Bookmark Button
Send This Article to a Friend!  
Table of Contents
  Print Entire Article  

MATRIX CONTENT » RANDOM MEDIA BLOG More Blogs >>
No ratings yet
» Please rate this
I am an AMD AgentRead this Media-Blog entry!» Scandle at EVGA! (2)
by exe3 (477) Talk with this user on their Shout Box (My other blogs) Posted 7 months ago
  Latest Content
Left 4 Dead 2 PC Review
Left 4 Dead 2 PC Review
Valve says Left 4 Dead 2 contains so much new content, it's worthy of a sequel rather than DLC. Is this true or false? Judge for yourself in today's review!
Nov 20, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
After a 10-month hiatus, ATI's once again got the world's fastest graphics card. The Radeon 5970 fuses two RV870 chips onto one board for max performance, and is built for OC'ing. See how this board fares in the latest games including Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and DX11 titles like STALKER: Call of Pripyat in this article!
Nov 17, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC Review
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC Review
With no dedicated servers, no lean, and 18-player cap for multi, does Modern Warfare 2 for PC live up to its predecessors? Most of the reviews online have praised Infinity Ward's latest shooter but those reviews were focused for console players -- how does the PC port fare? Find out in today's review!
Nov 13, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X 1GB Review
Bull's Eye Award Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X 1GB Review
With its custom vapor chamber cooling+heatpipes and factory OC'ing, Sapphire's 5870 Vapor-X is targeted towards gamers looking for a 5870 card with a little more oomph than the stock 5870 card can provide. Best part of all is that the card sells for just $10 more than the stock Radeon 5870. See how much cooler and quieter the Vapor-X card runs inside!
Nov 10, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
Dragon Age Origins Review
Editor's Choice Award Dragon Age Origins Review
While Jakub wasn't too impressed with Dragon Age Origins, Vandy has a completely different take on the game. This is one review you definitely won't want to miss if you're a BioWare fan!
Nov 9, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
Phenom II Gets A New Revision: 125W AMD Phenom II X4 965 Performance Preview
Phenom II Gets A New Revision: 125W AMD Phenom II X4 965 Performance Preview
Promising lower power consumption, lower temps, and most importantly for enthusiasts, more OC'ing, AMD is back with a new CPU revision for the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, which now boasts a 125W TDP. Is AMD able to deliver on their promises though? Find out in today's article!
Nov 3, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
Shattered Horizon Review
Shattered Horizon Review
FutureMark, well known for their popular 3DMark benchmarks, is venturing into new territory with Shattered Horizon. This multiplayer shooter is perhaps best known for its system requirements -- the game supports DX10 only -- but there's more underneath the surface of this game than fancy visuals. Is it worth its $20 price tag though? Read Vandy's take inside!
Nov 2, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
Borderlands PC Review
Borderlands PC Review
Is it an RPG or is it an FPS? Borderlands blends the best elements of both in one entertaining package. Vandy has spent the past week playing the PC version of the game and came away rather impressed. Read his full thoughts on the game in today's review!
Oct 29, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
AMD Athlon II X3 435/Athlon II X2 240e Performance Preview
AMD Athlon II X3 435/Athlon II X2 240e Performance Preview
Today AMD is introducing 8 new Athlon II CPUs intended to service different segments of the budget CPU market. For HTPC users, new 45W dual, triple, and quad core offerings should deliver good performance along with low power, while performance junkies on a budget will want to look at AMD's new Athlon II X3 CPUs. See how the new chips stack up in terms of performance and OC'ing in this article!
Oct 19, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]
EVGA P55 FTW Review
EVGA P55 FTW Review
Looking for a good P55 motherboard to OC your CPU beyond 4GHz? If so, you may want to check out EVGA's P55 FTW. With its extra ATX12V connector, this motherboard can send up to 600W of juice to the CPU, and it's got more voltage settings in BIOS than 95% of the general public needs. But that's just barely scratching the surface of what this board can do. Check out today's review for the full details!
Oct 16, 2009   [ View Similar Articles | View Comments ]




 Hottest Topics
New Modern Warfare 2 PC petition created (33)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC Review (33)
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview (12)
BioShock 2 special edition includes vinyl LP (11)
Activision hopes to monetize some aspects of CoD multi (11)
Today's News >>
Today's Siteseeing >>


 Table of Contents


 Talk Back
Are you surprised to see a card manufacturer offer higher clock speeds than reference in their first generation product as well? Voice your thoughts about the e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and 3D cards in general in the news comments!

Check Out These Related Articles >>
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X 1GB Review
Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X 1GB Review
ATI Radeon HD 5770/5750 Performance Preview
ATI Radeon HD 5770/5750 Performance Preview
Batman: Arkham Asylum PhysX Features and Performance
Batman: Arkham Asylum PhysX Features and Performance
ATI Radeon 5850 Performance Preview
ATI Radeon 5850 Performance Preview
Overclocking the Radeon HD 5870
Overclocking the Radeon HD 5870
ATI Radeon HD 5870 Performance Preview
ATI Radeon HD 5870 Performance Preview
FiringSquad is powered by... Back to Top Site MapContact UsAdvertise With Us Privacy StatementAbout Us  
News RSSSiteseeing RSSArticle RSS   © 1998-2009 FS Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved