GeForce FX 5950 card

e-GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

The bottom of the card

This is eVGA’s e-GeForce FX 5950 Ultra card, which is based on NVIDIA’s GeForce FX 5950 Ultra reference board design. eVGA and NVIDIA have a very close relationship where NVIDIA manufactures eVGA’s boards, who then turn around and sell them to consumers. If you read our eVGA e-GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and e-GeForce FX 5600 Ultra reviews, you’ll remember that eVGA was among the first to market with both of these cards thanks in part to this relationship.

New cooling

At first glance, the e-GeForce FX 5950 Ultra looks somewhat similar to NVIDIA’s reference GeForce FX 5800 Ultra card. They both have ducting systems which take the air from outside the case to help cool the graphics core. The similarities pretty much end there though, as the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra doesn’t rely on heat pipe technology for cooling. It’s a conventional design fed entirely by air, with just an intake vent, the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra had vents for intake and exhaust. While the use of outside air is definitely an improvement over conventional designs (which rely on the air within the system case), a filter isn’t present on the intake vent to prevent dust from accumulating. This could become a real problem if you leave your case on the ground and/or near a window.

Intake vent only on 5950U

Aluminum heatsink

The heatsink itself is composed of aluminum and while it isn’t as large as the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra’s heatsink, as we mentioned earlier it will occupy the nearest PCI slot in your system. Air goes straight through the duct which then passes over the fins before exiting out the right side of the card, where a large one-piece plate is used to cool the memory modules. The plate can get pretty hot during extended use, especially while overclocking, but still nowhere near the levels of GeForce FX 5800 Ultra’s copper unit.

The fan itself is large yet quiet; at full speed it’s actually a little quieter than the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra’s fan, although in 2D mode the deeper tone of the fan’s motor is a little more audible. And like the GeForce FX 5900, the FX 5950 Ultra requires an external power source to operate at full clock speeds.

The bundle

eVGA bundles the card with Ghost Recon, America’s Army, NVIDIA’s 3D technology demos, NVDVD 2.0, WindowBlinds, PowerDirector Pro 2.5 ME, a demo copy of EarthViewer, a trial version of Roxio’s Photosuite 5 and eVGA’s Automated Driver Management (ADM) software.

Retail packaging

The ADM software is designed for less experienced users who may not know about chipset and AGP drivers. ADM checks to make sure these drivers are installed on the system, if they’re not, it automatically installs them. This ensures that your system is running at optimal performance and reliability. Once ADM is done checking your system, the graphics driver is installed.

Since the e-GeForce FX 5950 Ultra supports video input, a VIVO (video-in/video-out) cable is included in the packaging, in addition to an S-Video cable and DVI adapter. Overall, it’s not the most exotic bundle on the planet, but keep in mind that eVGA’s boards tend to be priced among the lowest on the market. The inclusion of video editing software should also make creating and editing home movies a breeze.