Nvidia GeforceFX 5900XT compared, contrasted

HERE'S A COMPARISON OF the Geforce FX 5900XT. We're very grateful to the web sites that have generously allowed us to use their results in the downloadable PDF that goes with this article. Those are Hardware4you, Tom's Hardware Guide, Firing Squad, Clubic and Madshrimp.

The Suffix game Why did Nvidia launch this card? To many gamers on the verge of buying one of these cards, that particular product is certainly regarded as a great guy. As for the Athlon64 3000+ we reviewed recently in the CPU category, the GeforceFX 5900XT is widely regarded as one of the best components ever released in its category, a worthy successor of the Ti4200. What else could be a piece of hardware that when overclocked by minute amounts surpasses the top of the range Nvidia video cards while costing only half the price. Additionally, it outshines both its immediate predecessor, the 5700 Ultra and its competitor, the ATI Radeon 9800SE/9600XX series. However a price war looms ahead.

For starters, let's see what the differences are between the GeforceFX 5900SE, LX, XT, ultra, Plain and the 5950 versions. As you might guess, the answer is not on Nvidia's website but elsewhere. As for the AMD Athlon64 family, differences are superficial to say the least. The largest clock speed/memory speed difference lies between the 5900XT and the 5950 Ultra - 21.7% and 31.7% respectively while the price difference is a whopping 134% ( See Pricewatch). While XT stands for “Very High end” in the ATI jargon, NVIDIA has chosen to let it leave in the entry level for obvious marketing reasons, choosing the unambiguously named ULTRA for its top range cards. The LX version will soon fall into oblivion due to bad press though according to figures, the only difference between the XT and the LX lies in the “T” replacing the “L”. As for technicalities, the 5900XT inherits all the goodies from his elder brothers like CineFX Engine, Intellisample Technology, High-Precision Graphics, UltraShadow Technology, nView Multi-Display Technology, 256-bit Memory Interface with Advanced Memory Control, 400MHz RAMDACs and 0.13 Micron Process Technology. From the 5800, it inherits the need for an external power supply available through the 4-pin molex connector.

Performance and overclockability
The similarity in Performance between the XT and the plain version is explained by the fact that (1) the core remains at 400MHz and (2) the memory interface is the same for both. That is to say that the XT is very, very quick. Even though its memory is a tad slower, the aggressive memory timings used by some allows the 5900XT to catch up quickly with the plain vanilla 5900. How does it fare generally? In most benchmarks, this card would remain close to the top, above the plain Radeon 9800, which speaks volume about the performance of this little thing.

You should however bear in mind that not all 5900XTs are created equal. Some fare much better than others, read the reviews above to distinguish between the performers and the laggards. As for overclocking, it reaches 5900 Ultra speeds using stock cooling - nothing to shout about - Clubic reached 920MHz memory speed and Italians from hardware4you reaching a whooping 500MHz for the Core. Finally, a word concerning the benchmarks: each website seems to be using custom time demos for various available game demos so as to prevent any driver cheating. As a result, benchmarks figures vary to a certain amount. As usual take everything with a pinch of salt and if possible, make up your own benchmark by using information available from the websites at the foot of this article.

In the marketplace
As curious as it might be, the cheapest Geforce 5900 on the planet appears to be a plain Geforce 5900 from BFG, not the XT version. At $161 + P&P, it will probably be a best buy before long. In UK, as usual, prices are quite high at £140 including VAT. Several manufacturers have committed themselves to the GeforceFX 5900XT: Microstar, Aopen, Gigabyte, Club3d, BFG, XFX, Leadtek, eVGA, Albatron, Sparkle, Abit, Bestcom, Terratec, Gainward, PNY, Point of View and Chaintech are amongst those. A small note to mention that not everyone adheres to the stock clock speed of 390MHz/700MHz. Some, like Sparkle, use 390MHz/680MHz while eVGA, while bearing the SE suffix, has a XT under the hood clocked at 400MHz/700MHz.

It is said (and it is probably true), that it costs less to manufacture a 5900XT card rather than a 5700 Ultra due mainly to the DDR2 memory used in the later, this will probably explain its success with OEMers and retailers. Therefore, we can say that the 5900XT will squarely aimed at the mainstream mid-budget class. This happens at a time when Nvidia is in dire straits with long time rival ATI overtaking it in terms of market share.

In conclusion The Nvidia GFX 5900XT is a nice piece of hardware, not because of any marked innovation that might make it unbeatable but because of the price at which it is being sold together with the fact that games bundled are far from unattractive: COD, Ghost Recon etc. It will definitely be a success unless ATI will probably come forward with a number of similar price cuts at the level of the Radeon 9800 non SE (The 9800SE competes with a 5600XT let alone the 5900XT), such products trade at around USD 245 on Pricewatch which is a full 50% more expensive than the 5900XT.

Expect the 5700 and the 5800 to be short lived GPUs since NVIDIA has probably decided to move one gear up and deliver top notch specs at fair prices. The 5600 will live happily sandwiched between the 5200 and the 5900. Also, upgraders will not hesitate to swap their old Ti4x00 for one of the brand new 5900XT.

Finally, will we ever see the 5900XT integrated in an nForce core? Probably not until the fifth or sixth version of it… What a pity! One thing is sure, with the release of Longhorn in some quarters, Nvidia will definitely have a DX9 compatible nForce ready to rumble, whether it will be an entry-level 5200 version or a higher 5900 version remains to be seen.

Resources
Nvidia Forceware Driver 53.04
Omega Nvidia Driver
Loads of tools for your Nvidia Video Card

Official website
Nvidia

Technical Information
Nvidia page

Online reviews
AOpen Aeolus FX 5900 XT
Guru3D
Computerbase.de
Hardware4you
Tweakers.net

Club3D
Inquirer
Madshrimps

eVGA GeForce FX 5900 SE
TR
HotHardware
Firing Squad

Others
Tom's Hardware
Clubic
Clubic: Leadtek