Leadtek WinFast A350 Ultra

In this issue, we’ve reviewed two other graphics cards, which provide excellent gaming experience. The good thing is that they fit in the low to mid-range graphics card segment. Next up in the chain, we have the GeForce 4 Ti 4600, with 128 MB DDR, which performs better than the previous two. It comes for Rs 25,000 approximately. We had reviewed the ATI Radeon 9700 in the past with 128 MB DDR and its performance was better than the GeForce 4 Ti 4600. It was in the range of Rs 28,000-30,000. These prices seem to be very high, especially when seen in the light of sub 25K desktop systems. The graphics card cost more than an entire computer.

But this is the way the world is, there are gamers and enthusiasts who will spend any amount of money to get their hands on the latest and the best graphic cards to play the finest games in near cinematic experience. For such hungry souls of 3D graphics performance, there is this new Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) from nVIDIA, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. To start with, the FX 5900 Ultra has 256 MB DDR video memory with a 256-bit memory interface for faster data transfer between the video memory and the GPU. It also has support for DirectX 9.0 and has an AGP 8X interface. The GPU runs at a clock frequency of 450 MHz and the memory frequency is 425 MHz. The GPU has 130 million transistors, nearly double the number on an Intel Pentium 4 and is fabricated using the same 0.13-micron technology as the P4. 

Here we have tested a card based on the new GPU. In our tests, the card surpassed all other cards in performance by a vast difference. In most of the benchmarks, its performance at a resolution of 1600X1200 was better than the Radeon 9600 Pro’s performance at a lower resolution of 1024X768. Also, FX 5900 at 1600X1200 was giving good competition to GeForce 4 Ti at 1024X768. At 1600X1200 other cards did not stand anywhere near the FX 5900 Ultra.

One more thing to notice is that unlike the GeForce4 Ti and Radeon 9600 Pro, the performance of FX 5900 does not decrease significantly when we move from 1024X768 to 1600X1200 resolution. For example with the Radeon 9600 and GeForce 4 Ti, the scores decrease by about 50% from 1024X768 to 1600X1200, but with the FX 5900 the decrement is between 25%-30%. These results point towards the excellent design of the new GPU for high- resolution gaming. If we look at 3D Mark 2003 scores for DirectX 9.0 performance, the score look pretty impressive but actual comparison can only be done when we receive its main competitor, the Radeon 9800 Pro.

S N   A   P   S   H O   T Price : $400 - $500 Key specs : DirectX 9.0 support, 256 MB DDR video memory, excellent performance Source : Mega Networks, Mumbai. Tel : 25296932/33. E-mail : amrish@meganet1.com.

All this performance comes with some drawbacks also. The advanced chipset and its cooling fan increase the size and the weight of the card, so it may become difficult to fit in certain smaller computer cases and motherboards. As compared to the Radeon 9600 Pro, it looks mammoth. The big size also blocks the first PCI slot next to the AGP connector, so you have to lose on a PCI slot with this card.

Overall, the card is the best performer around and would be able to handle all current and future games with equal ease. As far as pricing goes, we do not have its Rupee price as it is still not available in India. 

Anoop Mangla