Page 1: Intro, Features, Box, Parts
I want to start this review off by saying that is finally starting to happen. The site is picking off the ground after almost two years of being online. If you haven't <a href="/forums/">checked out the forums</a>, you should. There are a bunch of new people and lots of posters.
<B>Intro</B>:
Another piece of hardware graced the testing facilities of ASE Labs (My room full of computers). Since this is the first real video card review I'm doing, I'll set the standard right here. Leadtek sent me there latest Geforce FX 5600, with VIVO capabilities. Read on...
<B>Geforce FX 5600 Features</B>:
Since this is the first FX card I'm reviewing, time to dive into some of the features of the FX. The Geforce FX is a DirectX 9 card (where the hell is OpenGL 2 already?) and uses the CineFX engine. Taking down the marketing gimmicky name, we see that the engine can do 65536 Vertex operations and 1024 pixel operations. This means that there is a lot of power in this core for next generation games. Most games today don't use this. The core is built on the latest 130nm process and the memory is 128bit DDR.
Don't forget that nVidia is pushing the 128bit color envelope, meaning ULTRA true color. There should be no banding in any gradients at this level of color. Don't worry, it can still do normal 16 or 32 bit colors.
The FX also has much improved Z occlusion culling. That weird word means that it doesn't need to draw hidden images, so you'll be able to render a scene faster, as it doesn't render the hidden part of the scene.
Just like all Geforce cards, the FX has a unified driver set. nVidia was the first to come out with this type of approach, and they should be applauded for setting the trend. On to the review!
<B>The Box</B>:
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I must say that the box looks like it has wrapping paper over the entire thing. The gold and the silver make it look like a present, and hell, if you get it, you won't need to wrap it! The box is eye catching enough to notice it on a shelf. Marketing is something that isn't easy to do in this day and age.
<B>The Parts</B>:
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</center>
The bundle that you get when you buy this card is great. I remember when I purchased my Radeon 9500 Pro, nothing came with it, how cheap! Look at all the nice things that Leadtek gives you though, a bunch of software (more on that later), the special VIVO cable and the DVI to VGA converter as well as NTSC and S-video cables. There are also two games in this bundle, Gun Metal and Big Motha Truckers.
<B>The Card</B>:
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The top of the card is your standard layout of a Geforce FX 5600. The top heatsink covers both the core and the memory chips surrounding the chip. The problem I have with the heatsink is that the metal cover thingy on the fan won't let air through as well as it might with a normal grill (or none at all). I tried to gank the heatsink off, but it wouldn't work, and I wasn't planning on breaking the card before I even got the chance to test it. You can clearly see the revision number and the size of the card.
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The thing is, that metal bracket holds the heatsink on the top to the one on the bottom, and I couldn't figure out how to separate it. That heatsink you see is covering the remaining memory chips on the bottom of the card. The rest of the bottom of the card is pretty damn clear.
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From left to right: DVI, VIVO, VGA. The vivo goes to a cable with more ports.
<B>The VIVO thingy</B>:
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</center>
This cable you see here is the vivo cable, it plugs into the back of the card and it gives you input and output to either NTSC or S-Video.
<center>
</center>
That's how it plugs into the card.
<center>
</center>
And here is how it works in the drivers (Advanced settings). The TV acts as another monitor, giving you the ability to do anything that a second monitor would be able to do. The picture looked fine on my LCD TV.
Benchmark time
<B>Intro</B>:
Another piece of hardware graced the testing facilities of ASE Labs (My room full of computers). Since this is the first real video card review I'm doing, I'll set the standard right here. Leadtek sent me there latest Geforce FX 5600, with VIVO capabilities. Read on...
<B>Geforce FX 5600 Features</B>:
Since this is the first FX card I'm reviewing, time to dive into some of the features of the FX. The Geforce FX is a DirectX 9 card (where the hell is OpenGL 2 already?) and uses the CineFX engine. Taking down the marketing gimmicky name, we see that the engine can do 65536 Vertex operations and 1024 pixel operations. This means that there is a lot of power in this core for next generation games. Most games today don't use this. The core is built on the latest 130nm process and the memory is 128bit DDR.
Don't forget that nVidia is pushing the 128bit color envelope, meaning ULTRA true color. There should be no banding in any gradients at this level of color. Don't worry, it can still do normal 16 or 32 bit colors.
The FX also has much improved Z occlusion culling. That weird word means that it doesn't need to draw hidden images, so you'll be able to render a scene faster, as it doesn't render the hidden part of the scene.
Just like all Geforce cards, the FX has a unified driver set. nVidia was the first to come out with this type of approach, and they should be applauded for setting the trend. On to the review!
<B>The Box</B>:
<center>
</center>I must say that the box looks like it has wrapping paper over the entire thing. The gold and the silver make it look like a present, and hell, if you get it, you won't need to wrap it! The box is eye catching enough to notice it on a shelf. Marketing is something that isn't easy to do in this day and age.
<B>The Parts</B>:
<center>
</center>The bundle that you get when you buy this card is great. I remember when I purchased my Radeon 9500 Pro, nothing came with it, how cheap! Look at all the nice things that Leadtek gives you though, a bunch of software (more on that later), the special VIVO cable and the DVI to VGA converter as well as NTSC and S-video cables. There are also two games in this bundle, Gun Metal and Big Motha Truckers.
<B>The Card</B>:
<center>
</center>The top of the card is your standard layout of a Geforce FX 5600. The top heatsink covers both the core and the memory chips surrounding the chip. The problem I have with the heatsink is that the metal cover thingy on the fan won't let air through as well as it might with a normal grill (or none at all). I tried to gank the heatsink off, but it wouldn't work, and I wasn't planning on breaking the card before I even got the chance to test it. You can clearly see the revision number and the size of the card.
<center>
</center>The thing is, that metal bracket holds the heatsink on the top to the one on the bottom, and I couldn't figure out how to separate it. That heatsink you see is covering the remaining memory chips on the bottom of the card. The rest of the bottom of the card is pretty damn clear.
<center>
</center>From left to right: DVI, VIVO, VGA. The vivo goes to a cable with more ports.
<B>The VIVO thingy</B>:
<center>
</center>This cable you see here is the vivo cable, it plugs into the back of the card and it gives you input and output to either NTSC or S-Video.
<center>
</center>That's how it plugs into the card.
<center>
</center>And here is how it works in the drivers (Advanced settings). The TV acts as another monitor, giving you the ability to do anything that a second monitor would be able to do. The picture looked fine on my LCD TV.
Benchmark time