Page 1 - A 760 XP Introduction

Product: Ultra/760 XP Golden SampleInfo: Gainward
Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price: 269 EURO / 239 USD
Spotted for 197 USD in Guru3D.com PriceWatch

A few weeks ago we did a little peek-a-boo on Gainwards GeForce FX 5900 128 MB today we are going to take you a level down from the high-end level of products towards the mid-range and thus much more affordable GeForce FX 5600 (codename NV31). Not just a GeForce FX 5600 though, Gainward has a reputation of delivering pre-modified graphics cards to the market and with the model we are testing today they surely did that.

The product today is the GeForce FX 5600 Model Ultra/760 XP. A product for the enthusiast gamer on a budget. Basically in general this is NVIDIA's current graphics card line-up:

• GeForce FX 5200 - Low budget cards, DirectX 9 available for 75-90 USD
• GeForce FX 5600 - Mid-range cards for decent performance DirectX9 games in the 200 USD range
• GeForce FX 5900 - High-end graphics cards, expensive, DirectX 9 compatible for the enthusiast gamer. Prices ranging from 450 to 650 USD.

Within the lineup there are a lot of other options to choose from. Armed with a RED PCB, kick'ass cooling and ramsinks Gainward tried to get your attention. That's not it though, the product is fully VIVO (Video In and Video Out) which means you can playback and record media files. Also included into the package is a FireWire card to connect your DV camera or any other FireWire device and the software to start editing movies at consumer level. All-in-all an impressive package for a mid-end product. The GPU is capable of utilizing DirectX9 Pixel Shaders 2.0+, Vertex Shader 2.0+ and OpenGL. Basically this product is in the mid-end range and offers with it's cut-down 4 pixel pipeline (four single textured pixels, or two dual textured pixels) value for your money at reasonable framerates.

It doesn't end there, this product is labeled as Golden Sample, the Golden Samples are built to run at higher than reference specified settings and thus are made for the tweakers among us, we are a large crowd ;). Gainward can only identify the Golden Sample cards by performance testing of each card individually. If it passes that test, then it is a Golden Sample and if not it becomes a 'standard' product.

The 5600 series has a 128-bit memory interface and this product has 128 MB of it. Furthermore we'll find a dual 400MHz unit RAMDAC. When we look at core and memory speeds we'll notice the Golden Sample specification immediately. A standard (reference) based 5600 Ultra has a 350 MHz core and (2x)350 MHz memory frequency. This golden sample series is clocked at a 450 MHz core and 900 MHz memory frequency making it way faster and high clocked compared to a generic board from the competition. Remember, this is your default setting.

In today's review we are going to have a look at the performance of this golden sample compared towards high-end graphics cards and of course the Radeon 9600 Pro.

Ultra/760 XP Golden Sample