Gainward PowerPack! "Golden Sample" Ultra/1800PCX TV-DVI

Introduction

Not long ago a new era in bus standards made its way into the limelight. This standard called PCI Express, ushered in the next generation of peripheral interconnect.While rapidly changing standards are ever increasingly desirable, a new platform change often puts add-in & launch partners into overdrive scrambling for a solution.

To answer that call Gainward was one of the first NVIDIA Tier 1 partners to launch that solution. Gainward is proud to have been there for the release of PCI Express based motherboards last quarter with the release of the...

• NVIDIA GeForce™ PCX5900 GPU with PCI-Express 16x slot
• 128MB 256Bit of the latest high-speed DDR memory
• Gainward's unique powerful cooling Fan and Heat Sink
• Support two monitors simultaneously
• Includes Gainward's award winning EXPERTool™ tuning utility
• Supports PCI-Express 16x slot
• TV-out support (NTSC/PAL) TV system
• Support DirectX 9.0 and lower
• Support OpenGL 1.5 and lower

"Golden Sample" Ultra/1800PCX - PCX5900

Ultra/1800 PCX TV-DVI	Standard Edition	"Golden Sample"™
Part Number	V595DT6152	V595DT6176
Package Bar Code	471846200-6152	471846200-6176
Graphics Processor	NVIDIA GeForce™ PCX 5900
GPU Clock Speed	350MHz	350MHz
Memory Size/ Type	128MB DDR	128MB DDR
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit
Memory Clock Speed	550 MHz	550MHZ
Cooling	Fan
RAMDAC	400MHz	400MHz
Max Resolution @ 85 Hz	2048 x 1536	2048 x 1536
Bus Support	PCI Express 16x	PCI Express 16x
MPEG2 HW Accelleration	Yes	Yes
Multiple Display Support	Yes	Yes
DB15 VGA	Yes	Yes
DVI	Yes	Yes
Video-In/ Video-Out	Video-Out	Video-Out
Packaging	Full-size retail box
Manual and Driver CD	Yes	Yes
Bundled Games	Yes	Yes
Bundled Software	WinDVD4, Muvee Auto Producer3, Expertool utility
Accessories	Video Out cable, DVI/VGA adapter
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Intel Pentium, AMD or compatible CPUs 64 MB RAM or more Minimum 350 Watts system power supply Requires PCI-Express 16x slot compliant motherboard Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows NT 4.0 * Windows 98 and ME doesn't support dual view now.

The Graphics Processing Unit:

The "Golden Sample" Ultra/1800PCX is endowed with the very respectable 5900XT core. Utilizing a 16x PCI-Express slot in conjuction with its high end ram and enhanced mode settings, this card can achieve some very respectible performance.

Underneath the red ram sinks sit 128MB of DDR 2.2ns Hynix modules. The ram is some of the best on the market utilizing a 256-bit memory bus and should allow exceptional headroom for overclocking and higher performance.

The GPU is based on a .13u process that as matured to its last incarnation. The NV35 GPU used on this board is the last line for the NV35 chip. With such maturity one might summize added performance head room and that speculation, we will put to the test.

PCI-Express architecture continues to proliferate across the computer and communications industries. The 16x PCI-Express bus system will allow this product and future products to deploy the robust bandwidth PCI-Express has to offer.

The PCX5900 supports two monitors simultaneously, enabled by the NVIDIA nView Multi-Display Technology for office applications, 3D gaming and professional applications such as animation or video editing.

NVIDIA nView Multi-Display Technology allows end-users to select any combination of multiple displays, including digital flat panels (LCD), analog CRTs, and TVs, and modify the display properties using an intuitive software interface for more efficient viewing.

PCI-Express Bridge:

This card uses the external bridge connector that allows the Ultra/1800 "Golden Sample" PCX5900 to be a PCX solution. Underneathe the heat sink in the above picture is home to the bridge chip.This is not a native PCX chipset by design, but the bridge chip allows for a highspeed interconnect that fully supports PCI-Express.

GPU clock speed is stock @ 350MHz and the 128MB DDR is @ 550MHz. The HSF has been chromed for a cool effect, not only that, the LEDs make this chrome heat-sink glow and reflect all kinds of red light.

On the backside of the PCB you can see the ddr and gpu placement with bus tracings showing that Gainward used the NVIDIA Reference design by default. The HSF cover and pcb color is of course a Gainward design. The "Golden Sample" uses choicest hand picked modules for over a 10% or more gain in performance over the reference design can be recognized.

Size Comparison:

GeForce PCX6800 Ultra & "Golden Sample" PCX5900

The Gainward PCX5900 PCB is the same size as the PCX6800 Ultra by comparison and is lighter in weight than the PCX6800 Ultra. As it should be, the Gainward card is after all a single slot design.

GeForce FX 5900Ultra & "Golden Sample" PCX5900

Again the PCX5900 GPU does not require a external power source so this eliminates the need for an additional 12v power rail. Look closely at these two shots and you can see the differences in AGP and PCX.