Synthetics:

Aquamark 3:

Drivers	GPU - RAM Clock	Aquamark 3 Score
66.93	540MHz/1150MHz	55439
70.90	580MHz/1180MHz	58185
70.90*	580MHz/1180MHz	61289

Intel® Pentium® 4 550 LGA 775 3.4GHz CPU 200MHz FSB x 17.0

*The FSB was set to 220 x 17.0 (3.74GHz) off a 3.4GHz base Pentium 4 550 LGA775 CPU running a D0 Stepping.

3DMark03:

Drivers	GPU - RAM Clock	3DMark03 Score
70.90	540MHz/1150MHz	8705

Intel® Pentium® 4 550 LGA 775 3.4GHz CPU 200MHz FSB x 17.0

*Note* Bench's ran at system default using Gainward’s "Enhanced Mode" Settings.

Final Thoughts:

The card kicks ass! It will simply roast any GeForce FX5950 Ultra and with the right tweaking and fine tuning this card could probably put the GeForce 6800 in contention. This is a great card for money, at a MSRP of $199.99 this is one hell of deal!

The SLI will be tested on another platform in another review, so we will save those aspects for that review. Mean while the Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/1960PCX XP "Golden Sample" GLH is going to be the best bang for the money! It performs over 15% better than the NVIDIA reference design and will simply offer excellent performance and image quality over the NV35 and NV38 offering.

The Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/1960PCX XP "Golden Sample" GLH offers high-end quality at a fraction of the price. Not only that but the sheer performance is awesome and to think that the card does not need an external power source like some of it's bigger cousin's in the 6800 series.

With some voltage modding and better cooling this card would probably stand in line with a GeForce 6800 Standard. Actually these cards are easy to hardwire additional voltage to the GPU core and that makes it a great tinker toy with room for big time tweaking. VR-Zone proved that with this read. Needless to say this stuff voids the warranty so do so at your own risk.

The deal with the HSF is that most people handle there cards using the HSF in some form or another. I noticed with this card the HSF will "lift" off the GPU if pressed even moderately. This card would benefit from a square piece of foam padding around the out-skirts of the GPU to aid in a keeping the HSF flat at all times.

On a ending note this card has something to offer everyone, its a great card for those who cant afford paying $599.99 for the latest and greatest high-end solution. You will get world class performance for a fraction of the cost and yet the card is so tweak-able that the average end user will be able to push the card to near GeForce 6800 Standard performance.

Pros:

• Excellent mid-range performance
• 15% Faster over NVIDIA reference design
• Hand picked GPU and memory modules
• Enhanced Mode maintains factory warranty
• ExperTools offers proprietary performance tweaking
• Excellent service and warranty
• Over-clocking head room is excellent
• Volt Modders will like the ease of tweaking

Cons:

• Flimsy heat-sink-fan mount, prone to lifting when handling