The design looks like the reference one, but there is some difference. The PCB design is actually less complicated and, therefore, cheaper.

Now comes the cooler.
 
 
 

Gainward FX PowerPack Ultra/760 XP Golden Sample
The cooler looks like a flame tip. I wish this sample would have the red PCB instead of the green one of the reference solution because the flame would look much more effective. The memory is covered with heatsinks which are properly glued to the chips.

The card's bundled with the Philips 7114 codec for VIVO control:

The TV-out functions lie on the shoulders of the GeForce FX 5600 chip (the Philips 7114 is used only for VI). 

As usual, the GPU GeForce FX 5600 rests under the cooler:

Have a look at the FlipChip package which was earlier used for speedy FX 5800/5900 cards. This package with a peculiar cover is the distinguishing feature of the 400 MHz revision of the 5600 Ultra:

The PCB is protected from pickups, the section with the memory chips is well shielded:

Now let's see what the box contains: 

Testbed and drivers

Testbed: 

• Pentium 4 3200 MHz based computer:
• Intel Pentium 4 3200 MHz CPU;
• DFI LANParty Pro875 (i875P) mainboard; 
• 1024 MB DDR SDRAM; 
• Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD; 
• Windows XP SP1; DirectX 9.0a;
• ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21") monitors.
• NVIDIA drivers v44.65.

VSync off, S3TC off in applications.

Cards used for comparison:

• Gainward Powerpack4 Ultra/750 (GeForce Ti 4600, 300/325 (650) MHz, 128 MB);
• ATI RADEON 9600 PRO (400/300 (600) MHz, 128 MB, driver 6.343);
• MSI FX5600 128-VTD (GeForce FX 5600, 325/275 (550) MHz, 128 MB).

Test results

Before we start examining 2D quality, I should say there are no complete techniques for objective 2D quality estimation because: 

1. 2D quality much depends on certain samples for almost all modern 3D accelerators; 
2. Besides videocards, 2D quality depends on monitors and cables; 
3. Moreover, certain monitors might not work properly with certain video cards. 

With the ViewSonic P817 monitor and BNC Bargo cable the card showed excellent quality at the following resolutions and clock speeds:

Test results: comparison of the cards' performance

Conventional signs: ANISO 8xP - Anisotropic 8x Performance (earlier it was called Balanced), ANISO 8xQ - Anisotropic 8x Quality, ANISO 16xQ - Anisotropic 16x Quality.

Test applications:

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (MultiPlayer) (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Checkpoint-demo, test settings - maximum, S3TC OFF, the configurations can be downloaded from here

 
• Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Grand Cathedral demo, test settings: quality, S3TC OFF 

 
• Quake3 Arena v.1.17 (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Quaver, test settings - maximum: detailing level - High, texture detailing level - #4, S3TC OFF, smoothness of curves is much increased through variables r_subdivisions "1" and r_lodCurveError "30000" (at default r_lodCurveError is 250 !), the configurations can be downloaded from here

 
• Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo (Digital Extreme/Epic Games) - Direct3D, Vertex Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, default quality

 
• Code Creatures Benchmark Pro (CodeCult) - the game that demonstrates card's operation in DirectX 8.1, Shaders, HW T&L.

 
• AquaMark (Massive Development) the game that demonstrates card's operation in DirectX 8.1, Shaders, HW T&L.

 
• RightMark 3D v.0.4 (one of game scenes) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing, shadow buffers, vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4).

It's obvious that this card is unequaled when the AA and/or anisotropy are enabled (except the tests based on shader technologies). Remember that it's stupid to use modern accelerators without these quality improving functions enabled. Does the 5600 Ultra justify the money users pay for such cards? If you have a GeForce4 Ti and you are interested in AA and/or anisotropy it doesn't make sense to consider cards weaker than GeForce FX 5800 (or RADEON 9700 PRO). But if you want to replace your old card with something like the GeForce4 Ti 4600, then you should look at the GeForce Fx 5600 Ultra.

Conclusion

The Gainward FX PowerPack Ultra/760 XP Golden Sample can give you:

1. a higher speed in AA and/or anisotropy than its competitors (RADEON 9600 or GF4Ti 4200); 
2. potentially more technological solution with the DX9 support (such games are right around the corner already);
3. VIVO support.

In our 3Digest you can find full comparison characteristics for video cards of this and other classes. 

Again, remember that there are two types of the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra cards on the market - with the frequency of 350MHz and 400 MHz. Be careful! 
 
 
 
 

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