Recently, ATI gave its Radeon 9800 a shot of adrenalin. Given the tit-for-tat nature of the 3D gaming industry, we knew Nvidia couldn't be far behind. So it comes as little surprise that the company has released an update to its top-end graphics technology, now known as the Nvidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra.
The changes to the hardware, in comparison to those of the 5900 Ultra , are subtle. Nvidia has boosted the clock speed of the core graphics engine from 450MHz to 475MHz and the 256MB DDR2 memory from 425MHz to 475MHz. The card still uses up two slots and, like the ATI Radeon 9800, requires its own power-supply connection; but the design is now more refined, with a plastic baffle that channels hot air away from the hefty fan and heatsink. This card also runs quieter than its predecessor.
Nvidia´s GeForce FX 5950 Ultra: new drivers boost this (quieter) model and earlier cards.
The bigger story, however, is Nvidia's new GeForce FX driver, version 52.16, which seems to be responsible for a number of performance gains. How do we know? We retested the existing 5900 Ultra using the new driver, and the performance increases were dramatic on some tests.
All other things being equal -- using the same driver and with 4X anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering enabled at a resolution of 1,600 by 1,200 -- the 5950 Ultra reference card we tested scored only 5.1 percent better than the 5900 Ultra on Futuremark's 3DMark03. Similarly, the 5950 Ultra was 5.7 percent better on Unreal Tournament 2003 tests using the same settings. But using this new driver, even the older 5900 Ultra was nearly 30 percent faster on 3DMark03 than it was with the 44.03 driver we used in our initial tests back in May. In other words, the driver makes all the difference -- at least depending on the 3D application. You won't see the same boost on Unreal Tournament with 52.16, however, because Nvidia optimised the driver for improved image quality over performance with Epic's first-person shooter.
Of course, ATI has been working on its softer side as well. The Internet is abuzz with rumours that its Catalyst 3.8, which the company ambitiously refers to as a software suite rather than a mere driver, does for Radeon what 52.16 does for Nvidia -- and more.
Graphics cards based on the 5950 Ultra should be available from all the usual suspects by the end of November. If you already own a Radeon 9800 Pro or Nvidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra card, neither of these minor updates warrants plunking down another £400 or so, although you should update the driver straight away. When the Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5950 Ultra technologies show up in real cards, we'll be sure to compare them side by side.
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