Albatron GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

Image quality

As far as image quality is concerned, I think NVidia has figured things out.  Below are two pics from the Antalus map in UT2003.  I found the image quality to be indistinguishable between the 9800 XT and the 5950 UV.  Each pic is split in two.  The split is denoted by the two yellow dots and an imaginary line drawn between in each picture.  In the left pic, the 5950 UV screen shot is left of the yellow dots which is overlaid on the 9800 XT which on that pic is of course on the right.  The second pic is exactly opposite with the 9800 XT on the left of the yellow dots and the 5950 UV on the right.

  

Conclusion

It's not all about the speed king anymore.  If it were, the 9800 XT would be the champ in raw, low to no option speed.  At a certain point however, you have enough power to run all the eye candy without having a frame rate drop be perceivable to the eye and that's why things get tricky with current VGA card comparisons.  The 9800 XT is an excellent product but turn on the eye candy and it drops into the second fiddle position.  All things considered, we are going to declare the 5950 Ultra the overall top gun here. 

Albatron has done an excellent job with their 5950 Ultra card.  The Wise Fan technology is exceptional.  It is very functional while keeping noise levels to a minimum.  About the only gripe we had about the 5950 UV was the length of the card.  This I see as minimal because Retail Joe isn't pulling memory sticks out of his machine on a daily basis.  Couple all this to the image quality and you can understand why we think Albatron has a winner here with the 5950 UV.  An outstanding product that deserves our Editor's Choice Award.

Pros

• Extremely fast

• Ultra hip looking

• VERY VERY quiet operation

• Single slot solution

• DirectX 9 compliant

• 256mb of memory!

Cons

• Big enough to lock off some DIMM slots

• Beyond the financial means of the average Joe.

 

BACK                    HOME

Pg.1 - Introduction
Pg.2 - The Card
Pg.3 - Testing (UT2003)
Pg.4 - (UT2003 / Serious Sam: TSE)
Pg.5 - (Quake III, FutureMark, Code Creatures, AquaMark)
Pg.6 - Overclocking
Pg.7 - Image Quality and Conclusion