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ASUS V9980 Ultra Review January 08, 2004 |
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Summary: Conventional thinking says the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra requires a two slot cooler to cool the graphics core properly. With the V9980 Ultra, ASUS attempts to defy this. The card boasts a large copper cooler with twin fans, but how does it perform and how successful is it at cooling the NV38 core? Answers to these questions and more inside!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 14 ) |
True or False, the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra requires two slots to install (one AGP slot, and also occupies the PCI slot adjacent to it)? Chances are if we asked you that question when the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra was first launched, you’d answer “True”. Guess what, you’d be wrong.
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As you probably know, NVIDIA technically doesn’t manufacture its own boards. We use the word “technically” because they actually manufacture quite a few graphics cards via their manufacturing partnership with Flextronics, who also manufacture their Xbox parts. If you’ve read a few of our reviews, then you should know that these boards are sold at retail by their board partners BFG, eVGA, and PNY, although a few other board partners will also participate from time to time. These boards are strict reference designs since they essentially are coming straight from the mother ship (NVIDIA).
For everyone else, NVIDIA provides reference specifications. These guidelines vary from chip to chip, for instance NVIDIA’s GeForce FX 5900 XT shares a reference board design that’s more similar to the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra (flip-chip) than the GeForce FX 5900/5900 Ultra, despite its name. These guidelines are just that, guidelines, and aren’t rules that are written in stone. If a board manufacturer chooses to follow them, he can. In fact, many chose to do so, as it saves research and development time and the costs associated with it.
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However, some also choose to follow their own path, looking to outdo NVIDIA’s own reference board design. This can come in the form of making improvements to the board design itself, although this is rarer. Most often card manufacturers will stick with the reference design and focus instead on improving the stock cooler. With the exception of the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, NVIDIA tends to play it conservative when it comes to reference cooler designs. Aluminum is the metal of choice for the heatsink instead of copper to reduce manufacturing costs.
As a result of the debacle with GeForce FX 5800 Ultra’s FX Flow cooler, third-party board manufacturers also tend to focus on reducing the amount of noise emitted by the cooler’s fan.
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With its line of GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and now GeForce FX 5950 Ultra cards, ASUS has attempted to address both of these topics, heat and noise, while at the same time, dispelling the myth that GeForce FX 5950 Ultra requires two slots to operate.
In our ASUS V9950 Ultra review, we found that ASUS’ engineers had done a remarkable job of pulling this off. The graphics card is quiet (despite having two fans), and thanks to the copper heatsink and twin fans, ASUS is largely able to keep heat at bay without consuming the PCI slot adjacent to the AGP interface. We were able to slip the V9980 Ultra inside small form factor systems without running into any space constraints although we did find that the card operated a little warmer than some of the other third-party cards that also shipped with exotic copper coolers.
Now it’s time to see if ASUS can pull it off again for the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra. Let’s get started…
SIDEBAR: ASUS V9980 Ultra Product Webpage
| ASUS’ lineup | Page:: ( 2 / 14 ) |
ASUS turned lots of heads at the end of last year when they announced that they would be manufacturing graphics cards based on ATI’s entire family of RADEON graphics chips. This includes ATI’s most recent announcements, the RADEON 9800 XT/9600 XT and RADEON 9600 SE.
Despite this, ASUS has not abandoned its relationship with NVIDIA. As one of NVIDIA’s oldest graphics partners, with products dating all the way back to the original RIVA 128, this would have come as quite a surprise (although it’s still a major coup for ATI).
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ASUS’ strategy going forward is to manufacture cards based on graphics technology from both camps. This protects ASUS if say, one manufacturer misses a deadline on an upcoming product launch, and is also preferred by most consumers as it encourages more competition. This competition has been particularly lacking on the ATI side, as Sapphire, ATI, and to a lesser extent, Powercolor (CP Technology) have ruled the roost.
One interesting side affect of this new strategy is that ASUS doesn’t offer a top to bottom solution of NVIDIA graphics products. For instance, ASUS will not be offering a graphics card based on NVIDIA’s GeForce FX 5700 Ultra core. At Comdex we were told that chips were in short supply. Quite frankly, it really doesn’t make much sense for ASUS to offer the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra anyway, as it’s currently priced too closely to the GeForce FX 5900 XT/GeForce FX 5900 128MB. At $200, the GeForce FX 5900 XT actually lists for $20 less than the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra and offers more performance!
For the mainstream market, ASUS will offer the vanilla GeForce FX 5700 however. Two variants are planned, a 128MB card and a 256MB version.
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra core
ASUS’ V9980 Ultra follows NVIDIA’s specifications for the NV38 graphics core that the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra is based on. Namely, the graphics core and memory are both clocked at 475MHz (950MHz effective in the case of the DDR memory). When you couple this with the four pixel pipeline with two texture units per pixel pipeline architecture that the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra utilizes, peak fill rate offered equates to 3.8 Gigatexels/second, while memory bandwidth tops out at 30.4GB/sec. Both figures are the highest in the industry.
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Other than the new clock speeds, GeForce FX 5950 Ultra is essentially the same chip as GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. This means that all of NVIDIA’s latest technologies such as UltraShadow and Intellisample HCT are all found here, but the most important is arguably CineFX 2.0. In our tests with benchmarks such as ShaderMark and Tomb Raider, we’ve found that the changes implemented in CineFX 2.0 enhance the 2.0 shading prowess of GeForce FX 5700 Ultra and 5950 Ultra, although it still remains to be seen how the card will perform with upcoming games such as Half-Life 2.
SIDEBAR: ASUS supports the V9980 Ultra with a 3-year warranty.
| Board analysis | Page:: ( 3 / 14 ) |
If you read our V9950 Ultra review, the V9980 Ultra probably looks remarkably similar to you. It should, it’s practically the same design!
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Once again ASUS takes NVIDIA’s reference board layout and adds their own unique cooling solution to the mix. Like the V9950 Ultra ASUS starts the V9980 Ultra’s cooler off with an all copper heatsink for the graphics core, with dual fans used to blow hot air off the copper heatsink. Copper is used for the ASUS heatsink rather than aluminum because of its superior thermal conductivity characteristics, although it does make the heatsink more expensive to produce. A series of thin fins surround the fans, effectively increasing the surface area of the heatsink, and thus improve thermal transfer.
The fans themselves are quiet, and don’t exhibit the higher pitch of NVIDIA’s reference fan for the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra/GeForce FX 5900 XT. Basically, just because the card has two fans, noise level isn’t high at all and should not be a concern for those of you who were potentially turned off by this aspect of the card.
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By incorporating the same cooler design as their previous product, ASUS is able to bring their V9980 Ultra to market quicker. They’re able to integrate this cooler so easily because as we previously noted, they’re essentially dealing with the same graphics core.
The upside is that they can service their latest flagship NVIDIA-based product to all users, including the space-constrained small form factor market. However, the downside is that NVIDIA’s stock cooler is pretty potent for a reference design. NVIDIA’s 5950 Ultra cooler still relies on an aluminum heatsink, but it differs from the previous 5900 Ultra design in that it blows fresh air from outside the system chassis over the heatsink, supplying it with a constant supply of cool air. This air then exits out the right side of the card. Critics have pointed out that the system could potentially increase case temperatures, which is probably the reason why ASUS has elected to pass on implementing a similar design. We’d still like to see someone take a shot though, although with a copper heatsink rather than aluminum of course.
So how effective is the cooler ASUS has implemented for the V9980 Ultra? We recorded idle temperatures as low as 41 degrees Celsius, while temperatures peaked as high as 55 degrees Celsius under load. This compares very favorably to the stock NVIDIA cooler used by eVGA for their 5950 Ultra card, which clocked in with temps of 37 degrees at idle and 53 degrees Celsius under load.
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One welcome addition ASUS has added to the V9980 Ultra is video input support. This capability is provided by the Philips 7108AE encoding chip. ASUS elected to omit this feature on its V9950 Ultra, putting it one step behind other GeForce FX 5900 Ultra cards, as most manufacturers implemented the Philips encoder. After all, the card is a high-end, no comprises product, meant for the hardcore user. A VIVO (video-in/video-out) breakout box is included in the packaging with composite and S-Video inputs and outputs.
Software
ASUS software bundle from the V9950 Ultra is largely carried over for the V9980 Ultra. It includes full versions of Gun Metal, Black Hawk Down, and Battle Engine Aquila and ASUS’ own DVD playback software ASUSDVD XP. Also included is a 6-in-1 bundle of game demos consisting of Splinter Cell, Warcraft III, Big Mutha Truckers, BREED, Colin McRae 3, and TOCA Race Driver.
Since the V9980 Ultra offers video input support, a copy of CyberLink’s PowerDirector 2.5 ME is also included in the packaging (for creating your own home movies) as well as Media Show SE 2.0. Finally, ASUS continues to provide its GameFace software with the V9980 Ultra. This feature allows you to videoconference with your opponent (or ally) while you’re gaming. You can also overclock your graphics card with ASUS’ Smart Doctor software, although hardware monitoring functionality isn’t available in the versions we tested with (4.0 and 3.10)
SIDEBAR: GameFace also works for ASUS’ RADEON-based graphics cards.
| Test Systems | Page:: ( 4 / 14 ) |
System Setup
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
512MB OCZ EL PC3200 (DDR400) SDRAM
ATI RADEON 9800 XT
Driver version CATALYST 3.10
ASUS V9980 Ultra (GeForce FX 5950 Ultra)
ASUS V9950 Ultra (GeForce FX 5900 Ultra)
eVGA e-GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
eVGA e-GeForce FX 5900 SE
Driver version Detonator 53.03
30GB IBM Deskstar DTLA 307030 ATA/100 Hard Drive
Windows XP Professional
DirectX 9.0b
Benchmarks
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season (Bristol custom demo)
Quake III: Arena version 1.32 (fscrusher demo)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (T2 custom demo)
IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles (The Black Death track)
Splinter Cell (FS custom demo)
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (Beyond3D custom demo)
SIDEBAR: Besides video cards and motherboards, ASUS also makes its own line of PDAs and notebooks.
| NASCAR Racing 2003 | Page:: ( 5 / 14 ) |
Nascar 2003: OpenGL
SIDEBAR: Don’t forget to enter in our Corsair giveaway for a chance to win some free memory!
| IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles | Page:: ( 6 / 14 ) |
IL-2 Sturmovik: FB: OpenGL
SIDEBAR: Now that the patch is out for LOMAC, let the benchmarking begin!
| Quake III 4xAA 8xAF | Page:: ( 7 / 14 ) |
Quake III - OpenGL
SIDEBAR: Don’t forget to check out our new SiteSeeing feature.
| Unreal Tournament 2003 4xAA | Page:: ( 8 / 14 ) |
Unreal Tournament 2003 – Direct3D
SIDEBAR: Our UT demo is taken on the map DM-Insidious.
| Splinter Cell | Page:: ( 9 / 14 ) |
Splinter Cell – Direct3D
SIDEBAR: If the price of ASUS V9980 Ultra is a little too much for you, ASUS also offers a card based on the GeForce FX 5900 128MB, the regular V9950.
| Tomb Raider | Page:: ( 10 / 14 ) |
Tomb Raider – Direct3D
SIDEBAR: We test Tomb Raider with the V49 patch and depth of field is enabled.
| UT 2003 4xAA 8xAF | Page:: ( 11 / 14 ) |
Unreal Tournament 2003
SIDEBAR: Unfortunately, UT 2004 missed the holidays so we’re still benching with UT2K3 for now.
| Overclocking | Page:: ( 12 / 14 ) |
Quake 3
SIDEBAR: Check out the ASUS V9980 Ultra box on the ASUS website. The character on the box looks just like Legolas from Lord of the Rings!
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 13 / 14 ) |
Pros
Performance: The GeForce FX 5950 Ultra core the ASUS V9980 Ultra is based on is designed for performance. It boasts a 475MHz core clock, with 256MB of high-speed DDR memory, also operating at 475MHz (950MHz effective). NVIDIA and its board partners actually use 2.0ns memory modules on their 5950 Ultra boards, so there’s actually a little bit of room built-in for overclocking.
All this means you’ve got a card capable of outputting the crispest visuals in today’s games without suffering from inadequate performance. Call of Duty in particular looks beautiful with all the visual cranked up, thanks to its highly modified Quake 3 engine.
Cooling: If you’re short on space in your case or you plan on putting the V9980 Ultra in a small form factor PC, you’ll appreciate ASUS’ single-slot cooling design. It’s svelte enough for the tightest environments. Likewise, noise isn’t an issue for this card, despite its dual fan design.
ASUS is able to provide both of these features, slim design and low noise, while at the same time keeping heat at bay. This is accomplished in large part due to the copper heatsink ASUS employs. It’s nearly five inches in length. Considering that the card itself is just shy of nine inches. That puts the heatsink at over half the size of the graphics card. The dual fans are hard at work ensuring that both ends of the heatsink are kept cool, providing for maximum efficiency.
Sure, this is the same design ASUS employed for its V9950 Ultra, but obviously it has worked well for them. A lot of NVIDIA’s card manufacturers are implementing similar designs on their cards.
Video encoding: It’s good to see that ASUS has put this feature back on the V9980 Ultra. For some reason, ASUS elected to omit it from the V9950 Ultra, putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to the other GeForce FX 5900 Ultra boards on the market. ASUS includes video editing software and a VIVO box for connecting the V9980 Ultra to external video devices.
Cons
The upgrade factor: Due to the conservative nature of the new clocks, NVIDIA’s GeForce FX 5950 Ultra is a mild improvement over the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. If it weren’t for the 2.0ns memory, enthusiasts would have little reason to purchase the 5950 Ultra over the 5900 Ultra. And with NVIDIA’s next generation graphics technology right around the corner and GeForce FX 5900 XT cards selling for $200 or less (with a copy of Call of Duty in some cases), the 5950 Ultra is a tougher sell. And of course don’t forget the questions surrounding performance in some DX9 games.
Price: At $500 MSRP, the ASUS V9980 Ultra (and any GeForce FX 5950 Ultra card for that matter) won’t be winning any price/performance awards. This card is priced like a Ferrari (relatively speaking of course).
SIDEBAR: ASUS is the world’s largest motherboard manufacturer.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 14 / 14 ) |