Hi guys
I've recently had the pleasure of using two of today's latest and greatest mainstream cards:
Anyway, I just thought I'd post some thoughts and answer any questions you may have. Big thanks go to Xavier for both the cards
Please Note
Just to say that from here on in, both cards are referred to simply by their model name (9600XT and 5700Ultra). This should be taken only to refer to the specific cards I have tested. Different manufacturers produce widely different products based on the same technology, so don't expect the specs, bundles etc. to be same outside of the two cards noted above.
Also, in parts, this overview has a slight focus towards Shuttle owners, but only because that was the test system I was running.
Specifications
I don't intend this to be a review, but I thought some basic specs may be of use.
9600XT
Bundle
Sapphire's full retail bundle is, at the moment, rather impressive. They include all the usual wires and adapters needed to get the most out of your card, as well as their Redline overclocking utility, drivers, PowerDVD 4 and Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. What really clinches the deal is, however, the voucher for the full retail version (single-player and multi-player) of Half-Life 2. In the time before Half-Life 2 is released, purchasers can also grab the original Half-Life and bonus packs free of charge.
With Sapphire, one thing should be noted about this offer: it is only available with the full retail versions of their XT range of cards. Sapphire make ten (!?) versions of the 9600XT alone, and only six of them have the voucher. This means the so-called 'lite retail' and 'OEM' packages will not include ther voucher. Other manufacturers have also begun to discontinue the deal even in their full retail products.
As for the 5700 Ultra, the bundle, although bigger, doesn't have that same selling point (5900 cards ships with Call of Duty in the US and Canada at present, and a Doom³ deal may be on the horizon for nVidia's next generation cards, but that is pure speculation). With the Chaintech card, as well as all the usual wires and adapters, the bundle includes WinDVD 4, WinDVD Creator, WinRip, MDK2, 5-in-1 Game Pack (including, most notably, Max Payne and Serious Sam 2) and 3Deep. As bundles go, it certainly isn't bad, although the 9600XT's Half-Life 2 voucher is a great offer.
Size
One thing which is very apparent with these two cards is the difference in size. The 9600XT is very small for such a powerful card. If you weren't very au fait with hardware, you could almost confuse it with a fully-featured soundcard in terms of its size (almost).
The 5700 Ultra, in contrast, is based on the enthusiast 59x0 design, and is about as large as graphics card get in the present market. That said, it does fit comfortably inside a standard Shuttle system.
Power
The 9600XT, because of its design, does not require an external power connection as many mainstream/enthusiast Radeon cards do. For Shuttle owners, or those with weaker PSUs, this is great news, and also means you don't have to have even more internal cables hanging around the place.
In contrast, the 5700 Ultra does require a power connection to the PSU. The box states a 250W PSU is required and supplies a power extention cable in the box. Even though Shuttles generally ship with only 200W or 220W PSUs (the new 250W silent PSU withstanding) there are no problems with the card. Thankfully, the 5700 Ultra also has the power connector running parallel to the card itself, instead of perpendicular, which had in the past caused trouble when trying to close the case in Shuttle systems.
Cooling
The cooling solutions on these two cards vary dramatically. The 9600XT has just a small fan on the front, and no cooling on any of the memory modules. Although minimal, it certainly does the job, and isn't excessively loud either.
The 5700 Ultra, in stark contrast, has a much larger gold-plated cooling system on the front as well as gold-plated passive cooling system running along the back of the card. This extensive cooling also covers the memory modules too, which is great news for both normal users and overclockers alike. During normal operation in my Shuttle, nVidia's temperature monitor shows the card operating around the mid-30°c range (naturally this increases under load, but still the card remains relatively cool all things considered). In terms of noise, the card is perhaps slightly louder than the 9600XT, but not by much.
Drivers
9600XT
ATI's drivers have traditionally been stereotyped as weaker than nVidia's, but in recent times they have come on leaps and bounds, to say the least. Having tested the 9600XT with the Catalyst 3.9, 3.10 and 4.1 drivers, I can say that on the whole ATI's driver suite is very impressive. Navigating around the driver control panel takes a little time, but everything is where you would expect it to be. Changing settings can be done quickly and is aided by the inclusion of profiles (so you could have, say, one for Quake, one for Unreal etc.) It would be nice to be able to change these profiles from the taskbar, but at present that doesn't seem possible without third-party software.
ATI's XT line of cards also include an 'OverDrive' facility, which safely and automatically adjusts the card's clock speeds to deliver the best performance without damaging the card (thanks to the XT's built-in temperature monitoring). Of late, only certain XT cards are being shipped with this facility, so be careful which model you purchase if you're in the market. Overall, the facility is a nice touch, and whilst basic and not yielding huge performance jumps, it can be tweaked so as to produce good results (as the FiringSquad have demonstrated).
Sadly, however, my personal experience with ATI's driver stability leaves quite a lot to be desired.
5700 Ultra
nVidia's drivers are going through somewhat of a change of late, with the release of their ForceWare series, the forthcoming v56.56 release of which will bring yet more radical changes. On the whole, as with ATI, the drivers were impressive in terms of the level of customisation offered and their overall appearance. Unlike ATI, nVidia's drivers have supported built in temperature monitoring for the GeForce FX range for some time, which is a nice touch (if a certain temperature level is hit, then the card automatically shuts down certain features to reduce the load and prevent permenant damage).
As with ATI, nVidia allow settings to be grouped together under profiles, which can be quickly switched utilising a taskbar utility. With v56.56 drivers, this process takes another step forward by introducing the option of linking settings to certain executable files (e.g. games). This will mean that, instead of having to change the settings before launching a game, the drivers will detect, say, quake3.exe and automatically apply your desired settings - simple, but very impressive.
As for stability, the ForceWare drivers proved far less prone to obvious problems than ATI's drivers. That said, this is just one test case, and I know for a fact that there are several issues with nVidia's drivers, I just happened not to come across them.
Performance and Quality
Most people's faith in benchmarks, myself included, have been tainted of late, so I will only try to indicated what the games felt like when plated.
For the most part, both cards were very closely matched, in so much as it was very hard to tell them apart without benchmarking. Thankfuly the performance level of both cards was amazingly high for 'mainstream' offerings, so well done to ATI and nVidia for their efforts.
If I had to seperate them, I would say that the 5700 Ultra had an edge in titles utilising older technology, whilst ATI had the edge in DirectX9 technology. Games like Call of Duty, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament 2004 played solidly on the 5700 Ultra, and allowed for slightly higher quality settings than the 9600XT (be the settings in game, or external, such as anti-aliasing or antistrophic filtering). Games such as Max Payne 2 and Need for Speed: Underground, which utilise DirectX9 technology, still gave the 5700 Ultra a slight advatange. That said, however, other titles such as Deus Ex: Invisible War (Demo) and Far Cry (Demo) reversed the roles and the 9600XT here allowed for slightly high settings than the 5700 Ultra.
In terms of image quality, ATI have traditionally been said to have the edge over nVidia. Whether this is the case, I really couldn't say. Both cards performed admirably, and without stopping to take screenshots, it would be hard to really tell the two apart in most instances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you were to purchase either of these two cards, I could quite safely say you wouldn't be disappointed. Both offer amazing performance for a mainstream product, and whilst the 5700 Ultra is slightly more expensive than the 9600XT, neither are extortionately priced.
The 9600XT is a great card for many reasons. The card is physically small, and doesn't require an external power connection. Furthermore, the 9600XT performs well in all games, has an ever improving driver suite and has a slight edge in DirectX9 titles. My only criticisms are my own personal experiences with the drivers, which, however uncommon, do obviously still occur. Furthermore, the confusion surrounding which cards offer the Half-Life 2 voucher (which makes or breaks the bundle) and which cards come equiped with the OverDrive facility (all XT cards used to, but not any more) also detracts ever so slightly from the product (but this really a side issue).
The 5700 Ultra card is equally impressive but for other reasons. Although physically large, the cooling system is visually staggering and does an excellent job. The card's performance in older titles outperforms the 9600XT, if only slightly, and even in DirectX9 titles the performance is still noteworthy. Driver stability and the forthcoming v56.56 drivers are a real asset to nVidia. In terms of criticism, I can only really highlight the need for an external power connection and the lack of any 'killer' titles in the bundle, but neither of these issues, as with the 9600XT, are really major concerns.
If I had to choose one, I'd go with the 5700 Ultra, as the best all round product (and thanks to Xavier, I do actually have this card). But that's not to say the 9600XT is in any way a poor card, because it simply isn't. Depending on how performance in future DirectX9 titles pans out, it may well have a slight advantage over the 5700 Ultra.
However, taking all the factors into account, I personally believe the best all round solution, albeit by a whisker, is the 5700 Ultra. That said, at the end of day, which solution is best for you really does boil down to mere preference, and as mentioned above, both cards come highly recomended.
Thanks for your time. If you have any questions, feel free to fire away.
Kind Regards
I've recently had the pleasure of using two of today's latest and greatest mainstream cards:
Anyway, I just thought I'd post some thoughts and answer any questions you may have. Big thanks go to Xavier for both the cards
Please Note
Just to say that from here on in, both cards are referred to simply by their model name (9600XT and 5700Ultra). This should be taken only to refer to the specific cards I have tested. Different manufacturers produce widely different products based on the same technology, so don't expect the specs, bundles etc. to be same outside of the two cards noted above.
Also, in parts, this overview has a slight focus towards Shuttle owners, but only because that was the test system I was running.
Specifications
I don't intend this to be a review, but I thought some basic specs may be of use.
9600XT
- 128MB (Optional 256MB) DDR-I Memory
- 500MHz Core Clock, 325Mhz Memory Clock
- 10.4GB/sec Memory Bandwidth
- .13µ low-k (TSMC) Manufacturing Process
- 128MB (Optional 256MB) DDR-II Memory
- 475 MHz Engine Clock, 900MHz Memory Clock
- 14.4 GB/sec Memory Bandwidth
- .13µ Manufacturing Process
Bundle
Sapphire's full retail bundle is, at the moment, rather impressive. They include all the usual wires and adapters needed to get the most out of your card, as well as their Redline overclocking utility, drivers, PowerDVD 4 and Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. What really clinches the deal is, however, the voucher for the full retail version (single-player and multi-player) of Half-Life 2. In the time before Half-Life 2 is released, purchasers can also grab the original Half-Life and bonus packs free of charge.
With Sapphire, one thing should be noted about this offer: it is only available with the full retail versions of their XT range of cards. Sapphire make ten (!?) versions of the 9600XT alone, and only six of them have the voucher. This means the so-called 'lite retail' and 'OEM' packages will not include ther voucher. Other manufacturers have also begun to discontinue the deal even in their full retail products.
As for the 5700 Ultra, the bundle, although bigger, doesn't have that same selling point (5900 cards ships with Call of Duty in the US and Canada at present, and a Doom³ deal may be on the horizon for nVidia's next generation cards, but that is pure speculation). With the Chaintech card, as well as all the usual wires and adapters, the bundle includes WinDVD 4, WinDVD Creator, WinRip, MDK2, 5-in-1 Game Pack (including, most notably, Max Payne and Serious Sam 2) and 3Deep. As bundles go, it certainly isn't bad, although the 9600XT's Half-Life 2 voucher is a great offer.
Size
One thing which is very apparent with these two cards is the difference in size. The 9600XT is very small for such a powerful card. If you weren't very au fait with hardware, you could almost confuse it with a fully-featured soundcard in terms of its size (almost
).The 5700 Ultra, in contrast, is based on the enthusiast 59x0 design, and is about as large as graphics card get in the present market. That said, it does fit comfortably inside a standard Shuttle system.
Power
The 9600XT, because of its design, does not require an external power connection as many mainstream/enthusiast Radeon cards do. For Shuttle owners, or those with weaker PSUs, this is great news, and also means you don't have to have even more internal cables hanging around the place.
In contrast, the 5700 Ultra does require a power connection to the PSU. The box states a 250W PSU is required and supplies a power extention cable in the box. Even though Shuttles generally ship with only 200W or 220W PSUs (the new 250W silent PSU withstanding) there are no problems with the card. Thankfully, the 5700 Ultra also has the power connector running parallel to the card itself, instead of perpendicular, which had in the past caused trouble when trying to close the case in Shuttle systems.
Cooling
The cooling solutions on these two cards vary dramatically. The 9600XT has just a small fan on the front, and no cooling on any of the memory modules. Although minimal, it certainly does the job, and isn't excessively loud either.
The 5700 Ultra, in stark contrast, has a much larger gold-plated cooling system on the front as well as gold-plated passive cooling system running along the back of the card. This extensive cooling also covers the memory modules too, which is great news for both normal users and overclockers alike. During normal operation in my Shuttle, nVidia's temperature monitor shows the card operating around the mid-30°c range (naturally this increases under load, but still the card remains relatively cool all things considered). In terms of noise, the card is perhaps slightly louder than the 9600XT, but not by much.
Drivers
9600XT
ATI's drivers have traditionally been stereotyped as weaker than nVidia's, but in recent times they have come on leaps and bounds, to say the least. Having tested the 9600XT with the Catalyst 3.9, 3.10 and 4.1 drivers, I can say that on the whole ATI's driver suite is very impressive. Navigating around the driver control panel takes a little time, but everything is where you would expect it to be. Changing settings can be done quickly and is aided by the inclusion of profiles (so you could have, say, one for Quake, one for Unreal etc.) It would be nice to be able to change these profiles from the taskbar, but at present that doesn't seem possible without third-party software.
ATI's XT line of cards also include an 'OverDrive' facility, which safely and automatically adjusts the card's clock speeds to deliver the best performance without damaging the card (thanks to the XT's built-in temperature monitoring). Of late, only certain XT cards are being shipped with this facility, so be careful which model you purchase if you're in the market. Overall, the facility is a nice touch, and whilst basic and not yielding huge performance jumps, it can be tweaked so as to produce good results (as the FiringSquad have demonstrated).
Sadly, however, my personal experience with ATI's driver stability leaves quite a lot to be desired.
- Call of Duty - Consistently crashed after a varying, but brief, amount of time
- Jedi Academy - Lighting problems and screen flashes
- Need for Speed - No anti-aliasing
- ATI DirectX9 Technology Demos - Random crashes
- Far Cry Demo - Texture problems
5700 Ultra
nVidia's drivers are going through somewhat of a change of late, with the release of their ForceWare series, the forthcoming v56.56 release of which will bring yet more radical changes. On the whole, as with ATI, the drivers were impressive in terms of the level of customisation offered and their overall appearance. Unlike ATI, nVidia's drivers have supported built in temperature monitoring for the GeForce FX range for some time, which is a nice touch (if a certain temperature level is hit, then the card automatically shuts down certain features to reduce the load and prevent permenant damage).
As with ATI, nVidia allow settings to be grouped together under profiles, which can be quickly switched utilising a taskbar utility. With v56.56 drivers, this process takes another step forward by introducing the option of linking settings to certain executable files (e.g. games). This will mean that, instead of having to change the settings before launching a game, the drivers will detect, say, quake3.exe and automatically apply your desired settings - simple, but very impressive.
As for stability, the ForceWare drivers proved far less prone to obvious problems than ATI's drivers. That said, this is just one test case, and I know for a fact that there are several issues with nVidia's drivers, I just happened not to come across them.
Performance and Quality
Most people's faith in benchmarks, myself included, have been tainted of late, so I will only try to indicated what the games felt like when plated.
For the most part, both cards were very closely matched, in so much as it was very hard to tell them apart without benchmarking. Thankfuly the performance level of both cards was amazingly high for 'mainstream' offerings, so well done to ATI and nVidia for their efforts.
If I had to seperate them, I would say that the 5700 Ultra had an edge in titles utilising older technology, whilst ATI had the edge in DirectX9 technology. Games like Call of Duty, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament 2004 played solidly on the 5700 Ultra, and allowed for slightly higher quality settings than the 9600XT (be the settings in game, or external, such as anti-aliasing or antistrophic filtering). Games such as Max Payne 2 and Need for Speed: Underground, which utilise DirectX9 technology, still gave the 5700 Ultra a slight advatange. That said, however, other titles such as Deus Ex: Invisible War (Demo) and Far Cry (Demo) reversed the roles and the 9600XT here allowed for slightly high settings than the 5700 Ultra.
In terms of image quality, ATI have traditionally been said to have the edge over nVidia. Whether this is the case, I really couldn't say. Both cards performed admirably, and without stopping to take screenshots, it would be hard to really tell the two apart in most instances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you were to purchase either of these two cards, I could quite safely say you wouldn't be disappointed. Both offer amazing performance for a mainstream product, and whilst the 5700 Ultra is slightly more expensive than the 9600XT, neither are extortionately priced.
The 9600XT is a great card for many reasons. The card is physically small, and doesn't require an external power connection. Furthermore, the 9600XT performs well in all games, has an ever improving driver suite and has a slight edge in DirectX9 titles. My only criticisms are my own personal experiences with the drivers, which, however uncommon, do obviously still occur. Furthermore, the confusion surrounding which cards offer the Half-Life 2 voucher (which makes or breaks the bundle) and which cards come equiped with the OverDrive facility (all XT cards used to, but not any more) also detracts ever so slightly from the product (but this really a side issue).
The 5700 Ultra card is equally impressive but for other reasons. Although physically large, the cooling system is visually staggering and does an excellent job. The card's performance in older titles outperforms the 9600XT, if only slightly, and even in DirectX9 titles the performance is still noteworthy. Driver stability and the forthcoming v56.56 drivers are a real asset to nVidia. In terms of criticism, I can only really highlight the need for an external power connection and the lack of any 'killer' titles in the bundle, but neither of these issues, as with the 9600XT, are really major concerns.
If I had to choose one, I'd go with the 5700 Ultra, as the best all round product (and thanks to Xavier, I do actually have this card). But that's not to say the 9600XT is in any way a poor card, because it simply isn't. Depending on how performance in future DirectX9 titles pans out, it may well have a slight advantage over the 5700 Ultra.
However, taking all the factors into account, I personally believe the best all round solution, albeit by a whisker, is the 5700 Ultra. That said, at the end of day, which solution is best for you really does boil down to mere preference, and as mentioned above, both cards come highly recomended.
Thanks for your time. If you have any questions, feel free to fire away.
Kind Regards