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MSI nBox N5900 Ultra-VTD256: We take a look at MSI's flagship FX card. Dubbed the nBox, it packs in the goodies, and is backed up by the killer FX5900 GPU. |
| Date: |
October 8, 2003 |
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| Written By: |
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| Price: |
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Splinter Cell is a game where stealth is one of your major allies, and the graphics of the game make the slow silent approach that much better looking. This game is very demanding on a system, less than 60fps are not uncommon for this benchmark. So lets see the results for 1024*768.
| Video Card |
Minimum FPS |
Average FPS |
Maximum FPS |
| MSI FX5900 Ultra Oc'd: |
35 |
49.62 |
74 |
| MSI FX5900 Ultra: |
31 |
44.63 |
74 |
| MSI FX5900: |
N/A |
35.01 |
N/A |
| Radeon 9800 Pro AiW: |
N/A |
47.10 |
N/A |
| Matrox Parhelia: |
7 |
13.27 |
22 |
We see that the results here are lower than 60fps, but this game isn't about extremely high frame rates. What we can see here is that the Radeon 9800 bests the FX5900 Ultra only when the Ultra is at its stock settings. When overclocked the FX5900 Ultra beats the Radeon by 5% or 2fps. The overclocking of the FX5900 Ultra nets you a 11% improvement in frame rate. The Parhelia doesn't do that well in this test, performing about 1/3rd as well as the 5900 Ultra.
| Video Card |
Minimum FPS |
Average FPS |
Maximum FPS |
| MSI FX5900 Ultra Oc'd: |
28 |
37.43 |
70 |
| MSI FX5900 Ultra: |
25 |
32.99 |
52 |
| MSI FX5900: |
N/A |
26.92 |
N/A |
| Radeon 9800 Pro AiW: |
N/A |
27.07 |
N/A |
| Matrox Parhelia: |
6 |
9.13 |
19 |
When AA and ansio are added to the mix, the results change a bit. The Radeon 9800 takes more of a hit, having a similar frame rate as the regular FX5900. The FX5900 Ultra however performs very well, losing about 30-35% of its non-AA results. The FX5900 Ultra is one card that is playable, at least in my opinion. The Parhelia again has a very low average frame rate, not really playable in any way. What about raising the resolution, how do the cards fare?
| Video Card |
Minimum FPS |
Average FPS |
Maximum FPS |
| MSI FX5900 Ultra Oc'd: |
19 |
32.95 |
61 |
| MSI FX5900 Ultra: |
18 |
29.54 |
45 |
| MSI FX5900: |
N/A |
23.03 |
N/A |
| Radeon 9800 Pro AiW: |
N/A |
34.41 |
N/A |
| Matrox Parhelia: |
4 |
7.76 |
12 |
As we look at the results here we see that the Radeon 9800 has taken a lead, not only when at stock speeds, but also when the 5900 Ultra is overclocked. The stock speed of the FX5900 performs about 16% slower than the Radeon in this test. Overclocking the 5900 Ultra gives you about a 11% improvement in frame rate, which is inline with the clock speed increase. Now lets look at two DirectX 9 based benchmarks to see how the 5900 Ultra performs in some tests that take advantage of the cards full potential.
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