Overclocking

We weren't too sure what to expect given the relatively high specs of this FX5700 part. The stock speed of the GPU core is 425MHz and the memory runs at 650MHz. As we began our overclocking journey, we had some stability issues that were remedied by upping the AGP voltage to 1.65v. We also wondered if the stock cooling was limiting us, but before looking into that, we tried to see how far we could go with our current setup. Ultimately, we ended up at a core/memory speed of 462/671.

We had a spare CPU heatsink, and decided to mount it with a 7000RPM fan. Despite the added noise, we didn't improve our overclocking results at all.

Final Words

For the market the Albatron FX5700P Turbo is marketed at, it does a fine job at gaming and general day-to-day use. At the beginning of the review though, we posed the question if it is worth the upgrade if you purchased something similar less than half a year ago?

If you have the need for speed, but the budget of a starving artist, this card will certainly fill your first desire. It won't outperform a FX5900 XT or a Radeon 9600 XT, but those didn't come out last year, did they? This card is what we would classify as an entry model (and given NVIDIA's current product structure, this seems to be their idea also), and compared to both last year's entry and mid-range offerings, the FX5200 and FX5600 respectively, the Albatron FX5700P Turbo will run circles around them.

However, there is a catch.

Pre-2004 games run very well on this card, even with AA/AF enabled. Newer games are a whole other story. Need for Speed: Underground was quite choppy, but if you like to drive straight all the time (and end up crashing into a wall), it's ok. FarCry on the otherhand brought us to tears, no pun intended. Anything more than 1024x768, no AA/AF is unplayable online. Single player is alright, but we would still stick with the online criteria if you want an enjoyable experience.

Overclocking was good, but given the high clock speeds, the results are not as impressive as we've seen with "slower" cards. Of course, this is something of a credit to Albatron as they squeezed a lot out of the architecture while keeping it stable. Then again, this is going to be one of those WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) situations where the card is already fast... you won't be able to squeeze much more out of it.

At around , the card isn't very expensive. If you have a card that is more than six months old, and your budget is tight, this is certainly worth a look. However, if you already have a similar class of card, FX5x00 range, then it would be wise to wait for something next gen to fit into your budget.

Pros: Really good price, good image quality, small card (good for tight setups).

Cons: Small bundle, weak DX9 performance.

Bottom Line: This card is not a suitable upgrade if you already own a FX5600 or FX5700. If you own anything lower, it's worth a look if you need something now, and can wait for the new technology six months after Doom 3 and Half-Life 2.

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