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NVIDIA's
latest flagship GPU the NV30, now known as the GeForce FX
5800, has been a long time coming. Products based on
the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra are just now starting to arrive
in very limited quantities. The first batch of
products to ship to pre-order customers were all basically
the same. They were all based on the same reference
board design, and they all shipped with the now infamous
"FX-Flow" cooler. Gainward was one of the first
companies to show off an FX 5800 Ultra with a custom
cooling solution, but their card still looked very similar
to the competition's. Leadtek however, took things a
giant step further and came up with a completely
redesigned cooling solution for their card. The
WinFast A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO is based on the same GeForce
FX 5800 Ultra reference design, but the cooling solution
is not like anything else we have seen to date. With
all of the negative press surrounding the "FX-Flow" and
its extremely high noise levels, it's no wonder Leadtek
wanted to replace it. Their solution is rather
unique too. Lets take a look...
THE
WINFAST A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO
CLICK ANY IMAGE FOR AN
ENLARGED VIEW
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Specifications & Features of the WinFast A300
Ultra TD MyVIVO |
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A
Full Featured DX9 Part |
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WinFast A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 Ultra
GPU
- CineFX Engine
- Intellisample Technology
- High-Precision Graphics
- nView Multi-display
Technology
- Digital Vibrance Control (DVC)
- Unified Driver Architecture
(UDA)
- AGP 8X
- 0.13 Micron Process
Technology
- 400MHz RAMDACs
- 4 Billion AA samples per
second fill rate
- 200 Million vertices/sec
- 16GB/sec memory bandwidth
- 1.0 GHz memory data rate
- 8 Pixels per Clock Rendering
Pipeline
- Architected for Cg
- Microsoft® DirectX®9.0
Optimizations and Support
- New 64-phase Video Scaler
- OpenGL®1.4 Optimizations and
Support
- Video Mixing Renderer (VMR)
- 128 MB DDR2 Memory
- On-board DVI support up to
1600x1200 resolution
- On-board TV-out support up
to 1024x768 resolution
- Integrated Full Hardware
MPEG-2 Decoder
- Vivid NTSC/PAL TV-out
support with flicker filter
Software Bundle
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ULead
Video studio SE DVD / ULead cool 3D SE
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WinFast
PVR / WinFastDVD / WinFox II
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Cult 3D
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Coloreal Embedded / Coloreal Visual / Coloreal
Bright
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Gun
Metal
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Big
Mutha Truckers
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VIVO
Features:
PIP(picture in picture):
- One
for live and the other for captured program. And
master video can be alternative. The slave video can
be displayed with any size and anywhere.
De-interlace:
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Make the best quality for fast-motion video. No
noise and flicker on the edge of motion objects.
Capture format profile:
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Support friendly setting for MPEG1/MPEG2/VCD/DVD
video format
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Supports MPEG1/MPEG2/MPEG4 video codec and MPEG3
audio codec configuration.
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Supports de-interlaced function to get high quality
of motion video, Bridging video to PC from VCR,
camcorder, LD/VCD/DVD player
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Over the last
10 months, we have spent quite a bit of time exploring the
NV3x architecture, the Detonator 40 drivers and the
product line based on these GPUs. For more detailed
information regarding these subjects, please refer to
these HotHardware articles...
NV3X Architectural Overview
/
Detonator 40 Driver Evaluation
/
GeForce FX Debut
/
GeForce FX Showcase
/
GeForce FX 5200, 5200 Ultra & 5600 Ultra
/
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra Performance Analysis
/
GeForce FX Go Unveiled
When this card
was first introduced, two questions immediately popped
into the heads of every enthusiast who saw it:
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1) Does the A300 Ultra fill
only a single slot? No, the
card has only one mounting bracket, but the fans
completely obstruct the first PCI slot on most
mainboards.
2) Is it as loud as the
"FX-Flow"?
No, it's not even close.
We did not have an FX-Flow equipped 5800 Ultra in
the lab to do a side by side comparison, but we were
exposed to the FX-Flow at Comdex. The FX-Flow
sounds like a hair dryer when it spins up.
Leadtek's cooling solution is much quieter.
When running in 2D, the fans spin down, and the A300
Ultra is no louder than any other high-end card,
like a Radeon 9700 Pro for example. When in 3D
Mode, the fans spin up, and get noticeably louder,
but they are not unbearable at all. One fan
blows air into the casing; the other sucks air
out...simple enough! We took some decibel
readings with an analog sound meter from about 12
inches away, with the case open on our test system.
When idle, the whole system was registering about
59db on the sound meter. When in 3D Mode with
the fans spinning at maximum, the noise level jumped
to "only" 63-64db.
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Underneath the
aluminum casing on the A300 Ultra, you'll find a
substantial copper-finned cooler mounted directly over the
GPU and 2ns "DDR-2 type" RAM. There is a copper
heatsink mounted to the back of the card as well. As
you may already know, the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra runs at
two different speeds, 300MHz core / 600MHz memory when in
2D Mode, and 500MHz core / 1000MHz memory when running 3D
applications. Leadtek's cooling solution handled
these clock speeds without a problem. As you'll see
a little later, core temperatures remained well within
acceptable limits even after hours of benchmarking.
Included with
the card we found a few accessories and a ton of software.
As the name implies, the WinFast A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO has
Video-In and Video-Out capabilities. The blue cable
that ships with the A300 allows for easy access to both
S-Video and Composite in and out connectors. A power
cable splitter is also included with the card, as well as
a standard S-Video cable, a composite video cable and a
DVI-to-DB15 adapter. A slew of software also
accompanies the A300. In the box we found ULead
Video studio SE DVD and Cool 3D SE, along with Cult3D and
Coloreal Embedded, Visual and Bright. Two full
games, "Gun Metal" and "Big Mutha Truckers", were also
included with the card. Some "Leadtek" branded
programs shipped with the A300 as well, WinFast PVR,
WinFastDVD and WinFox II.
Next Up, Image
Quality...
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