|
 |
|
Head-to-Head Performance
With
Tomb Raider: AOD |
|
Same
Old Lara! |
|
|
Tomb
Raider: AOD
| Tomb
Raider: Angel of Darkness is one of the more advanced
DirectX games currently available. We've recorded
a custom demo run of Lara jogging through an indoor
garden area of the "Prague3" map. When using the Pixel
Shader 2.0 code path, this area of the game utilizes a
DOF (depth of field) blurring effect to enhance your
sense of depth and size. We ran our custom demo at
1024x768 and at 1600x1200 using both the Pixel Shader
1.4 and 2.0 code paths (with and without 4x
anti-aliasing in the PS 2.0 tests). |
BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
In the Pixel
Shader 1.4 tests, the BFG 5700 Ultra came within 3.5 FPS of
the 9600XT. In the Pixel Shader 2.0 test, the gap
widened, leaving the BFG card running 10FPS behind the ATi
card. Once 4X AA was enabled, both cards dropped a
fair share of frames, with the Radeon 9600 XT still
maintaining the lead by 5 frames per second.
BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
Once we
increased the resolution to 1600x1200, the scores evened out
somewhat, with the Radeon 9600 XT holding the lead by a much
tighter margin overall.
|
|
|
Overclocking With The BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5700
Ultra 128 |
|
Fast
is Good. Faster is Better! |
|
Overclocking the
BFG GeForce FX 5700 Ultra yielded some decent performance
gains. With our particular card, we managed to hit a
maximum of 537MHz for the core speed, increasing a solid
12%. With the memory speeds, we managed to increase
the default 906MHz to over 1.03GHz, a gain of 14%. We
re-ran the Gun Metal benchmark at 1280x1024 to give us an
idea of what effect these gains had on overall performance.
BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
As you can see,
Gun Metal benefited nicely from the increased clock speeds.
What was interesting was the 12-14% increase in GPU and
Memory respectively resulted in an increase in performance
of over 24% in Gun Metal.
As we rounded
out our testing, we've concluded that The BFG Asylum GeForce
FX 5700 Ultra is an impressive mid-range video card.
With improved DirectX 9 capabilities and a refined .13
micron manufacturing process, the card is both efficient and
powerful. It's performance was quite competitive
compared with the Radeon 9600 XT, which should help to
restore some faith in NVIDIA based products, for the
mainstream segment as well. The card offered good
gaming performance and surprised us with equally good
overclocking potential. Physically, the card was
sharp, with quality cooling and RAM sinks added for improved
heat dissipation. The bundle that accompanied the card
was fair, although the lack of a current gaming title was a
bit of a let down, from a company that claims to be building
cards "built by gamers". Keep in mind that ATi
recently upped the ante by offering Half-Life 2, when it
becomes available, which may be a deciding factor for some
users. For BFG however, their ace is that they offer
unlimited 24/7 support and a full lifetime warranty on all
of their products. This can be a real attraction in
the end for some. What if the card fails after it is
formally discontinued as a product offering? Users may
end up with not only a replacement card, but an upgrade.
We wonder what the replacement card would be if the card
failed in 5 years? Maybe we'll check back in 2008 and
find out!
We are quite
pleased with the quality and performance of the BFG Asylum
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra and think it is a wise choice for
those looking for an affordable DX9 solution. This
model can be found for less than $200 online and can provide
great performance at a modest price point.
As a result,
we'll give the BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5700 Ultra a Hot
Hardware Heat Meter Rating of a 8.5
There are a ton of folks just like you in
HotHardware's PC Hardware Forum! Check It Out!
| 
