MSI FX5700 Ultra TD128 - Conclusion
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Let’s recap all the games and benchmarks tested today: All three cards, with the R9600Pro both at default and overclocked settings, ran Unreal Tournament 2003 at 1280x1024 2x8x AA/AF perfectly fine. The three maps tested, Antalus, Asbestos, and Citadel, represent both indoor and outdoor environments of the game, and the cards all pulled 45-50FPS on Antalus, the most stressful/outdoor map tested. The jump to 4x AA caused a minor performance decrease across the board, but was very playable.
The overclocked R9600P proved to be the winner in Splinter Cell, while the FX5700U performed identically to the default R9600P. The weaker FX5600U fell behind in this heavy pixel shader test. In X2 Threat, graphics focused on bump mapping and real-time shadows. The FX5700U performed identically to the overclocked R9600P. The default R9600P was only a few frames away, and the FX5600U fell behind again. The FX5700U exhibited its first significant performance lead in the Gun Metal Benchmark, which was also the first test to stress DX9.
The FX5700U's DX9 advantage in Gun Metal was not really seen in Halo however, as the overclocked R9600Pro performed just slightly better than the 5700. Then again, both cards had an average FPS close to 30 FPS at 1024x768 high game quality settings, which is great.
The overclocked R9600Pro performed significantly better than the FX5700U in Need For Speed: Underground, but the positions reversed in Far Cry. Be sure to keep an eye out on Far Cry when that game is released later this year. Finally, the FX5700U beat the overclocked R9600Pro in Call of Duty at 1280x1024 2x8x AA/AF.
With the 5700 Ultra, NVIDIA's overall image quality basically matches ATI. The gap between ATI and NVIDIA IQ is not prominent like it used to be - and seems to be more of a per-game basis like NFSU. Realistically speaking the 5700 Ultra will let you game with nice IQ no matter how good the competition's may be.
Overall, NVIDIA's reentry into the mainstream market with the 5700 Ultra has been a success. Built off the NV35 core, the 5700U's performance is no longer boggled down when rendering intensive shaders like the 5600U was. As our tests have shown, the 5700U paces alongside an overclocked 9600Pro, and is likely to be also evenly matched with the 9600XT. No card dominates significantly in every test, showing the average level of performance we can expect from a mainstream video card between $150-200 for the time being. Look for a 9600XT review from Dev Hardware soon, and a final comparison between the 9600XT and 5700Ultra.
As for MSI, they've packed together quite a punch with the FX5700 Ultra-TD128. I'm sure they don't see an overwhelming sales of the 5900 and 5950s, as no manufacturer does, so the 5700 Ultra must have been a highly anticipated GeForceFX release. Especially when considering the previous 5600's poor performance. The oversize orb-shaped GPU cooler was quiet during testing, and kept core temperature below 68 degrees Celsius when overclocked to 550MHz (ambient temps of 43 degrees Celsius.) With a "quantity not quality" software bundle, important DVI-VGA, s-video cable, power cable accessory, a great looking red PCB and shiny GPU cooler and ramsinks, and the quality and support synonymous with Micro-Star International, the MSI FX5700 Ultra-TD128 delivers in basically every aspect. Every aspect, except one - price.
The 9600Pro and 9600XT can be found for around $150. The MSI 5700 non-Ultra (and also one of the cheapest) sits at $156. The cheapest 5700U is $169. And finally, the MSI 5700U is $209. When 9600s and 5700s perform as competitively as they do now, buyers ultimately look at the price tag. Obviously this is not a good looking price spread, for either NVIDIA or MSI. The fact that a 5900 non-Ultra or 9800SE can be found for under $170 really does not help the situation. Neither does the fact that for the same price of the MSI 5700 Ultra-TD128, you can buy a 9700Pro, and for about $20 more, you can buy a 9800Pro.
On the other hand, if you factor in the MSI 5700 Ultra-TD128's excellent overclocking performance, $200 is reasonable for one of the best mainstream graphics accelerators. NVIDIA tends to be more expensive than ATI at every level, so the price factor with MSI's 5700U is not that big a deal. If you are considering a GeForceFX 5700Ultra based video card, you can't go wrong with MSI's version.
Thanks for checking out our review of the MSI FX5700 Ultra-TD128 here at Dev Hardware. I would also like to thank
MSI for providing the video card for review. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to
drop me a line. Otherwise hang out at our
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