Review: ABIT OTES GeForce FX 5900 128MB

• Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 800FSB CPU
• EPoX 4PDA2+ i865PE Springdale motherboard
• 2 x 256MB Corsair XMS3500 memory run at 2-6-2-2 @ DDR400
• Intel reference cooler
• IBM 41.5GB Hard drive
• Pioneer 105 DVD/RW
• 420w Samcheer PSU
• Samsung 181T 18.1" TFT
• Hansol 920D 19" flat CRT for 1600x1200x32 tests

• ABIT OTES FX 5900 128MB (400/850)
• Gainward GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB (450/850)
• ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (380/680)
• ATi Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB (325/620)

• Windows XP Professional Build 2600.xpclient.010817-1148
• Intel 5.00.1012 chipset drivers
• ATi CATALYST 3.5 drivers (6360) for the 9800 Pro and 9700 Pro cards
• NVIDIA Detonator 44.03 for the GeForce FX 5900 series of cards
• 3DMark 2001SE v330
• Quake III v1.30
• UT2003 Demo build 2206
• Comanche 4 benchmark
• Serious Sam 2 Demo; Extreme Quality Add-On

It must pain NVIDIA's partners after viewing the extremely basic cooling found on the high-end Radeon models. A simple, low-profile heatsink is usually all that's required to cool Canada's finest. Lower material costs can often translate into cheaper overall prices for the consumer, and looking at the retail price of the ABIT OTES model hovering over the £300 mark, it's firmly in and around ATi's 9800 pricing structure. We'll therefore put it to the sword by benchmarking it against its faster relation, the FX 5900 Ultra, and by running ATi's 9700 and 9800 Pro cards.

All benchmarks will be conducted at 1024x768x32 and 1600x1200x32 @ 85Hz. 4x FSAA and 8x anisotropic filtering will be used to boost the image quality of both sets of cards, and these performance-sapping variables will be applied to both resolutions; after all, this is what high performance cards are all about.