Summary & Conclusion
After NVIDIA’s failure to live up to expectation with the FX5800 Ultra we were determined to review the FX5600 and FX5200 in as much detail as possible. Although the cards we have tested are ‘reference’ examples, retail products should not be very different in the early days at least.
The graphics market is clearly struggling to produce faster cards; both NVIDIA and ATI are promoting their new products on the basis of improved image quality. This image quality is now starting to be introduced into the companies mainstream graphics cards. With the introduction of the FX5600 and FX5200 the cost conscious enthusiast can now choose graphics cards that have DX9 support and are supposedly able to produce cinema style quality graphics.
Our testing of the FX5600 did not produce any real evidence that NVIDIA’s claims of better image quality are true in real life as texture definition was better displayed on the Ti4200. The FX5600 proved to have worse performance than the GF4 Ti4200 in most applications that use DX8. The older game tested, Quake III and the theoretical DX9 tests did suit the FX5600. It seems that the card will only prove beneficial when DX9 games are released onto the market.
FX5600 ULTRA Pros
- Well designed PCB layout
- DX9 Support
- Good DX9 Performance
FX5600 ULTRA Cons
- Poor DX8 performance
- Image quality worse than Ti4200
In contrast the FX5200 produced excellent performance for a budget card. For a sub $99 / £60 card the features and performance offered represent superb value for money. Image quality was as good as the Radeon 9000, but performance was greatly increased.
The FX5200 is in essence very similar to the FX5600. The core and memory speeds seem to be the only major difference in performance terms. While we feel that the FX5600 fails to deliver in its sector of the market place the FX5200 will be a leader in the budget market. Maybe NVIDIA should stick to the .15 micron process and just produce great value for money graphics cards.
FX5200 ULTRA Pros
- DX9 Support
- Excellent Image quality in sector
- Excellent value for money
- Excellent all round performance in sector
FX5200 ULTRA Cons
- No news on retail availability
- Needs additional power connector
Editors Note:
We have had long converstations with NVIDIA about these cards. They are putting a lot of weight behind the 5200 and 5200 Ultra as these are the key segments for the market. The 5600 Ultra performance is rumoured to be at the moment better than that of the 9600 from ATI. This is something we are yet to confirm and is pure speculation.
We have also heard from NVIDIA that they amend image quality after the Frame Buffer - AA and AF - therefore the screengrab lifts it from the Frame Buffer. We are looking in to this and may well amend our statements about IQ.
