Review: MSI GeForce FX5900

So, is it quicker than 9800 Pro? Is it quicker than 9700 Pro? Well, yes to both for the most part. On the tests that I consider to be the most relevant in terms of current game performance, it's about as equal with 9800 Pro as I'd like to call it. Sure, you can engineer tests where it's not, but you can also engineer tests where it certainly is. It's definitely faster than 9700 Pro.

The trick is to take a look the bigger picture. It's 9800 Pro performance for 9800 Pro money I think it's fair to say. Depending on the games you play, that statement is false, but I can't please everyone and if that statement is false for you, you don't need FX 5900, you need a midrange board.

For this reviewer, it's NVIDIA executing very well, getting back on the horse and competing properly. Forget the driver crap of recent weeks, it doesn't matter. So, it's 9800 Pro quick, there, I've said it. But...

Noise

I'll be naughty and skip the big but to talk about the noise, as promised earlier. There simply isn't any, that's the real truth. The fan on the front is massive and that means less rotations to move the same air as a smaller fan. Less air speed means less noise. My physics might be a load of rubbish there, but it's very quiet. In 2D mode, when the card decides that's the case anyway (I haven't seen an FX yet that is consistent in when it shuts off or slows down its cooling), it becomes pretty much inaudible against a background noise of CPU fans and the like.

It's definitely quieter than both the big ATI boards tested too, especially in '2D' mode (when that happens).

Overclocking

While I didn't have time to go nuts with overclocking testing, the board would run 3DMark at 502/1002. Yikes. That might just be the sample I had, but hopefully retail boards will do much the same. It was 120mm fan assisted too, blowing across the edge of the card. Put it this way, Ultra+ clocks were a piece of cake and at ~500/~1000 it was simply the fastest graphics card I've ever seen.

Overall Conclusion

Right, now for the big but. 9700 Pro exists. If you can still find one, it's still the performance buy of the moment. The graphs show you how close it gets to the other big two boards on test, pick one up and save yourself some money.

Apart from that, we've got a £300 accelerator that performs the same as the other big £300 accelerator from across the border. Pick one if you genuinely need it, either one will do. I guess that's a big thumbs up to MSI and NVIDIA, all it needs to be is cheaper.

You get a great bundle, the biggest box ever (use it as a guest house?), quiet cooling and excellent performance, despite being a bit handicapped in some places.

You can't ask for anything more really, just less cash to spend getting one.

Just for Clive at NVIDIA, this board and other partner FX 5900's like it are a lot less silly and make a lot more sense than 256MB FX 5900 Ultra or 256MB 9800 Pro. It's probably my favourite graphics card of the past few weeks and worth your time and consideration.

Pro's

Performance, it's very quick
Quiet, oh so quiet
Great value bundle
Simply excellent TV out
Overclocking performance

Con's

It's a bit pricey if we're all honest with each other (but no more so than 9800 Pro)

Score