Conclusion and Interview
My first look at 5900XT has been an interesting one. With NVIDIA's reference GDDR3-powered 5700 Ultra on my own testbed to directly compare the 5900XT to I, like other reviewers that have had the 5900XT pleasure, have been more than happy with the performance, given the target price.With strong performance against ATI's mid-range products, despite being a bit of a slow coach in some respects, buying in the mid-range has, predictable though it is to say it, never bought you more power. If you're shopping around the £150 mark, there's a lot of power, value and dare I say it, style, to be had.
With Point of View's card coming in at a low £130, along with the stylish presentation and good bundle that includes the excellent Call of Duty, it's hard not to recommend it. Your only initial problem will be with finding a stockist to sell you one, as Point of View find their feet in the U.K. Other Euro-zone buyers will have a much easier time of it.
PoV send word that, at least initially, MEGABYTES and eSys will be carrying their boards, with other distributors picking them up in due course.
Price is very good, the sample overclocked very well and the software bundle is good, especially if you haven't picked up Call of Duty yet.
Again, if you're shopping in the mid-range and you've got between £100 and £150 to spend, you could do a lot worse than throw it in PoV's direction. Their 5900XT is worth your cash, and they go to a bit more effort with the board presentation than most. NV35 definitely isn't the last word in DX9 performance, and it's tiring to add that particular caveat to the end of every recent NVIDIA-based review, but then neither is the 9600XT in all fairness.
Highly recommended if the mid-range is where you want to shop and if you want something a little different from what you'd usually buy, especially if you're a U.K. shopper.
Score
Pros
Low priceSoftware bundle
Stylish card with black PCB and metallic decorative strip
Quiet cooler
Thoughtful presentation with the hardware extras
Powerful for a mid-range board
Cons
Not blisteringly quick in all respectsMight be hard to find in the U.K. to begin with
There are cheaper 5900XTs if you don't care about anything but the card
Radeon 9600XT exists
Thanks
Matthew at Point of View for the sample and interview.Interview
With my recent review of Point of View's GeForce FX 5900XT board came the opportunity to interview their U.K. PR person, Matthew Lord. Nothing too in-depth, but with Point of View being new to the U.K., it seemed fitting that we find out a bit more about them. Here goes.There we have it, an official NVIDIA board partner with an interest in doing things a little differently. Given that generics aren't a market PoV are interested in, it'll be cool to see what they do with the GeForce 6 range of GPUs, with cooler, board colour and presentation.What's behind Point of View's decision to enter the graphics card market in the U.K.? Its crowded nature and probably poor profit margins in the mid and low end sectors surely don't make it easy.
The UK obviously presents another market to us. We want to be considered one of Europe's premier brand names in NVIDIA based graphic cards. And to do that we need to have a presence in every major market.
For those that maybe haven't heard of you in the U.K., when did Point of View start in the graphics business and how did the company come about?
Point of View Graphics was established in the year 2000. It started as a manufacturer and distributor of NVIDIA based graphic cards. Over the last 3 and a half years sales of Point of View graphic cards have increased exponentially. So much so, in December 2003 Point of View became an official NVIDIA Retail Partner, one of only four in Europe.
Have Point of View always sold only NVIDIA products?
Yes, Point of View is dedicated and loyal to NVIDIA.
Do you have any plans to sell products from any other GPU maker?
No, as mentioned in my previous answer, Point of View is dedicated and loyal to NVIDIA.
Who are your main retail partners in the U.K., so we can point people towards your products?
Our retail partners will be announced soon. We are currently in negotiation with several companies. We suggest that the end-user keeps track of our website where we will soon announce our new partners.
Based on the NV38-like clocks the 5900XT review sample obtained, are your 5900XTs using NV38 cores branded as 5900XT, instead of NV35? NVIDIA's GPU packaging doesn't state what core is used any more, so it's impossible to tell.
The core is in fact NV35! It’s just a great card for overclocking! We use high quality components (eg Hynix memory), therefore limits can be stretched. This has always been one of our strongest points. This is the reason why graphic cards from Point of View are so popular amongst gamers and overclockers.
Given that NV40's launch was just a few days ago, can we expect Point of View boards based on it in the near future?
Yes, Point of View is an official launch partner for the new GeForce 6 series! We expect to have these cards at our retailers around the end of May.
So what's the main reason for a Point of View board purchase in such a crowded market where prices are very similar?
Quite simply, Point of View has a great reputation for quality and just a fantastic image and as mentioned earlier, we always try to use top quality components. We really take your graphic card to higher limits.
And to add a bit of excitement we often bundle our cards with the latest "The Way It's Meant To Be Played Games".
Given that Hercules just pulled out of the graphics card market, citing the forced inability to differentiate its products from the rest of the competition, are you confident you can succeed where such a large brand like Hercules couldn't?
We have already had a lot of success in the different countries we have entered. After a few reviews we are pretty confident that we will gain the trust of the end-users.
Interacting with PR from various hardware companies isn't the easiest of things at times, so a big thanks to Matthew for answering my questions and agreeing to the interview. Here's hoping they stick around in the U.K., their mid-range hardware and upcoming GeForce 6 boards will give consumers here some extra food for their graphics thought.
