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Gainward Ultra 1600XP GeForce FX 5900 Ultra Video Card Review

Author: Dennis Garcia

nVidia has started using the "Flip-Chip" design on their GPU's to help provide better cooling and higher clock speeds, even though overclocking results vary from card to card you will see that the design gives quite a bit of headroom in the overclocking arena.

As with most 5900 Ultras this card will require two open expansion slots though unlike the short lived GeForce FX 5800 an external vent is not.

With so many companies opting to use the reference designs for their products we can expect performance to be about the same across the board. Knowing this, card companies needed to employ alternative means to attract potential buyers. In the case of Gainward they have bundled a little product called "EXPERTool" which among other things provides two modes of operation, safe and enhanced. Basically this little program will allow you to overclock your card with the press of a button. Despite only minor gains in performance this can be a great selling point.

Other goodies include 3 games (Serious Sam 2, Arx Fatalis, and Duke Nukem - Manhattan Project) WinDVD and a driver disk. You also get s-video connections, DVI converter, a power splitter and handy case badge.