Gigabyte With NVIDIA Again: Gigabyte GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

Gigabyte GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, Continued

A close-up of the fan.

In addition to the standard VGA output, the card also sports a DVI connector. Using an appropriate adapter, a second CRT can also be connected here. Video-In and Out connectors are also present, allowing users access to simple video editing features. The corresponding video editing software comes bundled with the card, in the form of Cyberlink's slightly outdated PowerDirector 2.55 ME (the most-recent version is PowerDirector 3.0). Last but not least, Gigabyte also ships Cyberlink's PowerDVD 5.0 with its card.

The software bundle includes games, namely the recently released DirectX 9 title "Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness," as well as some older games, such as "Rainbow Six 3 - Raven Shield" and "WillRock." The card's drivers are identical to NVIDIA's reference driver release. Gigabyte also includes a display utility called V-Tuner. Unfortunately, this utility refused to install, both when using Gigabyte's and NVIDIA's drivers. The only manual that came with out card was the PDF file on the driver CD.

Conclusion

Despite its attractive gaming bundle, this card lacks features that would set it apart from the competition. Nonetheless, since its 3D performance is on par with what you can expect from a card using this chip, the Gigabyte GeForce FX 5950 Ultra still remains a solid card for the ambitious PC gamer.