VGA Card Buyer's Guide 07/2003

BFG Asylum GeForceFX 5600 256 MB AGP, Continued

Some solid workmanship went into the card with its crowd-pleasing blue PCB. The unregulated silver fan appears to be a high-quality component. For its memory, BFG uses 4-ns modules from Hynix (maximum 250 MHz (500 DDR)). The board does not have an external power connector, although it does sport a Philips SAA7114H encoder chip, giving it functionality for not only video-out, but also video-in via S-VHS and cinch. The connections are fed out through a Y-cable. No other video cables are included.

In addition to the driver CD, which contains NVIDIA's DVD player software, NVDVD 2.0, and a number of 3D demos, BFG ships the card with Video Studio SE V6 DVD (5-in-1), a rather antiquated video-editing application. While Ulead does have a newer version out already (v7), this release still allows you to edit and cut videos you've recorded through the video-in. Don't expect it to offer the same functionalities and quality of a video-editing card, though.

The user manual is included on the CD as a PDF document. There are also eight pages of installation instructions to guide newbies through the process. A manual for Video Studio is also on the CD. As a nice extra, BFG includes a note in the box telling you where you can download the latest drivers.