VGA Card Buyer's Guide 07/2003

MSI FX5900-TD128

MSI's FX5900-TD128 is based on NVIDIA's GeForceFX 5900 chip, a.k.a. NV35. The card uses 128 MB of 128 bit DDR memory. The clock speeds follow NVIDIA's specifications (400/ 850 MHz). MSI's rather playfully designed 3D! Turbo Experience hardware monitoring tool runs in a browser window as a Flash application and offers overclocking options.

This card's cooling solution deserves special mention. The front of the card is covered by a huge copper colored heatsink, which carries a large fan. The back of the card also features a heatsink/ fan combo. MSI fittingly calls this dual-fan construction "TwinFlow," and we were pleased to note that it is very quiet (36.5 dB). Be warned, though - due to the size of this cooler, there may be mounting and installation problems with certain motherboards.