NVIDIA GeForceFX reviewed

Thanks to xan_san for the heads up in BPN.

After long weeks of impatient waiting, it has finally arrived. NVIDIA has distributed the first GeForceFX cards to the press. Now, NVIDIA has to prove that it really has what it takes to topple ATI and its successful Radeon 9700 PRO from the throne. Also, check out our MP3 downloads for an assessment of noise levels between the test systems. This is one graphics card you want to hear!

After NVIDIA introduced its new GeForceFX GPU at Comdex in Las Vegas in November, anticipation levels were very high. However, the company was not able to live up to its announced intention to release first samples as early as December. So it's all the more astonishing to see the hectic pace at which NVIDIA has finally launched its cards. We were given just about three days to test the card - not enough time to test all aspects of the card in full detail, but enough to bring you an extensive overview of the chip's performance.

Just like the ATI Radeon 9700, the GeForceFX is a DirectX 9 card. Through its new Floating Point, the new version of Microsoft's 3D API allows for better precision than with DirectX 8, and this includes significantly improved precision with effects. The extent of pixel and vertex shader programs has also increased. Now, loops are also possible within the shader program.

The GeForceFX chip is the first consumer-level graphics chip to be manufactured in the 0.13Âµ process. This lets NVIDIA clock the chip, which is produced in a flip-chip design, to a breathtaking 500 MHz. With 125 million transistors, the GeForceFX GPU is more than twice the size of a Pentium 4 CPU (55 million transistors). High power consumption aside (just like ATI's R300 cards R9700 and R9500 the GeForceFX requires an additional power supply), this generates a considerable amount of heat and therefore requires extensive cooling.

Screenshot: Top View of Card | GPU | Front Panel