Chaintech FX 5900?

[staereo]

When I ordered my computer I was told that I would either get the 5900 or the 5900XT depending where it came on the production line. They said that they stock of 5900s was almost gone and the 5900xt was the replacement.

Now that I have my computer, I find it's a chaintech branded card. It is, in fact the 5900. I've done some research on the chaintech card to kill time, and I'm finding that it runs about 250 at newegg, and the 5900xt runs about 185. However, the 5900 is no longer in stock at newegg.

My questions are as follows:

1) Does chaintech have an ok reputation in the video card market? They dont even have ownership of the chaintech.com domain, not as if that is a way to rate a company, just an observation. Is the chaintech 5900 a good 'fx5900' gpu card to have?

2) Did I make out by getting the 5900 over the 5900xt (price was no difference, just chance that I got the 5900)?

3) If the 5900 is in fact better than the 5900xt, then why are they seeming to be phasing the 5900 out? Is it just a matter of pricepoint?

Thanks!
Bruce

 

[modedepe]

1. I've never owned a chaintech card, but people I know who have had them said they were ok. I haven't heard anything much bad about them either.

2. The 5900 is faster than the 5900xt (though it's not a huge difference). The difference is basically the 5900 has 2.2ns ram vs 2.8ns on the xt.

3. I would think it's something with price point. A lot of people were overclocking 5900's to 5950 ultra levels too, which could have something to do with it.

 

[staereo]

ahh.. that makes sense, the new Chaintech 5950 Ultra card looks identical to the 5900 I have. heh....

Wish I was swift enough with my computer to pump it up to that level.

Bruce

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: staereo
ahh.. that makes sense, the new Chaintech 5950 Ultra card looks identical to the 5900 I have. heh....

Wish I was swift enough with my computer to pump it up to that level.

Bruce

It isn't really that hard, just do some research before you try anything. Use google to search about OCing 5900's. After doing some research you can get RivaTuner or Coolbits to OC some. It really isn't rocket science, just don't try to do too much at once and be sure that you know what you're doing.

 

[Corporate Thug]

1. chaintech has a good rep
2. you were lucky to get the 5900 over the XT
3. the 5900 is better than the XT

 

[Rankor]

Chaintech's website's here.

Chaintech outsources some of their video cards to BFG Tech and other video card companies.

 

[Pete]

The Chaintech goes for $185 at GameVE. I believe Chaintech has a good rep. The only negative thing I read about it was at Digit-Life, saying its HSF was a little noisy or hot--can't remember which.

nV may be phasing out the 5900 with the 5900XT due to power concerns. The XT runs cooler and uses less power b/c of its slower memory, but doesn't seem to suffer much of a performance hit in doing so. Win-win.

Edit: But enough of that idle chit-chat. How's the system? How do you like gaming with the 5900?

 

[Soulkeeper]

chaintech has had good products recently
nice fx5200

 

[staereo]

The gaming is great. I dont have any real games yet.

It runs Unreal 2 at top everything, at 1024x768 flawlessly. Coming from the old p3 550 with the 32mb ragefury pro, it is REALLY stunning.

In addition, it was nice to score 4700 on FFXI's bench, because I am interested in the game quite a bit and according to the results table, and the fact i did that under high detail, I should be able to run FFxi maxed out.

I know the 5900 wasnt the best card out there, but I got it to hold me over to the next gen GPUs, but with how I'm impressed I am with the card, I may wait for a bit after they are released, providing the 5900 can keep running my games for a couple months after they are released. I figure it wouldn't hurt for me to sit back and find out which brand GPU comes out looking healthier after the cards have been tried and tested by the consumers for a while.

Bruce

 

[howdyduty]

5900 is a great card. I believe it is the first nVidia model to have 256bit memory interface. Although its not the top, its close to the top. I'd say with the 5900, your good for another year of hard core gaming. I have not heard of any negative press on Chaintech. Enjoy.