GeForce 5900 from newegg... Gainward or Albatron?

[Ruck]

I have decided upon a new GeForce 5900 (non-ultra) as an upgrade to my old school GeForce2 GTS. looking at newegg, it seems that 2 models fit what i'm looking for, one from Albatron, and one from Gainward (sorry, i can't get my links to work right... probably something to do with 3 hours of sleep). both of them claim the 400/850 that i believe dictates a 'quality' card.

Albatron: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-170-029&catalog=48&depa=1
Gainward: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-128-168&catalog=48&depa=1

i believe i read somewhere that the Gainward card has a very high overclocking potential, although i'm not 100% sure if i want to tinker around with o/c'ing just yet. both seem like solid cards, and i'm assuming both are the 2.2ns memory since they claim 850 mem speed. i'm unfamiliar with the Albatron brand though, and am unsure of quality, o/c potential (should i decide to do so), etc. another factor, of course, is the $30 price difference. the Gainward card blatantly states 2.2ns, whereas the Albatron has no indication. if the gainward is 2.2, where the albatron is not, i can justify $30. i'm just trying to get the best bang for my buck, and am on a pretty limited budget, as i'd like to upgrade my motherboard and get rid of my pc133 RAM sticks in the near future.

if anyone could offer some insight that would help me finalize my decision, i would be greatly appreciative. i've been out of the hardware loop for awhile, and wasn't much of guru in the days that i followed it. thanks in advance for any comments/advice you can toss my way.

 

[modedepe]

I'd get the albatron. For 850mhz, the ram must be 2.2ns. Plus, I believe somebody else on here said they had the card and it came with 2.2ns. The core on both will probably oc about the same or within a few mhz at any rate--I don't think any extra $30 will get you much more performance.

Also, I don't want to persuade you from not buying the card, but if your rig is running pc133 ram it must be pretty old, so it'll probably bottleneck the new card quite a bit.

 

[Corporate Thug]

both are good quality cards and i dont think there is any reason to pay the extra $30

 

[GZFant]

In my recent search for the perfect video card those were exactly the two cards I came down to.
With my personal feeling on the matter though, I would justify that 30$ and get a gainward unless you want to pay 190$ and go to the bar that night to celebrate :beer: LOL

 

[klah]

Albatron FX5900PV Review

The RAM is Hynix HY5DU283222AF-22 which is rated at 2.2ns (450 MHz).

 

[Pete]

I'd save the 15% and go with the Albatron, but therre are several points the reviews bring up that you should consider:

1. Albatron's HSF appears to have a quieter cooling solution than Gainward's.
2. The Gainward, OTOH, has a guaranteed Golden Sample setting of 10% higher than normal. Whether that justifies a 15% price premium is up to you. I'll just note that the 10% higher "GS" setting translates into a less than 10% framerate boost, according to Digit-Life's review. D-L achieved a max OC of 490/960 on the Gainward, while Xbit got 480/940 out of the Albatron--pretty close.
3. Maybe the software bundle will sway you. I have no idea how WinDVD Producer compares to PowerDirector, nor if either even matters to you. In terms of games, neither bundle seems impressive, but that's just my opinion.
4. Xbit's Albatron review noted poor 2D quality at 16x12, while D-L's review noted excellent quality for the Gainward. It could be that the Albatron Xbit received for testing was an abberation, but it's something to consider if you run your desktop at very high res.
5. I don't know anything about either's warranty. Check to see who handles it (the card manufacturer or NewEgg) and how long it lasts.

The Albatron seems like a better buy if you value price/performance and a quiet HSF. The Gainward may be worth an extra $30 for a guaranteed 10% OC and better 2D quality, though its HSF is noisier. I may just take a gamble and go with the Albatron, hoping that Xbit's noted poor 2D quality was limited to their sample card and not all Albatrons. You can put the $30 you save toward Doom 3 or Half-Life 2.

Some review links:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/albatron-fx5900.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/fx5900-r9800_6.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/gffx/gffx-16.html
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/472/page20.html (doesn't have Albatron, but shows Gainward HSF noise and GPU temp)

Pity the MSI 5900 is so expensive, b/c it looks like it has the best and quietest cooler and the best game bundle by far.

 

[Ruck]

Thank you all for the advice. I have decided to go with the Albatron card this time. At the moment, $30 is a big deal (unless i get my new job! ). So for a minimal performance gain (if any), i can't justify the extra cash. With that order placed, i'm one step closer to having a 'modern' computer again... something i haven't had in a few years. Next step will be upgrading my motherboard (and perhaps upgrading my P4 1.5ghz to a 3.0 or so) and getting rid of my 512mb of PC133 ram in favor of some kingston/corsair DDR sticks. I'm even more clueless about motherboards/chip setups, but those upgrades are a month or so down the road still, so i'll save those questions for another time.

It'll be nice to finally upgrade my old GeForce2 GTS. Surely, the ol' girl was a workhorse (still is actually!), but the time has come...

Thanks again everyone. The advice and links are greatly appreciated. I know where i'll be coming to get advice on my comp upgrades in the future.

 

[Insomniak]

Gainward overclocks much better. Woulda gone with them, personally.

 

[videoclone]

Originally posted by: Insomniak
Gainward overclocks much better. Woulda gone with them, personally.

My Albatron GeforceFx PV card overclocks to 490Mhz Core and 985Mhz ram

when stock is 400 and 850

and how is the other better ?

 

[enforce128]

the Albatron doesnt have 2.2ns memory! it has 2.5ns!

 

[gibhunter]

Athlon+Nforce is the best combo to go no matter what pricepoint you're at. Intel is simply overpriced.