Gainward Ultra/1100XT TV-DVI Video Card

By jw

Introduction:

To follow up our Albatron FX5900 XTV review, we bring you the 5900XT solution from Gainward — which comes with a little different punch. The Albatron card came to us with default GFFX 5900XT speeds. However, the Gainward Ultra solution we are looking at today comes with overclocked core and memory speeds, which boost this card’s performance in most tests!

The Gainward solution has a core clock speed of 450MHz and a memory speed of 780MHz! This is increased from the 390MHz core and 700MHz memory speeds associated with NVidia’s factory specs for a 5900XT graphics card. Here is a chart that shows how the core and memory speeds of the Gainward Ultra/1100XT compare to other 5900XT solutions on the market.

FX 5900XT (default)

Gainward 1100XT

BFG Tech 5900XT OC

MSI 5900XT

Core Clock

390MHz

450MHz

430MHz

400MHz

Memory Clock

700MHz DDR

780MHz DDR

735MHz DDR

700MHz DDR

As you can see, the Gainward solution comes with the most OC from the factory. We will cover more on this n the Overclocking section, but in order to run the Gainward card at 450/780, you must install the Gainward EXPERTool Utility and enable “Enhanced Mode.” Now let’s move on to the bundle included with this card.

The Bundle:

  • Quick Start Guide
  • Basic Installation Instructions
  • S-Video to Composite Adapter
  • ‘Y’ Power cable splitter
  • DVI-to-VGA Adapter
  • Included Software:
  • Driver/Utility CD
  • InterVideo WinDVD 4

The bundle Gainward has put with this card seems to be lacking any games. One thing that Gainward did include, which I feel should be included with every NVidia card that requires external power, is a ‘Y’ power cable splitter so that you don’t really lose a molex connector because of the video card.

It’s always a big plus when manufacturers include all the necessary accessories for using the features of their product. With that said, besides the lack of games, another missing bundle piece is an S-Video or Composite video cable. Gainward chose to include the adapter, but no cable to allow you to actually utilize the TV-Out feature of this card. Gainward did include the DVI-to-VGA adapter to help most users utilize the Dual Monitor support for this card.

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