Gainward CoolFX Powerpack! Ultra/2600

[DR]

There's a performance increase to be had from the Ultra/2600 CoolFX, but unless the price differential drops to within £100 of the air-cooled board, the Ultra/2600 CoolFX is hard to recommend. Undoubtedly the fastest unmodified consumer graphics card in the world in quite a few scenarios, but not far enough away from boards like the X800 PRO, XT PE and other 6800-based cards to be attractive, given the price.

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD03ODc=

[purgatory]

Thanx for the review, but a I have a question.

Driver Optimisations
NVIDIA Trilinear Optimisations - 60.72 - Off
NVIDIA Trilinear Optimisations - 61.34 - Off
NVIDIA Anisotropic Optimisations - 61.34 - Off
ATI Trilinear Optimisations - BETA 4.5 - On

Am I ready this correctly? you benched with nvidias Optimisations off and ATI's on??
If one uses Optimisations on shouldnt the other be benched with Optimisations on also?? or am I not reading this right... Thanx again for the review, been waiting for some retail card reviews...

[Rys]

It's not that simple with regards to their respective filtering options. I've got an article in progress that attempts to address the issue, plus there's millions of threads on a load of forums that explain it too.

ATI's optimisations produce an image that's as close as you'd like to the image that'd be produced with optimisations off. Whereas NVIDIA's optimisations decrease image quality noticably.

That's my basic methodology for the review, but I'll clear it up in a future article.

Rys

[wilkinru]

I just don't get it. You gave the product a thumbs down in your conclusion and still gave it 8/10?

You suggested everyone stay away from it and spend the money on something else.

So lets just be clear here, what is your review trying to say?
Is it trying to say:
1. We will give you a good final score even if we do not recommend the product in order to keep getting items to review.
2. Your review is purely on how the product performs/works.
3. You do not even know why you are reviewing this product.

This is how I see it - The card is a near-failure. You said it yourself.

Give it the 6/10 it diserves and put a little thing at the bottom that says "if the price was $XXX (or whatever euro money is these days), it would be a 8/10".

PS. Translate into USD. Save me the trip of trying to figure out your funky money. Everyone knows english and how much the USD is worth.

[directhex]

Everyone knows english and how much the USD is worth.

Very little, with the state of the us economy.

HEXUS is a UK-based site, it wouldn't make sense to quote prices in dollars any more than Euros or Malaysian Ringgits.

[Platinum]

I take it you were only using retail cards in this review? Hence the X800 XT PE missing from the benchies?

[megah0]

Spotted a spelling error.

The title of "world's fastest graphics card" is a heady one. Reserved only for the cream of the crop, the outright expensive, the downright ludicrous. When used correctly, the title often applies all three superlatives to the product in question, at the same time. Simultaneously fast, expensive and slightly rediculous

[Applecrusher]

I take it you were only using retail cards in this review? Hence the X800 XT PE missing from the benchies?

I was thinking that tooo, I cant wait for a XT PE to show up at Hexus for review..

[Rys]

I just don't get it. You gave the product a thumbs down in your conclusion and still gave it 8/10?

You suggested everyone stay away from it and spend the money on something else.

So lets just be clear here, what is your review trying to say?
Is it trying to say:
1. We will give you a good final score even if we do not recommend the product in order to keep getting items to review.
2. Your review is purely on how the product performs/works.
3. You do not even know why you are reviewing this product.

This is how I see it - The card is a near-failure. You said it yourself.

Give it the 6/10 it diserves and put a little thing at the bottom that says "if the price was $XXX (or whatever euro money is these days), it would be a 8/10".

PS. Translate into USD. Save me the trip of trying to figure out your funky money. Everyone knows english and how much the USD is worth.

I don't give it a thumbs down. I say it's excellent but too expensive, hence the couple of points knocked off. I suggest those without deep pockets stay away, but that doesn't mean it's a poor product for those that have them.

If you see it differently I'm not sure what to say. If it had deserved a 6, it would have got a 6.

Rys

[Rys]

I take it you were only using retail cards in this review? Hence the X800 XT PE missing from the benchies?

Yep Retail board review, retail boards used for comparison.

Spelling error fixed too, thanks mgh0!

Rys

[DR]

I was thinking that tooo, I cant wait for a XT PE to show up at Hexus for review..

We have reviewed one - but an ATI reference board.

[cbone]

Can you only get the CoolFX with all of that other crap? What if you just want the card?

[Rys]

Gainward have no plans to offer the CoolFX on its own, without the watercooling hardware.

Rys

[cbone]

That sucks. I just want to add the card to my existing loop.

[Noxis]

Realistically wouldnt think the CoolFX card is *that* much more of a clocker than its regular Golden Sample Ultra, its probably relying on the water cooling. Although obviously Gainward will be picking the best GPUs from nVidia to put on those boards, also I wonder if they tweak the volts up a little... you got a multimeter Rys ?

[Rys]

I do, but Gainward have moved the card on, I don't have it any more.

Rys