| Gigabyte GV-NX59128D |
|---|
| |
|
| Brand | Gigabyte |
| Model | GV-NX59128D |
| Graphics Chip | NX59 |
| Graphics Memory Type | DDR |
| Memory (MB) | 128 |
| Graphics Core Clock (MHz) | 350 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 550 |
| Memory Speed (ns) | 2.8 |
| RAMDAC Frequency (MHz) | Dual 400 |
| Active Cooling on Graphics Chip | Yes |
| Heatsink on Memory | No |
| Video Capture | Yes |
| System Health Monitoring | Yes |
| Ports | |
| Dual Monitor Support | Yes |
| VGA Out | DVI-I+VGA |
| Video In and Out | S Video Out, S Video In, Composite Out |
| Package and Support | |
| Printed Manual | Yes |
| Driver CD | Yes |
| Performance Tool Software | Yes |
| Major Games | Spell Force, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield |
| Major Software | No |
| VR Glasses | No |
| DVD Player Software | PowerDVD 5 |
| Video Recording Software | No |
The GV-NX59128D comes as a full sized card, meaning that the card spanned the width of a typical motherboard. Although it could have been smaller, the design called for the use of this large size. Because Nvidia's FX5900 GPU did not have native PCI-E support, a bridge is used to translate AGP to PCI-E. As show in the picture, PCB is often wasted since the GPU was so far from the bridge. Nvidia's design was rather questionable. I'm sure they have their reasons, but the locations of the resistors and capacitors and the core and the memory are located on the opposite ends of the card. And in between the two ends is a lot of empty PCB area. Of course Nvidia must have a good explanation, but the card's physical architecture was poorly designed.
Like the little brother, Gigabyte's PCX5900 sports a light active cooler for the graphics core. The cooler does a great job at cooling but does so by providing a rather whiny noise level. The noise was tolerable but could have been quieter. The size of the aluminum heat sink was rather small, with small fins to help with heat dissipation. The angles of the pictures show that the heat sink is not as beefy as it appears to be. The size of the heat sink wasn't a big disappoint as it did do what it was intended to do. The card did not heat up any time during testing, even on full load.
One good thing to note is that the GV-NX59128D does not require an additional Molex connector for power. Unlike the FX5900 cousins, the card receives its power purely from the PCI Express slot, which can be contributed by the slower speeds on the core and memory than the AGP cousins. The GV-NX59128D has a 128-bit memory interface and is powered by Hynix's 2.8ns chips. The stock speed of the core on the GV-NX59128D is 350MHZ, while the memory runs at a low 550MHZ. The Hynix 2.8 theoretically yields a 714MHZ frequency, meaning that there is definitely some overclocking headroom if enthusiasts wanted to push the card. As mentioned earlier, the FX5900XT AGP cousin sports a rather decent 390/700 while the PCI-E version only runs at 350/550. The PCX5900 should be a direct mirror over to PCI-E, but Nvidia chose to run the card much slower than it was designed to. This can only mean that the PCX5900 is just running slower than it should be.
Just like the majority of the graphic cards available, the GV-NX59128D comes with the usual analog, S-Video, and DVI outputs. The card allows the option for a dual display monitor and can be easily configured through Nvidia's control panel. The included S-Video to composite video cable allows some flexibility if enthusiasts wish to use a TV for display.
