As far back as the 3dfx Voodoo2 days, ATI has dominated the multimedia enthusiast market with its All-In-Wonder video cards. I would often ask myself, "When Will NVIDIA produce a full-featured multimedia solution?" That question was answered when the company released its first Personal Cinema line. The first- and second-generation Personal Cinema products were tied to under-performing chipsets like the GeForce2 and GeForce4 MX - adequate for multimedia use but certainly inferior gaming-wise to ATI's offerings that were based on their 9600, 9700 and 9800 chips. NVIDIA and eVGA, however, have stepped up to the plate with the latest midrange multimedia solution: the eVGA GeForce FX 5700 Personal Cinema.

Sporting the NV36 core, this product looks like it will have the goods to satisfy folks who want a full-featured multimedia video solution while allowing for decent gaming performance.

Personal Cinema Essentials

eVGA leaves nothing out of the Personal Cinema package. It includes two eVGA stickers, audio/video cables, multimedia hub, DVI-to-VGA adapter, FM antenna, NVIDIA remote control, two software cds, batteries, and of course the card itself.

The card features a small green and black heatsink on the core. The cooling isnt very imaginative, reminiscent of the reference cooling of the original GeForce3. I would have hoped for some kind of cooling for the memory as well. There's only one DVI out port, so if you own a CRT monitor, you will need to use the included DVI-to-VGA adapter provided with the retail package. The card also requires a direct feed from the power supply in order operate so you will need to connect the PSU to the molex connector at the back of the PCB.

The Card

Here's a list of the nuts and bolts specifications:

• 425 MHz core clock
• 550 MHz memory clock
• 128-bit memory interface
• 1700 pixel/texel fill rate
• 8.8 GB/second of memory bandwith
• Phillips NTSC TV tuner (coaxial out)
• FM tuner for radio input and capture
• AGP 8x/4x compatibility
• Digital Media Hub for audio/video input/output
• DVI connector for analog/digital displays
• DirectX 9.0 support
• NVIDIA Intellisample (HCT)
• Video mixing renderer
• Dual 400 MHz Ramdac
• NVIDIA Digital Vibrance Control 3.0
• Integrated hardware MPEG-2 decoder

The software bundle included two CDs. One installs the NVIDIA forceware driver suite. The other installs the Forceware Multimedia Application. Included also on the second CD is Ulead's DVD Movie Factory 2.5 SE and VideoStudio 7 SE. Unfortunately there was no game bundle with this package, something that ultimately struck me as somewhat disappointing.

Here are some images of from the Forceware Multimedia applications and driver control panel:

Forceware Multimedia Player

Radio Tuning

Stock Clock Speeds

Next Page: Test Setup and the ForceWare Multimedia Suite