Performance testing concludes with benchmark results from a variety of popular synthetic applications. Again, I used the Sapphire Radeon 9600XT as a reference for comparison. I switched to FutureMark's approved 52.16 ForceWare drivers prior to benchmarking 3DMark03 and also used them for 3DMark2001.

3DMark2001 SE

3DMark2001 SE Performance

3DMark03

3DMark03 Performance

AquaMark 3

AquaMark 3 Performance

CodeCreatures

CodeCreatures Performance

Having experienced a favorable gaming experience with the Radeon 9600XT and Radeon 9500 Pro, I was pleased that I would be given an opportunity to review the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. After six weeks of extensive use, the Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX 5700 Ultra has surpassed my expectations and I have no problem recommending it to the avid gamer who is unable to afford a higher-end product.

Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GDDR3

I do have mixed reactions in regards to the use of GDDR3 memory on the GeForce 5700 Ultra. While it runs cooler and overclocks higher than DDR2, it doesn't significantly boost performance in today's memory bandwidth intensive games and carries a higher price tag than the standard GeForce 5700 Ultra. However, the major dilemma that the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra faces is the stiff competition from Inno3D's own GeForce FX 5900 XT, which is based on a 256-bit memory bus. The GeForce FX 5700 Ultra with 128MB of GDDR3 memory is also difficult to find and is priced from $180-$190 at Shopping.com. The GeForce FX 5900 SE and XT are widely available and start at $200.

Pros

• GDDR3 memory (runs cooler, consumers less power vs. DDR2)
• Excellent cooling
• Quality components
• Good software bundle
• ForceWare drivers
• GeForce 6 could re-categorize part to low mid-range or upper low-range

Cons

• GDDR3 memory (more expensive, marginal increase in performance over DDR2)
• Faces stiff competition from the GeForce FX 5900 series
• Limited availability
• Size of card may pose a problem in SFF cases

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