MSI FX5950 Ultra-VTD256

This graphics card has enhanced cooling properties.

Price: £269.42

Manufacturer: MSI

Ratings

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Verdict

Pros:
Excellent software bundle.

Cons:
Bulky and relatively noisy; overclocking invalidates warranty.

Overall:
With a low price tag such as this, we really didn't expect to get such a range of bundled goods, but were pleasantly surprised.

Will Stapley, Personal Computer World 30 Jul 2004

Packaged in a hugely oversized box, the FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 from MSI is nevertheless one of the cheaper cards in this test.

Based around the Nvidia FX 5950 Ultra chipset, this weighty card has two large heatsink and fan combinations - one on each side of the card.While having two fans means cooling is enhanced, which will interest overclockers, it also has the effect of increasing the noise levels and the card's footprint.

You get a substantial collection of both utilities and games with this card, but none could be described as amazing. The game collection consists of some fairly old titles such as Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project and Ghost Recon - the latter is oddly described on the back of the box as 'more excited than Counter Strike'.

Those who want to push their card to the limit will be pleased to hear that the MSI utilities include MSI Clock, which allows you to adjust the core and memory clocks. Be warned, though, even though MSI has included this overclocking utility, if you use it and it results in your card getting damaged, your warranty will also be invalidated. Along with MSI Clock, you'll find a selection of other utilities including WinDVD, Photoshop Album SE and both Virtual Drive and RestoreIT from Far Stone.

MSI has included a sizeable manual that covers basic information regarding installation and how to use the MSI Live driver update utility.

With such a good software bundle, you'd expect this MSI card to be sitting at the higher end of the price scale. However, the company has somehow managed to give the FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 an RRP that makes it one of the cheapest in this group test. If you think that you'd prefer an Nvidia Geforce FX card over an ATI Radeon, this is a strong contender and wins a Highly Commended award.

Contact: MSI 0870 727 2100 (Sales - Simply Computers)
www.msicomputer.com

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