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"Sparkle 5900XT compared"

Hello there!

I bought myself a games Magazine today, and there was a feature on graphics cards. They tested 4 cards, one being the Sparkle 5900XT. The RRP for this beauty is only 150 coins, but I think I saw it for 120 on another website somewhere. Bearing in mind the small price, take a look at the Specs, and then the results.

Sparkle 5900XT
390mhz
128mb DDR
680Mhz
256 bit
(Peak) 9.6gb / sec
Four (don’t know what that’s for)
Heatsink & Fan
120 coins

Sapphire Atlantis 9800XT
412mhz
256Mb DDR
730mhz
256 bit
(Peak) 23.3Gb / sec
Eight (don’t know what that’s for)
Copper Heatsink & Fan
330 coins

ASUS 9800XT/TVD
412mhz
256mb DDR
730 DDR
256 bit
(peak) 23.3Gb /sec
Eight (don’t know what that’s for)
2 Fans & Copper Heatsink
320 coins

ASUS V9980 The Only Nvidia
475mhz
256mb DDR
950mhz
256 bit
(peak) 30.4gb / sec
Four (don’t know what that’s for)
Two Fans & Copper Heatsink
320 Coins

Here are the sets of tests, please keep in mind the price:
Call of Duty demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 58
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 60
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 60
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 60

Halo demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 31
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 39
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 40
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 44

Max Payne 2 demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 53
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 60
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 60
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 57

Far Cry demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 39
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 53
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 52
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 47


I think the Sparkle is very well priced, considering it wasn’t too far behind the cards that are double it money. I’ll probably be buying this card, but I thought I’d share these results with you guys. To me all the above are just numbers, but to some of you they actually mean something. Feel free to discuss everything here.

Holy S**t !!!
I really didnt know that this was an Nvidia...

The XT, the Number and the colour of the card really did confuse me! hehe, god i feel like a clown.

Damn it, i really did think that this was a Radeon... Looks like i'm going with my original choice; 9800 Pro.

*Walk away*

cookie monster wrote:

> Coins = Pounds = Cost of card

Compared with fps I assume, like Tom's Hardwares Fbucks?

Mmm nV make pretty decent budget cards, but for your powerhouses you want to go ATI really, especially as ATI seem to have been first off the line with their X800 cards.

Allred wrote:
> Look here for a proper comparason of cards, I mean, what the hell are
> coins on that magazine review? You want frames per sec.

Coins = Pounds = Cost of card

DiscoDexy wrote:
> ASUS V9980 The Only Nvidia

The Sparkle 5900XT is Nvidia aswell.

Go with what the others below say and stay away from Nvidia and get a 9800 Pro, at £140 even less than that now they are very good value for money.

Dex, I have told you many times about Nvidia cards. Don't know why you won't take my word for it, they are crap for their money, especially the DX9 cards.

Don't buy an Nvidia, nnnooooooooooooooooo! (unless your on Linux, in which case the ATI Linux drives are pants). The number you don't know what it is is the number of rendering piplines, which the higher the better. I would go for a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro at £136.88 Inc VAT at Scan computers, which is a decent PC componets retailer I discovered recently.

(http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp? (SPACE) WebProductID=60853)

That should beat the Nvidia card, and the image quality on ATI is far greater than on the Nvidias.

Edit:

Look here for a proper comparason of cards, I mean, what the hell are coins on that magazine review? You want frames per sec.

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html

Note that the GF FX 5900 XT trails way below the cheaper R 9800 Pro, which generally beats all the GF FXs bar the 5950U on some occasions.

Hello there!

I bought myself a games Magazine today, and there was a feature on graphics cards. They tested 4 cards, one being the Sparkle 5900XT. The RRP for this beauty is only 150 coins, but I think I saw it for 120 on another website somewhere. Bearing in mind the small price, take a look at the Specs, and then the results.

Sparkle 5900XT
390mhz
128mb DDR
680Mhz
256 bit
(Peak) 9.6gb / sec
Four (don’t know what that’s for)
Heatsink & Fan
120 coins

Sapphire Atlantis 9800XT
412mhz
256Mb DDR
730mhz
256 bit
(Peak) 23.3Gb / sec
Eight (don’t know what that’s for)
Copper Heatsink & Fan
330 coins

ASUS 9800XT/TVD
412mhz
256mb DDR
730 DDR
256 bit
(peak) 23.3Gb /sec
Eight (don’t know what that’s for)
2 Fans & Copper Heatsink
320 coins

ASUS V9980 The Only Nvidia
475mhz
256mb DDR
950mhz
256 bit
(peak) 30.4gb / sec
Four (don’t know what that’s for)
Two Fans & Copper Heatsink
320 Coins

Here are the sets of tests, please keep in mind the price:
Call of Duty demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 58
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 60
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 60
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 60

Halo demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 31
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 39
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 40
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 44

Max Payne 2 demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 53
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 60
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 60
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 57

Far Cry demo

Sparkle 5900XT 120 coins: 39
Sapphire 9800XT 320 coins: 53
ASUS 9800XT 330 coins: 52
ASUS Nvidia 330 coins: 47


I think the Sparkle is very well priced, considering it wasn’t too far behind the cards that are double it money. I’ll probably be buying this card, but I thought I’d share these results with you guys. To me all the above are just numbers, but to some of you they actually mean something. Feel free to discuss everything here.