NVIDIA’s NV30 project last year wasn’t all about wringing out a new high-end successor to the GeForce4 Ti 4600, which eventually came out in the form of the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra monster. Initially it awed many, but as more and more thorough tests were being conducted in major review sites including HardwareZone, it ended up looking a little pale against the then reigning RADEON 9700 Pro. Not helping out the situation was NVIDIA’s ‘premature’ drivers that only aggravated the situation.
Although the GeForce FX 5800 and FX 5800 Ultra have conveniently been shelved aside since the inception of its successor, the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, the effort spent on the NV30 project had not gone to waste. For one, it prompted NVIDIA’s development team on the NV35 project to areas requiring improvements. The outcome, which we have all seen in the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra review, was acceptable depending whether you are fully in favor for raw speed or pure image quality (please read the linked review for a better understanding).
Head on over to HardwareZone.com for the review