WinFast GT 220 1024MB DDR2

Highlight

PCI Express 2.0 provides support for next generation PC platforms and doubles the interconnect bit rate from 2.5 GT/s to 5 GT/s (PCI Express 2.0 card is fully backwards compatible with existing PCI-E 1.0 motherboards)
The 40nm process technology, better performance & power management
Support HDMI output
Compatible with Microsoft Windows 7
NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD delivers the ultimate HD movie experience when playing Blu-ray and HD-DVD
Support NVIDIA® PhysX technology
Ultra-high speed 1024MB DDR2 memory
Support Dual-Link DVI with awe-inspiring 2560x1600 resolution
Full Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 Shader Model 4.1、OpenGL®3.1support*
Ultra-smoothly playback H.264, VC-1, WMV and MPEG-2 HD and SD movies
*Requires R190 drivers or later
Features

High-Speed 1024MB DDR2 Memory on Board
Enhanced memory speed and capacity ensures more flowing video quality in latest gaming environment especially in large scale textures processing

PCI Express 2.0 support
Designed to run perfectly with the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture, offering a future-proofing bridge to tomorrow's most bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications by maximizing the 5 GT/s PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth (twice that of first generation PCI Express). PCI Express 2.0 products are fully backwards compatible with existing PCI Express motherboards for the broadest support.

HDCP Capable
Allows playback of HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and other protected content at full HD resolutions with integrated High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support. (Requires other compatible components that are also HDCP capable.)

Dual-Link DVI
Supports hardwares with awe-inspiring 2560-by-1600 resolution, such as the 30-inch HD LCD Display, with massive load of pixels, require a graphics card with dual-link DVI connectivity.

Support Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 Shader Model 4.1、 OpenGL®3.1
The standard for today's PCs and next-generation consoles enables stunning and complex effects for cinematic realism.
*Requires R190 drivers or later

NVIDIA® unified architecture
Fully unified shader core dynamically allocates processing power to geometry, vertex, physics, or pixel shading operations, delivering up to 2x the gaming performance of prior generation GPUs.

GigaThread™ Technology
Massively multi-threaded architecture supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shader programs.
Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
Blazing-fast RAMDACs support dual QXGA displays with ultra-high, ergonomic refresh rates up to 2048x1536@85Hz.

NVIDIA® PureVideo ™ HD technology
The combination of high-definition video decode acceleration and post-processing that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video.

NVIDIA® Lumenex™ Engine
Delivers stunning image quality and floating point accuracy at ultra-fast frame rates.

16x Anti-aliasing: Lightning fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 16x sample rates obliterates jagged edges.
128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR): Twice the precision of prior generations for incredibly realistic lighting effects
High dynamic-range (HDR) Rendering Support
The ultimate lighting effects bring environments.

NVIDIA® nView® multi-display technology

NVIDIA® ForceWare™ Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)

Leadtek WinFast PX9500GT

INTRODUCTION
Are you one of the many computer users that just can't justify spending $300 to $500 on a single video card? Or maybe you are looking for a solution for that Home Theater PC (HTPC)? Well today we're going to have a look at Leadtek's newest entry into the video card market: the WinFast PX9500 GT. This is by no means a top-of-the-line gaming card, and it was never meant to be. The 9500 GT claims to be an excellent solution for viewing HD video - we'll take a look at that today - as well as heat and power issues to see just how well this card fills the niche it was designed for.

ABOUT LEADTEK
Leadtek, like many other component level manufacturers, is headquartered overseas. Taiwan to be exact. The contacts they list on their website are in Taiwan, Japan, China, and Russia. They have been around for several years, starting out in 1986 building EGA BIOS and AT motherboards. They have been fairly strong in the market, expanding into video cards, TV tuners, webcams and video phones, USB drives, even GPS! The bottom line is that Leadtek is not going away, and I think we will continue to see more from them in the ever-expanding video card market.

From the Leadtek website:

"Innovation and Quality " are all and intrinsic part of our corporate policy. We have never failed to stress the importance of strong R&D capabilities if we are to continue to make high quality products with added value.

By doing so, our products will not only go on winning favorable reviews in the professional media and at exhibitions around the world but the respect and loyalty of the market.

For Leadtek, our customers really do come first and their satisfaction is paramount important to us.

Using all digital means of communication available - such as our regularly updated Website- customers, current and potential, are easily able to refer to our catalogue of products with information on prices, services and future developments.

Looking ahead, Leadtek will continue to maintain its status on the Asia-Pacific market while extending its global sales network. By combining our trend-setting graphics, multimedia audio and video, communications technologies, we remain dedicated to cutting edge technologies and value added products.

We will work toward further integration of computer and communications technologies with our sights set on combining multimedia videophony, and GPS (Global Positioning System) in a single product. Also to extend the market for broadband network devices.

Our ultimate goal is to facilitate and improve human life through new technology and applications without harming the environment.

Together we can dream of a world where we enjoy the convenience of modern technology without compromising our natural heritage for future generations.

And turn even this Dream into a Reality with Leadtek.

Gainward GeForce GT 240

Last October Nvidia released a brand new graphics card aimed at the budget market, the GeForce GT 220, and unlike the shady GTS 250 this was actually a new product that deserved to be part of the 200 series. Built using a last generation manufacturing process and given the codename GT216, you'd be forgiven to be unaware of all this, as the 40nm GeForce GT 220 turned out to be a dud.
In terms of performance we were disappointed to find the theoretical bandwidth of 25.3GB/s placed this card alongside the old GeForce 9500 GT. The GeForce GT 220 would in fact be much slower than the GeForce 9600 GT, which we felt was a bit of a joke.

Not everyone can afford a high-end graphics card, of course, so we welcomed the addition for the sake of competition. But this is where things got even more ridiculous. Nvidia decided to slap an $80 price tag on the card, even when the far superior Radeon HD 4670 from ATI had been retailing for less for quite some time.


Prices have dropped slightly since then, but our opinion on it hasn't changed much. We feel the GeForce GT 220 was a pointless release, and as a result we must remain skeptical about this new card from Nvidia. The GeForce GT 240 is said to be considerably more powerful than the GT 220, though in terms of performance it should still sit well below the GeForce 9800 GT.

In other words, it appears that the GeForce GT 240 is picking up where the GeForce 9600 GT left off. With the remaining 9600 GT stock priced just under $100, Nvidia's newest card will start life here. This seems like the right product to take on the Radeon HD 4670, as we expect it to provide a similar level of performance, while keeping power consumption in check, but again carrying the wrong price tag.
Needless to say our expectations for the GeForce GT 240 are underwhelming, but that's not to say we won't give it a fair go. We really hope the tweaked version from Gainward that we are reviewing today can surprise us, so let's move on to check it out in more detail.