GeCube FZ Cool Radeon X1950 PRO Champion Edition 512MB

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We have said it before so there should be no need to repeat our opinion: the Radeon 1950 PRO is one of the best performance graphics card choices if you're looking for a card to tide you over till the DirectX 10 cards and games have settled in. In the meantime, while waiting for ATI's answer to the GeForce 8, the R600, ATI loyalists are likely to go for the newer SKUs using the cooler 80nm cores. One of the more fancy versions available now looks to be the GeCube FZ Cool Radeon X1950 PRO Champion Edition. The FZ Cool heatsink blends thermal electric cooling and heat pipes into a giant concoction with two fans. It produces more noise than the other two Radeon X1950 PRO cards in our comparison and takes up slightly more space due to the large, elevated cooler. Yet, there's something geeky about a heatsink that's as complicated looking as the FZ. It even requires a separate power connector for its thermal electric component. To be fair, we did manage to push the GeCube more than the rest in our overclocking tests, which somewhat validates GeCube's claims of improved overclocking performance.

The default performance of the GeCube was also above average, scoring around 2 - 3% higher than its rivals. This minor boost can be credited to the 512MB memory and while we doubt that these benchmark scores will translate to actual in-game improvements, credit has to be given for doing better than its direct competitors here. GeCube also surprised us with including a DVI-to-HDMI converter, though this seemed like a half baked scheme since there's no way to combine the audio and video through the card's hardware. Regardless, it should be useful to those who won't be caught dead using the HDMI audio component instead of their own home theater speakers. There's no doubt that in more ways than one, this GeCube is very unique but it also comes with a significantly higher price.