For its time, the nVIDIA GeForceFX 5900 Ultra was one of the fastest GPUs you could hope for, but like all good things, the real story of the FX5900 was not so rosy. TSMC, the company nVIDIA use to fabricate their silicon, had a lot of problems getting the new 0.13 micron process right, and that caused serious delays in production.

Because of that, relatively few GeForceFX 5900 Ultras reached the retail market, and consequently the card never took off. Fast forward six months, and now the GeForceFX 5950 Ultra is upon us. Thankfully, the teething problems TSMC experienced with 0.13 micron manufacturing have been laid to rest.

The MSI FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 with its red PCB and large copper plated cast aluminum heatsinks weighs in around 500g, making it one pretty heavy videocard. Luckily for us, MSI make sure that the FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 will not get damaged during shipping by surrounding it with a nice cushion of antistatic foam.

MSI FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 Red PCB Includes: Users Manual, Driver CD, Morrowind, Ghost Recon, Duke Nukem MP, Seven Game Demo CD, VirtualDrive/RestoreIT! CD, WinDVD, WinDVD Creator, MSI Utilities CDs, DVI to analog converter, Molex Power Cable, MSI Sticker.

The accessory package that comes with the FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 is rather large, and includes an S-Video-to-S-Video cable, VIVO break out box, and DVI-to-analog converter. The software package the company bundles in is pretty good, with full versions of Morrowind, Ghost Recon, Duke Nukem MP and a seven game demo CD. Other software goodies include WinDVD, WinDVD Creator, Virtual Drive Pro and RestoreIT! Pro. MSI also include a neat looking note pad, too bad the calender inside is six months old already...

The front of the FX5950 Ultra-VTD256 videocard is cooled with a one piece memory/GPU heatsink while the rear uses a two piece cooling solution. According to MSI, the TOP Tech cooler will allow the GeForceFX 5950 Ultra to run at up to eight degree Celsius cooler than other GeForceFX 5950 Ultra videocards, all the while only producing approx 28dB of noise.