F.E.A.R. Performance Benchmark:

Conclusion:

    As you can see in the benchmark results, the Sapphire X1950Pro performed quite well and is really competitive with the X1950XTX, which has 512MB of GDDR4 RAM versus the Pro model of 256MB of GDDR3.  I feel that with an extra 256MB of RAM, this would've beaten the X1950XTX. Since the cards are geared towards the mid-level budget range, I don't think the extra 256MB is going to happen any time soon.

   What did happen was someone over at Sapphire got the memo left by millions of buyers regarding the need for a quiet and effective cooling solution for graphics cards. The solution was to get a company that has experience in cooling components and a track record of developing them to be quiet. In all these areas, Zalman, a well known company for its cooling solutions, certainly fits the bill. It's like the old commercial of "You got chocolate in my peanut butter.... You got peanut butter in my chocolate" deals. The Sapphire and Zalman partnership definitely creates a better product.

    Overclocking was unsuccessful and resulted in poorer test results. Weird, I know, but that's what happens in the computer world. Truthfully, I feel no need to overclock with the Sapphire Ultimate X1950Pro; the stock results were good enough, and from a budget card with a price of $200 or less at that. With an additional $200 in your budget, grab a second card and go with the CrossFire setup using the internal bridge, and show up  those SLI'ers at the next LAN party without being embarrassed about your dongle hanging out. I would like to thank Sapphire for sending out this card to VH for review.