XGI Volari V5 Ultra

The XGI Volari V5 Ultra is an end-of-life graphics card built on the 130 nm process at UMC, featuring the XG41 chip with 90 million transistors, 256 MB of DDR2 memory on a 128-bit bus, and support for AGP 8x, DirectX 9.0, and OpenGL 1.4.

Power and Cooling

The XGI Volari V5 Ultra carries no official TDP figure in the available data, but the suggested PSU rating is 200 W, which is a modest requirement for the era. The card occupies a single slot, indicating a slim cooling solution that does not extend beyond one bracket width. No specific power connector is listed, so the card likely draws its power entirely from the AGP 8x slot, which is consistent with the low system power demand implied by the 200 W PSU guidance. The memory operates at 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective), and with a 128-bit bus, the resulting bandwidth is 16.00 GB/s. Pixel fill rate is 700.0 MPixel/s, while texture fill rate reaches 1.400 GTexel/s. These figures suggest a design aimed at minimal power draw rather than extreme performance, and the absence of a dedicated power connector means installation is straightforward in any AGP 8x system with a 200 W or better power supply. The display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video, which covers standard analog and digital connections of the period. Given the 130 nm process and 90 million transistors, thermal output is likely contained, but no precise wattage is available for confirmation. The single-slot cooler should suffice for the pixel and texture rates listed, as those rates are not indicative of a high-heat flagship part.

How It Compares

The FACT PACK provides no nearest rivals, no benchmark scores, and no percentile comparisons beyond a single value: the percentile versus all GPUs is 50. This means the Volari V5 Ultra sits exactly at the median of the entire GPU database, neither outperforming half nor falling behind the other half. Without named rivals or delta percentages, the data cannot place this card relative to any specific competitor such as a GeForce or Radeon product of its generation. The absence of benchmark scores (avgBenchmarkScore is 0) further limits direct comparison; the only quantitative anchor is the 50th percentile, which is a neutral position. In practice, this percentile suggests that the card's raw performance—based on its 4 texture mapping units, 2 ROPs, and 16.00 GB/s bandwidth—is typical of mid-range hardware from its release period, but no exact rival can be cited from the data. The card's DirectX 9.0 support and AGP 8x interface were standard for 2003, but the 2 ROPs are a low count even for that time, which would cap fill-rate-bound workloads. The 4 TMUs are also modest, and the 700.0 MPixel/s pixel rate implies a ceiling for high-resolution rendering. Because no rival names or scores exist in the FACT PACK, any comparison beyond the percentile is unsupported. The data simply shows a card that is neither a standout nor a laggard in the global GPU landscape.

Who Should Consider It

Based on the available data, the XGI Volari V5 Ultra is positioned exactly at the 50th percentile of all GPUs, which means it is suitable for users who accept median performance. With 256 MB of DDR2 memory and 16.00 GB/s bandwidth, the card can handle textures and frame buffers for games of its era, but the 2 ROPs will limit fill-rate-heavy scenarios. For 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolutions with medium detail settings, the card's pixel rate of 700.0 MPixel/s and texture rate of 1.400 GTexel/s are adequate for older DirectX 9.0 titles, assuming the game does not demand high anisotropic filtering or anti-aliasing. The 50th percentile ranking implies that half of all GPUs are faster, so users seeking high refresh rates or maximum quality should look elsewhere. Conversely, those running legacy software or 2D applications will find the card sufficient, given its single-slot profile and low PSU requirement of 200 W. The AGP 8x interface is a match for motherboards from the early 2000s, and the 1x DVI output allows for digital monitors, though the VGA and S-Video outputs cover analog displays. The card is not recommended for modern 3D workloads, as DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 1.4 are outdated, and the lack of Vulkan support eliminates any recent API usage. For a user with a 200 W power supply and an AGP 8x slot who primarily plays pre-2005 games at modest resolutions, the Volari V5 Ultra is a functional choice, but the 50th percentile status means no performance headroom.

FAQ

Q: What is the memory configuration of the XGI Volari V5 Ultra?

A: The card has 256 MB of DDR2 memory with a 128-bit bus, running at 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective), yielding 16.00 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Does the card require an external power connector?

A: No power connector is listed in the data; the suggested PSU is 200 W, implying power is drawn from the AGP 8x slot.

Q: What is the card's performance percentile?

A: The percentile versus all GPUs is 50, meaning it sits exactly at the median of the database.

Q: Which APIs does the Volari V5 Ultra support?

A: It supports DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 1.4; no Vulkan support is listed.

Q: What are the display outputs?

A: The card provides 1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video outputs.

Q: What is the process node and transistor count?

A: The chip is fabricated on a 130 nm process at UMC, with 90 million transistors.

Q: Is the card still in production?

A: No, the production status is end-of-life, with a release date of 2003-09-14.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark data for the XGI Volari V5 Ultra is sparse: avgBenchmarkScore is 0, and the nearestRivals list is empty. The only performance indicator is the percentileVsAllGpus of 50, which places the card at the exact midpoint of all GPUs in the database. This percentile is a relative measure, not an absolute score, so it indicates that the card performs equivalently to the median GPU—neither superior nor inferior to the typical part. Without any rival names or deltaPct values, there are no percentage comparisons to report. The raw specifications provide a basis for interpretation: 4 TMUs and 2 ROPs are low counts, and the pixel rate of 700.0 MPixel/s combined with a texture rate of 1.400 GTexel/s suggests that the card is bottlenecked by its ROP count in fill-rate-limited scenes. The 16.00 GB/s memory bandwidth is modest, and the 256 MB frame buffer is adequate for 2003-era textures but not for later high-resolution assets. The 50th percentile ranking is consistent with a card that offers mainstream performance, but the absence of any benchmark scores means that no exact FPS or synthetic result can be cited. The card's DirectX 9.0 support aligns with its 2003 release, but the OpenGL 1.4 support is older than competing parts of that time, which may affect compatibility with certain OpenGL titles. The data does not include any clock speeds for the GPU core, only memory at 500 MHz, so compute throughput cannot be estimated beyond the fill rates. In summary, the Volari V5 Ultra's performance is defined by its median percentile and its fill-rate specifications, but without rival deltas, the analysis cannot state that it is faster or slower than any specific product. The 50th percentile is a neutral verdict: it is a card that will run period-appropriate software at acceptable settings, but it offers no advantage over half the GPUs in the database. For a user prioritizing raw numbers, the pixel and texture rates are the only concrete metrics, and they point to a low-end-to-mid-range part that is best suited to 1024x768 gaming with reduced effects. The end-of-life status and lack of modern API support further cement its role as a legacy component rather than a competitive one.