Another good MX graphics card but almost the same as others!
Written: Sep 28 '00 (Updated Oct 01 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A little cheaper than other MX equipped graphics cards, Elsa 3D REVELATOR glasses support, Excellent performance for price range... even beats out some more expensive cards
Cons: drivers are still a little shaky, no Twinview support, not much else in box but discounted software available thru Elsa, card is able to support DDR ram which would speed it up considerably but you have SDR ram instead!
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Elsa GLADIAC MX |
Never one to be satisfied with checking out one product, I had bought the Elsa Gladiac MX card as well. If you read my Guillemot 3D Prophet II MX review, guess what, there are very minor differences between this card and Guillemot's card. By the way, don't let the MSRP fool you, this card sells for much cheaper on the actual market.
This graphics card is based off the NV-11 chipset by NVIDIA... the chip we know as the GeForce II MX chipset. The short history of the chip is that NVIDIA intended the chip to be used in notebooks and other portable devices (well... mainly notebooks and budget computers). The chip certain is capable of several other features like the Twinview technology and relatively low power consumption... just over 2 watts of power. However, ATI notebook graphic chipset run much less than 2 watts of power, which meant that the NV-11 chipset would suck up too much power from the notebook battery. All wasn't lost, you still got a great chipset that produced outstanding graphics for a budget price and with low power consumption! The NV-11 still has those odd and ends features most video cards don't...
Elsa's board is a modification of the NVIDIA reference board for the MX chipset. Like most MX equiped graphic boards, you will get outstanding graphics with quality levels towards the GeForce 2 GTS boards and speed levels closer to the GeForce 1. The MX chipset really is a huge modification of the GeForce 2 GTS chipset (I believe the NV-15 chipset) and share several features with it (By the way the GeForce 2 Ultra is just a really souped up GTS... and twice as fast as the GTS theoretically). The chipset is a 256-bit chip with a 2nd generation Transform and Lighting engine (T&L). The T&L engine is supposed to help offload many of the graphics situations to free up the main CPU for things like AI. On the other hand, there are a few steps back from the GeForce 1 and GeForce 2 GTS chipsets. The MX has 2 pipelines versus 4 on the GeForce 1 and 2 GTS chipsets. However, each pipeline has the same pixel output than the GeForce 2 GTS which is far better than the GeForce 1.
The GeForce 2 MX has a feature that is found only on the MX and the recently released GeForce 2 Ultra (the super death graphics chip from NVIDIA at this writing). This is Digital Vibrance Control. All MX equipped boards from any manufacturer supports this. It allows for manual control over subtle graphic options like precise color saturation and contrast controls... it is more than just changing the brightness and contrast on your monitor.
The Elsa Gladiac MX is the lowest end MX card from Elsa. It competes directly with other graphic cards like the Guillemot 3D Prophet II MX card. The card is a great budget card and easily outperforms other budget graphic cards without an NVIDIA chipset. It also does this at a fraction of the cost of most major graphic boards for graphics work and gaming.
Elsa has the following specs on the card:
GLADIAC MX Technical Specifications
- Graphics Controller: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX GPU
- RAMDAC/Pixel Cycle: 350 MHz
- Memory: 32MB SDR RAM
- Bus Systems: AGP 2x/4x (including fast writes and
execute mode)
- Standards: DPMS, DDC2B, Plug & Play
- Optional Video Module: 1x Video-In & 1x Video-Out
- BIOS: VESA BIOS 3.0 support
- API Support: DirectX 6, DirectX 7, OpenGL
- Internal/Memory Interface Clock: 175MHz/166MHz
- Horizontal SYNC Signals: 31.5Hz - 108.5Hz
- Vertical Refresh Rate: 60Hz - 200Hz
and this looks almost the same as the Guillemot card except that there is no mention of the speed of the memory.
Strangely enough, the card itself has a six year warranty.
The card itself is a base package with other additional software.
The MX chipset is capable of delivering 2048x1536 graphics although at a huge performance hit. The Elsa card is equipped with SDR memory instead of faster DDR memory. <a href= http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-7D36-4A8EBFD-39D2D552-prod1 >You can read my Guillemot review for a bit more info on SDR versus DDR memory</a> or check out sites like Tom's Hardware Guide, Daily Savage Reviews, Thrasher's 3D Firing Squad and the similar sites. With DDR memory, this card would really rocket up the performance charts although not as high as a GeForce 2 GTS card, but certainly much better than a GeForce 1 card in any configuration would have performed! Also the MX chipset is capable of Twinview support... i.e. NVIDIA's multiple monitor output solution. Twinview allows the card to produce output on 1 to 2 monitors, a TV, and/or a supported flat panel display (Of course this all depends on the additional hardware of the card). Elsa will add Twinview into more expensive versions of the card just like every other NVIDIA card maker. The memory other than being SDR, is also 6 ns memory although I need to confirm that info still (I returned the Elsa card for reasons I will give in the overview).
There is a few additional perks with buying the card from Elsa...
The Elsa Gladiac MX supports Elsa's 3D REVELATOR glasses and there is a Custom Gamers bundle form that allows the buyer to get 3 full versions of the following titles: Messiah, MDK 2, Evolva, Die Hard Trilogy 2, F 16 Aggressor and many more. The Custom Gamers bundle has fee but it is less than the price of a full game of any of the pickable titles at CompUSA (well, at least it was a few months ago... most of the above games are now in bargain bins now). Otherwise, the Elsa card is just like the cards of many other companies.
My Verdict
I returned the Elsa card and stuck to a GeForce 2 MX card I bought from eVGA.com called the e-GeForce 2 MX Twinview Plus card. I paid only $150 for it and got the Twinview support for 2 monitors and a TV but no flat panel support. Plus the fact I've had extremely satisfying results with eVGA customer support people for card problems. The Elsa card itself is very run of the mill for MX based cards although you usually can find a real good deal for Elsa cards... Onvia was selling the card at $119.12 as of this writing (9/28/00). One of the best prices I've seen for an MX card.
Overall, as with the Guillemot card and all MX based graphic cards, you get superb graphics for a minimal cost. Elsa adds a few bells and whistles with the 3D glasses support and the ability to get some games for dirt cheap. Otherwise, the same problems with the Guillemot card are shared by the Elsa card:
- there are a lot of companies making GeForce 2 MX cards and most based on the reference boards.
- Many of these companies are a bit cheaper than Guillemot although not by much.
- The first generation GeForce DDR cards are dirt cheap now! They still give good performance and at times still beat out the GeForce 2 MX chipset. The Original GeForce cards have reached their end of their product life and are for the most part on firesales...
The GeForce 2 GTS looks like it will take the GeForce 1 card in
that part of the graphics market.
- If you get TwinView capable cards, the Twinview feature is very disjointed and not as useful as it should be compared to a similar feature on Matrox boards (DualHead technology).
- I'm unsure if the TwinView problem is based on the hardware or software at this time... I'm hoping it is mostly a driver problem.
- NVIDIA's drivers are very good but still need major work to allow the GeForce 2 MX chipset to function to its capacity.
As for chipset concerns, the GeForce 2 MX is the best bang for your buck. Elsa has been in the market for a while... the 3D glasses support is nice if you are willing to buy the glasses. My friends have said that the Elsa cards are pretty solid and reliable. You can't go wrong with a 6-year warranty either. I would rate the Elsa a bit better than the Gullimot for the extended warranty, better pricing, ability to get some decent discount software, and the 3D glasses support!
As with the Guillemot card, I would recommend the card for light gamers and budget users... Power graphic users and serious or power gamers need not apply. I don't know what to recommend to Power graphic users but power gamers should look at other cards if they are willing to spend at least $300 or more on it. In the $300-$400 range, you can get the GeForce 2 GTS which has a much faster output and speed. Some may consider the Voodoo 5500 card. For those who have lots of money to burn (the $450+ group), the GeForce 2 Ultra or Voodoo 6000 card is for you. I'm more of a NVIDIA supporter but that doesn't mean the current video cards out in the market aren't good. You can sample Voodoo level graphics in many Gateway Countries since it is in some many of their computers (as of the last time I checked.)
A little away from the subject...
Again, look at my home page or my savings page to get extra coupons and stuff to help lower the cost of goods you but on the internet...
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129 + tax ($119.12 at Onvia.com)
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Epinions.com ID:
yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
Location: Somewhere in the NorthEast
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