Why overclock?
Written: Jul 12 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extremely fast 3d, stable, and works with practically anything!
Cons: Not as fast 2d as a Radeon
The Bottom Line: Just go get one already...
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| Dearmad's Full Review: Leadtek WinFast GeForce 2 GTS |
This card is beautiful, and with the measly $100 it costs now to get a name brand GeForce GTS over an MX how can you go wrong? Until your CPU is pushing 1.4GHZ (AMD) or 1.7(Intel) your bottleneck will be your CPU, NOT your video card, and that suits me fine.
Rebuild woes...
I recently upgraded my system's CPU/MB to an Athlon 900/Asus A7A266. I had a measly Diamond Monster Voodoo installed. It had played DVD's and fullscreen video fine with my old PII350 but that all changed once the new processor took over. Suddenly everything started to stutter and hiccup. At first I thought it was the DVD player and dust or something over the laser, so I cleaned that out but the problem persisted. Then it occurred to me... the video card couldn't keep up and was having trouble communicating with such a fast processor. I did some research and even though the GeForce 3 is out and affordable, there isn't a processor/gamme/application that takes advantage of it yet enough for me to justify $300.
NO OVERCLOCKING REQUIRED
If you're overclocking this GTS card and using any CPU slower than 1.4GHZ you are mad and just tinkering to tinker. Your bottlenck is your processor not this card, and the measly 0.5 or so FPS you gain by overclocking this thing is for what purpose when you're usually already over 50fps in ANY app/game?
So the fact that the VisionTek GTS isn't a tweaker's dream is not a nightmare for anyone with a sane system anyway.
Installation
I have NEVER had an easier time installing a graphics card as I did this one, and I've been installing them since 8088's. It went off without a hitch. Then I went online, searched for any possible updated drivers and even though the card is more than a year old (technology wise) nVidia had released a driver just a few weeks ago, now THAT is support! A quick d/l and the update went off without a hitch as well. Wow! Installing video cards can be fun! Now there's something new- usually they're like installing HD's- a pain in the behind!
Extra's
I bought an OEM so didn't expect anything, but even the OEM came with the latest WinDVD version. A pretty nice player IMO with screen capture abilities which I like a lot.
The [advanced] area of the video card's settings and adjustments is extensive ranging from 3 versions of full-screen anti-aliasing to how the z-buffer should interprep mismatched data. The color adjustment is simple to use and balance.
Conclusion
Um. nVidia rules the consumer market for a reason, and I think that reason is unrelated to the hype-style 3dfx had when they died. nVidia delivers and supports they're chip technology in a fair-minded, consistent, and thorough manner. The fact that one driver d/l supports their entire current family of cards is great, and means long-standing support for any of their cards you buy.
And the cards perform. In fact even though the GeForce3 is on the market, games still have you to overwhelm the GeForce 2 (even the MX) for the most part, and have yet to take full advantage of the chips this technology leader makes.
Go get one!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100.00
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Epinions.com ID:
Dearmad
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Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 6 members
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