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Conclusions
So
what's the final verdict? We have a new performance champ. Are there faster
cards out there? Of course. You could pick up one of Leadtek's GTS Pro or
GTS Ultra cards and be getting yourself a card with higher performance potential.
However, whenever you buy into the latest available technology you can end
up paying quite a bit more money. For its cost I think the WinFast GeForce2
GTS offers an awsome cost to performance ratio. There was not as big a spread
with the Quake III numbers as we've seen before so I think we are beginning
to see the fill-rate limit of the GTS2 chipset though. With an Athlon 900
powering it we got performance anyone would be satisfied with even if they
like to play games at incredible resolutions with all the eye candy turned
on.
The
card will still be a good choice in a year or so. I don't think someone
who picks up one of these will be looking for its replacement any time soon.
I'm also beginning to think that we may have reached the point where the
most recent cards will lose their glimmer due to their pricetags. I know
that $350 isn't cheap by any means but shop around for a GTS Pro or GTS
Ultra card and you'll begin to appreciate the pricing of this card. The
5.5 ns memory gave us some great overclocking experience as did the large
heatsink on the core. 245 MHz core and 385 MHz memory are way above the
stock 200/333 settings that the card comes packaged with. Another
thing to consider with this card is that it is packed with some great bonus
features. Leadtek includes a software DVD decoder along with the Colorific
software and a couple of other utilities. Even the necesary cables to enable
the TV-Out feature are included. All in all I'm very happy with the performance
we got from the card and I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be happy with
it. You can buy some more performance if you have to but the Winfast GeForce2
GTS 64 MB is getting my editor's choice for more than just its Quake III
performance.
So
what's the final verdict? We have a new performance champ. Are there faster
cards out there? Of course. You could pick up one of Leadtek's GTS Pro or
GTS Ultra cards and be getting yourself a card with higher performance potential.
However, whenever you buy into the latest available technology you can end
up paying quite a bit more money. For its cost I think the WinFast GeForce2
GTS offers an awsome cost to performance ratio. There was not as big a spread
with the Quake III numbers as we've seen before so I think we are beginning
to see the fill-rate limit of the GTS2 chipset though. With an Athlon 900
powering it we got performance anyone would be satisfied with even if they
like to play games at incredible resolutions with all the eye candy turned
on.
The
card will still be a good choice in a year or so. I don't think someone
who picks up one of these will be looking for its replacement any time soon.
I'm also beginning to think that we may have reached the point where the
most recent cards will lose their glimmer due to their pricetags. I know
that $350 isn't cheap by any means but shop around for a GTS Pro or GTS
Ultra card and you'll begin to appreciate the pricing of this card. The
5.5 ns memory gave us some great overclocking experience as did the large
heatsink on the core. 245 MHz core and 385 MHz memory are way above the
stock 200/333 settings that the card comes packaged with. Another
thing to consider with this card is that it is packed with some great bonus
features. Leadtek includes a software DVD decoder along with the Colorific
software and a couple of other utilities. Even the necesary cables to enable
the TV-Out feature are included. All in all I'm very happy with the performance
we got from the card and I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be happy with
it. You can buy some more performance if you have to but the Winfast GeForce2
GTS 64 MB is getting my editor's choice for more than just its Quake III
performance.
