Geforce 3 really that good?

[Andyddr]

We all know that 3dfx has surcome to the might of Nvidia and we thank the once powerfull 3d-chip maker for it`s piece of history. That said, I have been to Nvidia`s home page and seen all the hype (can`t miss it) of the nv20 or Geforce3 card. Well on paper it looks very good with new technology such as nfiniteFX, Lightspeed Memory Architecture, Vertex Shaders and Pixel Shaders and so on....

But the benchmarks say another thing...the Geforce2 Ultra, while it lacks the new technology, still seems to beat Nvidia`s new monster in most tests. Now you may argue that new software will be written that will optomise these new functions (which it will) and that it is still not 100% complete (still writting driver code), but are we now looking at a Pentium 4 vs 3 story here? I mean great that we now have a whole host of new features that will be used very soon, but what about the other features that are being ignored or rather not improved on. Try this link and you will see what I mean http://www.digit-life.com/articles/gf3/index.html

I`m sure that the guys at Nvidia have a very good marketing and planning team. It seems that there will always be a `gts` followed by a `pro` and then `ultra` with a `mx` inbetween for good measure and in no dought the ultra g3 WILL beat the ultra g2 in these same benches.

 

[Grizely1]

i think you should read the captions underneath the benchmarks, not just look at the numbers.... some of them have the GF2U having a larger number but the caption tells otherweise.

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"648kb is all the space anyone will ever need!"

Bill Gates, 1980s

 

[Andyddr]

I have, but it does not make any sence, so I have worked on the numbers and charts to get this data. Okay this is still early days and I`m sure the guys @ Nvidia have a great product here, but I want to know why core speeds etc have not improved more as they are the same as the ultra.

 

[kingbrd1]

It's my understanding that with the limitations of bus speeds and such that making the GPU faster didn't accomplish that much. But this time Nvidia decided to just make a better GPU rather than faster. I don't know and don't claim to know all the specifics but I do know that some of the tests of 3DMark 2001 can't be performed by anything else than a GeForce3 because it is highly compatible with DX8. My 2cents.

 

[Guest]

Because nvidia is just riding on the memory usage. I'm sure their will be an ultra for $250 more with higher clocks

 

[noko]

Benchmark in 3dMark2001 looks very very good for GF3:
<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles/gf33dmark2k1/index.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles/gf33dmark2k1/index.html</A>
Easilily takes the banner in all test conducted. GF3 is a Directx8 power horse unrivaled by anyone. A futuristic card that is just now being released, hopefully we will be able to have an option to purchase shortly. Price is high but it is the state of the ART as we know it. For me my Radeon will probably last me throughout the year.


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by noko on 03/20/01 08:31 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

haven't you seen any benchmark scores yet its giving everyone what they want

70 fps at 1600x1200x32

anti aliasing at playable framerates at high resolutions

sure the clock isn't any faster but it doesn't matter with the way they designed this processor, just wait till doom3, and all those other shots of future games come out you'll be happy you have the technolory

but then lol geforce 4 comes out and even more new stuff lol and makes everything else obsolete again

 

[Guest]

well thats the thing. nvidia themselves have stated that games that take advantage of all this new stuff wont be coming out till the end of this year. but theyve also said theyre gonna stick to their 6 month product cycles. so that means that by the time games are actually using all this geforce 3 and beyond stuff, the geforce 4 will be out, and faster. so is there really any point getting a geforce 3?? thats the question some hardware sites are asking, and i dont think anyone has a definite answer to that one yet

___________________________________________

AMD. It gets you chicks.

 

[Grizely1]

not geforce4 just new variant of geforce3.

kind of like the P4 thing eh?

-----------------
"648kb is all the space anyone will ever need!"

Bill Gates, 1980s

 

[JoeHead]

As stated the GPU wasn't doing anything by being sped-up. The memory is holding it up. So one of the features is to get rid of soem of the hidden surfaces thus speeding up the processa dn not hogging memory.

70 FPS w/ anti-aliasing for todays games. For what it is designed for it will PROBALLY be as worthless as before.

So if you need AA today (@ $600) pay for the eng. costs for me please.

All speculation and crap but I love the new stuff. Keep it coming and lets get some competition for our sake!!!

<b><A HREF="http://www.seti.tomshardware.com/" target="_new">How fast is your PC</A></b>

 

[bighead111]

Well I don't know you lot. I just use 3D card for playing games. If there aren't many games out there which can take advantage of those high hype fancy feathers, what is the point of throwing your bucks around. Well again this is purely personal! If you like wasting your money, that is your business, nobody can blame you! Well at least, when I look at the bright side, I can see the price is droped for the " old things " when the " new thing " comes out, EH!!

 

[HolyGrenade]

The GeForce3 is a powerful Graphics card. The benchmarks don't give it credit, because most of them cant even test some of its features.

There will definitely be new variants of the card coming out sometime, because they released it with "safe" settings. Settings they can improve on with a little optimization. The main bottle neck in the card is the memory (even with the new architecture). This shows how powerful the GPU is! Again, there should be newer faster memory chips available soon. So, there should be lots of different flavours of the GF3 coming out in the near future.

Games wise, the story should be a lot different from the original T&L. This time around the release is accompanied by the XBOX. There should be plenty of games coming out for that. And, any PC port of those games (there should be quite a few considering the architectural similarities and of course directx) will be using all of the new GF3 Features.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[Guest]

Actually MS is making sure that the XBOX doesn't become the port box by not allowing devs to port inbetween the two. That means No Q3A or other games that have been ported to PS2 or dreamcast even. Not only that they are not going to allow key boards and mice to be made for the system.

 

[HolyGrenade]

Fascists! Well actually, It makes sense, they will make a loss on the hardware. So, they have to make their money somehow.

I'm sure not all developers will have exclusive contracts. Anyway, The perhepherals will be usb. The manufacturers wont exactly need licences, to make them. Maybe someone will make a linux kernel for the box. Hey Presto! We'll all have miniature ugly computers in our living rooms. woohoo!


<font color=red>"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and dispair!"</font color=red>

 

[Guest]

Actually, knowing Microsoft the Xbox will make a debut with a expandsion port that will never be used. 4 months later they will introduce a port but it wont be USB. It will be a new flavor of the Firewire that is Microsoft Standard for other microsoft hardware components (Oxymoron).

If they ever took the market on game systems (never happen) you would only be able to use it with a Microsoft Television set.

 

[HolyGrenade]

Microsoft....Standard.

Oxymoron indeed. ;-)


<font color=red>"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and dispair!"</font color=red>