Is it worth it?

[Red_Zealot]

I know I will get a Hercules Geforce 2 Video Card. I would like to know whether it is worth getting the Ultra card ($450) instead of the Pro card ($280). Any experience with these cards (or Pro v. Ultra in general)? This is a gaming machine, but that ~200 dollars could be used for other stuff if it's not worth it. All posts appreciated.


"If you teach a child to read, then him or her will be able to pass a literacy test" - George W.

 

[Crashman]

No. There is a company putting 4.5ns memory on their PRO cards, Elsa maybe. Anyway, the memory speed is the real issue, you won't get much more out of an Ultra than a Pro if they use the same speed memory.

Suicide is painless...........

 

[phsstpok]

You had me psyched but I can't find any cards with 4.5ns memory, pros or ultras. When I do a search at www.pricewatch.com I find some Pros with 5ns memory and some Ultras with 4ns memory and a whole lot of cards that don't specify.

If you learn which cards carry 4.5ns memory please post the information.

First you step in it then you say it...

 

[Crashman]

I can't find memory speeds listed on the manufacturers webpages! Does anyone else know who is offering the fastest memory in a non-ultra package?

Suicide is painless...........

 

[TheSandman]

I think that hercules is the one with the same mem speed on the pro and the ultra. (give me a couple o days and I will tell you the speed on the pro that I get)

SANDMAN

 

[Bubba]

No, its not worth it.
In the past 6 months I have gone from a TNT2 16MB card to a GeForce 256 64MB to a GeForce2 64MB to a GeForce2 Ultra 64MB.
The major difference was noticed when going from the TNT2 card to the GF 256. After that, the only difference I saw was in benchmarks. The games still all look the same unless you are running at really high resolutions.
Put your money towards a faster processor or more ram or a larger/faster hard drive. These things will give you more of a noticeable performance increase than the GF2U.
Just my opinion.

 

[igottaknife]

what was the benchmark difference between the GF2 and the GF2U?

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[peteb]

Question back - what system ya got?

You'll not notice the difference between a pro and an ultra unless you are running at the top of the curve on mobo, memory and cpu performace.

If you are running a +1Ghz system that is really kicking a$$ then you might pick up the difference on benchmarking - else I'd wait and see what the GE3 does (again if you are pushing the +1Ghz range.)

I say this - I have an Ultra 64 in a PIII@815 (148Mhz) and it hasn't made any visible difference over the Geforce 2 32Mb it replaced. The TV/DVI out is kinda cool though (but you can get that on a 2 as well if it's what you want).

My .02c

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[igottaknife]

I think the only Ultra worth getting is the Elsa since it's ram is at 460MHz compared to 200 or 250 of the GTS and other Ultras.

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[Red_Zealot]

I have a Tbird 750 @ 1100. 256 MB Crucial PC133 Ram w/ CL 2. Iwill KK266 Mobo, 19 inch CRT monitor. With the card prices falling...I may just spend the extra cash...on tuition. I think i'll go with the pro and oc it to ultra levels. After all, that's what overclocking is for (kinda)! If anybody's got any warnings about this, please post.

P.S. I got a 92mm fan dumping cool (16-22 C) air onto the video card, so I'm okay on that front.

"If you teach a child to read, then he or her will be able to pass a literacy test" - George W.

 

[volton]

buy a cheap GeForce2 GTS 32 and then get the GeForce3
(apparently built for dx8) watcha reckon red ????????

" overclocking = better value "