Leadtek's WinFast GeForce256


Leadtek's WinFast GeForce256 - Page 3

     

Direct 3D Performance

As a mature but stable proving ground, we ran the Forsaken Ship Demo to score some D3D benchmark numbers. These were done at the overclocked 133MHz. clock speed and 180 Memory speed.

These are dramatically better numbers than that of the previous NVidia TNT2 chipset. However Forsaken does not have support for T&L and the Matrox G400 still smokes by as a result. Once again, this is only a preliminary indicator of Direct 3D performance for the GeForce. We intend to see what T&L really does for Direct 3D next week!
 

3DMark 99 MAX

Once again, excellent numbers for the WinFast GeForce256 but not the absolute best we've seen to date. As far as we know, 3DMark 99 MAX also doesn't drive T&L. We'll have to wait and see what the folks at Mad Onion have up their sleeve for their next benchmark suite. Perhaps then we'll see the GeForce's T&L have an impact.
 

 

Force Feeding - Conclusion

NVidia has lead the market here with a new technology that could have them breaking away from the pack quickly. Unfortunately, early adopters of this technology will have to wait just a short while longer to truly benefit from its advances. This is not a bad thing in our opinion. A time will come when T&L is mainstream, especially since it is now an integral part of DirectX. Others like 3dfx have their own bells and whistles which also may prove to be ground breaking. We'll just have to see how the competition stacks up. For now, NVidia's GeForce has a lot of headroom to grow.

The Leadtek WinFast is a well built card and an excellent stable performer in its class. We were able to overclock this card as high or higher than some other manufacturers cards that we have seen reports of on the net. Leadtek also does a nice job of working with NVidia's drivers and really adds value to the package with their tweaks and utilities. The card should retail between $229 and $269 at various retailers.
 
We give the Leadtek WinFast GeForce256 a Hot Hardware Temp-O-Meter Rating of....

  93 ! - Feel the GeForce!

-Davo

 


  (Temp-O-Meter scores are rated on a number of key metrics including performance, stability, ease of installation, compatibility, feature set, "overclockability" and component quality. A perfect score is 100 )

Tags:  GeForce, Win, GeForce2, force, leadtek, fast, DT, EA, K

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