Fast Food! 5 more GeForce 3s

Conclusion

Conclusion? I conclude: We’re right back where we started out with this article. Should you get a GeForce 3? If you’re a hardware freak – sorry – enthusiast who is constantly optimizing his system and already owns a GF2 PRO or Ultra, you’d have to be more than just a bit fanatical to seriously consider buying a GF3. Either one of these "old" cards is more than capable of offering high performance in current games. Only high 32Bit resolutions with FSAA enabled are really going to profit from a newer card.

However, if you’re finally at the point where you’re plain sick of choppy game play even at low resolutions and are ready to give your "old 450MHz rig" to your kid sister or your parents, things are different. If you want to experience a quantum leap in performance and don’t want to upgrade every couple of months, the GF3 may well be your ticket. Example: If you’re the once-proud owner of a 500MHz-class box with TNT2/V3 graphics, you’ll be picking your jaw up off the floor after seeing your new Athlon 1200 or P4 1500 tear through games with its GF3. Of course, this experience doesn’t come cheap – but then, what good experiences do?

Of course you could also argue that the smarter and less expensive way would be to buy a GeForce 2 PRO or Ultra and save some money. Well, yes, that sounds reasonable at the moment, but let’s gaze into the crystal ball for a moment... When the first games that support Vertex and Pixel Shaders hit the streets and your new darling can’t handle the maximum quality settings you’ll be disappointed, not to mention kicking yourself for being shortsighted. So it comes down to what you expect from a new card. One thing is for certain: Even the newest technology is outdated before it hits the streets. On top of that, ATi is readying the next-generation RADEON, which promises to be a serious competitor to the GF3. So is the answer to wait and see? For the DIY crowd, I would say yes. All those of you who want more power now, the best time to buy is always now – as long as you’re willing to pay the price.

Rating the cards – listed in alphabetical order:

	3D Power Morpheus - 93% The Morpheus is definitely a cult-object. If you’re looking for something that isn’t just plain old standard you’ll love this card. Highlights include good cooling, an excellent gaming bundle and stylish packaging. The driver tools could be better, though.
	Chaintech G-300 - 91% The G-300 works exactly as advertised – it offers high 3D rendering performance, no more, no less. What it lacks are a gaming bundle and driver tools. If you don’t care for these extras then Chaintech has a card for you!
	Gigabyte GV-GF3000D - 92% Who needs memory heatsinks? The GF3000D proves that a good GPU HSF is sufficient. A nice gaming bundle, DVI ouput and a software DVD player round off the good impression. On my wishlist: An optional TV-Out module – or an add-on daughterboard for the port on the card.
	Leadtek WinFast GeForce 3 TDH - 93% Leadtek, take two! The new WinFast TDH impressed me with extraordinary cooling, DVI output, hardware monitoring and a solid gaming bundle. The card stands out among the rest of the field visually as well. But beware, this beauty has its weakness, and its name is gravity. The heavy heatsink may cause problems during transport and fall off the card.
	PowerColor Chameleon - 92% No, the ChameLeon didn’t magically transform during testing, but otherwise the card made a very solid impression. While the gaming bundle isn’t exactly bleeding-edge (UT), at least you get the 2CD version. And who knows, maybe the transparent fan will start a trend. I for one thought it was an eye-catcher.

- The End -

Lars "Borsti" Weinand - Editor In Chief - RIVA Station 2001

Ben "Iggy" Kraft - English translation

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