ELSA GLADIAC - Erazor couldnīt get any better

ELSAīs new card GeForce 2GTS card is called GLADIAC. This is a mix between Gladiator, Glad and Maniac - or simply "GLAD In AaChen", the location of the ESLA headquaters.

GLADIAC is based on the new NVIDIA GeForce 2GTS. The specs of the chip should be well known now. The card runs at default settings of 200MHz chip core and 333MHz memclock (166MHz DDR). The card will be available in 4 versions:

GLADIAC 32MB DDR available at Mai
GLADIAC DVI 32MB DDR available at June
GLADIAC 64 64MB DDR available at June
GLADIAC PCI 32MB DDR available at June

The GeForce 2GTS has the needed implementations (AGP to PCI bridge) to build a PCI version without much effort. ELSA canceled the Erazor X PCI but they will offer a PCI Version of GLADIAC. A PCI board is very interresting for overclockers with Intel BX mainboards because you overclock your AGP bus when you increase the clockrate of the Frontside bus on the mainboard. And this is the only way to run multiplier locked Intel CPUīs at higher speeds.

click to enlarge! videom2_k.jpg (10268 bytes)
The optional videomodule with Video IN and
OUT. Every GLADIAC can be rearmed with
it. Click to enlarge.		 Videomodul - a very small thing

A special feature on the GLADIC is the optional videomodule. Every ELSA GLADIAC card can be equiped with it and upgradet with a TV-IN and OUT. Iīts not compatible with the older Erazor X-Series but ELSA sais that it is (should) be compatible to all future generations if there are no major changes in the chipdesign by NVIDIA.

The videochip of the module comes from Philips. This overs normal videooverlay without hardware compression. The compression of the videostream is done by software - as before with the Erazor III Video. So you need a really fast harddisk if you seriously want to cut videos. In the package included is the videosoftware Main Actor V3 in a fullversion. Itīs unknown yet if the NVIDIA referencedriver will support the Philips video-out chip. Owners of an ASUS graphicscard with video in/out had this problem in the past because ASUS a Chrontel Chip instead. The referencedrivers only supported Brooktree/Conexant Bt869.

Video Decoder:

  • Philips SAA714 Video Decoder Core
  • 9-Bitdigitizing
  • 4-line PAL/NTSC comb. Filter
  • Advanced H/V scaling
  • Macrovision detection

Video Encoder:

  • Philips SAA7102 Video Encoder Core
  • 10-Bit Dacīs
  • Proprietary Flicker Filter
  • Pixel accurate scaling and positioning
  • Hardware Cursor
elsa1.jpg (11508 bytes)

The drivers offer extended settings. In detail: tools called Smart Resolution and Smart Refresh. These tools allow you to set all monitorparameters individually to optimize the card to your display. An overclocking menu is also included in the drivers.

I donīt know how ELSA is handling the game-bundling in the US, UK, France or in other countries. In Germany ELSA makes a special offer: There ar eno games bundled with the standard card but you can choose 1,2 or 3 games to a very special price out of a pool of 10 actual games. The list will be updated all two month. So everybody should be happy. If you want games you can choose the ones you really want. Otherwise you have the lower price of the card.

  • Pick 1: 1 game for DM 19,90
  • Pick 2: 2 games for DM 34,90
  • Pick 3: 3 games for DM44,90
Voltage regulation etc.

All this sounds very good but there is a point that brings you back down on the ground. The price of the standard nacked "GLADIAC" board is set to DM 849,-. The streetprices should be lower but itīs still a lot of money for a 32MB card. The videomodule should cost about DM 100,-. The price of the 64MB version is not known yet but it should be about DM 1000,-.

You shouldnīt expect to see the prices of the older Erazor X (GeForce 256) series smash down. ELSA sees the GLADIAC as a new high end board. The X series wonīt mutate to an entry solution today. The other point is if it will really happen this way. We have a bit more competition today than in the past with GeForce - if ATi and 3dfx (why donīt they call their cards Voodoo 5 Daikatana !?) can deliver in time. This should influence the price downwards.

Availability: ELSA starts selling boards in the US in beginning of may. Germany follows two weeks later. I think this will be new shock for 3dfx - the new Voodoos should be available more than 6 month ago to compete with GeForce. Now they have to handle GeForce 2....

ELSA shows a very innovative and customer friendly solution - but at high costs!

Official Specifications: GLADIAC
Equipment  
Graphics processor NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS
RAMDAC/pixel cycle 350 MHz
Memory outfit 32- or 64-MB DDR RAM
BIOS VESA BIOS 3.0 support
Bus system AGP 2x/4x, including fast writes and execute mode
Features  
Graphics standards Direct3D, OpenGL, DirectX7, DirectDraw, DirectShow
2D features 256-bit 2D acceleration, optimized for 32, 24, 16,15, and 8-bit color depths, hardware cursor in TrueColor, multi-buffering (2x, 3x and 4x for flowing movement and video playback)
3D features 256-bit engine with HyperTexel architecture, optimized Direct3D and OpenGL acceleration, full DirectX7 support, 32-bit Z and stencil buffer, single-pass multi-texturing, anti-aliasing, high-quality texture filtering, including anisotropic; advanced Per-Pixel texturing for perspective correction, fog and depth cueing, texture compression
HDTV/DVD playback Extended motion compensation for full screen video playback in all DVD and HDTV resolutions, video acceleration for MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and Indeo
Standards DPMS, DDC2B, plug&play
Connectors Monitor: D-Shell (15-pin)
With optional video module: 1 x video-in and 1 x video-out
Dimensions 173 x 108 mm (ATX format, not including mounting bracket)
Resolutions refresh rates with
  256 colors (8 bit) 64K colors (16 bit) 16.7 million colors (24 bit/32 bit)
1900 x 1440 60– 85 60– 85 60– 85
1600 x 1200 60–120 60–120 60–100
1280 x 1024 60–170 60–170 60–150
1024 x 768 60–200 60–200 60–200
800 x 600 60–200 60–200 60–200
640 x 480 60–200 60–200 60–200
  The values specified here are maximum values which, under some operating conditions, may not always be achieved. Other graphics modes are easily configured in WindowsŪ.
Driver/software  
Operating systems Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Linux
Windows utilities ELSA WINman Suite includes ELSA Driver Settings, ELSA Info, ELSA SmartRefresh, ELSA SmartResolution
Package contents  
Manual German, English, French, Italian and Spanish
Installation Guide German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish
Drivers/Software 3D demo CD, the ELSAmovie software DVD player, DirectX7, GLADIAC CD with drivers and utilities
Service  
Warranty 6 years
Support Via hotline and Internet
Item no.  
00534 (Bulk) ELSA GLADIAC GeForce2 GTS, AGP, 32 MB DDR RAM, without accessories
00426 (Bulk) ELSA GLADIAC GeForce2 GTS, AGP, 64 MB DDR RAM, without accessories
00950 (Retail) ELSA GLADIAC GeForce2 GTS, AGP, 32 MB DDR RAM, demo CD, ELSAmovie
00436 (Retail) ELSA GLADIAC GeForce2 GTS, AGP, 64 MB DDR RAM, demo CD, ELSAmovie

ELSA GLADIAC
Content:
ELSA GLADIAC

 

WWW Links:

ELSA GLADIAC
 

Copyright: 26.04.200 -   RIVA Station 2000 - Lars Weinand
No Copy without Permission!

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