Test: Leadtek WinFast GeForce 2 PRO (1/14)
The product history of Leadtek's video cards reads like a who's who of graphics chips. All the stars and starlets of the last few years are there. You'll find everything from 3D Labs' Permedia 2 and Glint chips, the TNT and TNT 2, all the way through to the GeForce256 (but no 3dfx chips). As the next logical step, their current product line covers the GeForce 2 based cards, offering everything from the bargain MX to the high-end PRO. In this review we'll take a closer look at the WinFast GeForce 2 PRO, which uses NVIDIA's GeForce 2 Pro chip. For some reason the box I received was still marked GTS with a PRO sticker on it, but that probably has to do with the fact that this is still an early testing sample. Nonetheless, just to make sure you should probably always take a peek inside the box and check out the 5ns RAM chips to find out what's really inside when you're buying the card. Not all salespeople may really know what it is they're selling. The GeForce 2 PRO chip is practically 99% identical to the GTS. The PRO just uses a different BIOS and modifies PLL's for the higher memory clockspeed, while the chip itself is also marked as a "PRO" version. The memory, however, is truly different. All GF2 PRO cards will come with 64MB of 5ns or 5,5ns memory running at 400 MHz (DDR). This is roughly a 20% improvement over the standard GTS, which uses 6ns modules running at 333 MHz.
Rather confusingly, the PRO is not meant to replace the GTS. Instead, it looks like it will be used to complement the manufacturers' product lines and maybe even compete with the GTS. From a consumers perspective, this doesn't necessarily make much sense, and the early adopters of the frightfully expensive 64MB GTS boards are bound to be unhappy about this development. So where is this decision coming from? NVIDIA is marketing the chip as an OEM part to be used for complete systems sold to "first-time" buyers. This of course begs the question why so many manufacturers are selling the PRO in the same retail segment as the GTS? This is where the business aspect comes in: NVIDIA only sells an allocated and predetermined number of chips to any given manufacturer. These, however, can sell more cards than they actually have chips for, due to the extreme demand for NVIDIA based boards. Since all of the GTS chips have already been allocated, the manufacturers instead add a "PRO" card to their product line and use these additional chips to try and keep up with demand. Due to lack of competition in the performance market segment, the manufacturers are even able to dictate prices and set their own margin. Must be nice....
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Copyright: 09.12.2000 -
RIVA
Station 2000 - Lars Weinand Translation by Benjamin Kraft! URL of this Article: www.rivastation.com/leadtek_gf2pro_e.htm - If you want to link to it, please use this URL! :-) |
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