Visiontek GeForce3
So what finally all you folks want to know is whether the GeForce3 is really worth your investment. Well it all depends on what type of a person you’re. If a trend setter, then by all means go for it and brag to your friends.
Before we go any further let me tell you that we were truly impressed with VisionTek’s GeForce3. If not for the hefty price tag, we would recommend this to anybody. If its performance you want, the price cannot be an obstacle. All credit needs to go to nVidia for producing this new breakthrough architecture. However right now, the true potential of the GeForce3 cannot be obtained since the software arena hasn’t evolved to this extent. We still haven’t seen many GeForce3 intensive games enter the market, and the only games available are a few demo’s released by nVidia. Games such as 4×4 Evolution, Aquanox, Dronez, Inevitable Evolution, Crazy Car Championship, Incoming Forces, X-Isle: Dinosaur Island, Ballistics, Everglade Rush, Independence War 2 are just some of the demos available. Seeing these games however makes you dream as to what to expect in the near future, when game developers really get into the track of exploiting the Nfinite FX Engine engine.
Right now the GeForce3 does not totally outperform the GeForce2 Ultra based cards. The only noticeable performance gains are seen only in DirectX 8 intensive games and benchmarks, high resolutions and in anti-aliasing due to the efficiency Quincunx algorithm.
However the prices of the GeForce3 are coming down considerably and soon it’ll match the price of the Ultra, which makes the GeForce3 an extremely viable option. Overall Visiontek has done a splendid job with their GeForce3 board, keeping it in accordance to the reference design. If you’re a hardcore gamer and wanting change fast, then Visiontek’s GeForce3 certainly is a great choice. For now we may not see many GeForce3 intensive games in the market, however keep in mind the market will not remain the same for long. So if you want to join in the bandwagon, go for it. If the price of the board is still out of your reach wait a few more months and the prices are certain to come down by a few hundred. By that time a successor for the GeForce3 might also be in the market, nevertheless by this time you’re assured to get a good deal for a GeForce3. The programmability of the GeForce3 is one of the key features of the GPU. It gives game developers unsurpassed amounts of freedom to introduce new elements to gaming. The down side of the programmable GPU is that right now games cannot make use of this and the benchmarks suffer as a result. This is why the GeForce2 Ultra’s perform almost equally in most tests.
If you currently hold a GeForce2 based card and are quite satisfied with it, then we recommend that you hold onto it until a newer version of the GeForce3 arrives. We will see new introductions from ATI and Kyro within the next few months, so you might want to wait and see how they perform as well. If you think it’s a long wait, then by all means go for the GeForce3, it’ll not fail you.
