I'm singing a different tune now. Noticed it was just about impossible to get the Ti500 card I wanted. So I started looking at classic GeForce3 cards - I wanted a guarantee of at least classic GF3 level of performance. I read the <A HREF="
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1507" target="_new">NVIDIA GeForce3 Roundup - July 2001</A> article at Anandtech, read the <A HREF="
http://www.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?item=14-..." target="_new">user reviews</A> for the Gainward CardExpert Powerpack!!! at NewEgg.com, and then placed my order!
Reference nVidia clock speeds:
GF3 Ti500: 240MHz core/500MHz memory
GF3 Classic: 200MHz core/460MHz memory
GF3 Ti200: 175MHz core/400MHz memory
I felt that the Gainward CardExpert Powerpack!!! Golden Sample (with VIVO, TV out, and DVI) deal was to good to pass up ($265). Wasn't initially planing on overclocking but it looks like this card overclocks well and provides good 2D images (best in the roundup). I'll just swap out the nVidia drivers and overclock to get the equivalent functionality and near the performance level of a GF3 Ti500.
From <A HREF="
http://www.tweak3d.net/reviews/gainward/gf3powerpack/" target="_new">Tweak3D: Gainward GeForce3 PowerPack!!!</A>:
"... I was lucky enough to receive Gainward’s newest product, the GeForce3 PowerPack!!! for reviewing purposes. As I found out, this wasn’t your ordinary PowerPack!!! as it had a “golden sample” sticker on the front. I wasn’t exactly sure what the “golden sample” sticker signified but according to Overclockers Austrailia the “golden sample” cards are cards that tested much higher than the normal PowerPack!!! cards and <font color=green>are guaranteed to run at a speed of at least 220 MHz for the core and 480 MHz for the memory</font color=green>. I was anxious to test out all the features and play around with the utilities, so I quickly opened up the package and got to work. ..."
From <A HREF="
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1507" target="_new">NVIDIA GeForce3 Roundup - July 2001</A>:
"... As far as VIVO GeForce3 cards, our choice was not as simple. We had to pick from a selection of 3 cards, each with a strong point. When forced to make a recommendation, we had to go with the VIVO Gainward CARDEXPERT GeForce3 PowerPack !!! due to it's high image quality, good VIVO features, and low price. As mentioned before, the Gainward CARDEXPERT GeForce3 PowerPack !!! was the only card that appeared to have as sharp of an image as the ATI Radeon DDR. Add to this the rather low price of $349 and standard DVI-out port, and the Gainward CARDEXPERT GeForce3 PowerPack !!! seems like a great deal; and it is. ..."