GeForce2 Titanium

This one is the most confusing of the three. It has not got a number after the 'Titanium', because it is a Geforce TWO chip. NVIDIA will replace GeForce2 Ultra with GeForce2 Titanium. However, even though 'Titanium' might sound better than 'Ultra', the latter has clearly got the better numbers going for it. GeForce2 Titanium comes with 250/400 MHz (core/memory), while GeForce2 Ultra had a clear advantage in terms of memory performance, with 250/460 MHz (core/memory). Memory bandwidth is the bottleneck for 3D gaming performance, so GeForce2 'Titanium' will hardly be able to reach the scores of GeForce2 Ultra. It might be just a bit better than GeForce2 Pro, which has a lower core clock (200 MHz), but the same memory bandwidth as the 'Titanium'.

Here's a little table that shows the most important features of the new and the old cards with NVIDIA chips:

In terms of raw numbers GeForce3 Titanium 500 is the strongest GeForce3-solution, while GeForce2 Ultra still remains the fastest GeForce2-version. 'Titanium' is clearly NOT signalizing 'better performance'. What it is supposed to realize though is 'better bang for the buck'.

If you should not be too familiar with all the bells and whistles of NVIDIA's GeForce3 and GeForce2 cards, but want to learn about their 3D-features and effects, I suggest you read the following articles:

• High-Tech And Vertex Juggling -NVIDIA's New GeForce3 GPU
• GeForce3 Performance
• The Magnificent Seven: GeForce3 Board Round-up
• GeForce3 Under Attack: ATi's Radeon 8500 Previewed
• NVIDIA Strikes Back - The GeForce2 Ultra 3D Monster
• NVIDIA's Detonator 3 Drivers
• ATi's New Radeon - Smart Technology Meets Brute Force
• The Fastest GeForce2 GTS Card - Gainward's CARDEXpert GeForce2 GTS/400
• 3D Benchmarking - Understanding Frame Rate Scores
• Tom's Take On NVIDIA's New GeForce2 GTS