Conclusion
After three months of waiting, the true GeForce 256 product has finally arrived. I can't stress how glad I am that the DDR GeForce based boards like the Leadtek WinFast GeForce 256 are beginning to roll out. At $309 (USD) for the DVI or $279 (USD) for the non-DVI WinFast GeForce 256, an added $50 over the price of your average SDR GeForce board gains you a huge increase in performance. The WinFast board provides you with the best 3D performance, a solid software package, adequate DVD playback performance and hardware T&L for future gaming titles. The price for the board isn't cheap but who ever said high-end was cheap? If you're going to pay the big bucks, buy the best.
Overlooking the competition, there is not one single card capable of outperforming the WinFast DDR based board at the moment. If you were to purchase on a price/performance comparison, the only possible competitor would be the S3 Viper II IF they get their act together and strengthen those drivers to increase overall performance and enable T&L capabilities. The ATI Rage Fury MAXX may come to mind but the problem with this board is its hefty price tag that doesn't provide T&L just yet or proof that it's fill-rate performance will ever match that of the DDR GeForce. Other than that, there isn't much of a solution unless you're looking for a dirt-cheap card where 3D isn't that important.
The Leadtek was the first officially released DDR GeForce board tested in our labs and I can safely say that I highly endorse the purchase of this card for the high-end gamer. The Leadtek WinFast 256 GeForce DDR board is a very powerful graphics card and is an awesome upgrade to any system that is used for 3D gaming applications. If this weren't the case, I wouldn't have one installed in my home system for my nightly Quake Arena frag-fest action. :)
| There shouldn't be much difference between the DirectX and OpenGL scores as long as each card has a decent ICD. You'll note that the Viper II must have a highly optimized OpenGL ICD but only for Quake Arena as it doesn't do too well here. Also note that the Matrox G400 MAX does work in OpenGL but at a very slow speed that I still haven't had a chance to work with Matrox on. I'll try to squeeze this in very soon for you Matrox fans. |
