OpenGL Workstation Power - Graphics Cards for the Professional User

Elsa Gloria III - The Details

The Gloria III has one DVI-I port (left) and one standard VGA port (right). In order to have two analog monitors hooked up at the same time, you need a DVI-I-to-VGA adapter. Since this isn't included with the card, you have to pay $20 extra. You can get one at a site such as Molex (DVI-Analog Plug to VGA Receptacle, order# 88741-8700 or DVI-Analog to VGA cable assembly, order# 88741-8300). DVI-I also permits hooking up a digital flat panel monitor using the PanelLink protocol. Running two monitors at the same time is, however, very limited. As the Quadro2 Pro is based on the GeForce2 core, it would not allow "TWINVIEW". This feature, which enables real dual monitor support, is only implemented on GeForce2 MX boards and the upcoming Quadro DCC cards.

The heart of the card, the Quadro2 Pro chip, is clocked at 250 MHz, whereas the DDR SDRAM is clocked at 200 MHz. This means that the chip and memory clocks run asynchronously. As a gauge of performance, you can consult the basic specifications of this chip. It attains a polygon rate of 31MPoly/s, a pixel fill rate of 1000MPix/s and a texel fill rate of 2000Mtexels/s. These numbers can give rise to false hopes. Theoretically speaking, these graphics cards should be able to beat the other two cards tested hands down. Our benchmarks prove, however, that this is not the case.

Elsa provides 64 MB of DDR SGRAM as memory. The substantially more expensive competitors Fire GL4 and Wildcat II 5110 come furnished with a whopping 128 MB.