VisionTek Geforce 3 Review

Geforce3 by Visiontek

Video Card:
Visiontek Geforce3
64 MB DDR SDRAM
core clock: 200 MHz
RAM clock: 460 MHz
NVIDIA's product page
Visiontek's product page

Test System:

Hardware:

Abit VP6 BIOS rev WK
BIOS Settings -
DRAM Timing: Turbo
DRAM Bank Interleave: 4-way
Delay DRAM Read Latch: No Delay
SDRAM Cycle Length: 2
Memory Hole: Disabled
P2C/C2P Concurrency: Enabled
Fast R-W Turn Around: Enabled
AGP Aperture Size: 64MB
AGP-4X Mode: Enabled
AGP Driving Control: Auto
AGP Fast Write: Enabled
AGP Master 1 WS Write: Enabled
AGP Master 1 WS Read: Enabled

2x PIII 700E (cC0) @ 146 FSB (1022 MHz)
2x 128 MB Mushkin Rev3 RAM
30 GB Western Digital 5400rpm ATA100 HD
Toshiba SD-M1402 12x DVD

Software:

Windows 2000 Pro SP2
VIA 4-in-1 4.32
DirectX 8.0a
NVIDIA Detonator3 12.41 official drivers
Registry patched to enable fast writes

Quake III Arena retail
version 1.11 (demo001 and demo002)
version 1.27g (viademo_1)
Vulpine GLMark 1.1
MadOnion 3DMark2001 Build 200

First up: Quake III Arena, maximum install of the standard retail version 1.11. I used three of Quake's graphics presets: "fastest," "normal," and "high quality." Then, since the Geforce3 hardly blinked at the high quality setting, I turned all of the options as high as they would go, namely, geometric detail "high" and texture detail all the way up. Running at these quality settings in 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 really shows the power of this card to keep the framerates playable with incredible picture quality. Also, it's interesting to see the difference that Quake's SMP mode makes (enabled via the command /set r_smp 1 and a restart), especially at the lower resolutions. I was surprised because I can remember reading reviews that suggested SMP mode actually hurt Quake's performance. It is true that there is a tiny hit taken at the highest resolutions, but these results seem to suggest that if you're the kind of gamer who plays at low resolutions for raw framerates, then SMP mode can give you a noticeable boost.

Next was VIA's Q3A demo kit, VIA_Arena. This level was designed with extravagant textures and geometry specifically to show off the power of VIA chipsets, though I think it does a better job of showing off NVIDIA chips. In case you haven't seen it, it's got a big flashy VIA logo spinning in the middle of an open room, lots of VIA chips embedded in the walls and floor, and flashing lights and eye candy galore. The demo included with this level certainly stresses the video card much more than the demos that come with Quake. The only problem is that it's hard to do a direct comparison betweem this demo and Q3A's demo001 and demo002 because the 1.27g patch must be applied before the demo will run, and once this patch is applied, the old demos will no longer run. Here are the resuls:

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