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| Erwin's Pages Central > Articles > Hardware Articles > Hail to the graphics board | |||
   
  
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Hey babe, check out my anisotropic filtering… Some time ago, nVidia announced
their GeForce 4 graphics card line. Initially, most of these cards only
attracted luke attention: the GF4MX series would be no less than GF2's
on steroids, and the GF4Ti line would introduce no real technology advances
in comparison to the GeForce 3. The added fact that these GF4Ti boards
would not be cheap (about 300-400 USD) made these cards somewhat less
interesting to people stuck in the GF-GF2 (or good heavens, TNT2) generation.
But when nVidia announced a third GF4Ti sibling, with a pricerange entering
the 200 USD mark, many people's attention was caught and tensions run
high…even now. You and me both know perfectly well of how the graphics board has dramatically won in importance concerning general pc performance and moreso on multimedia and games, versus the cpu as traditional benchmark for system speed. Many critical customers though are wise enough to look for other features in a pc before switching to purchase: a cheap pc (+- 1000 USD) with a P4 2.0 cpu nowadays usually incorporates a Willamette P4 with i845 chipset and GF4MX, and may look good to the unseeing eye, but hides a mediocre machine with limited upgrade possiblities. But ever since the start of the GeForce era, the graphics cards have become exceedingly important, if not technically, certainly psychologically. You have to ask yourself the following questions. Why is it that people (including me, I admit) insanely download unofficial (or leaked, hacked, whatever) drivers for their graphics cards, and then feverishly run 3D Mark 2001? Why is it that coffee break conversations sometimes go like this: Gamer 1: Hey. If you understood any of this, congratulations,
you are probably the dream of any nVidia pr-person. If not, you have
left at least some shreds of your previous, probably healthier and more
fruitfull life. What I'm getting at is that pc users, especially gamers,
usually see the graphics card as the core of performance in their pc,
and are most likely to brag about this particular pc subsystem. Nobody
cares whether or not you floppy disk can copy files 0.5 seconds faster
than others, but if you get 50 more 3D Mark 2001 points, you'll probably
have just enough to assure yourself and your pc a place in the gamers'
hardware hall of fame. The graphics card has become more responsible for the beauty and complexity of games. Where in a full DOS game like Falcon 3.0 your cpu and base memory (remember: under 640kb) where major factors on how many graphical and gameplay options you could select, playing Max Payne now mostly comes down on whether you have a GF3/GF4/R8500 or a TNT2/GF/GF2. Especially with the arrival of the GF3, which combined blazing speed and new technology (something that can't be said about a GF2MX when it was launched), the graphics card was the core of power in any gamer's pc. An important role in the image of
graphics cards is the advent of so called "budget boards".
New nVidia graphics cards had become exceedingly expensive during the
GF2 generation. The GeForce 2 Ultra cost at its introduction about 600
USD. A brand new GF3 was yours for about 450 USD. Then came the GF2MX.
This was a card that had all the DX7 T&L features, the faster GF2
architecture, but had only 2 texture pipepines and overall slower clocks.
But, certainly in comparison to the GF2 Ultra, it was quite affordable.
And that's when the tuning kicks in. This is the process of overclocking:
using 3rd party programs to enable higher clock speeds on both core
and memory. Especially with GF2MX cards this can cause, relatively speaking,
dramatic results. Since mostly the memory has been short-wingedm overclocking
this part of the board could very much, depending on manufacturers'
quality, mean a 20-30% increase in performance. With a very close driver
update cycle, nVidia itself actually gives away performace for free,
since driver updates effectively usually mean higher (3D Mark 2001)
performance. Downside is that glitches can occur, but that usually is
just a signal to tell you you've gone over the top with your overclock.
Basically though, the graphics card and perhaps the pc more in general, is the dotcom version of the extension of your penis. Yes it's true, let's get it out in the open (pun intended). At the dawn of man, the young adolescents would hunt down an animal using a revolutionary spear, covered with fearsome berry juices and decorated with powerful remedial herbs, and then bring home the loot, chanting and dancing rhythmically. A perky private would've showed his 1927 Springfield sniper rifle with lengthened barrel for better accuracy to his lifetime girlfriend: "And I shot that moff right between the eyes!" Our fathers probably bragged about the improved carburator they got from a local chop-shop they refitted with valve-controlled injectors to their college sweethearts. And us? We get steamy with testosterone and adrenaline if we go through 3D Mark scores, clock/mem ratios, frames per second (in 32 bit colour!), Dragonorb coolers and vertex shaders. The times they are a-changin'. EP sez: The laus graphicus boardus has been sung. Tomorrow we'll probably buy a GF4 Ti 4200 and be happy. But this will probably end in August. Because then, the next nVidia chip will emerge, and it will not bear the name GeForce. It's gonna be "the biggest contribution to the computer graphics industry since our foundation", if you ask nVidia's CEO. Can you feel that vein pulsating in your forehead? Can you hear your teeth grinding each other to dust? But also, can you feel the drool dripping on your mouse… Erwin " Reaper" Husin Links |
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