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In the Forums... |
Posted: April 26, 2000 Written by: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy GeForce 2 GTS Features / Specifications Before we get to the features, there's something you need to know about this card. Nvidia obviously did not scrap the GeForce 256 architecture, but they did change it -- a lot. In fact, according to most of the boys at Nvidia (well, all who commented), most of the chip is new. The T&L (transform and lighting) engines, the setup engine, and the rendering engine all received major tweaks and were optimized. Okay, enough teasing. You want features, right? Here you go:
* Effective memory frequency via 166 MHz DDR memory One notable feature upgraded from the GeForce 256 was the lower process to a .18µ, which allows higher clock speeds with lower heat restriction. This was expected though, as the whole industry is constantly moving to a smaller process. With the lower micron and the GeForce 2 GTS chip at 200 MHz, four pixels-per-clock yields a whopping 800 million pixels/sec fill rate. With the texels/clock now up to eight from four, the texel rate hits 1.6 Gtexel/sec, as mentioned earlier. Polygon pushing power is increased substantially. NSR is mentioned in the spec sheet. We'll get to that later...
32 MB or 64 MB Frame Buffer Just like the GeForce 256, the GeForce 2 GTS supports up to a 128 MB frame buffer. However, Nvidia has specified that they will most likely only be marketing the card in 32 MB and 64 MB versions. This is obviously due to the high cost. The card used for benchmarks in this article was equipped with 32 MB. As you'll see in our benchmarks, it may not be enough for those seeking ultra high-resolutions... Another interesting point is that Nvidia decided to ditch the idea of using SDR (single-data rate) memory on the GeForce 2 GTS. As many of us remember, the SDR GeForce cards were offered as a performance/low-cost solution, but the cards couldn't hold a candle to the DDR versions. |
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