Geforce2 PRO 64MB

[ksallen]

Has anyone had any problems with Geforce2 PRO? Looks pretty attractive for the price, and it doesn't seem that Geforce2 ULTRA is worth the extra price. GF3 out of my price range for now.

 

[ksallen]

Also, what is the best GF2 Pro card out there right now?

 

[mithrandir2001]

The 64MB GF2 PRO is one of the best deals right now...within shouting range of an Ultra in terms of performance, but available at a much sweeter price. Newegg has an MSI version for only $142.

 

[acexg1]

I've got a question too: how much better than a GTS 32mb does this Pro perform?

 

[mithrandir2001]

The Pro performs at a level about halfway between a GTS and an Ultra.

 

[damocles]

Also the Ultra seems to O/clock quite high. I agree with mithrandir2001, the Pro is a sweet deal at the moment

 

[ksallen]

I also hear that the Pro can typically be overclocked to ultra speeds. At least anandtech says so. Hopefully they just didn't get lucky

 

[Sept1967]

Same here. A GF2 Ultra and a GF3 isnt worth the money to me right now. I can almost build a complete system for the price of a GF3.

I finally got a 64meg GF2 Pro. And it rocks for $150 shipped.

It was a generic PowerColor, but reference detonators dont care.

 

[damocles]

With a decent CPU pushing it, a Pro will meet 99.99% of users needs at the moment. By the time something gruntier is needed, the money saved will buy a Radeon 2 or something else.

Unless you game at very high resolutions or see a specific need, a Geforce Pro is a very good buy IMHO

 

[bgatot]

Does it matter much if the memory is 5ns or 5.5ns? Which card has which? From my observation it seem that the Leadtek, MSI, ones has 5.5ns, and the Innovision has 5ns. How about the Visiontek ones? Any other?

 

[Viper GTS]

Yes, the memory speed matters. Don't settle for a board that's rated above 5 ns, 5.5 ns RAM is only rated at 366 MHz. Official "Pro" spec is 400 MHz, or 5 ns DDR.

Viper GTS

 

[buck]

I just traded my radeon vivo64 for a geforce pro. I dont use win98se anymore and the radeon cant keep up with win2k.
I will be one of the first in line for the radeon2 though, I wont mind spending the extra.....
matt

 

[bjc112]

go pro, i will be getting one "eventually"

the MX is that great in 2k anymore

 

[Guilty]

You have to be careful with the "Pro" description. nVidia is getting such good yeilds on their cores that they upped the default core speed to the old pro speed. So some cards advertised as "pro" are 200/183. The old definition of a GeForce2 Pro was 200/200, which you can still find but it it's around $170, not $140.

 

[bgatot]

Now, how do we know which one's which? It's not like stores usually provide the card's clock speed. How can we tell if we're buying the 200/200 ones?

I'm currently on the lookout for one to replace my Voodoo5 5500 AGP. This ought to yield a noticeable improvement, right?

 

[Guilty]

Well they should at least mention the ns ratings, 5.5ns is 183MHz, 5 is 200MHz.

http://www.leadtek.com/3d.htm

From the Leadtek website,

"Enhanced WinFast GeForce2 Pro 32/64MB
The New Enhanced WinFast GeForce2 Pro 32/64MB is the only one in it's class to use 5.5ns DDR memory. Nvidia GeForce2 Pro
64MB 5.5ns DDR memory
AGP 4x (w/Fast Writes)
Hardware Sensors and diagnostic LEDs
Leadtek's unique active cooling module

Original WinFast GeForce2 Pro
The WinFast GeForce2 Pro with 64MB 5ns DDR memory is running at standard 200/400 Mhz (Core/memory) speed. That translated to about 20% performance increase over the original GeForce2 GTS Nvidia GeForce2 Pro
64MB 5ns DDR SDRAM
TV-out
Leadtek WinFox System Utility "


Unfortunatly they dont list product numbers to check for, but I suppose the difference is negligible between them. Meaning the "new" Pro with 5.5ns memory should be able to hit 200/200 anyway, but that also means the "old" Pro with 5ns memory can probably hit 200/230, or close to it, which are Ultra/GeForce3 specs.


Advantages over a Voodoo5 wont be too great, but worth it in my opinion.

 

[tjdavis1138]

The MSI pro I ordered from newegg last week came with 5ns memory and was clocked at 200/400 according to powerstrip.

 

[mithrandir2001]

If that's true, tj, then the MSI board at newegg is a veritable STEAL!

 

[Guilty]

The one here?

Only Pro I see there (besides the MX pro), and it says:
"MSI StarForce 831, GeForce2 Pro, 64MB DDR RAM, 5.5 ns. Heat Sink, High Quality Fan and 4 pins TV Out Cable 4X/2X AGP, bundled with 1 S-Video Cable, 1 MSI DVD & 3D Turbo 2000 Utilities, on board (S-Video) TV-out, Retail Box. ETA 06-20-2001 Fedex Saver Shipping $10.00"

If it did come with 5ns memory that is a mistake on the site or truly a good deal.

 

[jaggrey]

What about going from a GeForce2 MX to a GeForce2 Pro? I usually play my games at 1024x768 on my 19".

 

[damocles]

I'm making that move. Looking at a friends Pro he just blows me away @1042x768x32. My MX copes, but struggles when things hot up, the Pro takes it all in stride

 

[AmazonRasta]

I have a Hercules Prophet II Pro, and I must say that, even in Win2K, it's an awsome card.

Well worth its price!

 

[tjdavis1138]

Somebody do a search in the video forum for MSI pro. We have been through this all before and everyone agreed that yes the MSI was a steal for a pro card with 5ns memory. Now either the 5.5ns on newegg's site is a mis-print or they have different cards now, I don't know.

My memory chips have a 5t on them. When I ran powerstrip it showed my default clocks at 200/400. The card overclocked fine to 225/445. I didn't try any higher since it didn't make much difference in the quake3 benches I ran.

Tom

 

[ksallen]

I wouldn't settle on the MX instead of the PRO. Memory bandwidth is the key, and the price of the PRO makes it the best buy I think. Besides, from what I've read, the MX is so crippled, I wouldn't touch it.

 

[ksallen]

Oops, sorry, misread an earlier post. I'm an idiot. I think MX to PRO would be substantial enough to justify the cost.