Kyro II Vs GeForce2 GTS?

[DJFuji]

If you found both the Kyro II and the GTS2 (64mb) at the same price, which would be a better buy? Kyro II has its advantages and performs very well in actual usage, but the GeForce also has more raw power. What do you think?

 

[Def]

I'd have to say GF2 GTS. Especially a 64MB version. I have a 32MB GF2 GTS that runs almost any game fine at 1024x768x32 and lots of eye candy with a lil' bit of OCin'(UT, Giants, etc.). Q3A runs silky smooth at 1280x1024x32.

A Kryo II, while maybe hitting higher FPS in some games, has been having some "issues" with some installs. Seems that the Kryo II and GF2 are fairly equal in performance, while the GF2 leading the way once OC'd(higher speed possible). Plus NVIDIA cards DEFINITELY have the best driver support at the moment, no disputing that.

Plus, when you get in a situation that tile based rendering can't help(i.e. smoke in CS, fog, water etc.), you'll be VERY glad you have the "brute force approach" of the GF2.

Just my opinion.

 

[PotNoodle]

?A Kryo II, while maybe hitting higher FPS in some games, has been having some "issues" with some installs. ?

Not really uncommon for a new video card, and something that will get supported with the level of driver support KYRO is getting at the moment.

? Plus NVIDIA cards DEFINITELY have the best driver support at the moment, no disputing that?

heheh ? when was the last official NVIDIA driver update? Aren?t they still stuck on 6.50?s from about 6 months ago!! KYRO has had about 3 official driver updates posted in the last month.

?Plus, when you get in a situation that tile based rendering can't help(i.e. smoke in CS, fog, water etc.), you'll be VERY glad you have the "brute force approach" of the GF2. ?

While its true that TBR can only use its overdraw removing techniques on opaque textures, is not necessarily the case that you get no benefits on TBR?s with transparencies. Transparencies require blending operations with results alredy in the frame buffer, which comes with the bandwidth cost ? something, as you may know, cards like GTS don?t always have a lot of; blending operations on a TBR happen on the on-chip tile buffer meaning the cost of the blending operation is much less because the tile buffer has a HUGE amount of bandwidth in comparison to a normal cards frame buffer bandwidth.

 

[Archknight]

I will go for the Kyro2, because of it TBR (just for trying sake).

Since the Kyro2 render at 32bits, even in 16bits mode the image quality will most likely look better than the GTS.

Driver support should not be a issue with ST.

As for the 2D, no definite answer to that one, but some review have mentioned that the Kyro2 is slightly better.

Look at other features and decise, but I personally would not go with a GTS even in 64MB.

Where is the place anyway?

 

[UKtaxman]

One thing to consider is that a lot of games have extra optimisations for the GF range. However I have no doubts that developers will start to add optimisations and tweaks for the K2 if it catches on at all(look at serious sam). If it can equal the GF2 now, then it is likely to pull ahead in future driver updates.
Also remember that the GF" has very mature drivers ATM. The chances of them getting much more out of them is very small, whereas the immature K2 drivers are likely to vastly improve over the next few months.