Recommended GF3's for 2D Quality

[RudeBoie]

I've heard that virtually all GF3's are good at 2D up to 1280 x 1024, but I was wondering what people suggest for higher than that (thinking of 1600*1200).

I'm thinking of getting a GF3 in the next few weeks (no Ti500 or Ti200 just reg GF3), and wondering which 3-4 GF3's you guys recommend? Did a search online and through AT but for the most part, couldn't find reviews of all of them or most don't comment about high res 2D at all.

I know the Gainward is supposed to be very good, but that's it for a consus so far that I can find.

 

[Rand]

Gainward, VisionTek, Elsa are tops IMHO. LeadTek is quite good also.

Then come the vast majority which fall in the range if sub-par to average.

Then come Asus, and MSI whom seemingly pay absolutely no attention to 2D visual quality and are consistently very poor.
I havent personally seen an Asus GF3 yet though, but judging by the numerous past Asus cards I've seen I doubt they've changed much.

 

[AA0]

I find it funny how asus puts all the 2d crap on the cards, but never uses decent hardware for it.

 

[Clevor]

All the complaining people do about the Asus 2D got to them, because I believe the are using better RF filters on the Ti series. One reviewer said the 2D is the same as a Gainward now.

I just picked up an 8200-T5 Deluxe myself, and with Digital Vibrance Control set to low, the 2D is absolutely superb. Color vibrancy and contrast is as good as the G400 MAX, the best there is. 2D clarity and sharpness is on a par with the Radeon.

Take it from me, I have several G400 MAXs, a Radeon VIVO, a Voodoo5, and Geforce2DDR and Ultra, and I run all cards on the same computer and monitor.

Plus my Asus Ti 500 will overclock to 266/603 stable! Last night I just had to check, so I ran it through the Vulpine demo at 1280x1024 and with 64-tap anisotrophy and Quincunx on, and it didn't lock up! Only got 27 fps, but it didn't choke.

I'm happy

 

[pookguy88]

I 2nd whoever said Visiontek, i have a GF2 GTS-V and GF3 Ti-200 (both Visiontek). Outstanding 2D, a far cry from anything from 3DFX or Hercules.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

I don't believe those mb makers can make better video cards than those mainly video card makers.

 

[Clevor]

Actually Asus does not make their own N20 chip. They just take the N20 chips and Elite 3.8 ns ram and basically follow the general Ti 500 layout from Nvidia. Hercules does this too, essentially they stray away from the reference design.

But you can bet Asus knows a thing or two about building quality PCB components. Have you ever seen a motherboard with the 3-phase MOSFET power supply? All the top overclocking motherboards are now using it for stability. You will see 3 doughnut-like things lying on it's side, with wire wrapped around its body.

Have you ever seen these things on a video card? Nope, except for the Asus Ti cards (I think I saw one on the Abit Siluro), and there are not one, but TWO of them on my Ti 500. I dunno if they are using a 2-phase thing for a video card or what. And you can bet they are using high quality capacitors too. I think one review said the Asus Ti 500 has a voltage regulator on one corner of the card. Not sure other Ti 500 cards have this.

And the Asus card has hardware monitoring of CPU temps, and it is using it's ASIC chip like on their motherboards, not a clunky sensor touching the silicon like the Leadtek. And unlike the Leadtek, the software actually works, and in different OSs.

I did a lot of homework, that's why I bought the Asus. They are worth $65 more than the other Ti 500s (if you're spending $300 anyway), to say nothing about the bells-and-whistles they include with the card.