Which GeForce 2 GTS Pro should I get?

[Sunny129]

i have recently decided to get the GTS Pro over the GTS b/c i think the time and price is right (with the NV20 around the corner...plus i dont have the money for one of those when they come out). my next decision is the actual video card it get. so which card using the GF2 GTS Pro should i get? i play alot of UT, FS98 and FS2K, and possibly some Q3. i have been looking at the Hercules 3d Prophet II GTS Pro, but i hear that ELSA, Visiontek, ASUS, and other companies make good cards too. if anyone thinks the Hercules is the wrong way to go, or if anyone has good things to say about other cards, please say them here.

 

[Sunny129]

^...i'm sure someone has an opinion here...help me out guys. i also wanted to add that the one thing i dont find attractive about the Hercules 3D Prophet GTS Pro is the fact that it uses a non-adhesive thermal pad between the heatsink and GPU. i was thinking about removing the pad and putting some arctic silver in its place, but i dont know if the clips will hold the heatsink down nice and snug after removing the pad. does anyone know if i can do that (assuming i go with the Hercules)? i also have a blue orb sitting around that i could put to use on a video card...

 

[pamchenko]

why not get plain vanilla GTS ? it is cheaper and a better holdout til nv20 comes out...seriously, I play my games in 1024 and am happy...

 

[Sunny129]

well i already posted something on GTS vs GTS Pro, and due to the arbitrary price difference and more than significant performance difference, i decided to go with the Pro. at first i was under the impression that the performance difference was not worth considering, but then i did some more research and noticed that, for a few extra $ you get quite an increase in performance. i actually did a search on pricewatch and found two sites that sell the Pro for less than the GTS...i dont know why, but they do. i hope this makes sense to you as to why i want the Pro. it costs little more, and in some cases less, than the GTS, and is well worth the performance difference. it is also alot cheaper than the ultra, and can be OCed to ultra performance anyways. and since i wont be able to afford the NV20 until months after it hits the market, i'm not going to hold out for it. it is middle of the line between the GTS and the Ultra, just like nVidia planned, and i think its the best price/performance chip offered by nVidia right now, and i want to buy now. i was and still am a 3dfx user, but since they are gone now, support for their products will soon disappear, so i might as well get used to it and make the transition to nVidia.

 

[DarkMajiq]

Good call on the Pro, man, you've got all the right reasons there 🙂

I would go with Hercules. As far as I've found out, the only companies to have Pro-based solutions are Hercules, Creative, Inno3D and Leadtek, and of those Hercules is the fastest (hey, it's Hercules, what else is new? 😉), and the highest-quality as well. If you don't go Hercules, go with Creative. It won't quite have the features or performance, but it's easier on the wallet 🙂

 

[Shooters]

I don't believe Creative Labs makes a card based on the Geforce2 Pro. They do make a card called the Annihilator Pro, but this card is based on the Geforce 256 (older technology). The only manufacturers that offer a Geforce2 Pro solution are Asus, Hercules, Inno3D, and Leadtek. I have the Hercules and absolutely love it. With your system this card will fly. Plus the blue PCB and heatsinks are just plain cool. And like you said, you can overclock this thing to near Ultra speeds if not faster for substantially less cash. I say go for the Hercules; you will not be disappointed.

One thing of note. You mentioned that you play a lot of UT. I suggest that with a Geforce2 Pro you install the second cd that came with UT. Also, download the OpenGL patch and change the flags found here so you can play the game in OpenGL. I thought the graphics in UT with my Voodoo3 were awesome, but after I installed the second cd and the OpenGL patch for my Geforce2 Pro.....OH MY GOD! These graphics are definitely "Unreal". 😉

 

[Sunny129]

well it seems that most people here like the Hercules, so i think i'll go with that one.

Shooters, i've also been playing UT with a Voodoo5, and i think that the game looks great using both Glide and D3D. i havent checked the performance increase with Glide yet, but i recently installed the most recent WHQL beta drivers for my Voodoo5, and under D3D i get a 20-30 frame increase (and no visual anomalies b/c i havent enabled HSR). I'm getting 80 fps in CTF - Facing Worlds, which is pretty damn good for a Voodoo5. anyways, that OpenGL patch is just a .dll file...do i just place it in a certain directory?

 

[DarkMajiq]

Shooters: You're right, Creative doesn't have a GF2 Pro card. That's what I get get for typing that at 4 in the morning 🙂

Oh, and you say Asus makes a Pro card, but I haven't been able to find one anywhere, and their website has no info on a Pro card.

 

[Sunny129]

i just looked it up on pricewatch.com and ASUS does make a V7700 w/ the GF2 Pro. i dont know why they dont advertise it at their website.

 

[DarkMajiq]

Interesting, I must have missed it while I browsed pricewatch. In any case, I would go with Hercules, for sure 🙂