NVIDIA's Fall Product Line: GeForce3 Titanium

Final Words

To summarize the performance trends we've seen:

1. The GeForce3 Ti 500 is approximately 10% faster than the GeForce3 at 1024 x 768 x 32; 16% at 1600 x 1200 x 32.
2. The GeForce3 is approximately 9% faster than the GeForce3 Ti 200 at 1024 x 768 x 32; 14% at 1600 x 1200 x 32.
3. The GeForce2 Ti 200 is identical in performance to the GeForce2 Pro.
4. The Radeon 7500 is competitive with the GeForce2 Ti 200, not with the GeForce3 Ti 200.
5. The Radeon 8500 has more memory bandwidth than the GeForce3 Ti 500.

Starting at the top, the GeForce3 Ti 500 makes gaming at 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 more of a reality than the GeForce3 could. Obviously for current GeForce3 owners there's no reason to make the switch but if you're looking to upgrade to the absolute fastest available today, then this is the card to get.

The GeForce3 actually ends up being a very attractive purchase at this point, since in theory the GeForce3 Ti 500 would drive its price down. What is more likely to happen however is that as soon as current supplies dry up, NVIDIA will increase the price on regular GeForce3 chips and essentially only make it viable for manufacturers to produce Titanium cards. This would be much like what NVIDIA did with the Ultra when the GeForce2 Pro was released.

The GeForce3 Ti 200 is by far the best buy and is clearly a better value than the Radeon 7500 (remember that they are priced equally). At 1024 x 768 x 32 in most games you do get performance that's very close to that of the original GeForce3. It's without a doubt that our recommendation is to purchase the GeForce3 Ti 200 unless you can find a cheaper GeForce3 card.

While the GeForce2 Ti 200 was supposed to revolutionize the mainstream add-in card market, it actually doesn't do much more than the GeForce2 Pro was already doing. If you look carefully enough, you can find OEM GeForce2 Pro cards selling for the $149 price tag that the GeForce2 Ti 200 will debut at. Hopefully this will make the current stock of GeForce2 Pro cards decrease in price even more, making them the killer buy. But in the long run, you get the same performance out of either of the two.

As we just alluded to, the Radeon 7500 is in desperate need of a price cut or a performance boost. Although it can easily outperform the GeForce2 Ti 200, it is priced competitively with the GeForce3 Ti 200; and the GeForce3 Ti 200 can clearly outperform it while offering full DirectX 8 support (which will hopefully matter someday).

The real gem to wait for before making your buying decision however is the Radeon 8500. While we were thoroughly unimpressed with the Radeon 7500 this late in the game, the Radeon 8500 has the potential to turn things around for ATI. It will be another six months before we see another card from NVIDIA, and the Radeon 8500 definitely has the memory bandwidth to outperform the GeForce3 Ti 500.

The only thing that could potentially hold ATI back are drivers which have been their Achilles' heel for the longest time. The latest build of Radeon 8500 drivers are supposed to be ATI's best, hopefully within this week we'll be able to see exactly how good ATI's best is.