Ive looked at both these cards and cant decide which one to buy, can someone give me some opinions on which is better and why, overclocking is not important yet but may be later, and dvi is not really important.
<< actually they aren't...now anyone with a bit more knowledge? >>
WHAT!?!?! That was really rude man. Rage was correct. They are THE SAME. Have you read any reviews? You say that you've "looked" at them. Does that mean "looked at the box" or really sat down and looked at the cold hard facts.
Right now, all GF3's are based on the Nvidia reference design. If you've checked out any decent reviews at all, you'd see that all the GF3's have nearly IDENTICAL performance. That, my friend, is because they are the same basic cards with different colored PCB's and Heatsinks.
My advice to you is to read the anandtech Gainward GF3 review. That is the cheapest GF3 available unless you get in on some mad Hot Deal like I just did with the Elsa Card.
Performance wise, they are all virtually identical. However, I have read @anandtech that the Gainward one overclocks very well, has nice features, and is priced very nicely. You can get the Gainward one @newegg.com for about $340, without VIVO, but with TV-OUT.
<<Right now, all GF3's are based on the Nvidia reference design.>>
That is incorrect. The ASUS GF3 cards are not the Nvidia reference design. The statement that the performance of all cards is nearly the same is right on.
You should make your decision based on what you want to use the card for. The Gainward has dvi output, whereas the ASUS does not, but has hardware monitoring. The ASUS has more software and cables than the Gainward. The Gainward seems to be the better overclocking card, but sometimes that's a crapshoot.
If you don't need the extra software/3d-glasses, the Gainward card is sitting at a much nicer price point. Here are a few reviews if you haven't read them yet: RIVA Station gamepc
thanks for replying so quick...One last thing is some people said that the asus has problems with the 12.90's due to the board not being based on the reference design like the other ones. I really dont want to use asus's drivers since they have built in cheats that wont allow me to play on a few good cs servers, so does anyone with this card know if this is true or not? I dont want to buy a card that doesnt perform well with the detonators. also the gainward isnt cheaper than the asus anymore...atacom has the asus deluxe for 372.99 and the gainward for 374.99 which was as cheap as i found either of them. let me know what you think
I have the Asus V8200 Deluxe and all I can say is that it is the BEST damn card I'VE ever had man.
What it really comes down to is how much cash you're willing to lay down. I was looking at the Gainward as well, but I figured I wanted the best, especially when I'm laying down $350 for a freaking video card. I dig the flashy shades and the VIVO is great. I'm using the Asus 12.6's off the Asus site and have not had any problems. If the Asus does in fact have a problem with the 12.9, I wouldn't be worried about it as they are beta anyways.
I have the ASUS v8200 Deluxe the same as jamesbond007 but am using the 12.90 detonators. They have given me the best Q3A timedemo scores so far. I'm not aware of any problems with the 12.90 at ths time other than a problem with the 3D glasses settings. I tried the 3D glasses using 12.60 without any hiccups, but IMO it sux anyway.
I didn't think the V8200 DELUXE was the same as MOST OTHER GF3's. I thought that the V8200 deluxe has other features, like VIVO and such. I've got a V6800 Deluxe (the Geforce 256 DDR one), and I've had the V6600 Deluxe before, and they have VIVO features and are really nice. Also have 3D glasses.
I think they performa roughly the same, and the price seems to be very close. They even have the same Vi-Vout Philips Chipset. Bearing in mind the above, i know this may sound silly or whatever, but if i had the money, i'd love to get the Gainward if not for another reason just for its looks !!!!
You might want to check out the new Morpheus GeForce 3 by 3D power, The ones that worked for 3dfx, One review says it is the best GeForce 3 they have tested so far and will smoke any Geforce 3 on the market when it comes to over clocking
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