Gainward GF3 Ti200 Golden Sample?

[Rantis]

Newegg advertises the gainward GF3 ti200 as a "golden sample", but i checked the gainward website and they do not list a GF3 Ti200 in the "golden sample" flavor. Is this false advertising on the part of newegg? does the Ti200 Golden Sample even exist?

 

[oakfan]

I guess you must be looking at the same card that I purchased from newegg. I have no idea how to tell a "golden samplw", but the box
certainly has a Ti/450 Golden sample sticker on it.

Cheers

 

[poiuy223]

the golden sample uses 4.0ns ram...while the none golden sample is 4.5ns...ur not wrong...4.0ns is much better when u overclock..with good cooling...memory can hit beyond 530mhz...

 

[Workin']

I'm running a Gainward GF3 Ti200/450 Golden Sample from Newegg right now. Under WinXP on my VIA mobo, too. Kind of sucked to get it running right, but it's OK now.

Blazing fast little beastie, I have mine overclocked to 240/500 as if it was a GF3 Ti500. Haven't tried to go higher, gotta save something to do on a rainy day. The Golden Sample is GUARANTEED to run at 200/450, or your money back. Really.

 

[tstanev]

<< I'm running a Gainward GF3 Ti200/450 Golden Sample from Newegg right now. Under WinXP on my VIA mobo, too. Kind of sucked to get it running right, but it's OK now.

Blazing fast little beastie, I have mine overclocked to 240/500 as if it was a GF3 Ti500. Haven't tried to go higher, gotta save something to do on a rainy day. The Golden Sample is GUARANTEED to run at 200/450, or your money back. Really. >>



I had the same problem getting mine to work, but otherwise mine is stable at 240/500. I think it is guaranteed to work at 220, not 200.

 

[Xtasy]

I need help, my local online store is selling the gainward for $169, but it says Gainward 4.0 NS PowerPack ti450, doesn't say golden sample. But on the gf3 ti550, they have seperate ones for golden sample n powerpack regular. I need help deciphering at www.atacom.com

 

[mellondust]

Workin' and tstanev

What kind of problems did you have, and how did you fix them? My ti200/450 from newegg will come tommorrow. I am currently running win98se, will I have any problems? I have winXP but have not installed it yet, what do I need to be aware of?

 

[poiuy223]

i dont have any problems...just make sure that before u install anything...get the newest via 4in1 drivers...the new agp gart drivers (i think thats what its called)...and then install the video...no problems for me

 

[tstanev]

<< Workin' and tstanev

What kind of problems did you have, and how did you fix them? My ti200/450 from newegg will come tommorrow. I am currently running win98se, will I have any problems? I have winXP but have not installed it yet, what do I need to be aware of? >>



It was a driver issue. We both had WinXP Pro and our cards would not run anything that uses 3d acceleration. We had to do clean reinstall of XP with the very latest detonator drivers (23.10 last weekend I believe). However I think this is limited to the VIA chipset and WinXP.

Edit: if you are going to use XP, do not get the 4in1 drivers, they don't do anything under XP and I was successful with the ones that come with XP.

 

[Workin']

<< What kind of problems did you have, and how did you fix them? >>

What tstanev said. Except now I am using the 23.11 drivers, which seem a little faster. However some people have had problems with those drivers (isn't that always the case?).

I'd also like to stress what tstanev said, if you are running XP, start with a clean install (not upgrade or any other install that already had other drivers installed), don't install ANY VIA drivers or patches, and also DON'T INSTALL the drivers or Expert Tool that comes with the Gainward card.

If you are running any other MS OS, be sure to install the VIA 4-in-1's and, if you want, the Gainward tool. I've only had issues with that stuff under WinXP.

I dual-boot with Windows 2000 Professional and haven't had any problems there.

 

[Rantis]

<< Blazing fast little beastie, I have mine overclocked to 240/500 as if it was a GF3 Ti500. >>



just curious, what tool/software do you use to overclock the card?

 

[Workin']

I use NVMAX to tweak my card.

 

[VatriX]

What do you think of the card's 2D image quality?
I'm especially interested in 2D at 1600x1200, 32Bits.

Thanks!

 

[tstanev]

<< What do you think of the card's 2D image quality?
I'm especially interested in 2D at 1600x1200, 32Bits.

Thanks! >>



The image is very sharp on my 21" Trinitron, but it maxes out at 75Hz which my eyes don't really like, because I see the flicker up till 85Hz or so. Other people don't notice it though.
I am personally a low-res fan, so I like to run at 1024x768, unless the app I'm running requires otherwise, so I don't really know how to judge high-res 2D quality.
Funny though, my Quadro 2 Pro at work can go up to 1920x1440 on a wimpy 19" NEC monitor and it still looks good.

 

[Xtasy]

Will there be a difference in gainward geforce 3 ti450 powerpack with 4.0 ns memory a and a gainward geforce 3 ti450 powerpack golden sample with 4.0 ns memory. Well, my local store has one cheapass price for the gainward, but they just say the gainward geforce 3 ti450 powerpack 4.0 ns memory , no golden sample.

 

[mellondust]

Ok, got mine today. On the 2d thing, I have noticed it is very good. Much better than my 3d prophet 2mx, and just as good as my ATI radeon 7200. One thing I have noticed is that if I get real close to my monitor, the dark text have moving grainy things going down the monitor.(best I can do to describe it and also that my system is a little out of wack from a crash that had me have to reinstall win98.) I have had though, a tough time finding drivers that have been stable for 3d in win98se. Started with 21.81, then jumped to 23.11(major crash!! reinstall win98) and now back to 21.85 and are ok. One thing I loved about my 3d prophet was it never crashed, it was always stable as a rock! 3dmark 2000 and 2001 cannot make it through without crashing. Have not had enough time to track down the problem, but any advice would be great. Must mention that the quality of the hardware is much better than the leadtek ti200 T that I returned, good solid build with fan and ramsinks.

 

[WarCon]

Thats kinda funny, I just upgraded to this card today from a Prophet II MX. I haven't had any problems with it. I haven't installed any software that came with it though. I am using the newest (23.11) detonator and coolbits, which has me stuck at 220/500, which is still such a hugh improvement over my MX card. Will try for more later after I put a better hsf on it and mount the ramsinks with thermal epoxy (Alumina Thermal Adhesive from Arctic Silver) versus frag tape.

 

[Workin']

I use mine at 1600x1200, 32 bpp color, 85Hz refresh on my 21" Trinitron, and it looks spectacular!

 

[Quetzalboat]

Tstanev said :
Funny though, my Quadro 2 Pro at work can go up to 1920x1440 on a wimpy 19" NEC monitor and it still looks good.

Don't you realize that Quadro2 Pro is "better" than GeForce3! (and has more expensive price too!)
GeForce based card is only for 3D gaming purpose, as many ads said "best card for gamers"
Even the latest GeForce3 Ti500 can't do better than Quadro2 Pro when working on AutoCAD2000 or some 3D and animation programs such as Autodesk 3D Studio max 4.0, Tuespace 6.0, etc.
GeForce based card is "overperform" because there's no such game that usesGeForce ability (i.e T&L), but for a 3D accelerator can't handle a 3D program with good performance is questionable!

 

[Rantis]

I recieved my Gainward GF3 Ti200 Golden Sample yesterday. apparently gainward does mark Ti200s as golden samples.

My first impression was that the card is very well made. it has substance and weight. good quality hardware.

I figured that i would have to do a clean install of windows 2000 for optimal performance, but for kicks I put it in my machine as it was. sure enough, i had no 3d capablility. so I installed a fresh copy of windows 2000 server.

I installed with the version 23.11 drivers. all i can say is 3d performance is great! I have ran the following benchmarks and games: 3d mark 2000 and 2001, ghost recon demo, aquanox demo and operation flash point. all run flawlessly. i installed NVMAX (thanks for the tip Workin'). I have this card running flawlessly at 220/500. haven't tried to go higher. at this speed i have looped the 3dmark 2001 benchmark for 3+ hours without a hiccup and NO artifacts. my only bottleneck now is my processor which is a pentuim III 550e....

My only grip is that Delta Force 2 and 3 (land warrior) do not behave that well with this card. maybe i have to tweak the card to workbetter with these games or maybe the card is just too advanced for these games in terms of directX and features. DF2 looks Very grainy, much more than on my voodoo banshee, which this card has replaced. in DF3 the terrain shimmers and shakes when you move, and mountains lose there shape and move. too bad the DF games are my favorites. if anyone knows a solution to make these games look better then please let me know.

bottom line: I am very happy with this card. no point in buying a Ti500, with cards like this to be had for much less.

mellondust - give windows 2000 Server a try. i personally would not waste one minute messing with windows 98. it is just too unstable.
VatriX - i have my desktop set to 1600x1200 with my monitor refresh at 85hz (this highest that is available to choose). at this resolution 2d looks great. i have a sony 21 inch trinitron G500.

 

[VatriX]

Thanks

 

[mordrid52]

What software does the retail box Ti/450 come bundled with? Gainward's website doesn't mention anything.

 

[mellondust]

I got my RMA approval from Newegg today, I am returning my card. They are not charging me a restocking fee. I have had too many problems with this card for it to be just a comatibility issue. I think it is defective but I'm not 100% sure. I have a post in the forum describing my problems. I don't know if I want to get another one, a different brand, or just wait a couple of months and then decide what to get. Quake 3 has been the only 3D game I can get to run properly in either win98 or XP and it runs flawlessly. Crap!!! I was really looking forward to some awsome gaming this month!

 

[tstanev]

<< Tstanev said :
Funny though, my Quadro 2 Pro at work can go up to 1920x1440 on a wimpy 19" NEC monitor and it still looks good.

Don't you realize that Quadro2 Pro is "better" than GeForce3! (and has more expensive price too!)
GeForce based card is only for 3D gaming purpose, as many ads said "best card for gamers"
Even the latest GeForce3 Ti500 can't do better than Quadro2 Pro when working on AutoCAD2000 or some 3D and animation programs such as Autodesk 3D Studio max 4.0, Tuespace 6.0, etc.
GeForce based card is "overperform" because there's no such game that usesGeForce ability (i.e T&L), but for a 3D accelerator can't handle a 3D program with good performance is questionable! >>



I do realize that, since I work for above-mentioned Autodesk . I was stressing more that the monitor is wimpy but it still does 1920 while my big monitor at home can't, the GF3 can probably do 1920 too on the right monitor. Also, about the Quadro2 Pro, it actually has pretty good shaded non-textured polygon rate, almost as fast as my GeForce3 (using the eyeball benchnmark). The problem is that the extra stuff it supports, like antialiased lines, is not accessible through the D3D API for example, so it's not easy to use without special drivers or OpenGL extensions.

 

[Rantis]

<< I got my RMA approval from Newegg today, I am returning my card. They are not charging me a restocking fee. I have had too many problems with this card for it to be just a comatibility issue. I think it is defective but I'm not 100% sure. I have a post in the forum describing my problems. I don't know if I want to get another one, a different brand, or just wait a couple of months and then decide what to get. Quake 3 has been the only 3D game I can get to run properly in either win98 or XP and it runs flawlessly. Crap!!! I was really looking forward to some awsome gaming this month! >>



sorry to hear of your troubles mellondust. it shouldn't cost you anything to try a replacement. might be worth a try.

A few months back i bought a radeon 64 DDR from newegg, and i had problems with the first one, so i exchanged it for another, and the second was much better. so it does happen.

if you do go for an exchange then i recommend that you give windows 2000 a try with the second one...







<< What software does the retail box Ti/450 come bundled with? Gainward's website doesn't mention anything. >>



Drivers, WinDVD and some demo software.