After an extremely successful run with the GeForce 256, NVIDIA has once again dropped a bomb on the graphics industry in the form of their GeForce2 GTS. As the first retail GeForce2 board in our labs, ELSA's GLADIAC has been subject to hours of "oohhs," and "ahhhs." Maybe it has something to do with the sex appeal of gigatexel performance. It could be that "Per Pixel Shading" sounds a lot more complex than vertex lighting. Whatever the reason though, ELSA's early addition to the GeForce2 GTS market is both powerful and timely - a crucial formula for success in the unforgiving graphics market.
The board we received wasn't the final shipping version, but the performance is supposedly indicative of what the retail product will deliver when it hits store shelves this week. Centered on the GeForce2 GTS, of course, the GLADIAC will initially sport 32MB of DDR RAM with a 64MB version to be released in the end-of-May to mid-June timeframe. Like the GeForce 256-based ErazorX before it, the GLADIAC will feature a 350MHz RAMDAC and support for AGP 4x/2x/1x and fast writes (if this sounds a little familiar, just remember that the GeForce2 GTS is a spring refresh of the GeForce 256). There will also be a PCI version out mid-June.
Despite the similarities that have appeared, NVIDIA is claiming double the performance of their original GeForce 256. From the GeForce2 GTS Guide published last week, we've seen that the newest addition to the family undoubtedly has what it takes to warrant a new name. So how does ELSA's variation stack up to the ever-adored reference card? Patience young grasshopper, patience.