GeForce 2

The

was the second in the line of GeForce graphics_cards by nVidia_Corporation. The first model was the GeForce 2 GTS (GigaTexel Shader, owing to the fact that it could process 1.6 billion texels per second, compared to 480 million texels on GeForce_256), and the main difference between it and the GeForce_256/DDR was the addition of a second texturing unit, thus increasing the texel fill rate to 3.3 times that of the initial GeForce. It was also clocked considerably higher than the previous generation GeForce cards - 200MHz, compared to 120MHz. Competitively, in OpenGL games (such as Quake_III) it outperformed the Radeon, Voodoo_4 and Voodoo_5 cards in all modes, but in DirectX games the Radeon was sometimes able to take the lead in 32-bit colour modes. This was attributed to the Radeon having slightly faster memory, and a better memory controller. Compared to the previous GeForce model, it was around 30% faster than the GeForce 256, but only around 10% faster than the GeForce DDR. This is generally thought to be because most games at the time were only using single-layer textures (which would not benefit from the second texturing unit on the GeForce 2). There were three more revisions on the GeForce 2 GTS core - the first was the GeForce 2 Ultra, launched in late 2000. This was basically a GeForce 2 GTS with much higher core and memory speeds, and put a definite lead between it and the Radeon and Voodoo 5. Some say it was intended to prevent 3dfx taking the lead with their Voodoo 5 6000 card, but in the event it would not have been necessary, as the Voodoo 5 6000 was never launched (though later tests showed that the Ultra most certainly did outperform the Voodoo 5 6000). Owing to its high speeds, even the GeForce_3 did not initially outperform it, and it was not until the release of the GeForce_3 Ti500 in late 2001 that the GeForce 2 Ultra finally ceded its performance lead. The other two revisons were the GeForce 2 Pro, and the GeForce 2 Ti (for "titanium"). These were clocked at middling points between the GTS and Ultra cards, and intended to provide cheaper alternatives to the GeForce_3, which never had a mass-market mainstream version. However, Nvidia's real success story was with the GeForce 2 MX cards. These were cut down versions of the GeForce 2 GTS, with dual-monitor support (while there was a partial dual-monitor mode in the GTS, the monitors weren't independent, and would show the same image). The MX performed well enough to make it a viable mainstream alternative to the GTS (and its later revisions), supplanting the older TNT2 cards. There were two later versions - the low-performance MX200, which had a crippled 64-bit memory bus and was suitable only for office work, and the MX400, which was a slightly faster MX. No graphics processor before or since has matched the GeForce 2 MX (and its variants) in sales.

Models

(Performance ranking, slowest to fastest)

GeForce 2 MX200

GeForce 2 MX

GeForce 2 MX/AGP/SSE

GeForce 2 MX400

GeForce 2 GTS

GeForce 2 Pro

GeForce 2 Ti

GeForce 2 Ultra

Home | Index | mail

Search at Google.Com | Search at MSN.Com

History:
Copyright (c) 2004
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
"GNU Free Documentation License".