NVIDIA GeForce 256 DDR

Conclusion

The DDR GeForce is everything we expected from the original GeForce, unfortunately its high price tag will keep it out of the hands of many. The performance of the DDR GeForce so completely shadows that of the SDR version that it almost makes no sense to opt for the SDR version.

With the price difference between the two measuring out to be around $100 or less your best bet is to either opt for the DDR GeForce or wait until prices drop and go after the DDR version. The SDR version does not perform at a high enough level in high resolution situations to justify the already high price tag of the card.

The DDR cards are just now becoming available on the market, and in a few months time even they will be outperformed by what NVIDIA likes to call their "Spring Refresh," which is basically the next product in their 6-month product cycle calendar. The next NVIDIA product, codenamed NV15, should boast a more powerful T&L engine (the number 15 million triangles/s comes to mind) as well as a higher fill rate.

What will become of DDR memory as a performance booster in video cards then? It would be a smart move by NVIDIA to make their NV15 a DDR product and leave SDR memory a thing of the past, either that or increase the memory bus width, the latter seems unlikely though. While the prospect of the NV15 being a DDR product also possibly equally as unlikely it makes the most sense for NVIDIA's next generation product to offer a significant advantage over their current generation.

The Savage 2000 is also a contender to watch out for. Currently retailing at under $200, the Savage 2000 could become a powerful competitor if S3 gets the drivers tweaked to the point that they offer solid D3D performance as well as as close to 100% compatibility as possible. Currently the compatibility of the Savage 2000 with the latest games is questionable. Visually, it runs Q3A and UT just fine, but there are many more games that gamers find themselves craving the need for speed in; and until S3 can prove to the world that they have changed and that their Savage 2000 resembles their previous 2 cards in name alone, you should approach the Savage 2000 with caution.

Currently, the SDR GeForce is not worth upgrading to, if you're going to spend that much money you're better off either going with the DDR version or sticking with something like a TNT2 Ultra which is still a very high performing competitor. The Voodoo3 is still a fill rate monster at lower resolutions and can be considered a viable alternative unless you're big on visual quality, in which case the lack of 32-bit color support may turn you off of the 3dfx line and onto the competing solutions.

ATI's Rage Fury MAXX is also a very promising competitor, if you aren't in the position to pay the extra $70 - $100 for the DDR GeForce, then the Rage Fury MAXX may be exactly what you need. While it isn't as fast as the DDR GeForce under Quake III Arena, it's larger available memory bandwidth keeps it above the SDR GeForce in some situations and on par with the DDR in others.