NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS Roundup - July 2000

Outrageous GeForce 2 GTS Specifications
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Memory	32 MB Infineon DDR SGRAM 6 ns
Cooling	Gaming Heatsink/Fan combo with Memory Heatsinks
Temperature	120 F
TV-Out	Not Supported
Drivers
Highest Overclock (max core)	250/390 MHz
Highest Overclock (max memory)	250/390 MHz
Overclocking Utility	None
SBA State	Enabled
89 MHz AGP Bus (133 MHz BX)	Fail with SBA, Pass without
99 MHz AGP Bus (148 MHz BX)	Fail with SBA, Pass without
Software/Gaming Bundle	Soldier of Fortune, Intervideo DVD, choice of 3: Colin McRae Rally, TOCA 2, Supreme Snowboarding, Rollercoaster Tycoonector, Sin, Heretic II, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Unreal Tournament, Driver, UEFA Champions League, or Rollcage (all optional)
Estimated Street Price	$275.00 estimated retail price Not yet available on line

Of the cards gathered for this roundup, the Absolute Multimedia Outrageous GeForce 2 GTS is one of only two that utilize RAM heatsinks, one quality of the card which quickly catches the eye. It is unfortunate, however, that the use of such heatsinks are questionable, at best, as shown in the Overclocking the memory section above. In addition, the double sided tape used to hold the heatsinks to the RAM chips seems to be of very low quality, as the heatsinks quickly fell off once stressed or cooled down.

The "gaming" fan utilized on the card did prove to provide extra cooling for the GPU. Once again, this cooler running temperature seems to go wasted due to the fact that maximum core speed of the GeForce 2 GTS is not dependent on heat but rather on chip quality. Nonetheless, our sample was able to reach the almost unparalleled 250 MHz core speed for an impressive 2 gigatexel fill rate theoretical. Coupled with the 390 MHz RAM speed that we were able to reach, we had one fast card on our hands.

The card features the riser for optional TV-output, suggesting that this feature may be a future possibility. The low retail price of the card makes it seem possible that an extremely low price will be found on the internet. Unfortunately only time will tell. Look for a full review of this card in the coming weeks.