NV15 VS Voodoo5

[kkjensen]

I'm currently running a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP and actually I'm very pleased with its performance even though the "tests" say that a TNT2 will out perform it, not to mention the GeForce cards...anyways I'm very interested in where to go from here..I have read virtually every article I can find that compares the NV15 and the Voodoo 5 5500. Some say this and some say that regarding the two cards but the general result is that the NV15 (I'm looking at the Creative Annihilator 2)technically out performs it with regards to benchmarks but then they say that the 5500 just looks better graphically. I really don't care about exact benchmarks I just want a cards that makes my games look good and runs well. I understand the 5500 is friggin huge and that doesn't please me,it will essentially block the air circulation in the computer..granted I have 4 fans but we all know heat kills..
Any information anyone can give me to include personal opinions is welcome..I have never used a NVIDIA product before and I'm hesitant.
Thanks

[Charliey]

The V5 5500 isnt that huge, the 6000 is huge. As for which is better, i dont really know.

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-Charlie

[raydioactive]

The v5 5500 is pretty big, it overhangs a standard atx motherboard and requires a power connector from the case power supply.
I'm in the same boat as you, i have a tnt2 and am looking to upgrade. I was gonna get the v5 5500, but i saw a picture and it may be too big for my case, so i'm thinking of the v5 5000, this is shorter, but has half the memory and is cheaper, but runs at the same speed as the v5 5500. The geforce gts is faster, but like you i want to see an improvement in image quality, and what i've read about fsaa has helped me decide to go for voodoo5.

[Tiretool]

I've read on some other forums from several people that they returned their V5s because they were so big they wouldn't fit in their cases. Some of them pushed against the drive bays and some of them even interfeared with the CPU fan.
I'll stick with my Elsa Erazor X. It's smaller than most of my PCI cards... (including my modem! LOL)

[Xayd]

Yeah, I'm completely satisfied with my Voodoo 3000, but I'll definitely hold off for a bit on the Voodoo5's.

3dfx historically has done one of two things with its graphics cards: either redefined video card standards, or produced a complete waste of silicon http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/wink.gif.

When millions of folks start talkin' about how great their new Voodoo5 cards are, I might buy one. Til then I'm sittin out.

Xayd

[padawan]

I saw the Voodoo5 5500 at E3, and it was big, but not huge. The 3dfx rep told me they fit in into one of those Sony VAIO cases. If you want pure image quality, the Voodoo5 5500 with FSAA on is hard to beat. Shear speed this year goes to the GeForce2, which was running in a side by side test. Here's the thing, though. If you are playing UT of Quake3, you won't have time to notice the FSAA, so the "pretty" factor of the Voodoo5 is not a factor in action games. The raw horsepower of a GeForce2 (I am testing one right now, and it's getting over 110 frames per second in high quality) is the hands down winner. If you play racing games or flight sims, the Voodoo5 will make them look stunning with FSAA, but framerate is not key in something like MS Flight Sim 2000, so you can take time to notice the details. I will say that the FSAA drivers for the GF2 suck bad, so if FSAA is your thing, get the Voodoo5.

-Scott, Maximum3D

[Prader Willi]

This is interesting-- why would a graphic card company make a card that won't fit in most cases? I don't think people would be willing to buy a new case (and then need to install everything into the case-- especially if they did not have the knowledge to do it themselves)just to use a Voodoo card- why not just buy a Geforce?

[raydioactive]

What tiretool said about the card being blocked by the drive bays is the reason i could'nt get a v5 5500, but there could be another solution, and that is to get the pci version instead. This would then be out of the way of my drive bays and should have room to fit. This might be something to bear in mind for people with the same problem, if they want this card. Oh, and dont worry about pci being slower than agp, cause it's not, it's been proved several times.

[Tiretool]

I'm with you on the PCI thing radioactive... I'll probably wait quite a while though before I get it. I'll wait til all the hooplah is over and the card prices settle. That way I can take these two V2 cards and put them in my kid's computer...
Which brings me to a question I've been wanting to ask... Guess I better take it to another forum though...

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tiretool@pcmech.com

[Prader Willi]

FYI-- here are two reviews that you might find of interest that found the Geforce 2 GTS to be signficantly faster than the Voodoo5 5500 when used with an AMD Thunderbird processor and running games such as QuakeIII and Counsterstrike with and without FSAA: http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/fsaatbird/default.asp and http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/thunderbirdvideo/default.asp

[This message has been edited by Prader Willi (edited 06-17-2000).]