Geforce2, 3, 4 and Vanta

[gautamzone]

Hi friends,


I just wanted to know the difference between nVidia GeForce
and nVidia Vanta Graphic Cards. Also the differences between GeForce 2, 3, 4 would be very hepful.

Thanks a lot

Gautam Bhagwandas

[DrZaius]

Hi gautamzone,

Well, each one is the next generation chip, there is no one specific thing that changes, but it's mostly faster core and memory speeds, and memory type (DDR, 128-bit vs. 64-bit). Each one is progressively faster than the previous, so the GeForce4 cards are the fastest. There are different models though, for example there is an MX line for both the GeForce2 and 4 which is significantly slower than the normal non-MX version. The Vanta's are just slower TNT2M64 cards, defaintely not for gaming but for office machines. Here is a helpful chart that compares dozens of cards so you can see where the GeForces fit in.

http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphi...418/index.html

Hope that helps.

[gautamzone]

Thanks a lot for the speedy reply. Can I get a little more info on TNT, Ti, RIVA. I want to know what does Ti and TNT stand for?

Thanks again

Gautam

[DrZaius]

Ti and TNT are just names they give to the cards. Here are all the GeForce cards in order from fastest to slowest.

1. GeForce4 Ti 4600
2. GeForce4 Ti 4400
3. GeForce4 Ti 4200
4. GeForce4 MX460
5. GeForce4 MX440
6. GeForce4 MX420
7. GeForce3 Ti500
8. GeForce3 Ti200
9. GeForce3
10. GeForce2 Ultra
11. GeForce2 Ti
12. GeForce2 Pro
13. GeForce2 GTS
14. GeForce2 GTS-V
15. GeForce2 MX400
16. GeForce2 MX
17. GeForce2 MX200
18. TNT2 Ulta
19. TNT2
20. TNT2 M64
21. Vanta

As you can see, the Ti cards are the faster of the series, while the MX cards are the slower budget models. Hope that helps.

[TwoRails]

Hi DrZaius,

That's worse than learning poker hands!!

The GF 3 beats the GF 3ti 200 ( fill rates of: 3.2 versus 2.8 billion )

The GF 2 MX need dropped to below the GF 3s as their fill rates are: 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 billion -- and they are touted as 2D.

TwoRails

[DrZaius]

Hi TwoRails,

I agree, I was looking at the list and comparing it to some benchmarks and it didn't match up with the GF3s and GF4MXs, here's an updated version.

1. GeForce4 Ti4600
2. GeForce4 Ti4400
3. GeForce4 Ti4200
4. GeForce3 Ti500
5. GeForce3
6. GeForce3 Ti200
7. GeForce4 MX460
8. GeForce4 MX440
9. GeForce4 MX420
10. GeForce2 Ultra
11. GeForce2 Ti
12. GeForce2 Pro
13. GeForce2 GTS
14. GeForce2 GTS-V
15. GeForce2 256
16. GeForce2 MX400
17. GeForce2 MX
18. GeForce2 MX200
19. TNT2 Ulta
20. TNT2
21. TNT2 M64
22. Vanta

[Guardian]

Would there be a noticable gain to go from a GeForce 3 Ti200 to a GeForce 4 Ti200? Prices seem reasonable for this GeForce4 card.

I would be running this on an Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition board with an AMD XP 2100+ and 512MB of PC2700 DDR.

[TwoRails]

Hi Guardian,

If your budget allows, Yes !! There is a major diff between these two cards. Besides speed, their instruction sets and features are almost day and night. However, it will be a while before games are written for the GF 4, so for a while it will just be a faster card.

HTH

TwoRails

[Guardian]

Thanks TwoRails,

I can't believe I can get a GeForce4 for about what I paid for my GeForce3 just 7 or 8 months ago!

Might just do it tho.

[TwoRails]

Hi Guardian,

Unforturnately, I know what you mean!! I got my GF 3 last Christmas time, when the price dipped about $100US.

Oh well..... Don't know if I want to wait for the GF 5 or not....

TwoRails

[Spyda]

Does any of them make a faster PCI card than the Geforce2 MX400 64MB?

because i dont have an AGP slot on my motherboard it really ties me down, i was told and it said on this PC that it had AGP, so i bought a Geforce3 AGP and i was well gutted when i opened up my computer to find only PCIs

[grasshopperbe]

eh i dont know to much about video cards, just how to plug em and get em to work, but isnt a 3d card always in a agp slot?
(you note you have a geforce 2 mx400 now, i have a voodoo 3 3000 on an older pc, and a geforce 2 mx 64 mb something, and as far as i know they're always agp

i thought pci video cards stopped at 8 mb(no 3d) or something

[mike breck]

No grasshopperbe,

You can get both versions, but obviously the PCI cards are being phased out slowly.

Spyda

I saw a PCI Geo4 PNY card today in a local store

http://www.pny.com/home/products/Vcard_MX420PCI.cfm

However, I think the money might be better spent on a new mobo and CPU.

Hey Doc,

That list is a fix!

My specially modified, turbo-charged, water-cooled S3 Virge 4MB isn't even on it...