VOGONS


First post, by rick6

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Well, i was given this blast from the past (2001). A Pentium 4 1.7Ghz socket 423 with 768 of ram (RAMBUS) and a Samsung SyncMaster 151 15" LCD also from 2001. The only thing i'm missing is a nice contemporary video card, so i found two possible candidates for the job for the same price:

- Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 GTS 64MB DDR RAM

or

- Asus Nvidia GeForce2 Pro 64MB DDR V7700PRO

Which would you pick for this retrobuild?

I think the Pro version might be slightly faster than the GTS version but i'm not how noticiable that would be on this computer, and the Leadtek GTS has a really nice big cooler.

So..which one would you pick?

My 2001 gaming beast in all it's "Pentium 4 Williamate" Glory!

Reply 1 of 17, by sunaiac

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You won't feel the difference, take the sexiest one 😀

R9 3900X/X470 Taichi/32GB 3600CL15/5700XT AE/Marantz PM7005
i7 980X/R9 290X/X-Fi titanium | FX-57/X1950XTX/Audigy 2ZS
Athlon 1000T Slot A/GeForce 3/AWE64G | K5 PR 200/ET6000/AWE32
Ppro 200 1M/Voodoo 3 2000/AWE 32 | iDX4 100/S3 864 VLB/SB16

Reply 2 of 17, by mr_bigmouth_502

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If Wikipedia is anything to go by, the Pro should be a somewhat faster card. Either card should be a good fit though. I'd probably just get the GTS and overclock it a bit if I'm feeling really desperate for the extra speed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_2_series

Reply 3 of 17, by ODwilly

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http://www.anandtech.com/show/678/3 awesome article, shows that the Pro is the way to go. Most likely only marginally faster but hey! I have to agree with suniac, take the sexiest one that looks good with your rig and upgrade to a faster card later on.

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 4 of 17, by rick6

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Even though the Asus Geforce 2 Pro seems to be a nice card, then i guess i'm with you guys and i'll get the GTS flavor.
Also, if i'm not mistaken the GTS version gained more popularity at the time than the Pro version even if faster. Maybe the price was to blame.
The Leadtek Geforce 2 GTS has a nice chunky cooler, it should give a good headroom for a small overclock.

My 2001 gaming beast in all it's "Pentium 4 Williamate" Glory!

Reply 5 of 17, by oerk

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I would choose the one with the bigger cooler/better fan, since fans on video cards tend to die a lot.

Reply 6 of 17, by borgie83

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I'd go the Pro if you really had to choose between those 2 specific cards but to be honest, a Geforce 4 TI4200, TI4400 or TI4600 is going to give you much better performance than a Geforce 2 will any day. Especially since you're running a Pentium 4. You could almost move up to the FX series.

Reply 7 of 17, by ODwilly

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PS: I have that exact Asus Geforce2 Pro card, have yet to test it out but I loved the fact that it matches alot of Pentium2-3 era motherboard PCB's. There is nothing I hate more than a yellowish green motherboard with a bright red GPU. Just a minor pet peeve x)

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 8 of 17, by rick6

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borgie83 wrote:

I'd go the Pro if you really had to choose between those 2 specific cards but to be honest, a Geforce 4 TI4200, TI4400 or TI4600 is going to give you much better performance than a Geforce 2 will any day. Especially since you're running a Pentium 4. You could almost move up to the FX series.

I'm not really looking to get the fastest possible really, just something more or less "contemporary accurate" wise. I know that for 2001 i could even get a Geforce 3 but that came out a bit later that year if i'm correct. Besides that, a geforce 2 is a bit cheaper and not too out of place on this system at all regarding the year 2001.

My 2001 gaming beast in all it's "Pentium 4 Williamate" Glory!

Reply 9 of 17, by borgie83

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Fair enough. Well don't disregard Geforce 2 TI's are they are quite cheap and readily available. I've actually got 2 Leadtek Geforce 2 TI's for sale which are new in box for $30 each. They're slightly faster than the GTS and PRO.

Reply 11 of 17, by Darkman

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the Pro is better, while the Ti and Ultra are better than that . of course, something more suitable is a Geforce 3 or 4 .but thats something else

Reply 12 of 17, by F2bnp

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Performance will be very similar and I too would recommend a Ti 4200 instead. But, if you really have to pick only one of the two, pick the one with the best image quality. Speed won't really make a difference, but Nvidia had a nasty reputation for shit IQ back then. I think the ASUS is a better bet.

Reply 13 of 17, by borgie83

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rick6 wrote:

New as in "never opened\used"?
Unboxed?

Hi the boxes are without shrinkwrap so open box but are complete. Comes with a game, software, cable, manual and the card itself. PM me for the link if you like.

Reply 14 of 17, by obobskivich

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My P4 originally had an Asus GF2MX - it lasted about 5 years. Was a good card though (I don't know why it died, but it didn't happen in-use). My Leadtek GF6 had a chunky cooler, the fan died and I didn't even notice; afaik that card still works (its been in storage a while). I'd agree with going with the bigger/fatter cooler when possible. Especially with older cards it can sometimes be a savior in the event of a dead fan. Currently that P4 has an FX in it - performance is more than it needs, but it gets me pixel shaders and AA which is nice.

Reply 15 of 17, by cdoublejj

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Some older cards can render effects in some games that newer cards can not. does this apply with Geforce 2 vs Geforce 4?

Reply 16 of 17, by rick6

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cdoublejj wrote:

Some older cards can render effects in some games that newer cards can not. does this apply with Geforce 2 vs Geforce 4?

You mean like 3dfx did with detail textures + fog on unreal\unreal tournament and never really worked all that well on nvidia\ati cards?

I bought the geforce gts 2 card, it will be noticiably better at 1024x768 vs the geforce 256 DDR it has at the moment i guess.

My 2001 gaming beast in all it's "Pentium 4 Williamate" Glory!

Reply 17 of 17, by obobskivich

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cdoublejj wrote:

Some older cards can render effects in some games that newer cards can not. does this apply with Geforce 2 vs Geforce 4?

I don't think so - afaik with GF2->NV2x there's no good reason to avoid NV2x beyond historical accuracy or economic availability. NV2x adds LMA, PS support (this will actually mean GF3/4 can do effects in some games that older cards cannot), MSAA, etc but I haven't found anything that talks it about it explicitly removing anything. And remember the NV1x went on to become the GeForce 4 MX, so forward-looking driver support for both families should be pretty consistent, although GF2 will support a range of older (pre-NV2x) drivers ofc.