Improvements have been made to the previous GeForce 256 (NV10) core in several areas, particularly in a multitexturing environment. The GeForce 2 GTS can render two textures per pixel for each of the chip's four rendering pipelines, whereas the original GeForce 256 chip could only render one texture per pixel, per pipeline. Hence the GeForce 2 GTS allows eight rendering passes per clock cycle versus the GeForce 256's threshold of just four.
Thanks to this architectural improvement, and a bump up in MHz speed from the GeForce 256's standard 120MHz core speed to the GeForce 2 GTS chip's impressive 200MHz core speed, the maximum fill rate for the new chip is a lofty 1.6 gigatexels per second. This is a massive improvement over the 480-megatexel-per-second rating that initial GeForce 256 cards with single data rate (SDR) memory provided at their launch just six months ago.
There will likely be no SDR memory versions of GeForce 2 GTS cards offered to consumers even though it's theoretically possible, as the performance of DDR, or dual data rate, memory is necessary to keep the new Nvidia chip tearing through graphics at full speed.
The exact DDR SDRAM or DDR SGRAM speed that each video card vendor selects to use on its GeForce 2 GTS cards varies, the reference card we're looking at today was provided by Nvidia and is equipped with 32MB of 166MHz (300MHz DDR) SGRAM.
We'll be comparing DDR SDRAM and DDR SGRAM variants of GeForce 2 GTS cards against each other as they arrive on the market to determine what differences, if any, the variance in memory type makes.
Although 32MB of DDR memory will be the launch standard for the first generation of GeForce 2 GTS cards in May, 64MB DDR versions will follow in as quickly as 30 days. By mid to late June most of the 64MB GeForce 2 GTS cards will have arrived on the market, and they will cost somewhere between US$340 and $380, according to vendors we spoke with. The initial 32MB DDR GeForce 2 GTS cards will cost between $275 and $325.
Any pricing of GeForce 2 GTS cards depends heavily on the vendor's support of accessories like video-in/out ports, DVI ports, etc. If vendors opt to include these goodies, or a large game bundle, buyers can expect the price for the card to come in near the higher end of the prices that we listed.
While 32 and 64MB options will be the norm for most GeForce 2 GTS cards, the chip does support up to 128MB of memory. It's very possible that once the 128MB-equipped 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 "quad-SLI" card appears later this year, existing GeForce 2 GTS card vendors could stack 96MB or 128MB of DDR memory on their cards should they perceive a consumer need for it.
Next: The chip's digital video features
