Gainward GeForce4 PowerPack! Ultra/650 XP Golden Sample

Gainward Ti4200 - Introduction

IntroductionFebruary 2002 saw nVidia take a new leap forward in the graphics market with the introduction of their GeForce4 family of video cards. This family included huge monsters to the most basic of value card, something for all of us out there. From big fat wallet holders to the penny counters, the GeForce4 family provides for us all.nVidia's high dollar cards are the Ti4600 and Ti4400. Upon release and testing, these two cards were the most wanted cards of all. High framerates and powerful core clocks took the market by storm. While good for those with big wallets, the value/mainstream market was still stuck with GeForce 3 Ti500 cards, well below the mark. Some two months after the Ti4600 and 4400 release came the Ti4200, the more value-minded brother to the Ti4600 and 4400. While still supporting the same features, its core and memory clocks are somewhat reduced to save on costs.Gainward, well known for being the big clockers on the market now, have released their value GeForce4 video card for us all to share in the power of GeForce4 Ti power. Introducing to you the Gainward Golden Sample Ti4200.

Gainward Ti4200 - Specifications

Specifications- Chipset Features The nVidia nfiniteFX™ II Engine enables a virtually infinite number of special effects that deliver the next leap in realism to 3D graphics Dual programmable Vertex Shaders Advanced programmable Pixel Shaders nVidia Lightspeed Memory Architecture™ II nVidia Accuview™ Antialiasing 3D Textures Shadow Buffers 4 dual-rendering pipelines 8 texels per clock cycle Dual cube environment mapping 128MB high-speed DDR RAM memory High-Definition Video Processor (HDVP) AGP 4X with Fast Writes AGP 4X / 2X and AGP Texturing support 32-bit color with 32-bit Z/stencil buffer Z-correct true, reflective bump mapping High-performance 2D rendering engine Hardware accelerated real-time shadows True-color hardware cursor Integrated hardware transform engine Integrated hardware lighting engine High-quality HDTV/DVD playback TV-Out and Video Modules Multibuffering (double, triple, quad) for smooth animation and video playback Microsoft DirectX and S3TC texture compression nVidia Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) Up to 10.4 GB/sec. memory bandwidth 136 million vertices/sec. 4.8 billion AA sample/sec. fill rate 1.23 trillion operations/sec.- Compatibility Complete Linux drivers, including full OpenGL Microsoft DirectX optimizations and support Complete OpenGL 1.3 and OpenGL support WHQL-certified Windows XP/2000/NT/ME/98/95 Windows XP/2000/NT/ME/98/95 display drivers Microsoft DirectDraw, Direct3D, Support operation system under Windows XP/2000/NT/ME/98/95 Linux compatible API support OpenGL 1.3 and lower Microsoft DirectX 8.1 and lower

Gainward Ti4200 - Features

Package ContentsGainward supplies a somewhat small package with the Golden Sample Ti4200. This is not surprising since the card is aimed towards the value end of the Ti scales. The package comes with the card (well if it didn't I think you would have something to complain about), 4 CD Applications (including WinDVD), Users manual, DVI to CRT converter and TV Out cables. In all, a standard package.The CardThe card size and layout is based around the nVidia reference design for the Ti4200. After all, why change something that is working for them? Located on the top are four memory modules and the heatsink which isn't based on the reference design.Heatsink and GPUAs mentioned above, the heatsink on the Gainward card is not the reference heatsink unit that nVidia recommend, however, it does a great job of cooling the GPU. Under the sink itself is the Ti4200 GeForce4 GPU unit running at 250MHz. Overclocking, we managed to run the GPU at 280MHz with stock cooling and 300MHz when replacing the cooler with a larger model.MemoryThe Golden Sample uses eight Samsung TSOP 4ns memory modules for a total of 128MB memory onboard. The memory on the card runs at 225DDR (450MHz) and the memory modules for the card are located on both the front and back of the card. While only 4ns, this memory did clock at 530MHz without any cooling. Since this card wasn't available to keep, we didn't stick any heatsinks onto the memory. After all, we didn't want to deface the card.Video OptionsThe Gainward Golden Sample supports Video In/Out features. Doing the video decoding/encoding tasks is the Phillips TV/Video Codec. This chip is being used in place of Conixant and Chroitech controllers as it does a much better job. Handling the PC to TV conversion is the Silicon Image TV encoder. This same chip is used on the Realmagic DVD and MPG4 encoder cards so it provides very good TV quality compared to older GeForce cards.DVI to CRT ConverterSince the GeForce4 supports dual monitors (nView as nVidia calls it), Gainward has included a DVI to CRT converter. This converter allows you to connect a CRT 15 pin monitor to the DVI port allowing two CRT monitors to be used. It is great to see companies now starting to supply this converter as standard.

Gainward Ti4200 - Benchmarks - Test System and MadOnion

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz (Northwood)Memory: 2x 256MB DDR-333 Kingmax (512MB) Hard Disk: Seagate Barracuda ATA-3 UDMA 100 7200RPM Drivers: nVidia Detonator v29.42Software Used: Quake III Arena, Jedi Knight II, Aquanox, Max Payne, DroneZmark, Star Trek VoyagerSynthetic 3D Benchmarks3DMark20003DMark2000 is a synthetic Direct3D benchmark that is compatible with DirectX 7. It takes full advantage of the GeForce2, ATi Radeon and DirectX 7 enhancements. 3DMark2000 has become one of the worlds most used benchmark utilities. While this program is starting to get old, it is a good indication of how well this hardware operates under DX7.The Gainward Ti4200 is, of course, behind the Ti4600 GF4 but ahead of the GF3 Ti500. This is due to the new memory controller and greater core speed of the GF4.3DMark2001 SE3DMark2001 SE is the latest installment in the popular 3DMark series. By combining DirectX 8.1 support with completely new graphics (including the GeForce4), it continues to provide benchmark results that empower you to make informed hardware assessments. Build 330 adds support for video cards that have Vertex Shaders but no Pixel Shaders, such as the SiS Xabre Video card.Again the GF4 Ti4200 is in the middle of the pack. The ability produce more 3DMarks can only be a good thing.

Gainward Ti4200 - Benchmarks - OpenGL

Real-World OpenGL BenchmarksQuake III ArenaQuake III Arena is a real-world OpenGL benchmark that we have been using here at TweakTown for quite a while now because it has proven itself to be one of the best gaming benchmarks around to compare a range of different products.Quake III Arena shows how well the Ti4200 does compared to its predecessor, the Ti500. It also shows just how well it compares to the leader of the pack, the Ti4600.Star Trek VoyagerStar Trek Voyager is a real-world OpenGL benchmark. Based on the Quake III Arena engine, this game is a OpenGL master utilizing DirectX 8. We also apply the new Opt3D patch to allow for the use of Hardware T&L's use as well as new optimizations for AMD Athlon XP and Pentium 4 SSE2.Based on the Q3 engine, Star Trey Voyager shows the same trends, only with newer driver support and much better graphics.Jedi Knight IIJedi Knight II, Jedi Outcast is a newly released OpenGL game that many have been waiting for. It has much improved graphics over its predecessor. It fully supports advanced shaders as well as very high texture resolutions and effects. There is one demo included in the multi-player section that is good for benchmarking use. In order to enable the benchmarking mode, you have to make a shortcut to the jk2mp.exe program located in the GameData folder of Jedi Knight 2. You have to put the switch "+set sv_cheats1" (no quotes) at the end of the line in the Target Area so that it looks like this: "C:\Star Wars JK II Jedi Outcast\GameData\jk2mp.exe" +set sv_cheats 1. The demo file used is jk2ffa.Jedi Knight is a new generation of game so it is fitting we test it on the new generation card. As you can see, the Ti4200 is able to smoke the Ti500 GF3, especially in FSAA operations.

Gainward Ti4200 - Benchmarks - Direct3D

Real-World Direct3D BenchmarksMax PayneMax Payne is a new generation DirectX 7/8 game. This game is based on Hardware T&L advancements as well as many other features of the Intel Pentium 4 and Athlon XP.Max Payne in FSAA mode really sucks the power out of the video cards. The Ti4200 is able to run Max Payne at a totally playable level, while the Ti500 GF3 just scrapes in the playable area.AquanoxAquanox is the latest installment to our benchmark software. This game is based heavily on DirectX 8 and 8.1 advancements and is designed to stress video cards to their ultimate limit, in all the best D3D benchmark to date.Aquanox is even more heavily reliant on the 3D, and it shows in this test. The Ti500 GF3 is what I would class as not totally playable at 1024x768 32-bit FSAA 4x. Ti4200 just makes it in, Ti4600 easy.DroneZmarkDroneZmark is based on the popular DroneZ game engine. DroneZmark incorporates a looping demo and execution engine to test your systems performance.In the final test, the Gainward is still in the middle of the pack, able to take out the competition.

Gainward Ti4200 - Conclusion

ConclusionGainward has come up to the top of the overclocking pack lately with their GeForce3 and GeForce4 cards. They have targeted the enthusiast market and even the more budget market, as shown by the release of the Ti4200. While being somewhat slower than the Ti4600, the Ti4200 is able to overclock to nearly the same level. This makes the Ti4200 cards a rather good buy, especially over Ti4400 as 99% of them are guaranteed to run at or above the Ti4400 level. While some people argue that the Ti4400 can overclock more, they both max out at around the Ti400 level, so the Ti4200 is a wiser buy for the overclocker.- ProsFastOverclockableTV in and outDVI to CRT converter- ConsSlightly smaller bundle than other Ti4200 packagesRating - 9/10