NVIDIA - E3 2000

nVidia made a stealthy but powerful appearance at E3 this year.  They let their GeForce 2 graphics board do the talking rather than having the loudest booth or by having booth bunnies hand out toys.  After meeting with both nVidia and 3Dfx, I think a good way to sum things up is to say that the nVidia GeForce 2 GTS is really the next generation card.  Packed with features and new effects, the GeForce 2 is the card for the hardcore gamer.

GeForce 2 GTS - Deciding which card to get can be a difficult thing to do.  After seeing both the nVidia and 3Dfx cards in action, it is still difficult for me to declare a winner.  From what I saw, the GeForce 2 GTS card was capable of doing far more than just traditional "3D acceleration."  They showed incredible bump mapping demos, lighting effects, and were able to create ultra realistic worlds.  This particular card, while still ultra fast, was not released because of its advances in fill rate, but because of the new transform and lighting effects.  The only question is "will game developers support it?"  Well, I asked, and the game companies seemed to welcome nVidia's card with open arms.  Warcraft 3, Black and White, and Sacrifice are just a few of the awesome games that will be supporting this fine card.  With a price tag slightly more than 3Dfx's Voodoo 5500, I think this may be the 'hardcore' gamers card of choice.