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Once again,
total domination is displayed by the GeForce4 Ti 4600 based
Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD versus the Radeon 8500 card.
The differentials range from 25 to 40% at the higher
1280X1024 resolution. Additionally, we see no
significant performance difference between the the reference
card and the Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD.
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3DMark 2001SE Anti-Aliasing Performance |
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Stress testing
with AA |
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We've shown you
what the Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD can do with AA in an
OpenGL based title like Quake 3 Arena. So, let's show
you what it can do in a DirectX 8.1 environment. We
decided it made sense to really push the limits as well,
only testing 4X AA mode in this round of tests.
Here we see a 26
to 35% lead over the ATi product with either the reference
card or the Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD.
Additionally, we see the same sort of linear tracking of
frame rates between the two GeForce4 Ti 4600 cards, with no
real advantage for either GeForce4 board over the other.
Also, notice that in the 1280X1024 test 4X AA test, the
Radeon 8500's driver automatically drops down to 2X AA mode
in 3DMark at this resolution, using benchmark's 4X AA
setting, versus the drivers themselves. Regardless,
even when comparing 4X AA on the GF4 Ti cards here versus
the Radeon at 2X, the GeForce4 Ti 4600 driven Leadtek
Winfast A250 Ultra TD still pulls past the Radeon by almost
1000 3D Marks.
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Overclocking The Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD
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So, how does all
that shiny heat-sink hardware really perform? |
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Before we call
this article a wrap, we thought it made sense to see just
how far we could push this new GeForce4 Ti 4600 card, with
its fancy looking cooling gear and dual fans helping to
dissipate the added heat. Here are our findings...
Leadtek
Winfast A250 Ultra TD @ 325 Core / 740MHz DDR SDRAM Clocks
What we've come
to find out, over the last few weeks of testing various
GeForce4 Ti 4600 cards, is that there isn't one card we have
tested yet that can overclock as well as our reference
GeForce4 Ti 4600 card, that was given to us directly from
NVIDIA. It seems as if the card we received from NV
was indeed hand picked. However, the closest any card
we have seen to date, has ever come to the 335/750 clocks we
achieved with the reference card, are the numbers you see
here for the Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD. This also
includes some cards we have yet to even publish evaluations
of.
What's not to
love about this card? We ran into a small snag with
the Leadtek version drivers but other than that, this
GeForce4 Ti 4600 card is ready for just about anything you
could throw at it. We applaud Leadtek for providing a
card that has an innovative active cooling design that not
only looks impressive but performs equally as impressive,
besting any retail card we have seen to date here in the
lab. Additionally, this card has most all of the
features that are currently available for the GeForce4 Ti
4600, including TV Out and DVI.
The only thing
that holds back the Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD is its
price point. At an average retail price (various price
search engines were checked) of $415, this card is one of
the more expensive GeForce4 Ti 4600 cards on the market.
However, if you are looking at dropping around $400 for a
new graphics card, the extra $35 or so that you'll pay
versus some of the lowest cost cards we've found, will be
well worth the investment. Finally, if you are one of
those "plexiglass window case" types, this card is
definitely a show piece, with its bright extremely large
heat sink sure to turn a few heads.
We're giving the
Leadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD at HotHardware Heat Meter
Rating of...
And based on
it's overclocking prowess and overall quality, we're giving
it the HotHardware Editor's Choice!
Come
get some in the HotHardware PC Hardware Forum, now!
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