The initial comparisons between the GF2 and the V5 with FSAA showed that in lower resolutions, the GF2 crunched the V5 thoroughly. However, once you start going to high resolutions, the V5 takes the lead do to the larger capacity for a frame buffer than a 32 MB GF2, and the GF2's poor memory bandwidth.
Without FSAA enabled, the GeForce has performed remarkably well compared to the V5. In some benchmarks, its lead over the V5 has been quite significant. That, coupled with the feature load-out of most of the new cards makes the GF2 very attractive to consumers and OEMs alike. Many of its features are designed for tomorrow's games, while still giving powerful performance for today's.
As for memory bandwidth issues, this is not necessarily nVidia's fault. They decided to go with DDR SDRAM because of its speed benefits versus SDR SDRAM. However high-speed DDR SDRAM yields have been rather limited. The GF2's memory bandwidth is not so much limited by its design as it is by the lack of sufficient high-frequency memory chips. A daring company could take a big risk and buy all the high-speed DDR SDRAM chips they can find and clock them higher on their boards. However, that move would have to rely on two things: 1) That they could manage to advertise this fact to the consumer and 2) That they can produce boards in sufficient quantity to meet demand. The risks involved are not ones that companies take lightly, and not many will be willing to even consider this option.
Also, regarding the V5's 64 MB of memory... that's not entirely accurate. The V5 5500 has only 32 MB per chip. Multiply that by 2 chips and you have 64 MB, right? Not really. You see, those banks of memory have to duplicate texture memory for each chip. So, let's say a game needs 16 MB for texture data. With 16 MB of memory for each chip being used for texture info, that leaves 32 MB for the frame buffer (since it is split across the chips). A 32 MB graphics card would only have 16 MB left for the frame buffer, while a TRUE 64 MB card would have a full 48 MB left.
As for the price: yes, you can get a 64 MB V5 for less than a 32 MB GF2, but with the GF2 you're paying for more features, including the DDR SDRAM, which is still quite expensive. Prices will plummet as soon as DDR SDRAM production ramps up to full speed.
Personally, I'm buying a 64 MB GF2 as soon as I see one I like. The two best brands I've seen so far are the Elsa and the ASUS cards. The Hercules card shows promise with its heat sinked memory modules, but initial tests show its not very overclockable.
Of course, I have some money to burn due to a rather unfortunate car accident before my birthday. Thanks Nationwide!! ;-)
Realisitcally, I'd say wait. Prices almost always drop in the summer. Only fools (like me) rush in and buy a graphics card as soon as it debuts. You need to give the manufacturers a couple months to be competitve. Then prices should be a bit more reasonable.
DemBones @
www.riva3d.com