Elsa Gladiac 921DVI GeForce3 Ti500

Author : Wayne Date : 30th December 2001

3DVelocity would like to thank Elsa for their help and courtesy in providing this graphics card for review.

Benchmarks

For reference, I will be comparing the Gladiac to the Creative Labs 3d Blaster GeForce3 Ti500 I reviewed just before Christmas. Both cards closely follow the reference design which usually means they benefit from NVIDIA's extensive reliability testing. 21.85 drivers were used throughout.

Where better to start than with MadOnion.com's 3DMark 2001. I'm not sure if I'm becoming paranoid (or cynical) but I ran the tests on my own copy of 3DMark rather than use the supplied copy. I guess the ATi Quack/Quake debacle has gnarled my trust.

3DMark 2001 :

I don't think anything I say will make the results any clearer than they are when you look at the graph. Elsa takes the edge at all bar 1600x1200, if you can call it an edge. The differences are well within the allowances for error so the performance is essentially the same.

VulpineGL :

VulpineGL is a prime example of demanding OpenGL with high polygon models and large distance maps. It places heavy demands on your GPU and really sorts the men from the boys. I have used the screenshot from the Creative review to show the settings used and I ran the test four times, twice with sound enabled and twice with it disabled before averaging the results. Just so you know, enabling sound made a difference of between 0.1 FPS and nothing at all on my Audigy.

Before you get too excited, the massive difference that appears in the above graph actually amounts to no more than 0.2 FPS. Again, allowing for deviations in test conditions there's nothing between them.

GL Excess :

If you've seen my other reviews you'll know how fond I am of this OpenGL benchmark. The download is surprisingly compact considering the visual quality and the results seem very consistent.

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