Elsa Gladiac 721TV-Out GeForce3 Ti200

Author : Wayne Date : 30th December 2001

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

The Elsa Gladiac 721TV-Out Ti200:

When I reviewed the 921DVI I made the remark that although there was a good layer of thermal grease under the GPU sink, the fact that I wasn't the first to use the board meant I couldn't confirm Elsa had applied it. The good news is that the 721 was a virgin board and popping off the sink revealed the same application of grease, a sure sign that Elsa are taking the cooling side seriously.

Click for a larger image

As I mentioned earlier, the 721 differs from the 921 primarily in its lack of a DVI output. Although this is not out of the ordinary it's a shame as it would certainly be a welcome feature and one that's not beyond the realms of use for the target market. Fortunately TV-out stays, though like almost all Ti series cards it's still being handled by the aging Conexant BT869 chip offering a maximum 800x600 NTSC or PAL outputs. I keep harping on about it but I wish manufacturers would progress to the Conexant CX25871 chip which offers ATSC High Definition Television (HDTV) output, true international television display (NTSC, PAL and SECAM output), and resolutions from 320 x 200 to 1024 x 768. I've seen reviews of the 721 where they mention the presence of the Conexant CX25871 chip, so whether this option is used only for certain markets remains unclear at this point. Certainly the card we recieved came with the BT869 so if this feature is important to you I suggest you check first.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the cooling configuration the 721, like the 921, remains low in profile and is unlikely to cause any unnecessary obstructions to the first PCI slot, though as I'm sure you know it's often better to leave this slot unpopulated as it shares an interrupt with the AGP slot.

The Bundle :

As with both the 921 and Creatives 3D Blaster Ti500, I was upset to find no bundled DVD player. Surely one of the great selling points of TV-out other than the ability to play games on your TV is the ability watch DVDs on your TV. Also in common with these cards is the lack of any form of cable to connect to your TV.

On the plus side, you do get the customary driver installation CD along with a fully optimised version of the excellent (and funny) Giants™: Citizen Kabuto™ and a full version of 3DMark 2001 to kick off your benchmarking obsessions. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and as a rule a large software bundle means a higher price but I'd still like to see DVD software included even if it means a fractionally higher price.

Page 5 - Performance