The less than stellar (and somewhat inconsistent in terms of framerate) performance of the GeForce 256 units in D3D (using Rage Software's Expendable"), especially in 32-bit color indicates both the early driver status and the fact that hardware T & L support is not yet implemented in current D3D games.

The DDR version still tops out between 72 and 83 fps for lower resolutions in both 16- and 32-bit while maintaining 50 fps for 1600 x 1200 x 16-bit, only dropping down to a still playable 27 fps for 1600 x 1200 x 32-bit. It will be interesting to see what performance gains are achieved with both optimized D3D drivers and a D3D application that actually uses the hardware T & L facility of the board.

While the performance of both our GeForce 256 boards isn't as dramatic in D3D and hovers close to the 1600 x 1200 x 32-bit results available from Falcon Northwest/Guillemot's Xentor TNT2 Ultra SE clocked at 195/235MHz, they still get a boost of between six and 13 fps over the more common Xentor TNT2 Ultra (175/183MHz) in the lower resolutions.

So, what of Intel's pairing up with the GeForces?