That's where Elsa's Erazor X comes in. Elsa AG, based in Aachen, Germany and founded in 1980, is one of the oldest graphics card makers still in business. They've survived in the cutthroat video card market by offering feature-rich drivers matched to custom hardware as well as application specific acceleration for high-end 3D (CAD). Today we'll be taking a look at their new NVIDIA GeForce 256 based graphics accelerator, the Elsa Erazor X, armed with 32MB of SDRAM and designed to deliver frag increasing frame rates.

Elsa differentiates the Erazor X from other GeForce 256 boards by matching a non-reference design (the only non-reference design we've seen) with unique screen control and chip monitoring software. Their design is on a smaller board than the reference design, which should spell cost savings for Elsa's manufacturing. The different design also allows Elsa to offer their ChipGuard, SmartRefresh and SmartResolution technologies with some features that no other GeForce card maker has.

Similar to ASUS's SmartDoctor utility, ChipGuard is a combination of a temperature sensor mounted on the GeForce chip, a fan sensor monitoring the GeForce's fan, and software that lets you know if your chip is overheating. Designed for overclockers who like to push the limits of their hardware, ChipGuard senses when your Erazor X is close to overheating or in the midst of overheating as well as if you're having fan trouble. In some cases, it can cut the clock speed of the Erazor X to prevent crashes or damage, and in worst case scenarios, it can freeze your computer to prevent damage to the card. So if you've always thought about overclocking your video card but have been worried about damaging it, Elsa's ChipGuard technology should make you feel safe about wringing that last little bit of performance out of your Erazor X. And to make you feel even safer, Erazor X is backed by a six-year warranty, even if you overclock with the driver's built-in overclocking software. ChipGuard is a good feature for peace of mind, and a warranty of six years is virtually unheard of in the graphics market, but in this day of upgrading your video card every year or two to keep up with the newest games, it may be a bit excessive. ChipGuard is more important for businesses that need reliability and some forewarning that a part is beginning to fail.