Manufacturer: VisionTek
Street Price: About $330 USD
Availability: Now

Not being a company that sits on its laurels for long, it's no surprise that NVIDIA has once again upped the ante for high-performance 3D gaming. Their newest video chip is the GeForce3 Ti 500 and it's the latest improvement to the famed GeForce3 product line. This release marks the continuation of NVIDIA's aggressive release schedule and also looks to head off any intrusion by ATi into the high-end market

The initial GeForce3 release was something of a mild surprise, given that NVIDIA had built its reputation on raising the performance bar with each subsequent product release. The GeForce3 changed this somewhat, and although it did increase overall framerates (especially at higher resolutions), its main purpose was to introduce a much wider feature set and make a full transition to DirectX 8.

The GeForce3 was more than fast enough to compete against, and under most circumstances surpass, the performance of a GeForce2 ULTRA with current 3D games. It also introduced several innovative features that would yield gains for both quality and framerates with newer games. Add to that the faster FSAA engine of the GeForce3 and you have a very attractive 3D card with vast potential for DirectX 8 games. What the GeForce3 Ti 500 represents is the next evolutionary step along the GeForce3 product line, much like the GeForce2 Pro or ULTRA superceded the original GeForce2 GTS.

VisionTek was one of the very first companies out the door with a new GeForce3 Ti 500 card, after offering some fine, low-cost implementations of the previous GeForce2/3 products. The Xtasy 6964 is their new high-end entrant, and judging from their current product line, VisionTek is looking to move up the charts in short order. Not only does the company produce the Xtasy 6964 (GeForce3 Ti 500), but other new products include the Xtasy 6564 (GeForce3 Ti 200) and Xtasy 5864 (GeForce2 Ti) as well. This rapid adoption of the newest NVIDIA products indicates an aggressive move by VisionTek to assume a greater role in the enthusiast market.