The ELSA ERAZOR III
TNT2 32Mb AGP graphic card
Monday, June 28, 1999
The performances tests results
All tests were performed with the following system setup:
Motherboard: Abit BX6 revision 2.0
CPU: Intel Pentium II 350mhz
CPU: Intel Pentium III 450mhz
Memory: 64mb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE first channel Primary port: Quantum Fireball KA 9.1gig UDMA66
IDE second channel Primary port: Kenwood 52X True X
AGP slot: Elsa ERAZOR III TNT2 32Mb AGP
PCI slot number 4: Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live Value
ISA slot number 2: US Robotic 56k X2 modem
OS: Win98 4.10
DirectX 6.1
Note: The Abit Soft Menu II Turbo mode was enabled for all tests.
All tests were performed with the VSYNC disabled unless otherwise specified.
The Drivers
Before to delve into the tests results, I would like to say a few words about the drivers used for these tests. As you will notice, two sets of drivers have been used. The drivers 4.11.01.0009 are coming from the installation CD that I received with the ELSA ERAZOR III. As a matter of fact, these drivers are almost identical (if not identical...) to the Nvidia reference drivers 4.1.01.0109. The second set of drivers I used were the Nvidia reference drivers built 188 available HERE from the Nvidia web site. These are the best drivers available at this moment to my knowledge at least this is what is appearing in the below results I obtained while comparing the results I had with them to the ELSA CD drivers.
The 2D results
Winbench99 Business Graphic Winmark
Here are the results obtained with the ELSA ERAZOR III graphic card while switching from the CD drivers to the Nvidia reference drivers. As you can see, a tad better performance is obtained with the later drivers.
The 3D results
| Quake 2 + Intel PII-350mhz using 800 X 600 X 75hz 16-bit |
| Graphic card |
Demo 2 |
Crusher.dm2 |
| ATI Rage Fury 128 GL 32Mb AGP |
55.30 fps |
29.00 fps |
| ELSA ERAZOR II 16Mb AGP |
54.83 fps |
32.16 fps |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP driver 4.11.01.0009 |
63.26 fps |
32.33 fps |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP driver 4.11.01.088 |
70.03 fps |
38.52 fps |
As we can see here, the, the ELSA ERAZOR III overscored all other graphic cards in this comparison test. Even if the results are not always as high as we would have expected we can't deny that the TNT2 based graphic card is looking good on this test especially when using the Nvidia reference drivers built 188.
| Quake 2 + Intel PII-350mhz using 800 X 600 X 75hz 16-bit |
| Graphic card |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0009 |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0188 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0009 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0188 |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP |
63.26 fps |
70.03 fps |
32.33 fps |
38.52 fps |
| Quake 2 + Intel PII-350mhz using 800 X 600 X 75hz 32-bit |
| Graphic card |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0009 |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0188 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0009 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0188 |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP |
54.63 fps |
56.86 fps |
32.02 fps |
35.5 fps |
Still using my good old PII-350Mhz processor, a series of tests has been conducted to have an idea about how good was performing this graphic card on a system with average performance. Once again the Nvidia reference drivers built 188 were used in comparison with the ELSA CD drivers version 4.11.01.0009. The numbers speaking by themselves I don't think I really have to add anything else here...
| Quake 2 + Intel PIII-450mhz using 800 X 600 X 75hz 16-bit |
| Graphic card |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0009 |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0188 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0009 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0188 |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP |
74.80 fps |
76.93 fps |
40.83 fps |
47.62 fps |
| Quake 2 + Intel PIII-450mhz using 800 X 600 X 75hz 32-bit |
| Graphic card |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0009 |
Demo 2
4.11.01.0188 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0009 |
Crusher.dm2
4.11.01.0188 |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP |
58.66 fps |
67.23 fps |
39.10 fps |
44.20 fps |
This time, using my brand new PIII-450Mhz processor, a new series of tests has been conducted while always comparing the Nvidia reference drivers built 188 to the ELSA CD drivers version 4.11.01.0009. Much impressive results have been obtained here as we can see. This makes me suspect that the TNT2 graphic card is far from being at the limit of what it can give with this processor. In my opinion, it would take at least a PIII-650Mhz to push a TNT2 to its extreme limits.
| Quake 2 + Intel PII-350mhz using 800 X 600 X 75hz 32-bit |
| Graphic card |
Demo 2 |
Crusher.dm2 |
| ATI Rage Fury 128 GL 32Mb AGP |
54.8 fps |
28.86 fps |
| ELSA ERAZOR II 16Mb AGP |
39.83 fps |
29.90 fps |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP driver 4.11.01.0009 |
54.63 fps |
32.02 fps |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP driver 4.11.01.088 |
56.86 fps |
35.50 fps |
Back to the PII-350Mhz but this time by using the 32-bit color depth mode, I thought it would be a good idea to compare the ELSA ERAZOR III to some other card just to see how good it would perform in this mode. Look at the numbers an judge by yourself...
Quake2 version3.20 Timedemo testing procedure used:
The computer has been freshly booted
Quake 2 (3.20) has been launched
The video console has been opened
The appropriate screen resolution has been selected
The game console as been opened by typing " ~ "
Once in the console I typed "Timedemo 1" and "Enter"
The command "demomap demo2.dm2" or "map crusher.dm2" has been typed
Once the demo has completed, I used to type again "demomap demo2.dm2" to run it another shot
All Quake2 tests were performed 3 times each and the mean
of the results obtained is the one displayed in the above tests results.
3D Mark 99
| 3D Mark 99 max |
| Graphic card |
PII-350Mhz
4.11.01.0009 |
PII-350Mhz
4.11.01.0188 |
PIII-450Mhz
4.11.01.0009 |
PIII-450Mhz
4.11.01.0188 |
| ELSA ERAZOR III 32Mb AGP |
3251 |
3318 |
4551 |
4716 |
This semi-synthetic benchmark is once again proving to us that the Nvidia built 188 reference drivers are much better than the one I had on the ELSA installation CD. On all these tests, the Vsynch was enabled.
Conclusions
In my opinion, for as long as you use the Build 188 Nvidia reference drivers, you can't be mistaking with this graphic card. The more powerful a processor you will attach to it the more performance it'll give to you. The ELSA drivers provided on the installation CD are much better in term of usability and I just can regret that I can't get all what they offer when I am switching to the Nvidia reference drivers but this is a matter of choice you know. You either have to decide if you wish to have a more user friendly set of drivers or more performance... Besides, the Nvidia built 188 reference drivers are said to be 3D Now enhanced so they might do an even better difference for you if you're an AMD user.
Please visit Elsa's Web site for more information.
