Let's take a look at what you're getting when you purchase this Leadtek board.
Bi-Turbo Cooling System with Anti-Dust Filter Design
WinFox II Software
Hardware Monitor
WinFast DVD
TV-out cable
S-video cable
On-board TV-out Support (up to 1024x768)
On-board DVI (up to 1280x1024)
Dronez (retail)
GunLock (retail)
First Impressions
My first impression upon opening the box and lifting the board out of the static bag was the sheer size of the
PCB! If you have been following the GeForce4 articles that have popped up all over the net, you're surely aware of
the comparisons with the Voodoo5 5500. The board really IS that big (not quite as big as the 5500), but you really
don't appreciate the size until you're holding it in your hand.
The next item that really jumped out at me was not only the quality of the board itself,
but the cooling solution; the so-called "Bi-Turbo Cooling System." The heatsink/fan apparatus literallly wraps itself
around the board.
Note: I'm unable to grab a digital foto of the board due to issues with my digital camera. I will update this page
at a later date.
Software bundle
I must be honest and up-front. It wasn't until the very end of the review that I actually went back and installed the
software that came with the board, and subsequently, changed the review itself to reflect my impression of the bundle.
I'm not normally one to do anything with the software, but felt that I wasn't being thorough if I didn't perform the
installation.
The software tools that Leadtek ships with their product are excellent. There are numerous tools from which you may choose,
depending on what your interested in. Here are a couple of snapshots.
Note: Due to the transparent effect that these tools employ, I had to resort to Hypersnap in order to capture them;
subsequently, any image format outside of PNG yielded horrific results.
The nice thing about these tools is the fact that they're all accessible from the Winfox system-tray icon, rather than
the typical route of having to open up several different Shareware utilities from the Start Menu/Desktop. In addition, Leadtek even
provides you with a very professional BIOS utility, not to mention a hardware monitor for the board itself. They even provide a
"Tea Break Utility" to remind you every-so-often to take a break from your gaming addiction!
Installation
The software/driver installation was a piece of cake. No need to muck around with the OS to install the drivers. Some 3D cards
literally require a total reinstallation of the OS in order to work right with a new board, and this is simply not the case.
I actually had 2 WindowsXP partitions from which I did my testing: one was dedicated for all the tests themselves, while the other
is my actual day-to-day OS. In the case of my actual day-to-day OS, I simply wanted to test the ability of uninstalling the older
GeForce3 drivers, and replacing them with the newer GeForce4 drivers. No problems at all.
Before we dive into the review, I would like to take the opportunity to take a few steps back and explore some areas that I feel
are paramount when talking about the state of 3D, and the GeForce4 in particular: Antialiasing.
