Featuring the latest GeForce® 8600 GTS with 256MB GDDR3 memory and DirectX® 10 and Shader Model 4.0 support, EVGA's 256-P2-N761-AR delivers amazingly realistic gaming effects and full support for Microsoft® Windows Vista. Differing from past GPU generations, this talented card features a dedicated on-chip video processor for superb picture quality and ultra smooth video playback. Humming a long at a brisk 675 MHZ with a 2GHz memory clock, you’ve got more than enough juice to slice through the stiffest competition.
It also features NVIDIA's latest developments, including GigaThread™ Technology, which, through a massively multi-threaded architecture creates thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency for advanced, next generation shader programs.
Additionally, This amazing unit supports Quantum Effects™ Technology, enabling a new level of physics effects to be simulated and rendered on the GPU as well as support for NVIDIA's Lumenex™ engine, which introduces 16x Anti-aliasing and 128-bit floating point High-Dynamic-Range (HDR) rendering for the most realistic lighting effects.
NVIDIA Unified Architecture with GigaThread TechnologyThe Fully-unified shader core dynamically allocates processing power to geometry, vertex, physics and pixel shading operations, delivering incredibly true-to-life 3D graphics. In addition, the massively multi-threaded architecture supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shader programs.
Full Microsoft DirectX 10 SupportThe world's first DirectX 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects.
NVIDIA Lumenex EngineThe NVIDIA Lumenex Engine supports 128-bit and 64-bit floating point HDR with up to 16x anti-aliasing, delivering vividly realistic lighting effects while obliterating "jaggies".
NVIDIA Quantum Effects TechnologyNVIDIA Quantum Effects Technology enables advanced shader processors architected for physics computation and a new level of physics effects to be simulated and rendered on the GPU - all the while freeing the CPU to run the game engine and AI.
HDCP CapableWith integrated High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support, this card allows playback of HD DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and other protected content at full HD resolutions.
NVIDIA SLI TechnologyDelivers up to 2x the performance of a single GPU configuration for unmatchable gaming experiences. The must-have feature for PCI Express graphics, NVIDIA SLI technology allows two graphics cards to run in parallel and dramatically scales performance on today's hottest games.
Pros: -Good price (especially with a rebate). -DirectX 10 capability, even if it isn't fancy, hopefully makes this card a bit longer-lasting than a DirectX 9 card. -EVGA has a clever deal where you can upgrade your card to a better one within 90 days and pay only the difference. We'll see if my wife lets me do that.
Cons: -Not as fancy or powerful as the 8800 GTS, which everyone seems to freaking love. But that one's too expensive for me.
Overall Review: If you're reading all of these reviews, I'm sure you've found that it's hard as hell to pick out a video card: given two similar cards, nobody agrees about which one is better. In my case, it was between this card and the Radeon X1950 Pro. I scoured forums to get a definitive answer on which was better and never found one; or rather, I could find answers to support either card, with plenty of technical evidence to back them up. There are such claims in this very review section. In the end, sort of threw my hands up and went with this card for the reasons listed above. Vista gives this card a performance index of 5.6 (of 5.9), for whatever that's worth.