NVIDIA GeForce3 Roundup - July 2001

SUMA Platinum GeForce3

SUMA Platinum GeForce3 Specifications
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Memory	64MB EliteMT DDR SDRAM 3.8ns
Cooling - Core	Fan/heatsink combo
Cooling - Memory	20 fin RAMsinks
Temperature - Core	136 F / 57.8 C
Temperature - Memory	120 F / 48.9 C
TV-Out	S- Video and Composite Philips SAA7108E
Video-In	S- Video and Composite Philips SAA7108E
Drivers	NVIDIA Reference
Highest Overclock	225/515MHz
Overclocking Utility	None
2D Image Quality	3 (moderate)
Software/Gaming Bundle	Ulead Video Studio 4.0 SE, WinDVD, WinDVR
Average Online Price	N/A $450 MSRP for TV Tuner Version

The SUMA Platinum GeForce3 was the first, and remains the only, NVIDIA based GeForce3 card we have seen to come packaged with NVIDIA's Personal Cinema. We took a look at this card and the TV abilities of the Personal Cinema in our TV Tuner Video Card Roundup and have since learned that the version of the card as well as the Personal Cinema we looked at are prerelease versions, meaning that many of the problems we experienced are bound to be fixed.

The cooling methods used on the SUMA Platinum GeForce3 are the same as the ones we saw on the PowerColor GeForce3 product. This time, however, our pre-production card did not feature any bond at all between the GeForce3 core and the heatsink surface. We hope that the retail version of the card features thermal grease, or at least a thermal pad, in order to facilitate heat transfer from the core to the heatsink. The memory heatsinks were placed on somewhat carelessly, resulting in a large portion of exposed memory. Once again, we hope that the retail version of this card finds the heatsinks placed directly over the memory chips and not on a 30 degree angle. The precarious cooling methods resulted in the SUMA Platinum GeForce3 having the 2nd highest core temperate of all, tied for second worst with Gainward. The memory as well ranked second worst, with a rather high memory temperature.

It seems that both these items factored in the lackluster overclocking ability of the card. We were only able to get the card to 225/515 MHz, slightly below the average overclocked speed were were able to achieve.

While were were somewhat disappointed with the overclockability of our Platinum GeForce3, we were pleasantly surprised with the 2D image quality of the card. The card's 2D image quality earned a 3 in our rating system, meaning that it's image quality was moderate at both 1600x1200x32 at 85Hz as well as at 1800x1440x32 at 70Hz. We noted that the 2D image quality of the SUMA card was almost identical to the image quality of both the Absolute Multimedia card as well as the Guillemot/Hercules card.

One unfortunate aspect of the SUMA Platinum GeForce3 is that it is not yet available for purchase. Since both the card and the Personal Cinema it is packaged with are in prerelease form, we cannot yet determine how easy or how hard it will be to find. What we can say is that it will probably one of the first, if not the first, GeForce3 TV tuner video card available for purchase. This more than justifies its high price; a price likely to fall once the product hits market. SUMA told us that www.futurepowerusa.com, www.mini-micro.com, and www.greenleafinc.com will all be selling the Platinum GeForce3 in the US market.