Examination

Impressions

The WinFast GTS design appears to be pretty close to the reference board, with some very minor physical differences. My first impression after the initial examination is very positive. The PCB and components appear to be of high quality and well constructed. A small gold sticker in the upper right corner proudly proclaims "WinFast GeForce2 GTS". If it were not for this little sticker, I probably would have mistaken this card for the ASUS, because they look nearly identical. This isn't a bad thing at all, because both versions stick very closely to the reference card design. The only difference is the color of the PCB, which is really no difference at all unless you take branding into account. Staying true to the reference design is never a bad thing either, but it does limit the possibility for customized features on the card.

The Face-note the optional TV output module

The Back

Memory

Here we have the same exact 6ns Infineon DDR SDRAM that we have seen on every single other GeForce2 card to date.

Move along, nothing new to see here.

You look familiar.. do I know you?

Cooling

This is without a doubt the biggest heatsink/fan that I have seen on a stock card ever. I seriously doubt that you would ever need to remove it, but if you ever did decide to replace it (either with a beefier unit or if it blows out) it can be done very easily since Leadtek very thoughtfully used plastic clips, which are very easy to remove. Just gently pry from the top with a small screwdriver and the cooling unit comes right off.

Ye gods, look at the SIZE of that thing!

Installation

Since I had a GeForce DDR my computer, I had to take that into account while installing the new drivers. The Detonator 2s will identify the WinFast GTS, so I had to first change the display type in Device Manager to "standard PCI VGA", then remove the installed drivers from the "add and remove programs" applet before powering down and removing the existing card.

WinFast Display Settings

card and driver information

Pick yer output

You will notice a little "Protective Monitor Settings" checkbox on the display settings page. With this unchecked, you are allowed to select an number of refresh rates from 60Hz up to 200Hz. With the box checked, the only refresh options displayed are limited to what your monitor Inf driver specifies as valid. This box is unchecked by default, I recommend that you check it to make sure you don't accidentally choose an invalid setting. I also strongly recommend that you install the correct driver for your monitor. You will also find the standard NVIDIA Direct3D and OpenGL control pages, slightly modified, buried a little deeper under the "Advanced" button.

Speed Runner

Speed Runner is the overclocking utility built into the Leadtek drivers. It contains two simple sliders that allow you to overclock your core up to a whopping 400Mhz, and the memory to 450Mhz! Make no mistake though, just because the utility gives you the ability, that in NO WAY guarantees that the card will overclock that high.

Easy overclocking ahead