I been building a new system also, infact I have the same concerns so every day after work I sit down and read through all the bench tests and actual game scenarios.
Heres what I have found right up to the last second of ordering my new card.
The GTS is a little faster at low res in Quake, however at 800x600 and above it runs side by side with the VooDoo 5500 and the VooDoo looks better especialy in games where you can actualy notice what is happening around you.
Don't take my word for it here is a link with the newest review of booth cards with their newest drivers and they sum it up without bias.
from
www.gamefan.com on 5/24/00
Which card is for you? Well, I think it's pretty clear that those hard-core Quakers who want the ultimate in frame-rate will find their destiny in a GeForce 2 GTS; people who spend all day deathmatching competitively usually aren't the types to stop and say, "Wow, this map is pretty." In fact, many of them turn textures off completely, focusing on the pure, uninterrupted fury of Quake-style deathmatches for their stimuli. These people--if you can equate them as people--will settle for nothing other than the pure speed king of Quake, and that title belongs to the GTS.
The rest of us gamers don't have such a clear choice, however. Those looking for the ultimate in image quality will probably want a Voodoo 5 5500; its 4x FSAA has no competition. NVIDIA's FSAA comes close to the Voodoo 5's 2x FSAA, but in my opinion, the Voodoo 5 still wins. The GTS is limited in that regard, as well; it has some problems in performance and with D3D FSAA, and the Voodoo 5 does not. I have no doubt that NVIDIA will improve performance and compatibility with future drivers; it's never been content to be second best. Right now, however, the Voodoo 5 wins the FSAA war. The addition of T & L and per-pixel shading in future games may totter quality comparisons in the months to come, but for right now, 3dfx edges ahead.
There's no real fight here for me anyway, 3dfx has T-Buffer effects that are not used YET at all due to their infancy but Nvidia has T&L that even after a year and change hasn't been swamped with titles either infact Nvidia will show you the 6 titles total being worked on due out whenever and none that need my attention.
I realized awhile ago I don't buy box games but once or twice a year if that and it boils down to this
Nvidia is a few frames faster with the current driver release (you know 110fps to 107 fps is pointless), this has been cut from initial bench tests a great deal and the cards run neck in neck at medium to high res.
The VooDoo does look better not only in realistic smoothed out textures but the image color looks more vibrant and everything has more depth, the T&L games due out for GTS look like the same old jagged cut out looking games only with gell lights shinning on them.
You die hard fans of Nvidia can say I told you so when the first T&L supported online war sim comes out however my new VooDoo5 5500 renders ALL games with FSAA and the fact that it plugs into the power source dirrectly helps free up my system right outa the box, the smaller NV15 has less power demands but none is still better than less.
I keep hearing FSAA don't matter fron GTS supporters because theirs isn't as good but I think its just the ticket for Aces High and unlike GTS it will work with all games right now, oh and its a fifty dollar price margin at its closest point some of the GTS cards are over four hundred bucks.
just my opinions if you disagree oh well.
