NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro

Introduction

Ever since NVIDIA caught the industry's attention with the release of their TNT graphics processor over two years ago, new NVIDIA products have been met with quite some anticipation. Many of us who follow the video card industry will vividly remember the release of NVIDIA's last few products: the TNT2, the GeForce 256, and most recently the GeForce2.

Along with each processor announcement came a barrage of reviews and press. Weeks after an announcement would pass before NVIDIA related news stopped appearing. For months to come, the previously announced product would be pushed to its limits, scrutinized, and rated against the competition. In general, every NVIDIA product release has been met with quite a hoopla.

Despite all the controversy that normally accompanies an NVIDIA product announcement, one NVIDIA product managed to slip between the cracks. Although it is true that three months ago NVIDIA finally was able to announce a new generation of the GeForce2 line, the GeForce2 Ultra, another GeForce2 product seemingly just appeared. There was no press release, no large product announcement, no hoopla; just a new product on NVIDIA's ever growing list.

This mysterious product is the newly discovered GeForce2 Pro GPU, a processor which is still the cause of much confusion. Since the product was not hyped up as all other NVIDIA products have been, many users are wondering what the deal is with the GeForce2 Pro. Let's take a look at NVIDIA's latest offering and see what is behind this new incarnation of the GeForce2 core.