Albatron's GeForce4 Ti4800SE
Powerful Graphics on a Budget

By - Jeff Bouton
March 26, 2003


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lbatron is one of those companies that seemed to come out of nowhere and rapidly make a name for themselves.  Just around the time NVIDIA was rolling out their GeForce 4 product line, Albatron slipped into the spotlight, and became a player in the video card market.  Then, in an attempt to gain a maximum amount of exposure in a relatively short amount time, they released a slew of review samples to hardware community.  Since then, Albatron has grown into a very successful manufacturer of quality motherboards and video cards. 

Today, like many other companies reliant on NVIDIA's success, Albatron is struggling to maintain a competitive edge in the video card market.  This can be a difficult job when the company they depend on for GPUs has stumbled a bit.  With the latest FX series of GPUs being late to market, coupled with ATi's tremendous success with their R300 series, it has become increasingly difficult for NVIDIA's business partners to compete aggressively.  Subsequently, we've seen several major players make adjustments to their business model, some dropping NVIDIA and others bowing out altogether.  Recently, ELSA announced it was dropping out of the commercial video card market in the States.  Around the same time, Visiontek surprised all of us by falling into limbo before being purchased by Hartford, who will now offer ATi based solutions under the Visiontek name.

Yes, it is a tough time for companies marketing NVIDIA based products, nonetheless, Albatron has done their best to weather the storm.  Regardless, the relative newcomer continues to produce new video cards with a wide array of features and performance.  We recently had the opportunity to review one of their latest offerings in the mid-range value market, the Ti4800SE.  Offering AGP8X capability and claims of Ti4600 performance without the price tag, we were anxious to take this card for a spin. So let's get started!

Specifications and Features of the Albatron GeForce4 Ti4800SE
GeForce4 "Lite"


           

Albatrons Ti4800SE Features
Power by NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4800SE GPU
AGP 8X/4X with AGP Texturing and Fast Writes
128MB DDR Memory
Supports Twin-View & TV-OUT
D-Sub & DVI Ports
3 Years Warranty

Series GeForce4 Ti4800 Medusa SERIES
Model Name Ti4800SE
Graphics Engine GeForce4 Ti4800SE
Memory Size 128MB DDR
Memory Bus 128Bit
Engine Clock 275MHz
Memory Clock 550MHz
RAMDAC 350MHz
Max. Resolution 2048X1536@75Hz
Bus Standard AGP 8X/4X
VGA Output Standard 15-pin D-Sub
TV-out
DVI
Software Bundled
WIN DVD
3D GAMES Serious Sam
Motocross Mania

Ti4800SE Chipset Features

AGP 8X

Provides double the bandwidth of AGP 4X2.1GB/sec. vs. 1.1BG/sec. AGP 8X enables more complex models and detailed textures, creating richer and more lifelike environments. Uninterrupted data flow allows for smoother video streaming and faster, more seamless game play.

nfiniteFX II Engine
The NVIDIA nfiniteFX II Engine incorporates dual programmable Vertex Shaders, faster Pixel Shaders and 3D textures. The nfiniteFX II Engine gives developers the freedom to program a virtually infinite number of custom special effects to create true-to-life characters and environments.

Accuview Antialiasing (AA)
The Accuview Antialiasing subsystem with advanced multisampling hardware delivers full-scene antialiased quality at performance levels never before seen.

Lightspeed Memory Architecture II
LMA II boosts effective memory bandwidth by up to 300%. Radical new technologies including Z-occlusion culling, fast Z-clear, and auto pre-charge effectively multiply the memory bandwidth to ensure fluid frame rates for the latest 3D and 2D games and applications.

nView Display Technology
The nView hardware and software technology combination delivers maximum flexibility for multi-display options, and provides unprecedented end-user control of the desktop experience. nView allows end-users to select any combination of multiple displays, including digital flat panels, analog CRTs, and TVs, and to modify the display properties using an intuitive software interface.

BUNDLE:

The folks at Albatron put together a decent collection of items to accompany the Ti4800SE.  A comprehensive User's Guide covers all of the details needed to install the video card and drivers.  The Drivers disk contained the bare necessities including Detonator XP driver versions 41.09 and 31.40, the Coolbits registry tweak for overclocking and WDM drivers.  Aside from that, no real extras were included on the disk.  What Albatron did include was full version copies of Serious Sam - The Second Encounter and Motocross Mania.  For those playing DVDs on their systems, a retail version of InterVideo's WinDVD 4 is also included.
 

  • User's Manual
  • CD Driver and Utilities
  • VIVO Adaptor
  • AV Cable
  • S-Cable
  • S to AV Adapter
  • Serious Sam-The Second Encounter
  • Motocross Mania
  • WinDVD 4

What's more, the box came with the necessary adapters to take advantage of the Ti4800SE's ViVo features.  The package we received for review included a composite AV Cable, S-Video Cable and an S-Video to composite adapter.  Clearly Albatron wanted make sure user's were able to take full advantage of the Ti4800SE's features and have some fun while they were at it.  Next we're going to take a closer look at the card itself and see what, if anything, makes it so special.

The Card...