Until recently, cards based on the nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4600 chip set were the 3-D graphics solutions to beat. Although the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro chip set is the performance leader at the moment, the GeForce4 Ti 4600 is still a very capable GPU. And now cards based on the former champion, like the Leadtek WinFast A250 Ultra TD MyVIVO, cost much less and pack more features than the ATI board.

The first thing you'll notice as you take the card out of its packaging is the massive heat sink and twin cooling fans. The heat sink dissipates high temperatures not only from the 3-D accelerator chip but also from the memory chips. This extra cooling is handy if you're planning on overclocking the card, though be aware that overclocking any 3-D card voids the warranty in most cases.

Installation of the WinFast Ultra in our system's AGP slot was smooth, and the documentation explains clearly where to find drivers when Windows detects the card. The installation CD arrived with the 28.32 version of nVidia's driver, which was out of date even at testing time. And the driver wasn't digitally signed by Microsoft, indicating that Microsoft hasn't tested it for compatibility.

The WinFast Ultra driver exposes extra functions that are hidden by default on nVidia drivers, including the abilities to disable v-sync for Direct3D and adjust the core and memory clocks. When Windows scanned the installation CD, we were presented with a long list of possible drivers to install for each version of Windows. It was reasonably obvious which driver to use for Windows XP, but this could confuse an inexperienced user.

The WinFast Ultra comes with a version of Rogue Spear: Black Thorn, a tactical simulation game, as well as a Games Gallery CD with demo versions of six games. The card has a VIVO (video-in/video-out) feature, which provides video I/O capabilities via composite or S-Video connectors, and it comes with one cable of each type. The WinFast Ultra also supports a dual-display mode for Windows, although this feature does not extend to running games on two displays. The second display connector is a DVI-I output that can drive a digital display, but a dongle is included to convert the plug to VGA for standard CRTs and analog LCDs.

On our performance tests, the WinFast Ultra held its own against the Radeon 9700 Pro. One difference was reflected in the MadOnion 3DMark2001 SE tests, where the Radeon 9700 Pro was 63 percent faster than the WinFast Ultra at 1,024-by-768 (with anti-aliasing) and 33 percent faster at 1,600-by-1,200 (without anti-aliasing). The WinFast Ultra ran out of steam on Unreal Tournament, the harshest game test we ran on the hardware in this roundup. Here it trailed the Radeon 9700 Pro drastically at 1,600-by-1,200, where the Radeon 9700 Pro was over three times as fast.

The Leadtek WinFast A250 Ultra TD MyVIVO was the card to beat until the arrival of the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, but now, despite a respectable showing on our tests, the WinFast Ultra is outgunned. If you're looking for the absolute fastest 3-D card you can lay your hands on now, the WinFast Ultra isn't the one. But it's still a very good bargain.