MSI StarForce 822 GeForce3 64MB

AnandTech Video Card Rating

Performance

As we saw, the StarForce 822 performs identically to other GeForce3 cards, with the exception of the Gainward card which was able to score a bit higher. The StarForce 822 typically found itself in the middle of our graphs.

Price

For the stripped down card that it is, we would have liked to see the price on the StarForce 822 fall a bit lower. This is likely a limitation caused by the shortage of GeForce3 chips.

Drivers

Using NVIDIA's reference drivers, the StarForce 822 follows the lines of many other GeForce3 cards. The inclusion of their 3dTurbo 2000 tools is a plus, although we would have liked to see an overclocking utility in there.

Features

In its base form, the StarForce 822 is about as bare as one can make a GeForce 3, as the card does not feature memory heatsinks of any sort.

When the VIVO model is examined, the features are good but lack the DVI-I port and S-video in port that we have seen on other VIVO GeForce3 cards.

Retail Availability

This turns out to be a problem for MSI, as many of the e-stores selling the StarForce 822 list the card as "out of stock." We suspect that things should shape up when the supply of GeForce3 chips increases, but until then retail availability has a way to go.

Documentation & Software Bundle

The manual included with our MSI StarForce 822 was was actually more like a note-card and provided only basic instructions on card installation and driver setup. The software bundle rung in at the same note, as the only included full version software worth noting was the MSI DVD software decoder.