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ELSA Technologies makes a come back to the 3D graphics market for the mainstream and enthusiasts.

Introduction

Thanks to ELSA and our CPU3D review team ... I would like to announce that this is a WORLD EXCLUSIVE review of the ELSA Gladiac 860GTS  graphics card ... only available at CPU3D.

During the late 1990's and early 2000, Elsa technologies was once a brand name recognised by many to be the forefront in 3D graphics and 3D technology. They developed many innovative designs and features which gave the enthusiasts plenty to talk about. Take for example, their 3D goggles - the Elsa 3D Revelator made during the late 90's. Not sure if you remember, but at that time, they were one of the first manufacturers to develope and introduce this technology to the end user. Always being one of the first to release new technology ... their early Gladiac series featured the very latest GPUs from both ATI and Nvidia. All this was about to change after their sudden disappearence from the market.

       

No one was 100% sure what really happened. One rumour was that the company went into administration, while another was that, it was bought out by bigger competitor. Whatever the story, one thing's for sure, Elsa is now back on the scene.

While I was at the Cebit 2007 exhibition, I came across a small booth. It had Elsa Technologies labelled in small letters on the name plaque above ... it sounded very familiar. So, out of curiousity, I walked into the booth and was greeted by a very enthusiastic sales rep. He showed me all their latest products ... including graphic cards. Then, all of a sudden, some of the memories came flooding back to me. I rememebr now ... Elsa graphic cards.

The sales person, explained to me that Elsa is a now a new company with a new management and new directors. I guess what he was trying to say, is that Elsa is trying to re-build their status and brand name. Looking at their product range, Elsa features some high-end specialist workstation graphic cards and believe it or not ... some workstation motherboards. So, it seems that Elsa have been specialising in these products for some time now.

The enthusiast market, and especially the mainstream market is quite a lucrutive one. It is, within this market that brand names are recognised by the consumer, and loyalities to that brand name are made. For this reason, Elsa have been desparately trying to re-establish their brand name by entering into this market, and releasing the Gladiac 860GTS.

       

The Gladiac 860GTS graphics card is based upon Nvidia's Geforce 8600GTS GPU. It supports DirectX 10 and is Windows Vista compatible. The GPU core clocks at 675MHz, while the 256Mb of DDR3 ram runs at 1000MHz (2000MHz effective). The card again looks very much like Nvidia's reference design and has the same cooling solution as found on other 8600GT/GTS cards.

I wonder ... if Elsa can make it this time. Can they attract consumers to their brand name? With so many manufacturers fighting a share in this very lucrutive, but cut-throat market ... it's going to be difficult. Only time will time ... good luck Elsa.

OK, let's not waste any more time and see if Elsa's comeback can makes a difference ...