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DEDICATED 3D ACCELERATORS
Canopus Pure3D

CGChoice With this 3Dfx add-on board, Canopus continues its strategy of enhancing products beyond what the competition offers. The
5 Stars

APPEAL: Anyone looking for a cut above the other 3Dfx boards.

PROS: About as fast and as pretty as you can get in 3D; TV out.

CONS: Needs a dedicated PCI slot.

card

PRICE: $179 (6MB)

CONTACT: Canopus Corp., (408) 954-4500;
www.canopuscorp.com

Pure3D has 4MB of texture RAM, compared to the 2MB on most boards (the Diamond Monster 3D, for example). The board also features TV out (supporting both NTSC and PAL) for those big-screen deathmatches.

There's no software bundle, but the price is right: $179 for 6MB of RAM (2MB is for the frame buffer). The control panel is intuitive, allowing you to explicitly set the clock rate for the chip, and the Pure3D conveniently ships with 35ns EDO DRAM, which is capable of clocking up to 66MHz. Bear in mind, however, that the 3Dfx chips themselves are officially rated for only 50MHz speeds, and the Pure3D defaults to 50MHz. The panel also lets you specify the Pure3D as the primary 3D device.

Other than that, there's not a lot to say about the Pure3D. It delivers 3Dfx performance, with the plus of a bigger texture space, which can prevent the occasional pauses you sometimes see as additional textures are loaded in a game. Conversely, game developers could deliver bigger, richer textures for better image quality. Its Direct3D and GL Quake performance was as fast as we've come to expect from a 3Dfx add-on board. Canopus has put out a real winner in the Pure3D.

Go to the Matrox m3D