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AGP BOARDS
ASUS 3DexPlorer
This is the AGP version of ASUS's PCI card. Like the PCI version, it takes a stripped-down, minimalist approach; but unlike
4 Stars

APPEAL: People on a budget looking for an AGP RIVA 128 board.

PROS: Fast; less expensive.

CONS: Support is a concern.

card

PRICE: $169

CONTACT: ASUS Computer International, (408) 474-0567;
www.asus.com

other AGP cards, you can get it retail and through mail order. Unlike its PCI counterpart, it choked on TerraMark, indicating that it had an earlier BIOS. Note that TerraMark is the only program with which we've seen early RIVA boards exhibit this behavior - even the full version of Terracide doesn't exhibit the squashed image behavior.

This is a fast board - the fastest RIVA 128 board (by just a bit) that we've seen. We experienced some lockups in Flight Simulator 98, but they disappeared when we switched to ASUS's 1.01 driver release. Our only concern is ASUS's driver releases - but it's still about the lowest-cost AGP board you can get currently.

Go to the ATI Xpert@Play