The Bottom Line

In scoring the cards, we took a look at several factors. Setup was an important issue, but most cards these days are reasonably easy to install. Many cards also now ship with independent setup programs that allow you to force a driver install if Windows is reluctant. We noted any setup issues in the individual reviews. Included in our setup considerations were any supplied control panel or accessory software to tweak the card.

Performance in 3D GameGauge was the major test, but we also took a good look at synthetic benchmark results. Image quality also figured high on our list. Additional features, such as enhanced expandability, were also taken into consideration, and software bundles were only a minor consideration.

Initially, we liked the STB Velocity 4400 the best. But during our retesting, the STB scores actually crept down a bit. Canopus worried us initially because of image quality issues, but new drivers fixed those issues with no decrease in performance.

Based on performance and image quality, our pick for top honors is the Canopus Spectra 2500. What about the other top performers? STB still has the best control panel of the bunch. Diamond's Viper 550 is a great card, too, but the control panel utilities aren't quite as robust as either the Canopus' or Spectra's. The Creative TNT board is a good, no-frills TNT board, and the Asus would be a welcome addition to anyone's system.

Don't sell the Banshee cards short, either. Although 3D GameGauge performance trailed the TNT boards, the ability to run Glide (3Dfx) games is a big plus, as is their relatively low cost. Of the shipping quality Banshee boards, the Guillemot Phoenix is our pick. It's combination of ultra-low cost and good performance makes it a winner for those on a budget. Diamond's Monster Fusion is the performance leader of all the Banshee boards, and the Wicked3D Vengeance has unbeatable flexibility.

The Terminator Beast is an interesting product that generated good 3D GameGauge scores, but we have some concerns about image quality and 2D performance. The 8MB limitation is also an issue. The Matrox boards - the speed kings in 2D/3D combo cards only a couple of months ago - have already been eclipsed, though the Marvel G200 is an excellent multipurpose board.

All of these boards easily outshine last year's crop of 3D accelerators. It's clear from recent announcements that the graphics chip battles are far from over. But these accelerators are finally approaching the kind of features and performance that we've all been longing for.