Xpert @ Play Price:$229 (4MB, expandable to 8MB); TV Tuner optional. Contact: ATI Corp., (905) 882-2600 www.atitech.com

ATI Xpert @ Play

ATI's last efforts in the 3D game, the Rage and Rage II chips, met with mixed reviews, particularly when it came to 3D performance. Based on our preliminary testing, ATI should probably win an award for most improved chip design. The Rage Pro is much faster in 3D than the Rage II, even with the early drivers - and ATI has indicated that the best is yet to come. The Rage Pro has a much more robust set of 3D image enhancement features than the Rage II, as well as some interesting features, such as true 2X sideband support for AGP and a 4KB texel cache. The proof is in the numbers: In running 3D WinBench's Large Texture test, the beta AGP version of Xpert @ Play's frame rate was 8X that of the PCI version. And while games won't necessarily see that kind of delta running on the AGP version of this part, it shows that AGP can make a very palpable difference.

ATI has joined the VESA-graphics acceleration bandwagon, linking VESA 2 features directly to the accelerator, which makes for fast DOS SVGA-graphics performance. Overall, the Xpert @ Play looks to be a nice balance of performance and features.

	ELSA Winner 2000 Office Price: $199 (4MB), $299 (8MB) Contact:ELSA, (408) 919-9100 www.elsa.com

ELSA Winner 2000 Office

The original Permedia chip was a mildly interesting, if flawed, 2D/3D accelerator. Chip designer 3D Labs has extensively reworked the Permedia and thrown in the Delta triangle setup engine onto a single chip. The new Permedia 2 chip, now manufactured by Texas Instruments, might be a winner in the race of professional 3D accelerators.

ELSA is a German company long associated with high-performance professional graphics on the PC. However, their new Winner 2000 Office is priced aggressively (for an OpenGL-compliant card), starting at $199 for a 4MB card. It appears to be quite speedy in Direct3D; we're reserving judgment on 2D Windows until final drivers appear. The only downside seems to be a lack of VESA 2.0 support in hardware.