Solid!
Written: Jun 07 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great framerates, easy to install
Cons: Avoid the proprietary software
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| baphomet's Full Review: ATI Rage Fury Pro |
Other cards may outperform the Rage Pro in one area of expertise (say, the TNT2 with 3D gaming), but it's hard to find another video card that offers so much solid performance for so many different tasks.
First of all, if you're considering an ATI card my advice would be to steer clear of the "kitchen sink" All-In-Wonder cards. Though the thought of all that gaming/capturing/receiving/outputting in one small AGP or PCI package is tempting -- and, to be fair, those cards do perform fairly well for the price -- the real culprit is the ATI software applications that are built to support these products. After several bad experiences, I now avoid the ATI Player and related software **like the plague**. These cards achieve decent video-capture framerates using a proprietary ATI codec, making it nearly impossible to bypass their software, which is quirky at best.
Having said that, the Rage Fury display adapters play to the strengths of ATI (hardware) without most of the drawbacks (software). Just plug in the card and go with the Win98 drivers; lose the included ATI Player software and use the media apps of your choice. We're talking full-screen video at full framerates here, which is a nice change of pace. And while other chipsets may claim superiority in 3D gaming, the Fury is no slouch with full OpenGL support and 32MB (!!!) of memory. I use it on a regular basis for gaming with no complaints.
If you plan on doing anything with your box other than shooting aliens, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more versatile card in its price range.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 120
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Epinions.com ID:
baphomet
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Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 5 members
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