3dfx at its best
Written: May 23 '00 (Updated Jun 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap
Cons: No support, 3dfx out of business
The Bottom Line: 3dfx has gone out of business and no longer supports its cards. Stay away from this one.
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| Chewy3's Full Review: 3Dfx Voodoo3 3000 |
Update 6/25/03
I would obviously no longer recommend this product since 3dfx has gone out of business because it could not compete with the next generation video cards now offered by nVidia and ATI
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Original review (Originally rated 4 stars)
This high performing video card has much to live up to. It has some stunning improvements over older models but is still lacking some key features.
The Voodoo 3 comes with 16 MBs of video memory and a blazing 166 MHz core. I must say this is an excellent card for an old computer with slow processor speed because the difference is very noticeably improved when running high-powered games including Quake II, III, Unreal Tournament, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and other games. I used to be crawling through these games with lag and severely impacted game play for me. This is when I decided to upgrade my PC's video card.
When shopping for a video card I looked carefully for these criteria:
• Performance (was it tested high vs. other cards?)
• Compatibility (i.e. PCI or AGP)
• Power (memory, core speed)
• Ease of use (installation)
• Value (price for how much you get)
Thinking of what I wanted in a good video card I stumbled upon this information. It shows tests between the Voodoo 3 3000 and the Diamond Viper V550 in several Quake II and Shogo levels and scenarios. Note that these tests were taken on a 400 MHz computer.
Here is how they faired:
(I couldn't upload the chart so I will hand write it)
(It will show the resolution in () and the frame rate per second afterwords starting with the Voodoo and then the Diamond)
Quake II tests
DEMO 1 (640 x 480) 74.00 70.15
CRUSHER (640 x 480) 36.34 36.85
DEMO 1 (1024 x 768) 67.36 35.40
CRUSHER (1024 x 768) 34.50 30.20
Shogo Tests
revshogo (800 x 600) 48.48 46.21
revshogo (1024 x 768) 42.54 38.90
You can obviously see that the Voodoo 3 3000 outpaced the Diamond in many areas. With a faster processor you will find higher frame rates partly because of a data bottleneck (data cannot feed fast enough to the card). These results were very impressive and were the turning point in my decision to buy (I had also read at other places that it was very easy to install and the price was definitely affordable at only about $120).
When I received the package in the mail I quickly took it out and took my computer tower off so I could install the card. It was relatively and easy task and it slipped right in. I then turned on my computer and ran the CD that came with the package. The installation was quick and painless and was done within minutes.
Now it was time to test it myself. I ran the game “Quake III” afterwards and got exactly what I expected and more. It was now smooth despite my slow processor speed and could finally play without all the lag.
The Voodoo 3 was not all fun and games and are some disadvantages. For one thing there was very little tools included to tweak the performance etc. and over clocking options. Also in only supports 16-bit color which in many intense games may make a difference (though for many games it will slow down using 32-bit and will affect online play). The lack of option in it self may sway someone’s decision.
All in all though it is one powerful card and for the very affordable price it was worth my while!
By the way!
Make sure you're system is able to use this card!
System Requirements:
• Windows 95/98/NT
• IBM 100% or compatible PC
• 90MHz or higher CPU
• 16MB RAM
• One available PCI slot (or AGP if you purchased that one)
NOTE: This is probably your last chance to get a PCI compatible video card if you haven't upgraded to AGP yet.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 90
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Epinions.com ID:
Chewy3
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Member: Omar Halabi
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 42 members
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