The Budget 3D that will blow you away
Written: Nov 02 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good performance, very cheap
Cons: Doesn't perform higher resolutions well
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| seether166's Full Review: Hercules 3D Prophet II MX |
I think you may have to wonder what separates this card from all the other GeForce2 MX’s out there. Especially in my case, because if it was software, I don’t have a clue. I bought this card OEM from www.mwave.com and basically got a box with a card, and a standard Nvidia Reference Driver CD. And yet, does the card work? Like a champ.
The basic verdict here is that any GeForce2 MX is virtually the same. Very few companies actually write their own drivers, the just relay on the Nvidia reference drivers. As such, in my opinion the only think that could possibly separate this card from other would be a) software or b) cooling.
Taking a) for instance, as I said, I received none. However, all I had to do was put the card in the AGP slot, PNP takes over, put in the CD. It worked fine, no hassles. Sure, you get no fancy bells and whistles but does that matter if it works and takes all of three minutes to install? I think not.
b) cooling. This card does have a heatsink on the chipset which is nice. This seems to be the middle of the road. I have another MX card (brandname I forget) with now heatsink on the chipset, whereas my roommate has a (Leadtek?) MX card with heatsink and fan. Pretty cool. I guess if I could, I would get that, but only if there wasn’t a substantial price difference. In the end, I doubt this card is really going to be overheating anything fierce.
As far as how this card performs, well, my only benchmark is Quake3. Basically, if you aren’t buying it for some 3D application, you are wasting your money. Even though, with a price of $100, it isn’t much. For Quake, this card does well in the lower resolutions. It is almost neck and neck with the GeForce2 GTS cards and comparable likes. This goes for about 640x480 – 800x600. Past there, the GTS’s with higher fill rates take a lead.
Essentially, if you are a budget gamer, or play in lower resolutions, this card is great. It is an incredible value at more than half what you might pay for a GeForce GTS. I guess you could look at it as the Celeron is to the P2, or the Duron to the Thundy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 107
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Epinions.com ID:
seether166
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Member: Wes
Location: Syracuse, NY
Reviews written: 69
Trusted by: 12 members
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