A good video card for your computer and your pocket book
Written: Dec 12 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap
Cons: Not enough RAM
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| shawnw's Full Review: ATI XPERT 99 |
The ATI Xpert series video cards are used throughout the computer industry for mid-range and workstation computers. Having some good experiences with the earlier ATI Xpert 98, influenced me to purchase a few of the Xpert 99's for my customers. I have to date had as much success with the Xpert 99s' as I did with the 98s'. Although not the most glorious and fantastic video card on the market, the Xpert 99 is a nice choice for a workhorse computer.
The ATI Xpert 99 is based on the rage 128 graphical processor, which has many enhancements on it. The Rage 128 processor, as the name implies, has a 128 bit wide bandwidth capacity. This means that the data goes into and out of the processor faster, allowing the whole video card to operate at a faster rate. A twin cache architecture allows each of the rendering caches on the board to produce a pixel. This coupled with the Super Scalar Rendering (SSR) process allows the chip to double its rendering capabilities per clock cycle, meaning a faster picture. Single Pass Multitexturing allows the computer to create further image enhancements such as shading, lighting effects and other various special effects.
The ATI Xpert has 8 Megabytes of onboard RAM and an AGP 2X interface that is backward compatible with the original AGP interface . The 3D capabilities of the card are OK. The maximum resolution that can be attained on this board in 3D mode is 1280x1024 @ approx 64,000 colors. Many of the current 3D games today can support a higher resolution and color depth. While these figures are not bad for the average gamer, it can be a disappointment to a hardcore gamer. The 2D capabilities on this board leave almost nothing to be desired. With a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 at 16.7 million colors (24-bit), this card can satisfy the biggest monitors without losing much color quality or getting a screen flicker.
The Xpert99 has an on-board DVD decoder. All that is required to watch a DVD on your computer is a DVD-ROM and some software to play it (which is available through ATI). Unlike the previous version of the Xpert, the drivers seem to run smoothly with wide variety of software, with only minor graphical glitches appearing. The Xpert 99 also works with current versions of OpenGL and DirectX.
The price on this board, in my opinion, is unbeatable! These cards can usually be bought for under 60$ which is significantly less than some of the current video cards on the market that can be many hundreds of dollars.
I would recommend this product to anyone who is looking for a good card for a workstation or a computer that deals heavily with a 2D environment. I would also recommend this board to anyone on a budget. If you seek a true 3D gaming gaming experience or have applications that deal with a lot of 3D, I would not recommend this card. I would step up to an ATI RADEON or a Voodoo 3 or 5 board and spend a few extra bucks.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 58
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Epinions.com ID:
shawnw
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Member: Shawn Wonder
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 1 member
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