Awesome results for those of us on a budget.....
Written: Jun 30 '01 (Updated Jul 01 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Price, definitely improves performance
Cons: OK, so it isn't the BEST Video Card available, but the price is right.
The Bottom Line: If you are on a budget, this works really well. If you have more money than sense, buy a more expensive card.
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| jeffs320's Full Review: Hercules 3D Prophet II MX |
OK, I don't have this exact board, but it was the closest one I could find. The card I actually bought was the 3D Prophet 4500...the price is the same as the 3D Prophet II MX advertised here, about $150, but from the reviews I read about that card it appears that the 4500 is a better card.
OK, the details on the card itself is that it has 64 MB of VRAM, 175 MHz RAM clock speed, and I purchased an AGP card. I was told I should include refresh rates and resolutions, so why not, I can do that :
Resolution Refresh Rate in 32-Bit
640x480 Up to 120Hz
800x600 Up to 120Hz
1024x768 Up to 120Hz
1152x864 Up to 120Hz
1280x1024 Up to 120Hz
1600x1200 Up to 95Hz
1920x1440 Up to 75Hz
Blah, blah, blah, you can get that information right off of the box, so there really is no need for me to say more, is there?
Just in case anyone wants the specs on my computer to see what I have this card running with, at the moment it has a Gigahertz AMD K7 motherboard, 900 MHz AMD Athlon processor, Maxtor 40 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive, 256 MB 133 MHz RAM, a MaxiSound MUSE sound card (hey, it was like $30 and it works pretty well, what more do ya need?), and I am running Windows 98 SE (WinME stinks). I am not sure if that makes any difference to anyone, but I am sure someone would have been offended if I hadn't given the specs of my computer...
OK, one of the complaints I saw about the 3D Prophet II MX card is that there wasn't any software or anything included with the card. Well, the 3D Prophet 4500 has Myst III Exile included with the card (it's like a $50 game if you want to purchase it at Best Buy, but it comes with this card for free), and it is the full version of the game (all 4 CDs), not a demo version. So if you are looking for a deal, I would say that would qualify - for $150 you get a pretty decent video card with a $50 game...not too shabby for those of us who are really cheap and always look for a deal!
OK, about the card. I had a Diamond Stealth III video card in my computer (32 MB VRAM, and it was also PCI - hey, my old computer I took it out of didn't have an AGP slot, so when I built this one, I just took the card out and dropped it here till I could save the $$ to buy the new one), and I had sold my old computer to a good friend of mine. Well, we recently found World War II Online, and since it requires a minimum of 32 MB VRAM, we installed it on my system to try it out. It ran decently, but the graphics a little jumpy, so I decided to upgrade and give him the Diamond Card so he could run the game as well.
Well, with the Hercules card, the game runs almost flawlessly. It really is a beautiful thing to see the difference between PCI and AGP cards, and then when you add the 64 MB VRAM instead of 32 MB, it is really something to behold.
Wow, I must be getting old, because I don't think I have ever used behold in a sentence before, and it just kinda slipped out...sorry bout that...
Anyway, like I said in the pros and cons, there are definitely better Video Cards on the Market than the 3D Prophet 4500, but you will be spending AT LEAST twice what I spent for this card. If you are looking for a relatively cheap way to improve your computer's performance when running games, then this is a good way to do it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
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Epinions.com ID:
jeffs320
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Jeff
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Reviews written: 266
Trusted by: 38 members
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