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First
let's look at the performance of our new drivers
and prerelease board, across various resolutions
with and without FSAA. We are told that our
specific card will be representative of the exact
same product you will receive if you buy a card in
the coming weeks via the retail channel.
Also, the drivers we are testing here are the
"Gold" Release Version that will be
packed in with the V5-5500 retail product.
Again, our results should be exactly what you can
expect from the retail boxed product.
Quake
3 Arena 16 Bit Color
Here
is my interpretation... I don't know about
you folks but the low res scores are indeed lower
than a GeForce2. Who cares? Not this
Analyst, that is for sure. These days 17 and
19" monitors are mainstream and resolutions
that we care about are at least 800X600 and
preferably 1024X768. Look at 2X FSAA, it is
almost 60 FSP @ 1024X768. You can compare
these results with the GF2 on the same system here
in our Leadtek Winfast GeForce2 GTS Review.
Quake
3 32 Bit Color
This
chart is self explanatory. Without FSAA
enabled, the V5-5500 is neck and neck, in the
higher resolutions, with a GeForce2 GTS. See
for yourself here in the 32 Bit Color score of the
Winfast. In addition, if you compare the
2X FSAA scores here to the GeForce2 FSAA scores,
the GeForce is left in the dust. For all out
frame rate performance WITHOUT FSAA, the GeForce2
does beat the Voodoo5 by approximately a 10%
margin. When you enable FSAA, the Voodoo5
scores about 50% better in 2X mode. The
scores in 4X mode are within a couple of frames
faster or slower when compared to the
GeForce2. This is pretty impressive, in my
opinion, for a card that is running on first
generation drivers. If their track record is
any indication, you can bet 3dfx will wring out
more performance in the months to come.
Quake
3 16 and 32 Bit Color With Max Textures
Here
within the Max Texture scores we see that the V5
barely takes a hit at all versus medium texture
detail in Quake3. For Max Textures, we had
the slider pegged all the way to the right.
For the "default textures" scores, we
left it set at about 2/3, which is the default
setting in "High Quality" mode.
Again, you
can compare notes here versus the GeForce2.
The GeForce2 drops from 1 - 4 frames per second
and the V5 drops 1 or less.
We
then decided to try a new Direct 3D benchmark for
the Hot Hardware Test Suite. Rage Software's
"Expendable" is a game with a lot of eye
candy and the latest features. It also has
built in support for FSAA.
Expendable
Timedemo - 32 Bit Color
Expendable
looks really nice at 1024X768 in 32 bit color with
2X FSAA. At 40 FPS, it is VERY playable and
really nice. Here are a couple of screenies
with No FSAA and 2X FSAA. Both are taken in
32 bit color at 1024X768.
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No
FSAA
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2X
FSAA
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Well
folks, we have seen it all now. From
pre-release to final release product, the
Voodoo5-5500 has impressed us an exceptional 3D
Graphics Accelerator. It has great
performance and new features that improve image
quality and over all experience,
dramatically. In the weeks and months ahead
with new driver releases, we are very optimistic
that performance still has room for improvement
over what we feel is already quite good.
It's time to rate the Voodoo5 since it is now
officially ready for prime time. It should
be on retail store shelves very soon, we are told.
We
give the 3dfx Voodoo5-5500 a HotHardware Heat
Meter Rating of....
Again,
if you would like to see
our complete Voodoo5 PREview article based on the
Pre-Release Drivers, please look here.
-Davo
So,
what do you think?
Get into the HotHardware Conference Room and tell
us!
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