This kind of shot is not a typical situation in today's sims so we decided to focus on the regular full cockpit forward view, and the external tracking view. Below is a list that shows the graphic settings and missions used in each individual game we tested. We have a folder with over 300 screen shots we took during testing, and in the interest of having an easy to read review, we are presenting the data in bar graph format.

• Terrain Texture-5
• Terrain Detail-7
• Object Detail-7
• Object Density-6
• Player Bubble-7
• Magnification-1
• Special Effects-5

• All graphic settings set to maximum

• All graphic settings set to maximum
• 3D clouds on
• Z-buffer- speed over accuracy

• All graphic settings set to maximum

• Celeron 500 MHz
• Abit BH-6 Motherboard
• 128 megs PC-133 Ram
• Soundblaster Live!
• Optiquest Q95 19"
• Windows 98 SE
• 50 x CD-ROM
• Creative TNT2 Ultra
• Creative GeForce SDR
• Video Drivers: 3.68 Detonator

We ran the Viper II through 3Dmark2000's battery of tests. We noticed that during many of the 3DMark tests, the Viper exhibited some very strange behavior such as tearing and overlapping rendered images. Neither of the other two cards had any problems running through the benchmarks, and we think that most of the Viper II's problems in this area are due to the drivers. We put in a call to Diamond tech support, and they assured us that they were aware of the problems and are working furiously on updated DX7/D3D drivers. Once these new drivers are out, if they correct any of these problems, we'll update our information and resulting test data.

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Fig. 3. 3DMark2000 16-bit Comparison

Fig. 4. 3DMark2000 32-bit Comparison

As you can see from the results of our tests, there are only a few instances where the Viper II beats the TNT2 Ultra or GeForce, and in quite a few of the tests, particularly the fill rate and texture rendering speed, the Viper falls well short of the other cards. This was apparent in the games we tested the Viper II with.


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