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The Video Three
by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson
 

Finally, while Combat Flight Simulator is playable on the G400 at 1280x1024 (and quite stunning), EAW was not. In a single mission scenario with a few other aircraft nearby my machine was barely averaging 8 frames per second. These higher resolution modes will remain unreachable for simulation gamers until the next generation of 3d hardware arrives, or until SLI technology is applied to one of these current chipsets.

Combat Flight Sim
Combat Flight Simulator.

SUMMARY

This report is preliminary only. Watch for complete reviews on the Diamond Viper 770, Guillemot Xentor32, and the Matrox G400 and G400 MAX.

Comparing V3 in Glide to two boards in D3d seems unfair, but we know that you care more about frame rate than APIs. If your game of choice runs under Glide, V3 is the fastest thing out there. Until later drivers for the G400 are available and until we test the G400 MAX, it's too early to make recommendations. But will game designers continue to give you the option of a specific API like Glide when Direct3d continues to be an easier route for support?

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Team Alligator
Team Alligator

Furthermore, when larger textures are used, as in some of the simulations coming this fall, will 16 MB on board be enough? And will you want true environmental bump mapping, as supported by the G400 and used in games like B17 II and Team Alligator, or are you willing to settle for embossing, as supported by TNT2?

These are questions that have to be answered by the individual gamer, depending on budget and the games of choice. We hope to make the answers clearer as we gain access to later hardware, later drivers, and later game releases. F4 owners in particular shouldn't consider changing their video hardware until the release of the 1.07 patch, since video performance will be greatly improved.

As for others, should you buy now or should you wait? If you are already running a V3 board, I wouldn't change now. With the NVidia 3rd Generation 0.18u based card (NV10) coming out this fall, you won't gain that much by moving to a current D3d only accelerator. If you are running an older board like the G200 or TNT original with a demanding sim like F4, wait a few more weeks before making a decision.

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Last Updated June 26th, 1999

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