REVIEW: GRAPHICS BOARD
The 3-D graphic revolution in multimedia computing is near at hand. But in the meantime, the best graphics cards for PCc are 2-D boards that provide graphics and video playback capabilities for about $200. Tests by Multimedia World reveal the top five cards as rated on features, performance, price and support:
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ATI Video Xpression
* ATI
* $199
* (905) 882-2600
* * * * * *
Built on its own 264-VT accelerator chip and containing 2mb of EDO DRAM, the Video Xpression provides a strong balance of video and graphics performance. The board includes a software MPEG player and ATI’s FlexDesk graphics utilities. We did have some trouble getting the board’s video acceleration to work on our Windows 3.11 test bed. Still, this is currently our top-rated graphics card.
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Diamond Stealth64 Video 2201XL
* Diamond
* $197
* (800) 468-5846
* * * * * 1/2
This DRAM card accepts$99 add-on modules for both hardware MPEG video playback and a video capture/TV tuner. Graphics performance was outstanding, but the board displayed only 30% of the frames on our MPEG test. The board comes with CorelDraw and Diamond’s own InControl Tools software.
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Hercules Terminator 64/Video
* Hercules
* $179
* (800) 532-0600
* * * * * 1/2
The 2mb DRAM Terminator boasts excellent 2-D graphics performance and a low street price, and it also accepts an MPEG upgrade option. But the Terminator displayed flagging performance on the video portions of our benchmarks due to less-than-stunning acceleration capacity.
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STB Powergraph 64 Video
* STB
* $199
* (214) 437-9615
* ****
With its 2mb EDO DRAM capacity and its balanced performance in both graphics and video testing, the Powergraph 64 offers solid features at an affordable price. Though it doesn’t stand out in the current company, it is a good value overall.
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Diamond Stealth64
* Diamond
* $484
* (800) 468-5846
* ****
The only high- performance VRAM graphics card to crack our top five list, the Diamond Stealth64 Video 3400XL is aimed at a buyer with more exacting demands than the other boards here target-with much higher resolution and a faster refresh rate. An unqualified success on our graphics benchmark tests, the 3400XL flagged somewhat on the video tests. Like the Diamond 2201XL, the 3400XL accepts MPEG playback and video capture modules and provides InControl Tools software.
Acronyms:
DRAM: The most common and most affordable type of memory, Dynamic Random Access Memory is used in both PCs and mid-range graphics boards.
EDO DRAM: A more efficient variant of standard DRAM, Extended Data Out DRAM boosts memory speed about 10% to 15%. EDO DRAM is now commonly found on fast Pentium PCs and most mid-range graphics boards.
MPEG: Standing for Motion Pictures Experts Group, MPEG is a technology used to compress digital video into small files that can be played on a single-speed CD ROM drive. Video compressed using MPEG technology is referred to as MPEG video.
VRAM: Generally found on high- end boards, Video Random Access Memory uses two ports to handle inbound and outbound data- twice the number available on DRAM. While VRAM provides a significant performance boost, it can cost twice as much as DRAM.
Multimedia World is a monthly publication based in San Francisco that provides product reviews and testing for multimedia experts. Its World Wide Web page is at https://www.mutimedia.com
