ELSA Victory II - Page 2

3D Performance-wise this Banshee performed like any other. Direct3D was slightly faster on this card than on a reference Voodoo2, however Quake II and other OpenGL/Glide based games performed a hair slower, which is to be expected since the Banshee does not have dual TMUs like the Voodoo2. The Banshee performs well in OpenGL/Glide games when the resolution is set to 800x600, but 1024x768 is pushing it. A lot of people blame the Banshee's design for this, but that's a partial truth. 3Dfx made this board to be a mid-priced combo board for low-cost solutions, and it's perfect for that. People also don't consider that a Voodoo2 running in 1024x768 also has 24MB RAM, which is 8MB more than a Banshee has. So no kidding it doesn't do as well in 1024. :-) 2D performance wasn't extra special, it was just plain good. Good can be defined on a Banshee as better than a Matrox G200/Millennium, but not up to par with a RivaTNT. The TNT's perform a little better in regards to 2D. In early driver releases there were some bugs that most early-owners noticed, however those glitches as always have been resolved in the latest driver releases. Another issue that comes up when buying a Banshee is what the software bundles is. Hey, let's at least get some free games! Accolade's Test Drive® 5 and a Silver game sampler CDROM are bundled with the ELSA Victory II board. Pretty decent match-up. To sum up, the Victory II is an excellent Banshee. Great driver updates, an 'OK' bundle, and great support behind the board. ELSA's technical support staff was pretty competent with what the Banshee is and can do, and even fixed a few phony problems I called into them.. If you're in the market for a Voodoo Banshee, keep in mind the pertinent info on buying one, what to look for, and then give ELSA a call. For more information on this product, feel free to visit ELSA's Website.