Hercules Stingray 128 3D review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 1 Jan 1998

Price when reviewed: (£233)

Reviewed By: - James Morris

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

The integrated Voodoo Rush 2D/3D chipset was avidly awaited by those looking for 3D acceleration in a window.

In practice, the latest 3Dfx chipset has proved to be a bit of a let down. 3D performance is fractionally slower than the standalone Voodoo Graphics cards. More significant, however, is the poor 2D performance, the Alliance chipset providing Windows and DOS speed both about 20% short of the current top cards.

On the plus side, the Stingray is still a 3Dfx accelerator and therefore graced by the greatest games support currently available. However, now that Direct3D games are becoming more prevalent, this is less of an issue. The Stingray was edged into fourth place on frame rate performance by the Diamond Monster 3D and nVidia Riva cards, but it was an extremely close call. Remember, you're also tied to the Voodoo Graphics' 800x600 resolution limit for 3D.

The version we tested was the 6Mb model, but there's also an 8Mb version with TV out for around £20 more. In either form, this is an expensive card compared to the ATi and nVidia Riva 128 solutions, and they can send your video signal out to a TV too.

Although the Stingray is a top performer, you can get more 2D/3D features for your money elsewhere.

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