Game Performance:
I think the reason I was so excited to get this card, was because I wanted to see how Sin would play on it. I was impressed by my TNT's performance in Sin, so I figured that the Fury would blow my mind. Graphically, yes. The card lives up to its promises in this area. It renders the game beautifully. No slow downs, or lock ups. Sin uses 32-bit color rendering, and this card performs better than my TNT when in 32-bit color mode. ATI took detailed care in providing excellent 32-bit color performance. Hats off to them for showing this gamer the vast difference between 16 and 32-bit color depth. I don't think I can go back to 16 bit after viewing this awesome product in action.
The 32 megs of ram is what makes this card stand out of the pack. Levels load so much faster with this configuration. Maps like ParadoX DM for Sin loaded within seconds and had NO slow downs what so ever while playing. This card is a gamers dream come true when it comes to load times and game play, even in 32-bit color! It is truly, an awesome experience.
However, I did notice one draw back in playing a game of Sin. I think its because this is an unfinished, beta card using beta drivers. My mouse control was slow, and unresponsive. I attempted to correct the problem with different mouse settings, but I couldn't fix it. Now, I have a Logitech USB mouse. Up until I installed the card, I hadn't noticed any problems in Sin, or any game. When I installed the Fury, my mouse controls were delayed, and sluggish to say the least. I have been told by ATI that they know about the problem is being fixed for the final release of the card.
2d games like StarCraft gain some performance from the card. Most noticeable gain is the rich color the card give the game. The scrolling speed is another area the card helped on. When moving the viewing area around you notice that it isn't choppy or slow to move around in.
Card Specs:
This card is a virtual beast. It's features are unmatched by anything else on the market. Don't take my word for it, here is the skinny from ATI:
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- Pentium II with AGP bus
- AGP 1.0 compliant
- Software requires CD-ROM drive
- DVD requires DVD drive
- ATI RAGE 128GL, a high performance 128-bit
- graphics accelerator with superior 2D, 3D, and video support
- Windows 98
- Windows 95
- Windows NT 4.0
- CRT Monitor: 15 pin VGA connector
- TV: S-Video and Composite
- AMC 2.0 compliant
- Ready for ATI-TV, ATI's intelligent TV tuner and video capture option
- Register compatible with VGA
- BIOS compatible with VESA for super VGA
- DDC1/2b/2b+ monitor support
- VESA Display Power Management Support
- Separate horiz & vert sync at TTL levels
- 32MB
- Windows 95, Windows 98,
- NTSC output (PAL versions available)
- Composite, S-Video connectors
- OpenGL ICD for NT 4.0 & Windows 98/95
- DirectX 5.0, DirectX 6.0, Direct3D, DirectDraw
- Triangle Setup Engine
- Texture Cache
- Bilinear/Trilinear Filtering
- Line & Edge Anti-aliasing
- Texture Compositing
- Texture Decompression
- Specular Highlights
- Perspectively Correct Texture Mapping
- Mip-Mapping
- Z-buffering and Double-buffering
- Bump mapping
- Fog effects, texture lighting, video textures, reflections, shadows, spotlights, LOD biasing and texture morphing
Conclusion:
The Fury is definatly a contender for any of TNT or 3dfx based cards out on the market. With a starting price of around $150.00, the bang is well worth the buck you end up paying for.
Like I said at the beginning, this is a beta board, using beta drivers. There are still a lot of issues to be revolved, and I'm confident in ATI that they will be addressed before the card is released to the public.
I will be reporting a final analysis when the final drivers ship, along with benchmarks, and performance ratings. For now, I have to say this card has performed well, and even for a beta, it clearly shows that the Fury will give the TNT and Voodoo 2 (and even the Voodoo 3) a run for their money.
I want to thank ATI for giving this gamer a chance to check this massive card out, and report to the people what they should expect in this awesome product.
