Obviously the board we got was rather limited above 800x600 due to the 16MB frame buffer. With 32MB (as our last preview showed) the board is much more capable. But there were times when it really shone. When turning up the texture size in Quake 3 to 512x512 in 'HIGH QUALITY' it happily sped past a TNT2 Ultra and was only 5fps behind a GeForce 256.

As we said earlier, once we return from Comdex and have a bit more time with the board we'll give you our conclusions (preferably once we've had time with a 32MB board). In the meantime, it's safe to say that the initial skew for the Savage 2000, whilst very promising, isn't a GeForce 256 killer. It does have its strengths though. Under Quake 3 tests where the texture sizes are maxed to 512x512, the gap between timedemos for a GeForce 256 and Savage 2000 drops considerably. Also bear in mind that the Viper II will retail at $199.99, which is $50 - $80 less than a GeForce 256 and one starts to realize that the Savage 2000 is a good 'second place'. With its S3TC and Dual Pixel/Dual Texture Pipeline, gamers that enjoy the 'single player' experience can crank up the visual options to their fullest and enjoy drop dead gorgeous visuals. We'll have more when we get back from the show. Until then take care...

Alex "Sharky" Ross
Editor-in-Chief