So why the heck have I gone into my 'rave' mode? Well quite simply because
I've seen roughly two thirds of the current/future crop of Voodoo2 based cards-
and the Pure 3D II is by far the most removed from 3Dfx's own and now
standard reference design. And hold your horses! I know the saying 'why bother
changing a good thing?' usually holds true, but all I'm saying is that Canopus
have clearly used their know-how and made a concerted effort to improve upon
3dfx's wizardry. However, Canopus hasn't just rested upon the Voodoo2's
laurels. Although, there's no question that any Voodoo2 powered 3D card will
pump out pixel-perfect polygons faster than a speeding bullet (or than Pee Wee
Herman reaching his climax), making it the chipset of choice amongst gamers.
We alll know by now and it's been well documented that the Voodoo2 chipset
is roughly three times nippier than Voodoo Graphics in terms of polygon counts
pertaining approximately twice the fill rate.
Next on the agenda are the numerous and visibly apparent rearrangements that
have gone on. Not only has the board been shortened down an inch (see size
doesn't matter after all then?) to a total of seven inches of joy but it's also
meant a rearrangement of the memory. The front side contains 4MB EDO
DRAM (yes the 'standard' Silicon magic memory) and the back a further 8MB
respectively. At seven inches, I suspect that those of you with somewhat
minute cases and motherboards less than the size of an extra large pizza will
be thrilled at being able to fit the card snugly into your PC's.
Perhaps the most striking difference is the addition of a sleek 5Volt fan, which
is as quiet as a hibernating tortoise on Valium. More importantly it should keep
the Pure 3D II warm and comfortable- not too hot or flustered so that it conks
out when used for long periods of time, or of course when overclocked (more on
that later). Think of the on-board cooling fan as an-all inclusive 'insurance'
policy and as opposed to the later, it isn't a total rip-off. Other differences from
the standard 3Dfx reference design include, the ICS GENDAC 135MHz, which
has been planted on the board's underside and then finally a cute little green
LED. Its not just cute mind you. It does actually serve a purpose. Once the
Pure 3D II is plugged it lights up, giving you the 'green light' so to speak,
indicating that all is well and in order. If it doesn't light up you'll know something
fishy is up instead. You don't need to have the case full off to see the green
LED either because it's been strategically placed so that you can look through
the S-Video connector- assuming you've not gone and plugged in a TV that is.
The Pure 3D II is also the first Voodoo2 board I've seen with a TV-Out, although
Tom from Tom's Hardware Guide told me that his pre-release miroHISCORE2
has one as well. The familiar and trustworthy Chrontel chip has been opted for
and is of course NSTC/PAL compliant. Those of you that possessed a Voodoo
Graphics/Voodoo Rush, which had the exact same TV-Out, will know the
score. TV-Out gaming isn't something I'd sweat by but if you do own a
big-screen then by all means give it a bash (I'd settle for projector myself...
dream on.).
