Hercules Dynamite TNT 16MB AGP

There has been some concern about lack of Incoming/Forsaken benchmarks. I excluded these benchmarks from my tests because they are based on obsolete single pass rendering architectures (which virtually no one uses anymore), consist of very low polygon counts (poor tests of triangle processing), and run at insanely high frame rates at high resolutions on any of the latest cards that performance in the difference in 3rd generation (G200 and on) card performance in these games is not noticeable. There are other multitextured games out there, such as Half-life, and Unreal, which include frame-rate counters, but these games are either not complete (Unreal D3D drivers are not mature enough) or consist of very high polygon counts which stresses CPU rather than video accelerator (Half-Life). Quake2 demo1.dm2, on the other hand, has an excellent balance between triangle processing and fill-rate, so it ensures that the scenes aren't to simple, while ensuring that the CPU won't get bogged down as well.

Conclusion

In the performance department, the Dynamite TNT cannot be beat, since you are getting a card which is running 8mhz faster than the competition. Of the TNT boards I have tested, I see no reason why a performance gamer would settle for anything but the Dynamite TNT. To think that the Dynamite TNT board is only an option for performance gamers is a mistake, because with an excellent retail price, and even better street price, the Dynamite TNT rivals the Creative Lab's RIVA TNT solution for cheapest board on the market. Hercules has managed to give us a high performance card at a low price, and for that they deserve my recommendation.

Performance: 97%

Quality: 90%

Documentation: 75%

Value: 95%

Overall Impression: 95%

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