Super7 Video Accelerator Comparison - Part 2: Mid-Range Gaming Solutions (June 99)

With mid-range to lower-end systems, the decision of performance vs image quality will come into play and most likely face you as a decision you’ll have to make. It seems like the release of Quake3 test has rendered, at least in the minds of the hardcore gamers, the once popular Voodoo2 an unattractive solution. For Super7 users, especially with slower CPUs, the Voodoo2 is still a very viable option as it is cheaper than most of the newer alternatives, and it performs quite well.

When the K6-2 was first released, the Voodoo2 was the card to get, unfortunately the $200+ pricetag of a single 12MB Voodoo2 board kept most users from shelling out the cash to buy two boards and run them in the ever so popular SLI mode. Luckily, times have changed, and if you have held on to that single 12MB Voodoo2 board then your best upgrade, from a purely performance minded standpoint, would be to simply pick up a second Voodoo2 board. The problem with the Voodoo2 and Voodoo2 SLI configurations is the resolution limitations set by the on-board memory, 800 x 600 for the Voodoo2 (with Z-buffering enabled) and 1024 x 768 for the Voodoo2 SLI. While 800 x 600 may be a bit tame for most gamers, 1024 x 768 is just perfect, and happens to be one of the most popular resolutions for gamers to run in with similar hardware configurations such as the one being described.

The performance of a Voodoo2 SLI solution on a mid-range Super7 system is just slightly slower than that of a Voodoo3 2000. If you remember that a Voodoo3 2000 is very little more than an overclocked, single card, Voodoo2 SLI, then the results make sense. You need to sit down and ask yourself what is more important to you, performance, or image quality. The argument can go back and forth between firm believers in either facet however the final decision is up to you, and it’s for you to make.