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When I first received my G400 SH OEM, I posted a review that seemed to be well received. As I've frequented here, seems that most of the gripes are with low OpenGL scores (ala QII and QIII Test). Along with that, a couple of hardware related issues, but nothing major.
There are a lot of posts/questions as to how the G400 will compare to the Voodoo4 or NV10. Since these are both, maybe, in their alpha stages, and no real information available other than they're in the works, there's nothing to compare.
On to the topic. It's been about three weeks since the card went in. Again, I opted for the SH OEM as I didn't have a real need for the dual head feature.
The card continues to impress me. PD5.* has enough options to tweak the monitor settings to my liking. Drivers are very stable. There are a couple of Win95/98 applics (i.e. Symantec Talkworks Pro) that has had problems with past G200 drivers (ver 4.1 - 4.3) - namely that the applic would take a minute or more to close. The G400 drivers don't.
D3D games are great. Ran Grim Fandango w/o any problems. Haven't had a chance to run any others.
OpenGL games run fine. Not the fastest thing in the world, as the ICD isn't fully optimized yet, but the thing works. And...it works with real OpenGL applics.
The G400's aren't for everyone. If you're looking for the fastest game card and don't care about image quality, or don't do any DTP, graphics, word processing, etc., get a Herc TNT2. Nvidia and ATi have a lock on the OEM market. That's o.k.
But to improve your image, going with an aftermarket card like the G400 is IMHO the best choice. My needs (apparently along with many of those that frequent MURC) are split by doing real work and having fun. The G400's fulfill the first requirement in a way that no other card can. And...it ain't no slouch on the "fun" side.
Too bad more 'puter manufactuers (Gateway, Dell, Micron - you listening?) don't give the option to choose a different graphics card rather than the standard TNT2...
There are a lot of posts/questions as to how the G400 will compare to the Voodoo4 or NV10. Since these are both, maybe, in their alpha stages, and no real information available other than they're in the works, there's nothing to compare.
On to the topic. It's been about three weeks since the card went in. Again, I opted for the SH OEM as I didn't have a real need for the dual head feature.
The card continues to impress me. PD5.* has enough options to tweak the monitor settings to my liking. Drivers are very stable. There are a couple of Win95/98 applics (i.e. Symantec Talkworks Pro) that has had problems with past G200 drivers (ver 4.1 - 4.3) - namely that the applic would take a minute or more to close. The G400 drivers don't.
D3D games are great. Ran Grim Fandango w/o any problems. Haven't had a chance to run any others.
OpenGL games run fine. Not the fastest thing in the world, as the ICD isn't fully optimized yet, but the thing works. And...it works with real OpenGL applics.
The G400's aren't for everyone. If you're looking for the fastest game card and don't care about image quality, or don't do any DTP, graphics, word processing, etc., get a Herc TNT2. Nvidia and ATi have a lock on the OEM market. That's o.k.
But to improve your image, going with an aftermarket card like the G400 is IMHO the best choice. My needs (apparently along with many of those that frequent MURC) are split by doing real work and having fun. The G400's fulfill the first requirement in a way that no other card can. And...it ain't no slouch on the "fun" side.
Too bad more 'puter manufactuers (Gateway, Dell, Micron - you listening?) don't give the option to choose a different graphics card rather than the standard TNT2...
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