STB Velocity 4400

PCI vs. AGP

Not many video cards out today can prove that AGP offers anything over PCI. One chipset in particular that many people saw better results with AGP was the Riva 128. Since the TNT was designed by Nvidia as well, the same should happen... right? Read on...

 

Visual Difference

The PCI and AGP cards are actually quite a bit different looking.

Velocity 4400 AGP	Velocity 4400 PCI
Click to Enlarge	Click to Enlarge

 

 

Tv-out

If you end up buying one of these cards, you'll probably end up with one that has onboard tv-out. I haven't seen a Canopus board in action yet, but with this STB the tv-out was great compared to what I was used to. Quake II running at 800x600 on a 27" tv was reason enough for me to tell you to spend the extra dough and get a TNT with tv-out assuming you plan to use it.

 

Performance of PCI vs. AGP

 

CPU clock speed: 336 MHz (112 MHz x 3)

AGP

PCI

 

	640x480	800x600	1024x768	640x480	800x600	1024x768
Forsaken	150	104	63	145	94	58
Quake II	64.1	57.2	38.5	59.4	52.4	35.6
GLQuake	99.7	68.9	43.4	97.9	68.4	43.4

 

 

AGP	PCI
Dark Blue	Green

 

Forsaken-640x480 150 145   Quake II-640x480 64.1 59.4   GLQuake-640x480 99.7 97.9

Forsaken-800x600 104 94   Quake II-800x600 57.2 52.4   GLQuake-800x600 68.9 68.4

Forsaken-1024x768 63 58   Quake II-1024x768 38.5 35.6   GLQuake-1024x768 43.4 43.4

 

 

CPU clock speed: 233 MHz (66 MHz x 3.5)

AGP

PCI

 

	640x480	800x600	1024x768	640x480	800x600	1024x768
Forsaken	120	95	58	114	93	58
Quake II	44.3	43.6	36.7	41.3	40.3	33.8
GLQuake	83.8	67.6	43.4	79.3	65.6	43.3

 

 

AGP	PCI
Dark Blue	Green

 

Forsaken-640x480 120 114   Quake II-640x480 44.3 41.3   GLQuake-640x480 83.8 79.3

Forsaken-800x600 95 93   Quake II-800x600 43.6 40.3   GLQuake-800x600 67.6 65.6

Forsaken-1024x768 58 58   Quake II-1024x768 36.7 33.8   GLQuake-1024x768 43.4 43.3

 

 

2D: PCI vs. AGP

In a hurry to get this review out I decided to skip most the normal 2D benchmarks. You can find these in almost every other review, and I feel most of you will be buying a TNT for it's awesome 3D. However, the 2D is also very good. I mentioned before that it rivals or beats the Matrox Millenium II/G200. Perhaps this card would make an excellent card for anyone, not just the power gamer.

Here's some Wintune 98 2D results in case you wanted to see:

Diamond Viper AGP	STB V4400 PCI	STB V4400 AGP
53.4	86.6	91.2

 

Diamond Viper AGP	STB V4400 PCI	STB V4400 AGP
Red	Dark Blue	Green

 

91.2 86.6 53.4

 

Cooling: PCI vs. AGP

The AGP handled excellent without any extra cooling. I did however choose to add another fan later that I attached to the heatsink so I could give a whirl at some overclocking. Here's a screenshot of the fan on the PCI card (I actually used it on the AGP card):

Click to Enlarge

The PCI TNT was a bit unstable for a few reasons. First, I could not attach the fan and still fit the card in my PC unless it was on the end facing the ISA slots. The hot voodoo2 next to the TNT and the Monster Sound MX200 in there also were generating heat. The card was so hot after about two hours of benchmarks that it actually burned my finger. Everything from the monitor connector to the edge of the board was boiling hot. It actually smelled like the card had died.

 

I would not buy a PCI TNT for several reasons. The first and most obvious that was demonstrated from this data above is the fact that the TNT really will be faster with AGP. Not all games will be faster, but most will, and the rest will be about the same speed as the PCI. The only reason you should buy a PCI TNT is if you don't have an AGP port. But if you don't have an AGP port then your system is probably either too slow or old to really take advantage of the TNT. I do not recommend that anyone with less than a P2 233 buys a TNT.

Conclusion