The Results

Price, performance, and
features are the three broad parameters that you consider while buying a product. Taking
this into account, we decided not to declare a single winner this time. Instead,
we’ve come out with three best choices. The first is a card for the no-nonsense
gamer, willing to pay a premium for performance. The second is for a budget-conscious
buyer, willing to compromise performance for price. And a runner-up, giving all three
parameters equal importance.

For the first case, we found the Asus
AGP-V3800TVR Deluxe to be the perfect choice. An avid gamer couldn’t ask for anything
more. Great performance, a rich feature set, and a decent price is the best way to sum it.
The card comes with two games: Extreme-G2 and Turok, a pair of virtual reality glasses,
and a video-capture port with the necessary cables. The card supports all the Direct3D
features, and rocked the OpenGL Quake II tests.

align="left">Asus AGP-V3800TVR Deluxe Price: Rs 16,250 Chipset: nVidia RIVA TNT2 Video memory: 32 MB Max refresh rate: 250 Hz at 640x480 Max resolution: 2,048x1,536 RAMDAC: 300-MHz Palette DAC Source: Integra Micro Systems, 111 Humanyunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029. Tel/Fax: 11-6182259, 6177146, 6187246	align="right">
If you’re more sensitive to price and are looking for a card that suits your daily needs, with some light gaming as part of the deal, then the XO AGP is the best bet. COLOR="#ffffff"> alt="uc99.JPG (8514 bytes)" align="left">XO AGP Card Price: Rs 1,650 Chipset: SiS 6326 Video memory: 8 MB Source: Integra Micro Systems, 111 Humanyunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029. Tel/Fax: 11-6182259, 6177146, 6187246 Rs 1,650 Chipset: SiS 6326 Video memory: 8 MB Source: Integra Micro Systems, 111 Humanyunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029. Tel/Fax: 11-6182259, 6177146, 6187246
The runner-up in the shootout, with an equal combination of price, performance, and features is the ATI Rage Fury 128 with 32 MB VRAM. The winner in this category is again the Asus V3800. The ATI nevertheless proved to be a tough competitor and would’ve been a great buy if priced lower. At Rs 20,000, it was the most expensive card in the shootout. The card comes with a lot of bundled software, and has a video-capture port. ATI Rage Fury 128 (32 MB) Price: Rs 20,000 Chipset: Rage 128 Video memory: 32 MB Max refresh rate: 200 Hz at 640x480 Max resolution: 1,920x1,200 Source: Integra Micro Systems, 111 Humanyunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029. Tel/Fax: 11-6182259, 6177146, 6187246
Other Participants
alt="It didn’t perform as well as the other cards, but is priced well for its features." align="right">Asus AGP-V-3000ZXTV size="2" face="Arial"> Price: size="2" face="Arial">Rs 3,624 Features: Onboard video-decoder for live video from TV, VCR, etc; TV output port for simultaneous TV and monitor display; free game Incoming Chipset: ST/nVidia RIVA 128ZX Video memory: 4 MB Max refresh rate: 200 Hz at 640x480 Max resolution: 1,900x1,200 RAMDAC: 250 MHz Source: Aditya Promoters, Khemka Centre, DDA Building, 2-5 Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019. Tel: 11-6223810/11, 6452211/12 Fax: 6227979, 2931082	Asus AGP-V3400TNT Price: Rs 8,297 Features: Supports all Direct3D features; comes with a free game–Tulok alt="Overall an average performer. with hy refresh rates" align="left">Chipset: nVidia RIVA TNT Video memory: 16 MB SGRAM Max refresh rate: 250 Hz at 640x480 Max resolution: 1,920x1,200 RAMDAC: 250 MHz Source: Aditya Promoters, Khemka Centre, DDA Building, 2-5 Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019. Tel: 11-6223810/11, 6452211/12 Fax: 6227979, 2931082
alt="Scored the highest points in 3DMark 99 Max and Business Winstone tests. Top-third performer but expensive" align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5">ATI Rage Fury 128 (16 MB) Price: Rs 16,500 Features: Onboard video-decoder for live-video from TV, VCR, etc; TV output port for simultaneous TV and monitor display. Chipset: Rage 128 Video Memory: 16 MB Max refresh rate: 200 Hz at 640x480 Max resolution: 19,200x1,200 RAMDAC: Information not available. Source: Integra Micro Systems 111 Humanyunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029. Tel/Fax: 6182259, 6177146, 6187246	face="Arial" size="2" color="#FF0000">Creative Graphics Blaster RivaTNT Price: Rs 12,000 Features: Comes with two games: Incoming and Forsaken, software like Colorific for color matching and 3Deep for setting gamma values; supports all Direct3D features. alt="Overall an average performer, with good features and software" align="left"> size="2" face="Arial">Chipset: nVidia RIVA TNT Video memory: 16 MB SDRAM Max refresh rate: 240 at 640x480 Max resolution: 1,920x1,200 RAMDAC: 250 MHz Source: Urja Communications 109 ‘C’, Esplanade Mansion, 144 MG Road, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 22-2048179, 2826997 Fax: 2826390
Volcano Voodoo Banshee Graphic alt="A good performer in Direct3D tests, like 3DMark99 Max and 3D Winbench99. Doesn’t support OpenGL " align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5"> Price: Rs 4,609 Chipset: 3dfx Interactive Video memory: 16 MB Max refresh rate: 250 Hz at 640x480 Max resolution: 1,600x1,200 RAMDAC: 300 MHz Source: Aditya Promoters, Khemka Centre, DDA Building, 2-5 Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019. Tel: 11- 6223810/11, 6452211/12 Fax: 6227979, 2931082