Diamond Fushion, comments please!

Edited text of question

this is a freebie, but i add a comment anyway
ummm...the only problem i can think of at this point of time is that the banshee chip (which is used in the fusion) is that it doesn't have multi texturing which means for somes games like unreal and half life might be slower than just say a voodoo2 or a TNT.
my personal opion is to buy a card with the nVidia TNT chip as they are the best 3d cards out at this point of time
you got a lot of info for a freebie :)

I know it's a freebie but the problem is how does one award points for suggestions eh? :)

juggernaut: don't be so greedy. Yep, it was free....no surprise there...said so at the title page.
Just being able to share your vast wisdom should be reward enough. :-)

I agree with juggernaut.  Go for the Viper 550 if you want Diamond.  Or wait for a while and pick up the ATI Rage Fury.

I have a monster fusion card and it works well.  The reason I bought it is because it is better than the voodoo2 and TNT if you are running a normal pentium with no AGP.  The banshee only supports AGP 1x and the TNT supports 2x.  Also, the TNT is more cpu dependent, so it will work better with a good pentium2 or K62.  In other words, buy it if you have a normal pentium and/or if you don't have AGP.  If you do get a Banshee card, get the monster fusion, because it is the best of the banshee cards, and has a cooling fan so you can overclock it.  If you get a TNT card, get either the STB Velocity 4400 or the Diamond Viper 550.  But as larbel said, you can get the ATI Rage Fury which even exels the TNT card.  the ATI Rage Fury is anywhere from $145 to $200 depending on where you get it and what features you want on it.

Thank you all for giving your opinion.

Thought about it and..., I'll wait for the Fury!

Rick

good choice!  Acually, it is already for sale, so no need to wait.

Update! It is nowhere to be found in the Netherlands, the ati rage fury that is!
Any alternatives?
I have my system just sitting waiting for a good 2d/3d card.

Get the Asus V3400TNT or V3400TNT/TV if you want TV-Out...  Comes with heatsink and best choice for overclock and TV image.  Though Canopus Spectra 2500 is better, but it's hard to get hold of one.  The Asus ranging from $120 to 149 is not bad and in some case faster than rage fury if you don't mind slower 32bit.

get the TNT, after seeing the latest benchmarks, the TNT is faster.  I have a friend that can get the 24mb Graphics Blaster TNT(almost impossible to find) for $111 or the 32mb for $169-$179! teehee

Thanks larbel & metallica

I just ordered the asus v3400tnt video-in/out

If one of you two gentlemen would be so kind to answer this question.
I will post one for the other one also.

Hi guys,

Thought i'd give you an update....
Check this, i got the asus v3400tnt, plugged it in..., started the machine..
No video! at least no good video, distorted bios screen etc..., till the boot menu..., chose to run win.., win loads.., now i have video.., 640X480 with (according to win and later me) a wrong vga driver.
hassle hassle hassle, chucked off '95, installed '98 clean (pfheeeew, i needed that after 2 or 3 times hardware change and no clean install over the years)
Still.., when booting my 17" (old thingie) the bios (dos) screen is garbled.
Took out the vga card, took it to work, plugged it in the same mainboard and voila, everything is fine... ??? well it's not the vga card but maybe the agp slot on my board is bad..??
Took it home again (and an S3 agp with it) plugged in the s3 and voila, evrything is fine.., duh?
Plugged my old 14" in the machine and what do you know...., perfect image..., so weeeeeeeeeh, my 17" doesn't understand diddly about the vga card, after installing the nvidia tnt detonator drivers the 17" has totally given up!
Nice one eh???

But i am happy as can be, halflife runs in 1024X768 , multiplayer over the net as if i am walking around alone in the level...., what a vga card.., woooow.., thanks again guys!!