The Intro

The Monster Fusion is a Diamond video card based on 3DFX's Voodoo Banshee, which is 3DFX's second 2D/3D combination chip. They redesigned their 2D core to improve the problems with current 2D accelerators on the market. The 2D core is supposedly the first true 128 bit 2D accelerator out there. The 3D on the other hand is based on the Voodoo 2 core with a higher clockspeed and only a single chip solution, which means you don't get the beautiful 32-bit color rendering for 3D. The lack of the second TMU makes the banshee especially slow when running games using single pass multi-texturing(Quake2, Unreal, etc.) The AGP version of the Monster Fusion includes 16 MB of 125Mhz SGRAM instead of the cheaper 125MHz SDRAM on the PCI version. The board itself has eight 2MB chips on the board, and has a fan on the Banshee chip.

Specifications

The Chip: 3DFX Voodoo Banshee (0.25 Micron)

Bus Type: AGP 1X

Memory: 16MB  125Mhz SGRAM

RAMDAC: 250Mhz

Acceleration Type: 128 Bit 2D, 128 Bit 3D, and Video

Cooling: Chipset mounted cooling fan

Supported API(s): DirectX 6, MiniGL, and Glide

Supported Resolutions:

Resolutions

Included Software: Diamond Drivers, Motocross Madness (Full Version), Unreal (11 levels), and SoftDVD

Setup

I had no problems with installing this board on the Machete. Within 15 minutes I was running through the halls of Unreal and doing 50 ft jumps in Motocross Madness. All I did was uninstall my old video card drivers; shutdown my computer; put the board in; and fire it up. I have to say this again: INSTALLATION WAS A SNAP! No hardware conflicts at all with my VIA  MVP3 chipset. I did download the latest AGP drivers just to be safe.

2D?

3DFX redesigned their 2D core and tried to change the problems with today's 2D accelerators. I believe it, the 2D is decent for a regular user who views pics or watch movies. Videos run smooth at full screen 1024x768. The sad part about the 2D is that the 24 bit color mode is created through dithering, therefore making it not much of a difference between 16 bit color. Another thing I found diappointing was the lack of 32 bit color in 2D. But even with all these faults the 2D is good because of the speed the SGRAM gives.  I give the 2D portion of this chip 3.5 of 5 Clintons.

3D!

The Voodoo Banshee is a single chip that is based on the Voodoo 2 core; therefore, the chip has fast and solid 3D. But the problem with that is that it only uses 16 Bit color. Different from the Voodoo 2,  it supports 3D resolutions up to 1600x1200. I run most of the games at 800X600 on the machete because I think this is the best resolution taking in speed and quality.  Some games such as SpeedBusters can run perfectly under 1024X768.  Without single pass multitexturing, the 3D is all about NOW because soon a lot more games will use multiple texturing. All the games I played looked amazing except for a little bit of jaggedness on the edges, but its barely noticeable. Definitely, the best part about the 3D is the support for Glide; having a 3DFX card is definitely a plus for NOW because it has support from almost all the games out there. Taking in mind that the specs are what you would expect 6 months ago, I still give the 3D part of this card a 4 of 5 Clintons.

Benchmarks

Final Reality

Overall Score

3.07

3D Performance

3.27

2D Image Processing Tests

3.03

Overall Bus Transfer Rate

2.4

2D Transfer Rate

1.66

3D Transfer Rate

4.19

AGP Test

2.3 MB = 115.02 images/sec.

4.0 MB = 109.57 images/sec.

6.3 MB = 102.53 images/sec.

9.0 MB = 95.7 images/sec.

12.3 MB = 88 images/sec.

16 MB = 2.56 images/sec.

Unreal

TimeDemo

All benchmarks were done on the Machete.

Recommendations

What if I'm a hardcore gamer?

This card is not the most powerful card, so I suggest getting something more powerful like a TNT for a 2D/3D solution. Because if you're truely the hardcore gamer than you must have a fast CPU, and since the TNT is more reliant on the CPU, the TNT would be the perfect choice. But recently the ATI Rage128 has come out, and it might just be the most powerful 2D/3D card. If so, GET IT. So, once again don't get this card if you want top of the line. The Banshee only has about 100 MPixels/sec. compared to the Voodoo 2's 180MPixels/sec. But for a strightly 3D solution, try an Obsidian X-24 which we'll be reviewing soon. That bad boy has a capability of 360MPixels/sec.

What if I'm a budget gamer?

At the price of around $100 because of the rebate, this is definitely the card to get for all your gaming needs. The 3DFX Glide support makes it worth every penny, and 2D acceleration that is not too bad. If around $100 is what you can spend then I strongly suggest that you get this card. BUT if you want something that will last you for a long time then save up another hundred get the latest and greatest then.

What if I have a K6-2?

GET THIS CARD! This is one of the few AGP cards out there with virtually no compatibility problems! You know why? Because it has virtually no AGP capabilities! The only reason to get the AGP over the PCI version is to save a PCI card, and maybe to get the SGRAM, but thats it. It doesn't even use the system memory for texture storage! Since, the Banshee is not as CPU dependant as the TNT it will not be faultered that much by the inferior FPU of the K6-2. The only reason you may not want this card is when you already have a good 2D and you want some solid 3D. Then go for a Voodoo 2 because it already has 3DNOW! accelerated drivers and it also has the same great 3D features of the Banshee(minus the high resolutions) and more power. Besides the FPU on the K6-2 is too weak to allow for high resolution gameplay.

What if I'm a regular user (Mostly business apps and the occasional game)?

Get this Card! This is basically a gamer oriented card, but with decent 2D this makes an excellent card for 2D/3D . And so, if $100 is just the right price for you then buy this card! This card's 2D acceleration will get you by, and with 3DFX inside, you can't go wrong for the occasional game. BUT, once again, if you're looking for something that will last done the road, stay clear and get something more expensive.

Conclusion

The Monster Fusion is a strong performer in 3D; it's very fast, supports glide, and goes to resolutions as high as 1600x1200. Glide support enables you to play ANY PC game out there. This video card is the NOW! card because it doesn't support special features that future games will utilize; such as single pass multi-texturing, AGP 2X, 24 Bit or 32 Bit color, and no hardware DVD acceleration. The card does not even use true AGP features. The only reason why it did well in the AGP tests up to 12 MB was because of the 16MB on board the card. Don't get me wrong, this card kicks ass right now. But if your looking for something that will be top of the line for quite a while look into something else. The price is excellent for the performance you get. I give this card 4 of 5 Clintons,  because of most of the current games don't support those special features.