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Voodoo5 5500
Page 1 - Full Screen Anti-Aliasing for your viewing pleasure
As a lot of hardware enthusiasts know, major video card companies try and stick to a
six month cycle. They release a new product every six months. The first cycle for this year
was some where between December 1999 and January 2000. As most of you know, 3Dfx missed that cycle. Instead,
on 15 November, 1999 they announced the VSA-100 chip and the Voodoo 4/5 line of video cards.
In June of 2000, they were finally (readily) available on shelves. The question is: what
does 3dfx have to show for all that time used to develop their newest card?
Box Shot |
The Total Package |
Installation was a snap! Just as easy to install as a GeForce or Voodoo3 3000 or anyother
card for that matter. They only real difference is that you need to make sure you plugged
the molex power connector into the card. There is a Y-adapter included to make this as
painless as possible. Pluggin in the power is pretty important as they have a warning
sticker that you have to pull to get to the card. On that sticker it plainly states that
the card will not work without the power. You need to remember, installation was a snap,
for me. You need to remember that this card is 10 inches long. You might not have enough
room in your case. If you do buy a Voodoo5, remember to check for space.
The software end of the installation was just as smooth as the hardware install. After I
installed the drivers and the 3dfx tools, all I had to do was a quick reboot and I was on
my way.
10 inches Long! |
Yep, For Real! |
After restarting the computer, I noticed a little 3dfx logo in my system tray. By double
clicking that, it gives me quick access to the advanced display properties for the Voodoo5.
There, I adjust the FSAA setttings in OpenGL/Glide and/or Direct 3D. You have the option to
turn off FSAA all together, set it to 2x FSAA, set it to 4x FSAA, or change it to single
chip only (turning "off" one of the two chips). In the 3dfx advanced menu you
can also adjust color settings and view driver information amoung other things.
3dfx Control Panel |
Pretty Tomatoes |
All in all, I would have to say the installation and setup of this card was easy and very
efficent. However, the software package offered was horrible. On the installation CD you're
given the chance to install a program called 3Deep and that's it, basically. I tried to use
3Deep and it seemed pretty worthless. I then uninstalled it and decided that if you're buying
your video card for the software package, look somewhere else.
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