Of course the question a lot of you will be emailing us about is "Which card should I buy in April/May? The Voodoo3 3500or an Ultra TNT2?". The answer is fairly simple based upon our experiences with both Alpha cards, which are running in our test systems. If Diamond and the rest of nVIDIA's OEM partners opt for a similar or indeed 'higher' configuration, meaning they implement Ultra TNT2 chipsets, then we recommend the Ultra TNT2. With its superior 3D feature set, stunning 32-bit color performance and frame rates that almost match the Voodoo3 3500, the Ultra TNT2 is the clear winner in terms of technology. 3Dfx put the ball in nVIDIA's court when claiming that 32-bit color wasn't a viable option until 60 frames per second could be attained. Unfortunately for 3Dfx, nVIDIA has smashed that target and fortunately for us, we get to play with the end result!

We don't like to dictate or 'force', you our readers, to buy a product just because we tell you to. We understand that you're intelligent to make up your own minds and decide on what's hot and what's not. We do hope that by us calling it as we see it, so to speak, that you have some useful and truthful guidelines to follow in helping you decide for yourselves.

• The Ultra TNT2 has very similar 16-bit performance in Quake 2
• 16-bit color looks more saturated in terms of the visual quality on the UltraTNT2. The Voodoo3, uses less dithering when looking really closely into the textures. This is a good thing because the overall look is more polished.
• 32-bit color (which is consistently over 60 frames per second) on the Ultra TNT2 versus the 16-bit limitation of the Voodoo3. Again an easy choice for both gamers and OEMs alike.
• Larger texture support on the Ultra TNT2 as high as 2048x2048 when compared to the Voodoo3's 256x256.
• Ultra TNT2 looks much more future proof with its 24-bit Z-buffer and 8-bit stencil buffer as opposed to the Voodoo3s limited 16-bit z-buffer.
• AGP texturing and support for Intel's Camino chipset with AGP 4X. This will be VITAL for clinching those tier-1 OEM deals and design wins.
• 32MB support for the Ultra TNT2 will also go down better with OEMs as opposed to 16MB.
• OEMs will enjoy sticking bump mapping, anistropic filtering on their check lists- even if gamers see little or no evidence of it. Again the Ultra TNT does both. The Voodoo3 does not do bump mapping in hardware.
• Ultra TNT2 has significantly superior D3D performance, which is VERY important in today's games. Most 3D accelerated games support D3D. Unless Glide makes a SERIOUS come back (as the TNT does NOT support Glide obviously), the Ultra TNT2 will only be touched by 3Dfx's 'next' product.
• The Voodoo3 3500 will be roughly $50 more expensive than the Diamond Viper V770. This is a real clincher. You can decide for yourselves what this means.

If you ask us though? We'll be the first to tell you. The Diamond Viper V770 is going to go straight into our prime-time gaming machine. 'Sharky's Machine' will now be powered by an nVIDIA Ultra TNT2 based board and I'll look forward to fragging away in Quake III arena in 24-bit. nVIDIA really has caught up with 3Dfx and now posses the ability to do something that 3Dfx is yet to- 32-bit color at over 60frames per second.

Alex "Sharky" Ross
Editor-in-Chief