Guillemot
3D Prophet
Dec, 1999
Nvidia
proves to the world that they are the current leaders in 3D graphic technology
as they surge ahead of the pack. While other 3D makers are still announcing
their forthcoming offerings, Guillemot, sporting the hot new Nvidia
GeForce 256 chip has just released the 3D Prophet.
We wasted no time unpacking it from its DHL shipping carton and popped it
into a Pentium III-450 MHz PC. The 3D Prophet's core chip ran at a default
rate of 120Mhz. At this clock speed, it scored a 47.25 in the 32-bit gameplay
index. The score is a shade faster than an over-clocked TNT2 Ultra. That margin
will change as the new games start to use the new T&L (Transform and Lighting)
methods. The 3D Prophet has 32 megabytes of SDRAM, a 350MHz RAMDAC and TV-Out
electronics.
Since we had to finish this article, we didn't have the chance to over-clock
the GeForce chip, but we promise to touch on the subject in a future article.
We can only quote the price in US dollars at this time. The Electronics Boutique
On-Line Store sells the 3D Prophet for USD269.99 before taxes and shipping.
Is the Prophet worth its price today? It depends; if you already have a fast
TNT2 Ultra card and a Pentium III-class CPU, probably not. It's possible that
the drivers are still immature, and performance will get better with the release
of optimized drivers. However, if you have a slow PC, or are upgrading an
older graphics card, then the Guillemot 3D Prophet certainly makes for a very
solid upgrade. 
Review
by M.B.Reyes
I
have some nice things to say about the article. 
I
have a few rants about this article.
Action
- First Person