PERIPHERALS | ||||||||||
Name | Price | Rating | Comment | Additional Info | Supplier | Tel | Issue | Page no | Additional comments, notes | |
Graphics Cards | ||||||||||
ATI Pro Turbo | £234 | llllmm | Top notch MPEG playback, and a wide selection of Windows 95 utilities. | PCI, VL-Bus, max res 1,280x1,024 at 64k colours | Watford Electronics | 01582 745555 | 19 | 58 | ||
ATI Xpression | £117 | lll[mm | Very cheap card with a full set of utilities, but mediocre performance. | PCI, max res 1,280x1,024 at 256 colours. | ATI | 01235 833666 | 19 | 58 | ||
Blue Dragon | £499 | lllllm | Good features on the hardware side and excellent performance. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200. | Eurotech | 01734 810011 | 2 | 51 | ||
Datapath Tornado | £549 | llllmm | Capable specifications and good performance but expensive. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200. | Terntek | 01332 294424 | 2 | 51 | ||
Diamond Stealth 64 VLB | £369 | llllmm | Nicely finished software, but poor overall performance. | VL-Bus, max res 1,280x1,024 | Panrix | 01132 444958 | 2 | 52 | ||
Diamond Stealth 64 PCI | £369 | llllmm | Identical to VL Bus version. | PCI, max res 1,280x1,024 | Panrix | 01132 444958 | 2 | 52 | ||
Diamond Stealth 64 Video 2201 XL | £180 | llllmm | Exceptional benchmark results. | PCI, VL-Bus, max res 1,280x1,024 at 256 colours. | Datrontech | 01252 303500 | 19 | 58 | ||
Diamond Stealth 64 Video VRAM | £189 | llllmm | All round high performance, though not the cheapest card on test. | PCI, VL-Bus, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours. | Datrontech | 01252 303500 | 19 | 59 | ||
Genoa VideoBlitz II | £455 | lllmmm | Average performance, but few software features and poor manual. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200. | Memory Direct | 2 | 54 | |||
Grafixstar 600 | £169 | lllllm | Good all round performance at a superb price. | PCI, max res not specified. | VideoLogic | 01923 260511 | 23 | 144 | recommended | |
Graphics Blaster MA302 | £110 | llllmm | Respectable performance, and a low price make this a viable budget solution. | PCI, 2Mb Rambus DRAM, SoftMPEG software. | Creative Labs | 01245 265265 | 24 | 158 | ||
Hercules Dynamite 128/Video | £180 | llllmm | A fast card, at an advantageous price. | PCI, 2Mb DRAM, max res 1,024x768 at 16-bit colour. on board AVI accelleration. | Imago Micro | 01635 861122 | 20 | 117 | ||
Hercules Graphite | £449 | llmmmm | One of the slowest cards we tested. | VL-Bus, max res 1,600x1,200. | Imago Micro | 01635 861122 | 2 | 54 | ||
Hercules Stingray/Video 51202V | £125 | lllmmm | Average Windows performance, but exceptional speed under DOS. | PCI, VESA, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours | Hercules | 01635 861122 | 19 | 59 | ||
Imagine 128 Series 2 | £499 | lllllm | Super fast with brilliant software MPEG playback. The Rolls Royce of cards. | PCI, 1,152x864 at 16m colours. | Number 9 | 01256 381194 | 21 | 125 | ||
Matronix MGA impression + | £399 | lllllm | Reasonably fast performer. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200. | Matrox | 01793 614002 | 2 | 55 | value | |
Matrox Millennium | £255 | lllllm | Fast and bundled with genuinely useful utilities. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200, integrated AVI and 3D acceleration, MPEG utilities. | Matrox | 01793 614002 | 9 | 100 | recommended | |
Matrox MGA Milennium | £249 | lllll[ | A top notch performer with excellent expandability and rich in features. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours. | Matrox | 01793 614002 | 19 | 59 | speed | |
Media Vision 1024 | £349 | llllmm | Very fast and eay to use. Cheap but short on features. | VL-Bus, max res 1,024x768 | Memory Direct | 2 | 55 | speed | ||
Media Vision ProGraphics 1280 | £499 | lllmmm | Average performance, but gives true colour at 1,280x1,024. | VL-Bus, max res 1,280x1,024 | Memory Direct | 2 | 58 | |||
Mirocrystal 40SV | £400 | lllllm | Impressive utility software and a good performer. | PCI, max res 1,408x1,024 | Miro UK | 01494 510250 | 2 | 58 | ||
Mirovideo 12PD | £129 | lllllm | Powerful and well thought out. Requires fast Pentium. | PCI or VL Bus, max res 1,280x1,024 at 16.7m colours. | Miro UK | 01494 510250 | 8 | 122 | recommended | |
Mirovideo 22SD | £129 | llllmm | Good hardware but poor performance and default installation routine in German. | PCI, max res 1,280x1,024 at 256 colours. | Miro UK | 01494 510250 | 19 | 61 | ||
Number 9 9FX Motion 331 | £159 | lllll[ | The best value for money in our test. | PCI local bus, max res 1,280x1,024 at 256 colours. | Number 9 | 01256 381194 | 19 | 61 | value | |
Number 9 GXE 64 Pro | £535 | lllllm | Fast with excellent software support. Only real drawback is the price. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200. | Mentor | 01582 483381 | 2 | 59 | ||
Orchid Farenheit Pro64-PCI | £199 | lll[mm | Under par performance for the specification. There are better cards for the price. | PCI, CL-Bus, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours. | Orchid | 01256 479898 | 19 | 61 | ||
Orchid Kelvin Video64 | £147 | lllmmm | A cheap card but not a very good one. One of the slowest under Windows 95. | PCI, VESA, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours. | Orchid | 01256 479898 | 19 | 62 | ||
Pegasus VL | £399 | lllmmm | Reasonably fast, but limited software features. | VL-Bus, max res 1,600x1,200. | Imago Micro | 01635 861122 | 2 | 59 | ||
Reveal Speedcat Cougar VC850 | £139 | l[mmmm | Good video playback doesn't make up for poor DOS and Windows performnace. | PCI, max res 1,280x1,024 at 256 colours. | Reveal | 0181 845 7400 | 19 | 62 | ||
Reveal Speedcat Jaguar VC800 | £139 | llllmm | No expansion potential and poor software but reasonable price. | PCI local bus, max res 1,280x1,024 at 256 colours. | Reveal | 0181 845 7400 | 19 | 62 | ||
Spea Mercury Pro | £599 | lllmmm | Features and performance do not justify the price. | VL-Bus, max res 1,563x1,152. | Spea | 0181 5126600 | 2 | 62 | ||
STB Lightspeed 128 | £125 | llllmm | Performance as good as the GrafixStar 600, but costs less. | PCI, VESA feature connector. | STB | 0181 897 1003 | 25 | 180 | ||
STB Powergraph 64 Video | £159 | lllllm | Solid hardware only let down by some slightly flaky drivers. | PCI, VL-Bus, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours. | STB | 0181 897 1003 | 19 | 65 | ||
STB Velocity 64 Video | £225 | lll[mm | A solid choice for performance, software utilities and helpful documentation. | PCI. VESA, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours. | STB | 0181 897 1003 | 19 | 65 | ||
Taxan GTS Winturbo+VL | £599 | lllmmm | Good overall performance and utilities but expensive. | VL-Bus, max res 1,280x1,024 | Taxan | 01344 484646 | 2 | 62 | ||
Taxan GTS Winturbo+PCI | £599 | lllmmm | Good overall performance and utilities but expensive. | PCI, max res 1,280x1,024 | Taxan | 01344 484646 | 2 | 64 | ||
Videologic Grafixstar 400 | £165 | lllllm | Respectable performance at the price. Upgradeable to MPEG. | PCI, max res 1,600x1,200. | VideoLogic | 01923 260511 | 18 | 105 | recommended | |
Videologic Grafixstar 400 | £135 | llllmm | A good, fast, cheap card with an optional MPEG decoding daughterboard. | PCI Local Bus, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours | VideoLogic | 01923 250511 | 19 | 65 | ||
Videologic Grafixstar 700 | £275 | lllllm | State of the art performance at a keen price. | PCI or VLB, max 4MB VRAM, AVI accelleration, VESA feature connector. | VideoLogic | 01923 260511 | 10 | 122 | recommended | |
Videologic Grafixstar 700 | £189 | lllllm | Highly expandable, though not the fastest or cheapest around. | PCI, VESA, max res 1,600x1,200 at 256 colours | VideoLogic | 01923 250511 | 19 | 67 | ||
Graphics Cards (3D) | ||||||||||
ATI 3D Xpression | £139 | llllmm | Let down by poor performance in Windows 95 and DOS. | 64-bit RAGE processor, 3D polygon rendering and processing, 2Mb EDO DRAM, 1,024x768 in 16-bit colour. | ATI | 01235 833666 | 24 | 170 | ||
Creative Labs 3D Blaster | £299 | lllmmm | Expensive as a leisure product, but gives surprisingly good results with 486s. | VESA local bus, 1 Mb VRAM, 1 Mb DRAM on board. | Creative Labs | 01245 265265 | 19 | 124 | ||
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 | £149 | lllllm | Excellent low cost card with formidable 3D performance. | Max res 1,024x768 at 256 colours, 1,280x1,024 in 16 colours, double buffering, alpha blending and Z-buffering. | Diamond | 01189 444400 | 23 | 151 | recommended | |
Matrox Mystique | £153 | lllllm | Exceptional Windows 95 acceleration. | 2Mb SGRAM, max res 1,152x864 in 16-bit colour. | Matrox | 01793 441100 | 24 | 170 | ||
Number 9 Reality 332 | £129 | llllmm | Does not have want it takes to stand out from the crowd. | 2Mb EDO RAM, max res 1,024x768 in 16-bit colour. | Mentor Computers | 01582 483381 | 24 | 170 | ||
Video/Sound cards | ||||||||||
Diamond Edge | £299 | llllmm | Good card with stunning 3D performance. Needs better software support. | PCI bus, 2Mb VRAM, Max res 1,024x768 24 bit colour. Integrated 3D accelleration and Wavetable synthesis. | Datrontech | 01252 303333 | 17 | 110 |
Last Update: 14/10/96
Name: PC Pro