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