Accelerate Your Mac! - Village Tronic MacPicasso MP540/3D0 Review

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MacPicasso MP540/3D Overdrive Review
Review date: 3/16/98

Update: Apple G3 rev 3 systems have a compatibility issue with MP540 cards prior to Rev 1.3 (Aug 98 production). There was a page with more info at http://www.villagetronic.com/incompatE.html *but* it is no longer there. (Since this review was written in 1998, many off-site links may not be valid anymore.)

Village Tronic's "Jack of All Trades" PCI Video Card

Intro | 2D Performance | 3D Performance | Game Performance | Movie Playback | Features | Summary

Introduction

Village Tronic has designed one of the most unique video cards I've seen for any platform. They've managed to do something no other video card manufacturer to date has done, that is display the output of a first generation 3Dfx Voodoo chipset graphics card (the 3D Overdrive) into a windowed viewport of a 2D display. Although this capability (and more) is available in 3Dfx's Voodoo Rush chipset, it has never been done with the original Voodoo version.
The design of the card and the control software shows a great deal of innovation. Village Tronic has covered all the bases (2D/3D/Rave/Games/3Dfx/Movies) fairly well with the exception of high resolution 2D performance. The modular card design accepts other modules for video/TV input/output as well.
The highlight of the card is a seamless 3Dfx Voodoo 3D graphics interface without the pass-through cables and adapters needed with other 3Dfx cards. The benefit of Village Tronic's approach is clearer 2D video output on the monitor and less cable clutter on the back of your Mac. The 2D pass-through and cable used on other 3Dfx cards results in some loss of sharpness in normal 2D video modes when the 3Dfx card is not active.
2D performance at 1024x768 was very good in 256 color mode, fair in thousands colors but performance suffered at millions colors and/or higher resolutions. If you are looking for a high-performance 2D card for use in millions colors mode at higher resolutions, the MP540 2D card would not be your best choice. Playback of Quicktime and MPEG movies was very good. Game performance was outstanding, with some glitches as noted on the game page.

Starting with this review I'll be rating video cards on a scale of 1-10 in each of the following categories:

2D Performance: MacBench Graphics and Pub tests at 1024x768 and 1152x870 and general observations from normal applications use.
3D Performance: RaveBench, Walker, Infini-D 4.01, Ray Dream Studio 5.
Game Performance: Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior (3Dfx), Quake, Korea (3Dfx)
Movie Playback: Objective performance with Quicktime and Mpeg movies.
Software Controls: Software Controls features/ease of use.
Hardware Design/Features: Hardware specifications/features.

The Summary page shows the totals and an overall evaluation of the product.

Test System:
The base system used for test was a PowerComputing PowerTower Pro 180, running OS 7.6.1 with the standard array of Quicktime 2.5 and Quickdraw 3D 1.5.3, PC exchange, Connectix's Speed Doubler 2. Disk cache was set to 512K, Virtual Memory was off. Installed Ram was 384MB, and all other PCI slots were empty.
The MacPicasso/3D Overdrive card pair was installed in the top two slots. I used OS 7.6 again to remain consistent with my other video card reviews, and as before screen resolution was set to 1024x768, thousands colors. Since the retail price of this card was over $500, tests at 1152x870, millions colors were also run as done on reviews of the Ultimate Rez, Nexus GA, Twin Turbo and Imagine 128.

Feedback

I welcome comments about this review and/or the product.

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of MacPicasso MP540/3DO Review Pages
Intro | 2D Performance | 3D Performance | Game Performance | Movie Playback | Features | Summary
- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © Mike, 1998.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.


MacPicasso MP540/3D Overdrive Review Review date: 3/16/98
Update: Apple G3 rev 3 systems have a compatibility issue with MP540 cards prior to Rev 1.3 (Aug 98 production). There was a page with more info at http://www.villagetronic.com/incompatE.html but it is no longer there. (Since this review was written in 1998, many off-site links may not be valid anymore.)
Village Tronic's "Jack of All Trades" PCI Video Card
Intro \| 2D Performance \| 3D Performance \| Game Performance \| Movie Playback \| Features \| Summary
Introduction
Village Tronic has designed one of the most unique video cards I've seen for any platform. They've managed to do something no other video card manufacturer to date has done, that is display the output of a first generation 3Dfx Voodoo chipset graphics card (the 3D Overdrive) into a windowed viewport of a 2D display. Although this capability (and more) is available in 3Dfx's Voodoo Rush chipset, it has never been done with the original Voodoo version. The design of the card and the control software shows a great deal of innovation. Village Tronic has covered all the bases (2D/3D/Rave/Games/3Dfx/Movies) fairly well with the exception of high resolution 2D performance. The modular card design accepts other modules for video/TV input/output as well. The highlight of the card is a seamless 3Dfx Voodoo 3D graphics interface without the pass-through cables and adapters needed with other 3Dfx cards. The benefit of Village Tronic's approach is clearer 2D video output on the monitor and less cable clutter on the back of your Mac. The 2D pass-through and cable used on other 3Dfx cards results in some loss of sharpness in normal 2D video modes when the 3Dfx card is not active. 2D performance at 1024x768 was very good in 256 color mode, fair in thousands colors but performance suffered at millions colors and/or higher resolutions. If you are looking for a high-performance 2D card for use in millions colors mode at higher resolutions, the MP540 2D card would not be your best choice. Playback of Quicktime and MPEG movies was very good. Game performance was outstanding, with some glitches as noted on the game page. Starting with this review I'll be rating video cards on a scale of 1-10 in each of the following categories: 2D Performance: MacBench Graphics and Pub tests at 1024x768 and 1152x870 and general observations from normal applications use. 3D Performance: RaveBench, Walker, Infini-D 4.01, Ray Dream Studio 5. Game Performance: Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior (3Dfx), Quake, Korea (3Dfx) Movie Playback: Objective performance with Quicktime and Mpeg movies. Software Controls: Software Controls features/ease of use. Hardware Design/Features: Hardware specifications/features. The Summary page shows the totals and an overall evaluation of the product. Test System: The base system used for test was a PowerComputing PowerTower Pro 180, running OS 7.6.1 with the standard array of Quicktime 2.5 and Quickdraw 3D 1.5.3, PC exchange, Connectix's Speed Doubler 2. Disk cache was set to 512K, Virtual Memory was off. Installed Ram was 384MB, and all other PCI slots were empty. The MacPicasso/3D Overdrive card pair was installed in the top two slots. I used OS 7.6 again to remain consistent with my other video card reviews, and as before screen resolution was set to 1024x768, thousands colors. Since the retail price of this card was over $500, tests at 1152x870, millions colors were also run as done on reviews of the Ultimate Rez, Nexus GA, Twin Turbo and Imagine 128.
Feedback
I welcome comments about this review and/or the product.

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of MacPicasso MP540/3DO Review Pages Intro \| 2D Performance \| 3D Performance \| Game Performance \| Movie Playback \| Features \| Summary - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © Mike, 1998. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.