Manufacturer:Guillemot\Hercules
Driver Version:6.18; "Detonator3" reference release by Nvidia
Reviewed By:Erik Frechette

Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS 64MB

Video cards, where does one begin? This is THE most competitive sect of the hardware society, bar none. Intel and AMD are having a good tussle, certainly, but the world of GPUs and texel throughput is one wrought with all out warfare. The largest armies and loudest voices clearly belong to the enormous Nvidia and 3dfx camps. These groups are often times combative and hyper-critical of the competition's hardware performance. 3D accelerators seem to be spawning virtual cults in the online newsgroups. I find all this rather silly, as I just use the stupid thing to play games...but there you have it. ::)

I could go into a long winded retelling of the 3D gaming revolution and the rise of its two major protagonists, but I won't. Check out Sharky Extreme or Anandtech for chronological explorations of the 3D phenomena. I'd also recommend you go elsewhere for detailed benchmarking and graphs, as you won't find those in this review either. I don't believe The Pits' fans necessarily care if you can play Quake3 Arena at 3,000 frames per second in 1600x1200,32 bit color with all details set to maximum. In the context of this site, such performance measurements are not of any high significance.  Our sims are not nearly as reliant on graphics throughput as a first person shooter.  Most of the racing sims presently sitting on store shelves are not nearly as optimized for graphical processing as a Quake3, so benchmarking for our genre is not necessarily easy. That's not to say a good graphics card will not make a difference, but it might not have the impact on driving sims that are loaded with heavy physical and AI calculations.  With a fast enough processor, just about any racing sim will run well enough, so good graphics cards are more like icing on your layer cake, so to speak (cake...good).  This review will focus on the board's performance within GPL and NASCAR Heat, two of the more system intensive sims presently available.

The Testbed: Blue Beast, photo by www.AnandTech.com

Pentium!!! 800EB@900MHz
256MB Micron PC133 SDRAM
30GB IBM Deskstar HDD
SBLive! Value soundcard\game controller
3COM 450C NIC
WindowsME
19" Dell .26dpi Monitor refreshed at 85Hz
Ballracing F1 Sim Classic w\clutch
Full GPL install v1.2 w\Direct3D rasterizer
Maximum NASCAR Heat install v1.0

Specs:

Nvidia GeForce2 GTS Graphics Processing Unit(GPU)
Hardware Transform and Lighting Engine
64MB DDR RAM
TV Output Capability
Digital Video Interface(DVI) Compatibility
DVD-Video Software Decoding/Acceleration

Comes bundled with: Hercules' GeForce2 v5.16a drivers, PowerDVD v2.55, Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation 2 and Speed Busters demo software as well as several technical demos from Nvidia

First Impressions:

It's blue(!)...a side effect of its production processing. The software bundle sucks...a side effect of supposed cost management.  The chip is covered by a small heatsink and fan assembly with bare heatsinks attached to the RAM banks. Knowing that the the present generation of GPUs run fairly hot, I would like to have seen a more substantial heatsink and stronger fan attached to the chip. Like many other users on the web, I am curious as to why Hercules bothered securing heatsinks to the RAM units. With or without, the RAM does not expel nearly enough heat to make the extra cost involved viable. The phrases 'eye candy' and 'marketing spin' come to mind.

Let's Get on With it Already:

Typically this is where the tech-oriented sites start jumping in with various benchmark results run at various resolutions. As I said before, there are plenty of places to find every possible series of number comparisons imaginable, so I'll skip all that and tell you about my experiences with GPL at 1600x1200 under Direct3D7. All framerate readings were recorded from the cockpit view.

With all options on and details maxxed, starting from the rear of a full field at Monaco, framerates ranged from 15-18\sec. Once our little starter friend set the field loose, framerates started climbing into the low 20s. By Ste DeVote we're running at a very acceptable 30-34fps. Approaching Casino, almost totally single file and the sim is clicking along at 36fps. Aside from a few minuscule(usually 1-3fps) dips during the first lap, the rest of my 15 lap 'Pro Short' run chugged along at the maximum framerate. Pretty impressive, when you consider the system loads involved at that resolution, not to mention the pack of AI and GPL's famous physics. I must say that I was pretty damn impressed coming from a PII 400 shod in a 24MB Voodoo2 SLI rig...it seems so long ago. ::)

Colors are sharp and crisp, though there are some jaggies to be found...a bit of ammunition for the 3dfx Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing(FSAA) fans in the audience. :;) I did notice some flashing backgrounds in menu screens when exiting races, but the problem occurred at random and did not impair the sim's functionality. A big thumbs up in GPL. Now for something a bit more modern...with a real benchmark to boot!!(no graphs though, sorry)

NASCAR Heat comes with a factory benchmark utility, so testing out your system and seeing what it has in terms of horsepower is fairly easy.  At 1280x1024, high detail cars, full mirrors and all detail levels maxxed the system benched at 41.7fps. Fill Rate was counted at 758 MPix\sec while Polygon Rate was reported to be 5057 KTris\sec, both numbers being worthy of '(Awesome)' status. This seemed to correlate accurately to actual gameplay.  During a full field race at Sears Point, starting in 43rd position, framerates were totally smooth from start to finish.  If only my NASCAR driving were so steady! ::))  The sim runs flawlessly and seems to be begging for a 1600x1200 resolution option.

Again, colors are bright and clean.  The jaggies are still there, but that's to be expected without FSAA.  *Note: 2x FSAA can be activated within the display options for both D3D and OpenGL, but you will notice performance drops when activated*

How does the card perform outside of racing simulations?  Superbly, but that's to be expected of a card in this price range.  Color gammas can be customized, as can screen refresh rates, Direct3D and OpenGL settings.  General screen options such as hue, contrast and saturation can be adjusted in software.  You can tweak screen positioning and even the proper timing mode for your monitor.  DVI resolutions are capped at 1024x768, which will likely annoy some DVI owners.  The most interesting aspect of Hercules' bundled drivers(which subsequently carries over once the drivers are updated to 6.18) is the ability to access a Hardware Options tab under the Display Properties>Nvidia GeForce2 GTS>Additional Properties menu. Check the "Allow clock frequency adjustments" box, reboot and suddenly you've got yourself the most convenient means of overclocking your video card that I have ever seen. Adjust the sliders to optimize your card's performance and get that extra bit of performance out of this high-priced piece of equipment. Don't expect to reach GeForce2 Ultra levels of power, but you should be able to pick up 10-15% on the core and another 20-25% on the RAM clock over Nvidia's 'stock' settings. Coincidentally, the board comes overclocked to 220/365MHz from the factory. I actually reduced my core speed to 200MHz and bumped the RAM clock to 400MHz even. The GeForce2 is limited by the RAM throughput, so upping your core speeds does not do much beyond generate more heat, which is not ever good. Overclock with care! This card is likely to be the most expensive part in your system, unless you blew the kids' college fund on that P3 1.13GHz Intel just recalled, so treat it with a little respect while getting your money's worth. :;)

The Verdict:

The 64MB version of Hercules' 3D ProphetII is an impressive piece of hardware, but it is not quite perfect. With essentially no software bundle, poor GPU heatsink/fan and a high price tag, the board does have some shortcomings. That being said, the ProphetII GTS supplies a very substantial punch and would be a worthy addition to any power user's arsenal, so long as said user is not willing to spend US$500 on the 64MB GeForce2 Ultra video cards due to hit the market very shortly. Would I choose this board over a Voodoo5 5500? Yes, because of its relatively rich feature set and superior overall versatility. Is this the best of its breed? Probably not, but it is an upstanding member of the GTS family to be sure.  There you have it, one more review for your perusal.  Thanks for reading!