Trident XP4

[Asrial]

Eventually, I'm going to get a Radeon 9700 Pro or a NV30. Eventually.

In the meantime, I'm using a Voodoo 4 4500. Right now, it runs everything I'm doing. It's mostly my processor though (Athlon 1600+) that's doing all the work.

I'm trying to balance power with finances and I'm considering 4200-4600 or the Radeon 8500.

However, I just read the artical ( http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1681&p=1 ) on this card and it looks like it might be the solution I want.

Cheap and it gives me the power I can use until I upgrade to the top.

Thoughts all?

 

[ViRGE]

Until Trident releases the card(Anand saw a preview version), I don't think any of us could make a good reccomendation.

 

[Saist]

I would like to point out that Trident doesn't have that great of a record...

in my own experience, 2 trident devices I've had a couple of laptops never preformed like Trident claimed they would. One, which I am still using, is the Cyberblade Xp in an HP Pavillion. In my own experience, very few 3d apps recognize the chip as a 3d device (Quake III is one of the few that does), and most 3d benchmarking programs do not work at all with the chip. Granted, it grabs only 8megs for textures... (I sold the other laptop and I forget which Trident device it used, but not even Quake II saw it as a valid 3d device)

I also noted a rather large error in a recent interview that a Trident engineer participated in. He claimed that the Xp4 was going for 80% of the GF4-4600 power, and 70% of the Radeon 9700 Pro power.

Just reading the benchmarks here and elsewhere in the R300 vs. the GF4 4600 tells me somebody skipped math class. The r300 is outpowering the GF4 in all areas and in some cases up to 48% better than the GF4. This is keeping in mind that like the rv250 vs. r200 (a topic that I called AnandAustin down on) the drivers for the r300 and rv250 are relatively immature. And the drivers for the Geforce and 8500 are pretty much at their peak. The older the r300 gets the better the drivers will be, and the preformance gap between it and the GF4 will increase (and at the same time, as drivers are improved for the rv250 it will catch and probably pass the 8500 in preformance as well)

So I'd like to know how did Trident get a 10% difference in power from the Xp4's perspective, when the average power difference between the r300 and GF4 weighs around 25/35% ?? An email sent to Trident asking about this netted no response. At all...

I think I caught somebody trying to spill out the B.S. again... (and here's hoping that someone who has the hardware sent to him beta would mind asking how they got that 80%/70% thing...)


In any case, I'm not expecting anything great from Trident. While I fully expect Matrox to do something good with a Parhelia base, and while I expect ATi's 9500 to kick some major rear end, and while I'm hoping Nvidia gets the Nv30 out this year, looking to Trident for anything good 3d wise... well, in my experience, it isn't going to happen.

 

[Asrial]

Alright, thanks for the heads up

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I dunno - Anand saw the preview and was pretty impressed with it. It could be the real thing.

A few years ago nobody thought hat SiS could release a chipset that was worth a damn.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I agree with Saist for the most part in terms of the XP4 being much over-hyped and it definately looks like it won't (can't) live up to its "expected" performance. HOWEVER, I still believe that it could be a capable 3d card, kind of like between a GF3 Ti and a GF4 somewhere, with bad driver support. As has been stated before, ever since Microsoft made the Direct X 8.1 specs standard, it's pretty easy for a well-financed graphics company to merely construct a card to fit the DX8.1 specs, and voila, a GF3/Radeon 8500 clone. So, I still think it will be a decent performer, however I'd definately wait until awhile after it's released before I'd take the plunge. Chances are it will have some issues with certain games that are never resolved. Heck, there are still some issues with ATI Radeon cards in Warcraft III .....

 

[Saist]

yah, Warcraft III refuses to work on my AIW 7500...

Asrial. If your looking for lowcost, also look into SiS's Xabre as well.

 

[Goi]

Well, if its just an temporary solution I don't see much problems. The SiS Xabre 400 cards are also another choice to consider. If you can get them for cheaper than you can get GF3 Ti200, ATI Radeon 8500LE or Radeon 9000 cards, then its probably your best choice. If the cards I mentioned are comparably priced, you're probably better off with them.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Time will only tell. I have a feeling that Trident is on to something here. Granted - there is a lot of hype, but that is nothing new in this business.

If SiS can produce a decent motherboard chipset, then anything is possible.

 

[John]

Here's a XP4 review

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Any word on this one?

 

[Moishe]

Anyone have a comment on the Xabre driver support? It's one thing to have a good card for cheap, but without stable drivers, the card is usually just plain worthless. After owning a perfectly stable voodoo5500 for these years, I don't know if I can handle a card that will crash on me.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Dunno about the Xabre. I am really intrigued by the XP4 for some reason I love competition.

 

[EdipisReks]

the Xabre drivers are alright (onece you adjust the registry to fix the low quality texture problem). the only problem i've found is that it really sucks for GTA3. runs other games fine, but not that one.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Any ideas on when this card may come out?

 

[Haunter9X]

Yeah, so wasn't this card supposed to be out by now? Not that this is anything new for a graphics card to be delayed, but I haven't read anything after those previews that impressed people so much.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Anybody out there in the know as to the whereabouts of this card?

 

[merlocka]

Digit-life has it listed as "coming next month" in their current 3Digest. That generally means they have a card in house and are testing it. They generally don't test boards which aren't available commercially, so perhaps end of next month?

Then again, they had the SavageXP listed as "coming next month" for about three months and then they removed it from the list.

 

[spanky]

i think they need to change the company name. when i read this topic, i was thinking chewing gum.