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Originally published at Internet.com
Background
S3 has been a dominant force in OEM graphics for years now. When 3D accelerators hit the market, the buzz was no longer about S3 products, but focused on chips from 3dfx and NVIDIA. In 1998, S3 made an aggressive move into the video accelerator market with their Savage 3D. The chip was good enough to see action in low cost systems but wasn't able to compete with the day's fastest chips for high end consumer PCs.
With the release of the Savage 4 chips with a great price/ performance ratio, S3 once again became a strong competitor for OEMs. In 1999, S3 purchased Diamond Multimedia, which used the earlier Savage chips in the low cost Stealth series of video cards. Diamond's Viper line of video cards, previously built around NVIDIA's RIVA chips, needed to be updated for the Christmas '99 shopping season. This was accomplished primarily by decreasing the shipping core speed 37 percent. S3's Savage 2000 chip was readied for launch after its specs were subdued, and the Viper II was born. Viper II specifications S3 Savage2000 controller 128-bit 2D, 3D and video TV-Output (S-Video & Composite) AGP 4X/2X/1X support 32MB SDRAM 350MHz RAMDAC Integrated Hardware Accelerated DVD Playback Integrated Hardware Texture Compression (S3TC) S3TL Transformation & Lighting Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000 Direct3D, DirectDraw and DirectShow OpenGL ICD for Windows 9x S3TC, what's the deal?
S3TC is the secret behind Savage 2000's ability to render scenes faster and with higher quality visuals. It's S3's own texture compression algorithm, which has been included in Microsoft's DirectX since version 6. S3TC allows game developers to use larger textures without having to worry about swamping the AGP bus with texture transfers. S3 claims that it reduces the amount of data transferred by 4 to 6 times. This allows more textures to be transferred faster. The only real drawback associated with this compression is a slight degradation in visual accuracy. Most people will not notice, though, because it's necessary to look carefull to see it. Summary --------------------------------------------------------------------- Price: Street: $128 + Excellent 3D performancee Sharp DVD playback and TV out Low cost - Not the best software bundle Overall The Viper II is a low cost/high performance video card that has exceptional 3D gaming capabilities, DVD playback, and TV-Out abilities. It is an unbeatable value today, yet the price performance uniqueness of the card will be pressured by newer and faster cards from NVIDIA and 3dfx pushing down the prices of GeForce competitors. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Setup as tested: Celeron 366 @ 506MHz (92 x 5.5) Abit BP6 motherboard 384MB PC100 SDRAM Sony 5x DVD 20.4GB Maxtor ATA/66 7200rpm drive Diamond MX300 sound card Viper II, Creative Labs 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra 32MB, or ASUS V6600 Deluxe
Celeron 366 @ 506MHz (92 x 5.5) Abit BP6 motherboard 384MB PC100 SDRAM Sony 5x DVD 20.4GB Maxtor ATA/66 7200rpm drive Diamond MX300 sound card Viper II, Creative Labs 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra 32MB, or ASUS V6600 Deluxe
Overclocking
Originally slated to roll out with a 200MHz core, the Savage 2000 incarnation found in the Viper II is clocked at 125MHz. With the Savage 2000 utilizing the .18 micron process, one might expect the chip to run cool. Both of these factors would support the idea that the Savage 2000 has a lot of extra overclocking headroom. This was not the case however. Surprisingly, the Viper II locked up in Quake 3 at only 134MHz. 132MHz was the fastest stable speed attainable. These days that is not a lot for video cards. The memory fared much better, though. 167MHz was the top speed the memory could hit, up from the stock 145MHz. The bad news is that on average only a 7 percent gain in performance was attained with both the memory and core settings at their maximums.
The Viper II is a low cost board. To keep costs down, it appears that S3 left active cooling out of the production design. With active cooling, the sizzling Savage 2000 may be able to be overclocked for much better returns.
DVD playback
The DVD playback was excellent for the most part. S3 has championed hardware motion compensation for a long time and is now on the technology's third generation. Entrapment was the DVD of choice for the big test. Over the course of the movie, two hiccups were encountered. The strange thing was that CPU utilization on the Celeron 504MHz test system stayed around 40%, even during the stalls. When running at 366MHz the movie again was subject to a pair of stalls. CPU utilization stayed just under 50 percent though, which is still not high enough to be causing the problems. Most likely, the cause was the bundled SoftDVD program. The SoftDVD program is not as refined as other software DVD players, for example ATI's DVD player, bundled with the ATI Rage Fury MAXX. On the other hand, the Rage Fury MAXX does not offer TV out, which is very useful for watching movies. The title of best DVD playback still lies in the hands of ATI, but S3 is breathing down its neck. Both options have better playback than today's GeForce boards and older graphics chips.
Drivers and bundled software
The driver situation is much better now than at the initial release of the board. S3 has taken much flack over the past months because it has een so slow getting the drivers up to par. Early on, many users xperienced compatibility problems and not all of the Savage 2000's eatures were utilized. S3 now has excellent drivers that did not cause the card to crash during intense testing. InControl 99 is a nice suite of tools for fine tuning the Viper II for each application. Also included is a special S3TC level for Quake 3. Finally, rounding out the software bundle is a full version of Trick Style. The game is definitely not for everyone but it may provide entertainment on a rainy day.
Performance
The test configuration was as follows: * Celeron 366 @ 506MHz (92 x 5.5) * Abit BP6 motherboard * 384MB PC100 SDRAM * Sony 5x DVD drive * 20.4GB Maxtor ATA/66 7200rpm hard drive * Diamond MX300 Sound Card * Linksys 10/100 NIC * One of the following: * Viper II * Creative Labs 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra 32MB * ASUSV6600 Deluxe 
The Quake 3 Timedemo is the new de facto standard in OpenGL gaming performance and provides a glimpse into how video cards will perform with games released in the coming months. S3's S3TC is a strong factor in the Viper II's performance, as evidenced by the card taking top honors in the Quake 3 tests. The Geforce was the closest competitor, followed by ATI, with the TNT2 Ultra lagging behind. 
Expendable is a taxing D3D game that is an excellent benchmark for video cards' real world D3D performance under heavy loads. As in the Quake 2 tests, the Viper II and GeForce 256 SDR stay close until the resolution is turned to 1600x1200. Unlike the Quake II tests, the GeForce SDR is never able to better the Viper II. The sleeping giant, ATI Rage Fury MAXX, was able to beat the Viper II in 1600x1200 mode. 
Quake 2 Timedemo1.dm2 was the standard for testing video games before Quake 3 emerged. Not all games out right now are up to the complexity of Quake 3, which makes Quake 2 an excellent way to judge a video card's abilities in last generation games. The Viper II shows that it is a viable upgrade path for all of those users with older TNT2 Ultra based cards by solidly beating the Creative Labs card in every discipline. Until the 1600x1200 mark, the Viper II and GeForce SDR cards swap first place finishes in every test. When the need for high quality 1600x1200 gaming arises, The Viper beats the GeForce SDR based ASUS V6600 Deluxe, yet falls short of the Rage Fury MAXX's high speed. Performance
The test configuration was as follows: * Celeron 366 @ 506MHz (92 x 5.5) * Abit BP6 motherboard * 384MB PC100 SDRAM * Sony 5x DVD drive * 20.4GB Maxtor ATA/66 7200rpm hard drive * Diamond MX300 Sound Card * Linksys 10/100 NIC * One of the following: * Viper II * Creative Labs 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra 32MB * ASUSV6600 Deluxe
The Quake 3 Timedemo is the new de facto standard in OpenGL gaming performance and provides a glimpse into how video cards will perform with games released in the coming months. S3's S3TC is a strong factor in the Viper II's performance, as evidenced by the card taking top honors in the Quake 3 tests. The Geforce was the closest competitor, followed by ATI, with the TNT2 Ultra lagging behind.
Expendable is a taxing D3D game that is an excellent benchmark for video cards' real world D3D performance under heavy loads. As in the Quake 2 tests, the Viper II and GeForce 256 SDR stay close until the resolution is turned to 1600x1200. Unlike the Quake II tests, the GeForce SDR is never able to better the Viper II. The sleeping giant, ATI Rage Fury MAXX, was able to beat the Viper II in 1600x1200 mode.
Quake 2 Timmedemo1.dm2 was the standard for testing video games before Quake 3 emerged. Not all games out right now are up to the complexity of Quake 3, which makes Quake 2 an excellent way to judge a video card's abilities in last generation games. The Viper II shows that it is a viable upgrade path for all of those users with older TNT2 Ultra based cards by solidly beating the Creative Labs card in every discipline. Until the 1600x1200 mark, the Viper II and GeForce SDR cards swap first place finishes in every test. When the need for high quality 1600x1200 gaming arises, The Viper beats the GeForce SDR based ASUS V6600 Deluxe, yet falls short of the Rage Fury MAXX's high speed.
What the Viper II means to home users and gamers
Home users doing simple word processing, spreadsheets, and Internet browsing will find the Viper II more than ample in terms of speed. Like all of today's current generation graphics boards, the Viper II packs a wallop in the 2D arena. Gamers enjoying racing titles such as Need For Speed or realtime strategy games, such as Starcraft or Command and Conquer Red Alert, will find gameplay to be smooth and flawless, even at higher resolutions. When the intended usage includes such intense applications as Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament, the card's limits begin to come into play. Cheaper than the competition, the Viper II enjoys the best performance ratio of all current top tier boards with respect to speed in first person shooters. A GeForce DDR will still be faster, but cannot compete with the Viper II in terms of price.
The Viper II is more than just a gaming card. The card's DVD playback is among the best video cards currently available. Many believe this feature is wasted on PCs because of limited screen area. S3 chose to include a TV out feature that augments the board's DVD capabilities by allowing owners to watch their favorite DVD titles on a larger television screen. Considering the price, users on a budget should seriously consider the Viper II because it offers so much performance at such a low price. What the Viper II means to business users
Business users will find the 2D performance to be all they need for running PowerPoint presentations and less demanding applications. The PowerPoint presentations can be displayed on large monitors via the TV out port on the card. The onboard T&L makes the Viper II a stronger candidate for low end 3D design. Again hitting on the low price point, the card is good for those companies looking to put top notch graphics cards in their new systems without spending top dollar. One major drawback with putting this board in corporate networked PCs is that employees will be more likely to test their hands at high end gaming with the power sitting on the desktops.
Conclusion
While other manufacturers have faster--albeit not by much--offerings, the Viper II wins hands down when it comes to price-performance ratios in either high end gaming or DVD playback. Unless you are set on breakneck speeds and have deep pockets, the Viper II is probably a best buy in the video card segment today. Users setting up home theatre and gaming systems whose purpose is to display content on a television screen will also love this card. Nobody with a budget has an excuse not to look at the Viper II these days.
Author: Pat Kennedy
Read article at Internet.com site