3dfx Voodoo5 5500

Conclusion

In most cases, the Voodoo5 5500 and GeForce DDR are neck and neck, while the Voodoo4 4500 is having quite a bit of difficulty keeping up with a GeForce SDR or GeForce2 MX. At higher resolutions, we do see the Voodoo5's raw fillrate allow it to surpass the GeForce DDR. Of course the raw power of the GeForce 2 GTS keeps NVIDIA in the lead in the vast majority of the benchmarks. To add insult to injury, the GeForce 2 GTS is actually cheaper than the Voodoo5 5500 with a bit of looking. Along the same lines, the GeForce 2 MX beats out the Voodoo4 4500 in most benchmarks and is cheaper as well. The exception to all this is Unreal Tournament and games based on its engine, where 3dfx dominates the standings, even with the old Voodoo3.

FSAA is where the Voodoo5 5500 really shines - it's performance is close to that of the GeForce 2 GTS, but the image quality is noticeably better, at least in our opinion. Whether you need the FSAA effects or not is entirely up to the individual gamer to decide on. If the focus of your game play is first person shooters where high frame rate is critical and there's little time to notice eye candy, then you probably won't get any real benefit from the FSAA support of the Voodoo5. On the other hand, if you're really into racing games or flight simulators where frame rate is less critical and there's more time to take in the visuals, then FSAA definitely comes in very useful.

The argument that running a game at 1280 x 1024 or 1600 x 1200 looks just as good as 2 or 4 sample FSAA is not entirely true. While a game running at 800 x 600 with 2 sample FSAA may remove just as many jagged edges as running it at 1600 x 1200, there is a clear difference between running at 1600 x 1200 without FSAA enabled and at 800 x 600 with 4 sample FSAA enabled. It is really a subjective question but the difference is noticeable, whether it is worth the performance penalty is an entirely different question all together.

It basically comes down to this - if you want the fastest frame rates possible, go with the GeForce 2 GTS. For the best price / performance ratio, the current leader appears to be the GeForce 2 MX. Once again, the trump card that 3dfx currently holds is their higher quality FSAA implementation. Let's hope that is enough to allow the Voodoo5 5500 to carry them over until the release of the Voodoo5 6000 and/or their next generation product. That next generation product will be the key to 3dfx's future in the 3D accelerator market - they must have it out in time to compete with the NVIDIA NV20, rumored to be coming this fall, and it must match the NV20's performance.