Diamond Viper II - Did Diamond finally get the bugs out?

[Mac]

Have seen some really hot deals on this card (at least to me), under $80 delivered (after $20 rebate from Diamond). Recall reading how this card was always promising but had a whole lot of problems when it first came out due to poor drivers. Did Diamond finally get the drivers stable? Is it good for openGL and D3D games?

I like to play Q3, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Rogue Spear..among others.

I am putting together a second system and don't want to put a whole lot of money into the video card. Don't care for 3dfx cards at all. Primary machine has a GeForce 2 card. Know about the new Geforce 2 MX cards but if seems like cheapest card is around $115 for a noname generic card. If the Diamond Viper II is now ready for prime time...hey the price seems right.

Would welcome knowledgeable opinions from users who have "hands-on" with this card.

Thanks...Mac "Watching the frames go by"

 

[Citadel]

We have them at work and they are not very good. The OpenGL and D3D is weak.

 

[NFS4]

I wouldn't touch it for $50

 

[ViRGE]

Let me put the Viper II's condidtion this way: S3 has said that they've given up on making the T&L work, since it's

<< impossible to correct the flaws of the hardware >>

.

 

[loogie]

well, diamond is out of the video card business. So...

 

[IcecreamLtDan]

Don't bother. Finally gave up on mine and bought a Hercules GF2 mx and couldn't be happier

 

[Pocatello]

Do not buy the Viper II, S3 and Diamond has given up on it. You should too.

 

[troubledshooter]

ROFL

<< impossible to correct the flaws of the hardware >>

That sounds like a MS answer!

 

[ViRGE]

Eh, they just don't want to admit that thier engineers couldn't build a decent T&amp;L unit.

 

[andylawcc]

diamond rebates literally takes 8 months, I would pay 30 bucks more for a GF2 MX.

 

[Mac]

Whew...

This card must be a sorry lemon. Not one single poor soul was willing to defend it.

Thank your for the candid, though disappointing, info.

Mac

 

[sandorski]

Well, I'll kinda defend it. I like my Viper2, for it's an improvement over my Voodoo2, but I will never recommend it. It performs quite well in UT and OpenGL games and D3D is adequate. It's picture quality is generally very good and colours are vibrant as well as lighting in games(again compared to my Voodoo2 and a Voodoo3 that my bro has). The biggest flaw with the Viper2, IMO, is not speed it's texture corruption. In some games like Shogo and Half Life, the corruption is minor and doesn't bother me. In other games such as NFS PU and Sports Car GT the cars are corrupted which does bother me.

This is about as close to an endorsement you'll find from a user, I'll be replacing it in the spring!

 

[Varborta]

Ouch, the VIPER II can now be purchased for $64 after rebate now in Onivia.com

But, after all the trash talk and dissappointment and seen how nvidia fly way up
there as far as support and driver tweak and good words praise I am canceling my
order now. sigh...

 

[OS]

If you want a budget card, may I suggest a voodoo 3. I hear they can be routinely acquired for 50 dollars or so now. There won't be anymore driver updates for the viper 2.

 

[Monza]

I like my Z200 and it's sad that s3 and diamond has left making graficcards :-(

 

[bigd480]

I am sometimes annoyed by my Viper II because there's only one set of drivers I can find that works with WinME and it gives me weird desktop corruption occassoinally...

HOWEVER

I run UT (the main game I play) at 1024x768 @ 32-bit using S3TC textures and you will NEVER see that game look that good or run at 60fps+ on a card that cheap... If you've only seen this game on a Geforce2 or something you're really missing out...

Granted I only get like 4200 3DMarks at 10x7x16, but I don't play 3DMark Tournament...

 

[pen^2]

i had my friend upgrade his voodoo3 3k to viperII z200 and he seemed quite content. the image quality was way better, most games ran fine UT and Q3 being excellent. the S3TC compressed maps were awe-inspiring too. the best part was he ended up paying $20 for the card after the VA discounts/rebate and that was a while back

 

[bolomite]

I shall defend this card against all naysayers! It is an excellent card... well not really, but I paid $100 for mine early this year, and I'm trying to ease my pain.
UT does indeed look good, as does Nocturne and Quake 3. And the card is moderately overclockable. I visit the s3 planet site every few weeks, hoping that a miracle will occur, and that new drivers will magically be available for this damn card. But, I guess T&amp;L stands for 'tough luck'.

 

[Shifter25]

But say u were building a new system. Which one would you pick? Viper II, Voodoo3 3000, or TNT2 M64 bersion?

 

[oldfart]

Bigd408, you can now use S3TC in UT on GeForce and Radeon cards. It looks exactly the same. Take a look.

 

[bigd480]

True, but ViperII has hardware support for it, not software, so in this case, (and probably the only case) he Viper is less buggy in its usage

Not to mention the fact that the card costs 1/2-1/3 the price for about the same frame rates

I'm not trying to defend this card, I hate s3/diamond for selling out on it, but for what it is I think it's a good performer...

But, I'm looking for a replacement for my viperII, so if anyone has a DDR Radeon for $100 LMK