Diamond Multimedia's Monster 3D II

What are the M3D II's Specifications?

Bundled Games

On Satuday, January 31st, I found out which games are bundled with the 3D II. This thing is loaded. Check these out:

• Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II
• Shadows of the Empire: Battle of Hoth
• X-wing vs Tie Fighter: The Academy
• Heavy Gear (Full Version) - by Activision
• TombRaider II - Special Edition - by Eidos Interactive (3 levels of play)
• And the following demos: Final Fantasy, Daikatana, Joint Strike Fighter, and Flight Unlimited II by Eidos Interactive

  Physical Differences Between the M3D 2 and the CL 3D Blaster V2

  The Diamond Monster 3D II, and the Creative Labs 3D Blaster Voodoo2, are both absolutely 100% identical in the board layout. Very few of the components are different, and they are ALL in the very same locations.

  This is not to say that there are not other minor hidden "internal" differences between the two boards, but it is clear that neither manufacturer strayed too far from the 3Dfx reference board design.

  To see what I mean, check out these close-up pictures of both the Monster 3D II and the 3D Blaster.

  Benchmarks

  Test System Specs

  ASUS P2L97
  Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64 CT4380
  Intel Pentium II 333MHz CPU
  64MB 10ns, SDRAM
  Windows 98 Beta 3
  Quake 2 v3.13, GLQuake 1 v1.09

  If you would like to run these same benchmarks on your system, run Quake 2, and perform the following:

  Hit the ~ key,
  type "timedemo 1"
  type "demomap demo1.dm2" (or demo2.dm2)
  and then record the FPS rating that is given.

  For the "Massive1" demo, you can download it here. Read the included readme file for installation instructions.

  The first benchmarks are "tweaked" for each card used in the test. The autoexec.cfg file was kept the same for all three cards, and it is as follows: (also known as ultimate.cfg)

  • set cl_footsteps "0"
    set cl_gun "0"
    set cl_lights "0"
    set cl_predict "1"
    set cl_particles "0"
    set gl_dynamic "0"
    set gl_polyblend "0"
    set gl_picmip "1"
    set gl_playermip "1"
    set gl_keeptjunctions "0"
    set gl_flashblend "0"
    set gl_ext_swapinterval "1"
    set gl_swapinterval "0"
    set gl_ztrick "1"
    set in_initjoy "0"
    set in_mouse "1"
    set s_primary "0"
    set cd_nocd "1"

  Additionally, the Monster 3D V1 card was overclocked to "54", and there was no sound card present for these "tweaked" tests.

  

  Well, it looks as though the Diamond Monster 3D II is right on par with the Creative Labs 3D Blaster V2. Of course, it's not fair to judge a board's performance in every application based on one benchmark, but Quake 2 is usually a pretty good indicator of performance for a wide range of applications.

  

  The Monster 3D II seems to be slightly faster than the 3D Blaster in these 1024x768 SLI mode tests.

  Are Diamond's Drivers Really Faster?

  

  

  The FPS differences between the Monster 3D II and the Creative Labs 3D Blaster are just too small to be significant. I originally stated that there seemed to be a 0% to 1% difference, but as you can tell by the numbers, sometimes the M3D II was faster than the CL 3D Blaster, and sometimes the 3D Blaster was faster than the M3D II..

  User Interface

  When you install the software and drivers for the 3D Blaster, a desktop control interface is also installed in the "properties" window. Diamond added the "performance slider" to one of the menus, which lets you adjust the card's speed between 90MHz and 95MHz without having to manually edit the Windows registry. Below are screenshots of the various menu windows.

  

  

  Summary

  The most important thing that you should keep in mind is that Voodoo2 is very much in its infancy. One of the games that Diamond is including in their bundle, Heavy Gear, is the very first one to be specifically optimized to take advantage of Voodoo2. According to Ken Wirt, VP of Corporate Marketing at Diamond, the Voodoo2 optimized version of Heavy Gear will only be available through the M3D II's bundle, and not sold separately at any store.

  It is my belief that until there are more games developed that really begin to push Voodoo2's capabilities, it will be difficult to distinguish the differences between the various V2 cards that are out there. Right now, they are running at their lowest performance level. Once newer drivers are released that enable the dormant features of the Voodoo2 cards, we may begin to discern some differences between the cards, then again, maybe we won't. It may be true that no matter how much we analyze them, the fact of the matter may just be that aside from accessories such as bundles, "TV-Out", qualities of pass-through and SLI cables, etc., the Voodoo2 cards on the market today are virtually indestinguishable. Yet, at this point in time, I'm not ready to make that judgement.

  But I am definately ready to say that the Diamond Monster 3D II is a fantastic product! I did not run into any problems whatsoever. No lock-ups, at all. No heat problems, at all. No driver problems, at all. Of course, there are a number of games that will not work with Voodoo2 right now, but that's just a matter of waiting for some patches to be developed. If you own a Voodoo2 card and are thinking about returning it because you can't get it to work with some of your games, please keep in mind that the game developers are working hard to make the games work with Voodoo2, and will have patches out very soon (in fact, there are already patches out for the F/A-18 demo, and a couple of others).

  And what can I say about SLI? Well, 1024x768 is pretty cool. It beats the heck out of 640x480, that's for sure. However, although there is definately a difference in clarity between 1024x768 and 800x600, I'm not sure if the difference is worth another $299 for a 2nd card. It probably depends on the game, and on personal taste, but for Quake2, I could probably live with 800x600. I'd be happy to post some comments here from people who think that SLI mode in 1024x768 is the next best thing since 3Dfx was invented :).

  I have received tons of emails asking, "Should I return my Creative Labs 3D Blaster and wait for the Monster 3D II?" Well, there is definately no clear cut answer to that question, and there are not any flaws or bugs which could rule out either card. Some things to consider:

  • *Updated*: Diamond's pass through cable is thicker than the CL cable (better, worse? I don't know. On a 19" Hitachi SuperScan Elite 751 monitor at 1600x1200 and 75Hz, I don't notice any image quality degradation, subjectively, with either the Diamond or CL cables.),
  • Diamond is including a games bundle with their card (with a full Voodoo2 optimized version of Heavy Gear), but so is Creative Labs with their 8 MB version,
  • Diamond hasn't released their 12MB version yet (as of 3/10/98), but CL's 12 MB version is available now,
  • Diamond's card comes with a $50 rebate for current Monster 3D owners,
  • The boards themselves are virtually identical,
  • At this point, the drivers are virtually identical.

  So, it is pretty much up to you. As of now, I must say that you can't go wrong with either the Monster 3D II or the 3D Blaster Voodoo2.

  Scott Wainner
  Voodoo2.com

  Don't miss these other great reviews of the Monster 3D II!

  • Operation 3.D.F.X.'s Review
  • The Fast Graphics Site's Review
  • Gamecenter's Review

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  PAGINA TRATTA DAL SITO Voodoo2.com (02/05/1998)