With all the hype that nVidia has kicked up around their Riva TNT chipset over the last few months I have to admit that I was quite skeptical a TNT board would compare to a Voodoo2 board in the least bit.  When I was told I would be receiving Canopus' new Spectra 2500 TNT card, I had no idea what was in store for me.  Canopus has always been known for taking their products a step further than the reference board design by adding in some great functionality.  The Spectra 2500 is no exception to that rule.

While many of my colleagues have chosen to use their reviews of the Spectra 2500 as a sounding board to address the Hype that nVidia has surrounded their TNT chipset with, this is a review of a Video card.  What the card will do for you and how it performs is far more important to me than how nVidia fell short of their initial claims.  The fact that the TNT fell short of it's initial hype is not the fault of Canopus so that will be all said about the subject.

Features
The Spectra 2500 is based on the nVidia Riva TNT TwiN Texel Processor 128-bit graphics chip. It features 16MB of high-speed SDRAM, 250MHz RAMDAC, TV Out, and Canopus' WitchDoctor technology which provides internal pass-through features for Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 owners.

Fan Cooled:
Keeping up with the tradition of the Pure 3D II, the Spectra 2500 comes with a metal heatsink and fan to keep the chipset cool.  The TNT chipset gets very hot under normal circumstances so the added fan will help keep the card running cool.  Tennmax, makers of the Stealth V2 cooler, has contacted me stating that they have an even better cooling system soon so I should have a review of that soon as well.

WitchDoctor:
Canopus' exclusive WitchDoctor technology allows owners of Voodoo and Voodoo2 boards to take advantage of an internal pass-through while keeping the clarity of your high-resolution desktop image.  Typical voodoo configurations pass the 2D card through the 3Dfx card via a passthrough cable to get to the monitor which slightly degrades the visual quality of higher resolution desktops.  With the WitchDoctor feature, the 3Dfx cards out put is passed back to the Spectra 2500 via a reverse pass-through cable.  This configuration doesn't degrade the video quality of your desktop video and also allows you to take advantage of the TV-Output capabilities of the Spectra 2500 with your current 3Dfx card.  Pure 3D II and Pure 3D II LX users can also take advantage of an internal pass-through cable eliminating the need for the extra external cable.

TV-Output:
A feature that has almost become a trademark to the Canopus name is their great TV-Output capability.  Whether you are displaying a business PowerPoint presentation or playing Quake™ on the big-screen TV, Canopus has you covered.  The TV-Output supports resolutions of 640x480, 800x600, and 920x690 while simultaneously displaying on both the TV and your Monitor.  You can also boot windows directly to the TV without a monitor attached.

Optional Video-In:
The Spectra VideoPORT 600, which will be available in October and will retail for $99, will add video capture, conferencing, and still image capture to the Spectra 2500 adding to it's versatility.   The VideoPORT 600 will install into a 5.25" drive bay putting the composite and s-video connectors conveniently on the front of your computer for easy access.   The VideoPORT 600 was not available for testing at the time of this writing.

Installation
The Spectra 2500 installation was quite effortless and well documented.   The included manual includes scenarios for users installing the card as standalone, with a Pure 3D II/Pure 3D II LX, or a Voodoo/Voodoo2 card from another manufacturer.  The driver CD contains drivers for Win9X, WinNT, the latest DirectX, and Canopus' Utilities such as Quick Control, Screen Control, and Application Launcher.

The card itself comes with every cable you should ever need.  Included are an internal pass-through cable for the Pure 3D II, a pass-through cable for a non-Canopus 3Dfx Card, an S-Video cable to connect your TV-Output as well as a Composite video cable, and a Sound Cable to hook your sound card to your TV/VCR.

Testing
While testing the Spectra 2500 I posted the preliminary results to give the world a taste of what was to be expected.  Several readers faithful to the Voodoo2 chipset wrote in to exclaim their disbelief's and opinions.  To those I thank you, but here you will simply find the facts just as I did.  Don't get me wrong I love my Voodoo2 as much as any of you.

The first thing to remember about the tests performed here is the fact that the drivers for the Spectra are still in development.  That means that the results of my benchmarks can and probably will vary over the next month.  I highly doubt the changes will be drastic but time will only tell.

Compatibility:
The Spectra 2500 supports both the Direct3D and OpenGL API's.  This means that unless your game title absolutely requires a 3Dfx card, the Spectra 2500 can handle it and in some cases performs better as you will read in the following sections.

OpenGL Performance:
For OpenGL testing I used the ever popular Quake 2 timedemo to and compared the results to the Riva 128 and Vooodoo2 Results.  When I had tested the Riva 128 I had neglected to test the 1024x768 but you will still be able to see the progress in OpenGL performance from the Riva 128 to the TNT.  As you can see the TNT doesn't really compete with the Voodoo2 and Quake and Quake II players will want to stick with playing on their 3Dfx board.  I would assume this is partly due to the fact that Quake and Quake 2 are using a GL minidriver that is tweaked specifically for the 3Dfx chipset for id Software.

While the performance of the Spectra 2500 doesn't come close to that of the Voodoo2 the visuals however are close if not better.  The Picture to the right is a split between Voodoo2 on the left and Spectra 2500 on the right.  Click on the image to display the 800x600 version of the image so you can compare the image quality for your self.  The gamma in the two images is off slightly so that you can tell the difference a bit easier.

I couldn't get unreal to run using the beta OpenGL driver although several others were able to without any problem.  The performance of Unreal using OpenGL should be less of an issue when the D3D drivers are available though.

Direct3D Performance:
Unlike OpenGL, the Direct3D tests I ran showed to be faster than that of the Voodoo2.  This is probably due to the TNT's TwiN Texel Processor.  I used the Forsaken Mark to test the Direct3D performance and was utterly shocked at the results.  As you can see from the results the Spectra 2500 does a better job with Direct3D than even the Voodoo2 and the ability to play your Direct3D games using 32 bit color makes the visual quality more appealing.

Ok so the Spectra kicks butt in Direct3D but how does it look?  The following are some sample sceenshots of the Spectra 2500 in action in full 32bit color.  Keep in mind that these are compressed JPEG's so there is a little degradation of the media.

Click here for more Screenshots

Problems:
Of all the D3D games tested with the Spectra, the only title that gave me any trouble was RedStorm's Rainbow 6.  In Rainbow 6 the mouse left trials along the screen whenever you moved the mouse to the left.  This was only an annoyance though as the game worked fine in every respect.  I am sure this is due to the fact that the drivers are so young and should be cleared up with the final drivers.

In Wing Commander: Secret Ops I noticed that the lens flares were divided by 4 with a thin black line which I would imagine also has something to do with the drivers.

Bundle
Canopus has chosen once again to not include a software bundle with the Spectra 2500.  Whether this is good or bad remains a personal taste.  I don't know what to do with all my copies of Jedi Knight and Incoming which seems like it was included with every piece of hardware sold this year.

Canopus has included their signature utilities that add quite a bit of functionality to their products.  Screen Control is a utility that sits on the task tray and allows you to instantly change resolution and refresh rates.  Quick Control allows you to set 'Hot Keys' to adjust settings such as gamma and TV setting without leaving your application to open the control panel.  Total Cinema EX is an MPEG/AVI/Video CD player.

Application Launcher is by far one of the most handy applications included with any card.  Application Launcher is allows you to preset shortcuts to launch all of your favorite games with their gamma, resolution, refresh rate, etc.

Conclusion
The Spectra 2500 certainly lives up to the Canopus name and makes a great addition to any PC regardless of configuration.  Should you get rid of your Voodoo2 card for it?  Not by any means.  The point here is that if you already have a Voodoo2 card the Spectra 2500 makes a great companion for it and they will get along great together.  Fortunately you can disable Direct3D support on your Voodoo2 and use the TNT instead.  This gives you the best of both worlds with Glide and Quake/Quake II OpenGL being handled by your V2 while the Spectra can pick up the Direct3D.

If you haven't made the move to Voodoo2 yet, you might want to look at how many glide titles you have as opposed to D3D titles.  If you are a Quake player you are going to want the fast  fps that Voodoo2 will give you.  At any rate you need to have a good 2D card in your system and the Spectra 2500 certainly fits the bill.

The Spectra 2500 has a list price of $199 with no software bundle and a 3 year limited warranty.  Though some may say that's a bit pricey when you consider what you get, great D3D performance, WitchDoctor reverse pass-through, TV-Output, and Canopus Quality, I think the Spectra 2500 is a great value and if you are considering a new video card this is one you should not miss.

You can get more information on the Canopus Spectra 2500 product page.

Review by: William Gall
Date: September 6, 1998

Thanks to Sarah Kavanagh, Jim Anderson, and Vince Martel, for the Spectra 2500 and all the help.