Originally posted by Blitz_Lightning
Well, I don't quite think that the Sis Xabre 400 is quite up to scratch, if only for the drivers. Sure, it performs at the level of the GF4 MX 440 and GF3 TI 200, but it has incorrect MIP mapping, and low LOD, making textures quite blurry. I mean, the textures resemble Voodoo 1 and 64 * 64 textures! And this can't be adjusted at all! There is not 1 single changeable 3d setting. Also, it has low performance for pixel shading and EMBM. But then, they can probably fix up these driver problems sooner or later.
The pixel shader performance isn't that great, but it's better than the GF4 MX and its total lack of pixel shaders, and its lack of environment bump mapping. 3D settings can be adjusted in time - the software you're initially given to tweak the card is utterly horrible, when 3rd party software comes into fruition then the potential of adjusting settings will be apparent.
The card is new, so they're going to have a long period of refining and producing their cards, though with most major manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon support shouldn't be too hard to find. In the end I don't see that anything disastrous will happen, such as the first batch of GeForce3 cards being recalled due to design problems.
Work on the drivers still progresses, so things like LOD and environment mapping performance can be refined. As always with brand new products I wouldn't go out and buy them myself, that's what other geeks are for
On another note, it looks like we won't have to wait much longer for the Parhelia. According to Matrox, they will start shipping the card on 30th June at a cost of US$399, with 64MB and 256MB versions available soon after. Unfortunately a few people who have already had the chance to test the card have noted that it's more likely to be competition for the GF4 Ti4600, rather than being able to compete with future cards like the NV30.
