Xabre "review"

[RussSchultz]

http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/video/ecsag400/

Well, a crappy card deserves a crappy review.

The only other noticeable piece is a large capacitor (possibly a MOSFET)

Please, don't talk geek unless you know the difference between a cap and a FET.

 

[Kristof]

Hey, I think their marketing kicks ass :

Jitter-Free Anti-Aliasing

Mind-boggling hyper-insane image performance and quality without worries on those dreaded "jaggies" without slowing your computer down. The "Jitter-Free" Anti-aliasing engine can support 1x, 2x and 4x blur, Oversamlping and jitter anti-aliasing to display the most eye-popping clear images available.

K~

 

[Ailuros]

Actually I had a good laugh reading it

 

[Neeyik]

How about some more classic cuts from the SiS Marketing Team....

3rd Generation T&L Engine

Supports up to 16 vertex cache and makes you feel like riding on the roller-coaster when highly texture packed application is used."

What? It throws you up and down until you vomit? What has the vertex cache got to do with games with lots of textures?!?

The "Jitter-Free" Anti-aliasing engine can support 1x, 2x and 4x blur, Oversamlping and jitter anti-aliasing

So does it jitter or not?!?! Is it jitter-FREE or jittered???

Quality review that, mind. 3 benchmarks - one D3D and two OGL ones. The reviewer claims to be totally stumped by the odd "pattern" in the results (in that the Xabre was faster in 3DMark but slower in the others) - what a bright chappie...

 

[Geeforcer]

LOL, "1x, 2x and 4x blur"... that explains a lot.

 

[Heathen]

Xabre

Got a xabre in my second machine, it was cheap and before I noticed the prices of the 9000, and all in all it ain't such a bad card. A simple registry tweak and you get decent IQ, but it does take a performance hit.

However seeing as the wife rarely plays anything more demanding than Sokoban, it's shortcomings rarely become an issue.

SIS' ads are amusing though.

 

[Deflection]

The spec list is to die for:

8X8 Full driving Power GPU
Pixelizeâ„¢ Engine
Frictionless Memory Controlâ„¢(FMC)
Jitter-Free Anti-Aliasing
Coloredeemerâ„¢ Technology
MotionFixingâ„¢ Video processor
The Xminatorâ„¢ XP Unified Driver
Double Sceneâ„¢ Technology

and my favorite:

CubicLookâ„¢ Utility

The CubicLook? utility support wired and wireless stereo glass, AGP driver detection and overclock function.

Overclock your 3D glas....err CubicLookâ„¢ Utility?

Too bad ATI and Nvidia those â„¢'s mean you can't ride the marketing wave!

 

[Simon F]

http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/video/ecsag400/

Well, a crappy card deserves a crappy review.

The only other noticeable piece is a large capacitor (possibly a MOSFET)

Please, don't talk geek unless you know the difference between a cap and a FET.

Well, there is a small capacitor in a MOSFET so maybe he was being ultra-geeky... or maybe not

 

[Kristof]

Re: Xabre

Got a xabre in my second machine, it was cheap and before I noticed the prices of the 9000, and all in all it ain't such a bad card. A simple registry tweak and you get decent IQ, but it does take a performance hit.

What registry tweak, is it to stop those nasty blurry look textures ?

K~

 

[Heathen]

Tweaks

Yar, that's de fellow(Set SIS.3D.TexTurboMode to Zero
). Still even with the tweak IQ isn't exactly amazing.

 

[BoddoZerg]

hmm... Maybe there is something to be said about Nvidia's skill. Only they can pull trademarked marketing terms out of their ass without looking silly, as SiS demonstrates.

 

[ben6]

hrm image quality on the Xabre400 : substandard

32bit color 32bit textures max settings= noticeable banding in the numbers for the health, ammo, weapon in Quake3 (same effect as if 16bit color was enabled)

Morrowind=Pixel shaders don't work properly

Comanche4= Pixel shaders don't work properly

Tiger Woods 2002= Pixel shaders don't work properly

Aquanox= Pixel Shaders work

What I mean by not working properly, is the game setup does NOT detect shaders on the Xabre400

3DMark2001SE build 330= Nature works, but Advanced Pixel Shader Test all objects are not rendered. White spaces for the boats, pier, no fish are present at all

 

[MuFu]

How about some more classic cuts from the SiS Marketing Team....

3rd Generation T&L Engine

Supports up to 16 vertex cache and makes you feel like riding on the roller-coaster when highly texture packed application is used."

What? It throws you up and down until you vomit? What has the vertex cache got to do with games with lots of textures?!?

The "Jitter-Free" Anti-aliasing engine can support 1x, 2x and 4x blur, Oversamlping and jitter anti-aliasing

So does it jitter or not?!?! Is it jitter-FREE or jittered???

I think that it means SiS don't charge you for the jittering.

MuFu.

 

[Clashman]

Re: Xabre

before I noticed the prices of the 9000,

Just thought people before people start jumping up and down for those 70 dollar 9000's that those are models made by a company called Atlantis and are operating at 250/200, so there performance likely won't be nearly as good as people are expecting. Not saying to get a Xabre, though. I'm personally still fairly happy with my SDR GF256, although I'll consider an XP4 IF the drivers and IQ are decent and it has MSAA.

 

[Tahir2]

Clashman we know the difference between a R9000 and a R9000 Pro

Still it is a DX 8.1 gfx card and the R9000 Pro is not much more expensive here in the UK at least.. me a bit shocked again .. pleasantly this time!

Just sold my Radeon 8500LE. Shall I wait for the Radeon 9700 to be released here in the UK or shall I get a Trident XP4 and spend the rest of the money on my family + dog like the dude from Trident was saying in that interview?

Hrm... tough decision..

 

[OpenGL guy]

The spec list is to die for:

I can explain these.

8X8 Full driving Power GPU

It's 4x as powerful as a 4x4 truck!

Pixelize(TM) Engine

That means no support for texture filtering.

Frictionless Memory Control(TM)(FMC)

Nice feature, just don't forget to change your oil every 15,000,000 pixels.

Jitter-Free Anti-Aliasing

It's earthquake resistant.

Coloredeemer(TM) Technology

Renders 3D graphics and is also a televangelist.

MotionFixing(TM) Video processor

Has a built in gyroscope to guarantee stability.

The Xminator(TM) XP Unified Driver

???

Double Scene(TM) Technology

It supports double buffering.

P.S. Sorry, I don't know how to make those TMs come out correctly.

 

[ben6]

ROFLMAO OpenGL guy. Say do you still work on OpenGL stuff for ATI??

 

[OpenGL guy]

Say do you still work on OpenGL stuff for ATI??

No, I'm purely D3D now. However, I can throw stuff at people in the OpenGL group if you want

 

[Saem]

No, I'm purely D3D now. However, I can throw stuff at people in the OpenGL group if you want

Does this mean you'll sit around bugging Hax?

 

[Ailuros]

Re: Xabre

Got a xabre in my second machine, it was cheap and before I noticed the prices of the 9000, and all in all it ain't such a bad card. A simple registry tweak and you get decent IQ, but it does take a performance hit.

What registry tweak, is it to stop those nasty blurry look textures ?

K~

http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/xabre400/

Should be all in there.

By the way here's how SiS sums it's marketing strategy for Xabre up:

For 500 years, demons tyrannized the world of human vision with omnipresent control. The demons competed among themselves, and the winner set the rules for domineering the world of human vision while human beings paid a high price for their enjoyment.

In the midst of all the chaos, the people began to pray for the arrival of the mysterious knight, whom legend had it would end the strife and rejuvenate the visual world.

And so it happened that a mysterious knight - Xabre - did appear at this time. He understood the people's suffering under the demons' tyranny. He knew what the people needed and secretly began breeding a magical steed that could race across the sky. During his quest, he also found three lost sacred stones - Pixelizer Engine, Software Shader and Frictionless Memory Control, each with wondrous powers.

With these treasures, Xabre entered the forest of visual fantasy bordering the land of the demons, where he discovered the 8X8 twin sword. The one-and-only twin sword in the world was stuck in a cold and hard rock so big that no ordinary human being could pull it out. Xabre knew that without this magical weapon he would not be able to defeat the demons. And so he gathered all the wisdom and power of the people and withdrew the sword from the rock.

Then, without hesitation, he went into the demons' land and defeated them one by one to create a new visual paradise for the people.

I don't know about their hardware, but they sure know how to tell fairy tales