Trident Blade 3D Preview

Image Quality Comparison

Here you have a single frame from 3DMark, split between the three chipsets compared here, and as you can tell, the image quality is almost indiscernible between the Blade 3D and the more expensive G200.  The i740 shares the Blade 3D's outstanding image quality, and it seems like Trident finally got their act together focusing on quality as well as price with this release.

The 2D image quality at higher resolutions and refresh rates (1280x1024 @ 75Hz+) of the Blade 3D is truly impressive, offering a higher image quality than most TNT video cards at these resolutions/refresh rates.  While the Blade 3D still does not come close to the incredible 2D image quality Matrox and Number 9 have been able to bring to the market, the Blade 3D's clear and well filtered 2D output, courtesy of the Blade 3D's integrated RAMDAC and high quality filters between the Blade 3D core and the VGA output. 

Conclusion

With the price of cards based on Intel's i740 going for around $40, the Blade 3D becomes a viable option only when priced at a reasonable level.   As a consumer, if you can't find the Blade 3D for a price lower than $70 then it is definitely not worth the buy as most Banshee cards can be bought for around that price after rebate.  The Blade 3D is a promising product from Trident, truly the first in the history of the company.  The Blade 3D's combination of outstanding image quality, decent performance, and hopefully, a low cost (the Blade 3D core will be available for $17 in lots of 10,000) combine to make the Blade 3D an excellent addition to a low-cost system.  It's not a Voodoo3, and it's not going to provide you with hundreds of frames per second under the latest games, however what the Trident Blade 3D happens to be, is best put by citing Trident's own philosophy, providing "Digital Media for the Masses."