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With the 2D part in tact, the 3D performance was if anything a little disappointing if you're accustomed to a Voodoo2. Quite simply, Intel's first foray into the 3D chip scene was a solid entry but it just can't match 3Dfx's beast for sheer raw power and speed. Where the Intel740 does score over the Voodoo2 is in terms of image quality- for example the transparencies do look that bit more crisp. The AGP 2X implementation does give the Stealth II G460 512 million bytes per second of bandwidth in terms of bandwidth, which isn't too shabby either. But just don't expect Voodoo2 performance because the Intel740 architecture is limited to only 1.1million triangles per second. And on today's CPUs the figure is nearer half of that. Still in terms of Benchmarks, I'm afraid I couldn't test out the only one worth any note- Quake 2. The game won't run even as there's no full ICD as yet. So if you're looking to dabble with Quake 2 you'll be left wanting. Still the G II 640 does indeed run the likes of Incoming and Forsaken (71.4 frames per second on a Pentium II 266MHz) pretty well and at an acceptable level.
I guess for the asking price of $99 with a $30 rebate Diamond aren't exactly asking for a the world for a basic 2D/3D accelerator, which is capable of MPEG-1 playback and will be compatible with Diamond's own DTV 200 TV tuner and video capture upgrade. Other software includes the full version of Incoming Freemont, WorldVIew Professional and MGIs Photo Suite. SO in sum it's not a top product by any means but the Stealth II G460 will just about make do for first-time 3D gamers with high end systems if nothing else. Basically Diamond can do and do indeed better. They will also do better in the near future. So it doesn't exactly inspire me to recommend the card. Although it beams more quality than any of the Taiwanese and other cheaper alternative Intel740 cards, it's still just an Intel740 at the end of the day.
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