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Video graphics innovator Number Nine was somewhat lost in the shuffle last year in the race towards sky-high frame rate performance dominated by nVidia and 3Dfx propelled products from companies like Diamond and Creative Labs.

1999 is proving to be a different cup of tea for the video card industry though (gotta reference English tea at least once an article, new rules from our Editor-in-Chief) as consumers across the globe have called for widespread improvements in not just raw performance, but also in the actual visual image representation that video cards provide.

After a long selection period, Number Nine has aligned with semiconductor manufacturer S3 and chosen the much written about S3 Savage 4 video chip as the foundation for their next line of video products. Named "SR9", the new series of Number Nine video cards will offer features that most video card designers still only have on the drawing board.

Sharky Extreme and Number Nine recently sat down and talked about the SR9's introduction, and also took a Beta-level board for a short spin on a Number Nine provided PC.