As 1998 comes to an end, it's time for manufacturers around the world to rush to meet that holiday deadline for product releases.  With everyone looking to buy gifts either for themselves or the hardware junkies in their family, holiday shopping can be a huge burden with the incredible number of tempting deals and offers available in the market.  One of the most confusing decisions will, naturally, be choosing the right video card for your needs.

From a gaming perspective, choosing the right video card for your needs doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.   Unfortunately, with the driving force behind a large portion of the PC hardware industry being games, often times you'll be put in the position that the best video card option for you is nothing more than a gamer's dream used in a corporate environment.  

Why should someone interested entirely in professional applications of a video accelerator be concerned with how many frames per second their video card can get under Half-Life or Quake 2?  Simply put, they shouldn't.  Even Matrox Graphics, a company once thought to be primarily a high-end professional 2D solution provider, has gone the route of the market and sacrificed that portion of the market in favor of the ability to play the latest 3D games.  Is there a company out there that still focuses on what the professional market wants?  Or has the hype surrounding the 3D-revolution truly engulfed the industry as a whole?

Matrox's arch rival, Number Nine, famous for their success in the early 90's with the Imagine 128 series of video accelerators has proven to the world once again that they know how to do 2D right with their latest concoction, the Number Nine Ticket to Ride IV chipset which can be found on the new #9 Revolution IV. 

While Matrox set out to produce the most balanced 2D/3D combo card in terms of quality, their counterpart, #9, refused to give up an ounce of 2D quality or speed in favor of 3D performance.  At the same time, #9 had to make sure that they didn't completely ignore the demands and needs of an increasingly 3D dependent world with the Revolution IV while refraining from walking down the gaming dominated path of their competitors.  The result?  A ticket to an unforgettable ride, let's take a look at those specs.

Processor Number Nine "Ticket to Ride(tm)IV"			Memory Configuration 16MB SDRAM 32 MB SDRAM
Horizontal Sync Signals 31.5 - 121 KHz	Vertical Refresh 60 - 150 Hz	DAC 250 MHz	Video Output Signal Analog
Bus Architecture AGP 2X		Video Connector Standard 15-pin D-shell DDC Compatible
Monitors Supported Standard and Multi-Frequency Analog Monitors		Drivers Supported Microsoft Windows 95 and 98, Direct 3D, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, OpenGL (for NT only), 3D Studio MAX
Approvals FCC Class B Certified, CISPR22, TUV, CE Mark, WHQL

Resolution, Color, and Refresh Rate Support

Maximum Supported 2D Resolutions

1920 x 1080 / 16.8 Million (32-bits) up to 83 Hz

1920 x 1080 / 65K (16-bits) up to 83 Hz

Maximum Supported 3D Resolutions

1920 x 1080 / 65K (16-bits)

1280 x 1024 / 16.8 Million (32-bits)

1600 x 1200 / 16.8 Million (32-bits) -- 32MB configuration only

KEY FEATURES
High Performance 128-bit Visual Processor for 3D, 2D, and Video Desktop Applications Number Nine's exclusive 128-bit Widebus technology 2X AGP and PCI 2.1 compliant Tightly coupled 128-bit 3D/Video and 2D Engine Full 430 MFLOPs Floating Point 3D Rendering Pipeline True Color/High Color 3D Rendering 32-bit Precision Z-buffer 24-bit Digital Data Output	Integrated 128-bit, 250MHz Pallete DAC Optimized SDRAM/SGRAM/WRAM Interface Memory Configuration up to 32MB 128-bit WRAM support(256-bit interleaved) Support for external DAC Shared Frame Buffer Support 3.3 Volt IO and core, 5 volt tolerant 388 Pin BGA Package

Have you ever had the feeling that you're being sold something you really don't need?  Whether it's a car salesmen trying to get you to buy a new car with an air-conditioned glove compartment, or a video card manufacturer trying to give you stellar Quake 2 performance when all you need is video card for your word processor, it does happen and we all go through it.

Since its release, nVidia's TNT chipset has become a little more than a 2D/3D card for gamers.  It seems as if the TNT is being crammed down everyone's throat, even if they have no intention of touching a frame of Quake 2 or even picking up the crowbar in Half-Life.  Now, the TNT is a fairly affordable graphics solution considering it is a 2D/3D combo card, and its success is good news for nVidia.  Being a successful chipset isn't a bad thing, where the TNT does get a bad reputation is when someone with a 21" monitor unravels the TNT's dark secret and tries to run their card at 1600 x 1200 x 32bpp under Windows.  Look around the newsgroups, ask TNT owners, or try it for yourself, the TNT as well as many other 2D/3D combo cards don't provide the best 2D image quality when it comes to driving large monitors (i.e. 21") at high resolutions.  The most common occurrence being that when viewing black text on a white background (or vise versa), the characters will begin to seem a bit fuzzy, and, especially after hours of staring at the screen, your eyes will begin to feel the wrath of a poorly constructed card. 

Keep in mind that this scenario only really affects those with larger monitors running at resolutions above 1024 x 768 (most likely above 1280 x 1024).  The assumption being made here by most manufacturers is that their customers won't use their products for professional purposes (i.e. intensive image editing, publishing, etc...) and as long as their 2D quality and performance is top notch at resolutions under 1280 x 1024 (which most users do tend to stay under, simply due to monitor sizes), they'll be perfectly fine.  This holds true in a great percentage of the cases, which is why you'll hear people saying that the 2D image quality on the TNT or on the Savage3D is "top-notch" or "beautiful."  However, when you happen to push your TNT card to the limits at 1600 x 1200, or when you give the Savage3D a run for its money at the same resolution, and you see some "fuzzy" text, it's quite difficult to believe that just about every single TNT/Savage3D owner out there could be wrong in saying that the 2D image quality is astounding...but in your case, they are. 

The reason behind this is simple, in order to cut costs, the amount of filters placed between the analog VGA output on your video card and the RAMDAC are cut down to the bare minimum.  This sacrifice is made simply because of the assumption made above.

Since most of these cards will be used for 3D games, and since there isn't a next-generation 2D/3D combo card out there capable of running any 3D game at 1600 x 1200 in a high performing fashion, most manufacturers figure that it's better to keep costs low and satisfy a greater percentage of the population than increase the costs to satisfy a smaller percentage.  That is the unfortunate truth, however if you're a gamer, using a 15" or maybe even a 17" monitor, chances are that you'd rather pay $130 for a card that suits your needs instead of paying $160 for a card that suits your needs as well as your neighbor with a 21" monitor.  At the same time, if you put yourself in the shoes of your neighbor with the 21" monitor, chances are that your neighbor would rather pay $160 for a card that does everything they need it to do rather than pay $130 for a card of noticeably lesser quality.

It all depends on your perspective as a consumer, and instead of allowing users to have two options (a professional and a home use version) most manufacturers will go after the "one-size fits all" market and hope to succeed.  Matrox attempted to more clearly define the line between professional/corporate markets and the home/gaming arenas with their Millennium/Mystique G200's, however as many professionals will tell you, sometimes they want a little more.  Here's where Number 9 comes in with the Revolution IV.

By leaving the hardcore gaming population out of their target market, #9 eliminated many areas for screw-ups with their card.  Often times you'll see a 2D/3D card which is, by itself, a strong performer, but against the competition, a poor choice due to the competition's ability to cater to the needs of the gamer alone.  A perfect example of this would be the manhunt for the elusive Voodoo2 killer which took place earlier this year.  It seemed as if every upcoming or newly released graphics chipset was going to fail completely if it couldn't compete with the amazing 3D performance of 3Dfx's Voodoo2 chipset, and because of that comparison many manufacturers were greatly weakened simply due to the fact that they attempted to focus on too broad of an audience.  By avoiding making that mistake, #9 could more completely concentrate on their specific market, professionals and corporations.

The installation of the Revolution IV was a breeze.  The 32MB AGP version AnandTech received for evaluation installed in AnandTech's standard professional workstation without a single problem.   The test system consisted of a Pentium II 333, an average speed processor for a workstation, an ABIT BH6 motherboard, 64MB of PC100 SDRAM, an Ethernet card, a Western Digital Caviar 5.1GB UltraDMA HDD, and a CD-ROM drive. 

Under Windows 98, the installation procedure consisted of nothing more than popping in the #9 Revolution IV installation CD and pointing Windows in the direction of the display drivers.  The same ease of operation/installation was present under Windows NT 4, using the drivers which are also located on the same CD.  For compatibility testing, the Revolution IV drivers were installed over a previous set of Matrox drivers to simulate an average install, and unlike most other video accelerators AnandTech has tested, the drivers installed without so much as a hiccup from the system. 

Included with the installation CD-ROM is #9's own set of desktop graphics utilities that help take advantage of the Revolution IV's capabilities.  Instead of placing 10 new tabs into your display properties control panel, the installation utility creates a new HawkEye IV control panel which happens to be the name of #9's patented utility. 

Using the HawkEye utility you can configure virtually every facet of the Revolution IV's setup, including features such as color temperature, virtual desktop area and configuration, hotkeys, display properties shortcuts, cursor size and color, and much more.  This is all in addition to the standard configuration options like color depth, resolution, and refresh rates. 

Quality Specifications

Speaking of refresh rates, the refresh rates supported by the Revolution IV and driven by the 250MHz RAMDAC are truly amazing.  At 1280 x 1024 you can achieve a 107Hz refresh rate at 32-bit color, and at 1600 x 1200, the 92Hz refresh rate isn't too shabby at all.  Even at 1920 x 1200, the 77Hz refresh rate should be easy viewing for most users blessed with a monitor large enough for that resolution. 

While the card itself doesn't ship with a Windows 9x OpenGL ICD, under NT you are able to take advantage of the card's OpenGL acceleration.  The main focus of the Revolution IV, once again, isn't gaming, so don't expect to break the 40 fps barrier in Quake 2 or anything, but keep in mind that just because the card isn't a gamer's solution doesn't mean that it can't be used for professional 3D rendering/applications.  The Revolution IV couples outstanding 3D image quality with OpenGL support that'll be useful for all 3D CAD and other 3D modeling applications from a professional perspective, but as a gamer, the Revolution IV isn't a desirable card. 

According to #9, the Revolution IV supports Microsoft's forthcoming 4D specification for use with GDI-2K (3D navigable Windows), while you won't see GDI-2K debut until late in 2000 it is an interesting feature to support this early. 

While the card AnandTech tested was an AGP 2X version equipped with 32MB of SDRAM, the card specifications support for 32MB of WRAM with an interleaved 256-bit memory interface as opposed to the 128-bit WideBus memory bus standard on the card.

Performance

The 333MHz Pentium II system AnandTech used to simulate a professional workstation was used in conjunction with Ziff Davis' Graphics Winbench 99 to illustrate the performance differences between the Revolution IV and its biggest competitors from Matrox.  3D Gaming performance was left out of the comparison due to the nature of the card itself, however the Revolution IV's Direct3D performance is comparable to that of the Matrox MGA-G200, producing frame rates within 5% of the G200 as seen in the AnandTech Mystique G200 Review.

There is a huge gap between the performance of the old Millennium II and the newer accelerators, however the G200's strong performance in 32-bit true color gives the Revolution IV a good run for the money.  If you're not going to be using your system for image editing or things of that sort, then you're probably better off with the G200 so long as the price is below that of the Revolution IV, in which case, it comes down to whether or not you're going to be using your system for games.  The performance hit going from 16-bit to 32-bit color is insignificant with the Revolution IV, and even more insignificant is the performance decrease from 1024 x 768 to 1600 x 1024, a unique SuperWide resolution supported by the Revolution IV...why would a card support such an odd resolution?   Well...

A Supplementary Addition

The Revolution IV boasts a unique feature that it can hold over the competition, it's 24-bit RGB Digital Data Output, which can be coupled with SGI's newly released Digital Flat Panel LCD for a true one-two punch.  SGI's 1600SW monitor has no true competition for it's price range ($2795 w/ the Revolution IV).  In comparison to AnandTech's Viewsonic ViewPanel analog LCD the 17.3" diagonal 1600SW's picture quality is virtually comparable to that of my own 21" Panasonic PanaSync E21.  Just 20 minutes with the 1600SW made me want to kick myself for spending $1300 on a 21" CRT.  The 1600SW supports the highest dot pitch at its native resolution, 110 dpi @ 1600 x 1024, of any monitor in its class as well as one of the highest pixel response rates of an LCD monitor.

The monitor itself, as you can tell by the 1600 x 1024 native resolution, has a very wide display with a 16:10 aspect ratio.  The display allows you to display two full pages side by side without having to scroll left to right at all.  As far as visibility goes and clarity at that high of a resolution, since it is a digital LCD it makes use of the 36-pin OpenLDI digital output on the Revolution IV (the monitor cannot be used with any other video card unfortunately) it's sharpness and clarity at 1600 x 1024 decreases the gap between itself and most conventional CRT monitors. 

The 1600SW allows for a user adjustable white balance which is configured in the HawkEye IV display utility mentioned previously, and all other controls for the monitor are made through the same software utility.  This unfortunately means that you need to have complete driver support for the monitor if you wish to make use of it, so all of your OS/2 and Linux users are most likely out of luck for now.  The monitor ships with the card as well as drivers for Windows 95/98, and Windows NT 4.0 so that will cover most bases, even if you plan on dual-booting between the two OSes. 

The 3" depth of the 17.3" screen (the approximate equivalent of a 19" CRT) is truly amazing and if you've ever used an LCD monitor, the 1600SW does redefine the standard with incredible quality and style.  To complete the package, this expensive little novelty does come equipped with a manual hydraulic jack to lower the monitor at equal intervals which can be removed for wall mounting purposes. 

The quality of the Revolution IV is only accented by the 1600SW monitor, and the card itself isn't dependent on it for its performance and outstanding image quality.  If you're looking to purchase a professional monitor with your next system, the added cost of the 1600SW truly does pay off as it is not only easy on your eyes, but saves much space on our increasingly cluttered desks.  The price for the monitor is quite high, however if you take into account that most 21" analog LCD's sell for around $4000+ and don't offer the same quality as this SGI all-digital solution, then the $2795 price tag (including the Revolution IV video card) isn't too bad at all.

If you happen to be a graphics artist or a publisher and happen to also like to play the occasional game or two on the weekends, you might be considering teaming up the Revolution IV with a Voodoo2 or some other 3D only graphics accelerator.  Unfortunately you can forget about using anything but the Revolution IV with this monitor, since it is a digital-only output device, the analog port on the Voodoo2 won't be able to output to it so you'll need a second monitor if you plan on running any games on your system at speeds greater than what the Revolution IV can offer. 

The Final Decision

Is the Revolution IV the right card for you?  If you're disgusted by the fact that you can barely read even the most sharp text at 1600 x 1200 on your new monitor, and if you're concerned greatly with competitive 2D performance and even more so, top-notch 2D image quality, the Revolution IV is the right card for you.  If you're a gamer, chances are that the Revolution IV isn't what you're looking for, however for professional use (including NT4 OpenGL applications) such as image editing, document publishing, and other such applications where quality is critical, the Revolution IV sets itself apart from the competition by a great distance. 

If you're looking for a stellar combination, add the cost of the SGI 1600SW monitor to the bundle and complete the package.  While the price of the monitor itself is still far away from equaling that of a similarly sized CRT monitor, you can expect the monitor to drop to below the $2000 sometime next year.

With or without the monitor, for a next-generation 2D/3D accelerator that isn't a gaming card, the Revolution IV does justice to the Number 9 name.  It is unfortunate that the card won't get as much publicity as it deserves simply due to the fact that the majority of the market looking for a new graphics accelerator will focus on gaming performance, one facet of the Revolution IV's existence that AnandTech simply can't vouch for.

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Number 9 Revolution IV Graphics Accelerator MSRP: $169 (16MB SDRAM), $219 (32MB SDRAM), $2795 (32MB SDRAM w/ 1600SW) Website: www.nine.com