What the TNT does bring to the table is fairly impressive considering that in relative comparison, their last 2D/3D chipset was a total bomb in terms of overall quality. The TNT chipset supports 3D, Z-Buffered, resolutions of up to 1600 x 1200 and, like the Matrox G200, does support 32-bit rendering giving it a slight visual advantage over 3DFx's Voodoo2 chipset. The image quality on the TNT is vastly superior to that of the original Riva 128, but better yet, it is virtually on par with that of the Matrox G200. Telling a G200 screen shot from a TNT would require a considerable amount of thought and such a comparison would definitely be reserved for those with an eye for the smallest differences among images, for the rest of us, the TNT's image quality can be considered to be virtually on-par with that of the G200. So is the TNT a G200? Absolutely not, the similarities between the two chipsets ends here as the TNT shifts into high gear leaving Matrox's precious 2D/3D wonder in a cloud of dust.

The 128-bit graphics engine of the Riva TNT chipset is intended to be a direct competitor to the best of the best when it comes to 3D accelerators, bringing a 250 MHz RAMDAC for crisp 2D output keeps the TNT on top of 3DFx's Voodoo2 making the chipset a true high-end 2D/3D combination solution. Featuring dual internal texture pipelines, the TNT has been claimed to be able to process multi-textured objects in a single pass, picking up where 3Dfx left off, nVidia managed to accomplish this using a single chip instead of using the two separate TexelFx processors the Voodoo2 uses. The effectiveness of this approach is another question, however all numbers aside, on paper, the TNT took its time shaping itself to be a true winner.

All of this power is harnessed on a short reference board designed to fit into an AGP slot in order to take full advantage of the AGP 2X specification, transferring data on the sidebands of the AGP signal as well as during the peaks.

So what has Canopus managed to do with nVidia's over-hyped TNT chipset? Let's take a look and find out…



                             
                                    Canopus Spectra 2500 Specifications