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Viper V550: Drivers for Windows 9X v4.10.01.0255 incl. OpenGL
support & ICT v4.04.009, rel. 0299. Requires DirectX6 installed. The
installation starts automatically. Note W9XV5555.TXT!

The version number .009 indicates that these drivers are based on detonator.

Jo Lux of Lux3D has updated his 3D chipset comparsion-table with TNT-2 specs. The german magacine c´t speaks about TNT-2. According to this article, the TNT 2 will have a clock speed of 143 MHz and more and the memory clock will be higher. Bigger caches and re-worked pipelines will also lead to higher performance. (remember the january rumors here?)

Optimum PC: ASUS AGP-V3400 TNT
The High Performance PC Guide: STB Velocity 4400
Gamecenter: ASUS AGP-V3400 TNT
PC Techware: 8x TNT, nun im SuperSocket 7 System und V3400

'STB has investigated the rumors that we have had systems blow up while testing the Detonator driver. The alleged incident never occurred. We can not find anyone who claims to have made those statements. The card's BIOS controls the core and memory clocks. It is not a function of the driver. A driver could not change either clock speed. Unfortunately, STB was not contacted by the site that originally posted the information. If we had been, we could have corrected these misconceptions.

STB is currently testing the Detonator driver for qualification. Our preliminary testing shows no significant incompatibility issues. We have seen improvements in performance. However, we can not endorse the Detonator drivers until we complete our testing.

BB PR Manager STB Systems, Inc.'

Hercules released new Win9x drivers for the Hercules Dynamite TNT veröffentlicht: Hercules Dynamite TNT drivers

The new ELSA Erazor II are available on the ELSA ftp-server: ELSA Erazor II Treiber

There´s a diskussion about 3DNow! support in the current Detonator drivers at FullOn 3DNow! It seems that 3dNow! support is NOT implemented in the new drivers - so it´s also not in the new drivers by the cards manufacturers.
They got a statement from Nick Triantos of NVIDIA:

'I don't remember if any of the 3DNow optimizations made it into the current drivers. It's definitely a work-in-progress, and I'm still actively working on it. I'm expecting someone from AMD to help me out this week. Regards, -Nick '

A own test in 3Dnow! with the AMD Quake2 3DNow! patch v3.20 did not schow any increases compared to v0.48 based drivers. If that´s a lack of Detonator or if the AMD Quake2 patch must be modified is not all clear at the moment.
But if 3Dnow! is not in Detonator, then it´s the same with the new drivers by ELSA and Diamond!

I´ve finished the translation of the TNT vs. Banshee article!
Where is NVIDIA RIVA TNT compared ot the 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee? And what about Image quality?
I tested a ASUS V3200 Banshee and compared the card with a ASUS V3400 TNT. The test were made on a PII-450MHz system and a AMD K6-2 350MHz system.

RIVA Station Review: TNT vs. Banshee - Which one is sharper?

- Implementations for software DVD with ELSAmovie
- New WINman (ELSA Settings) integrated
- Optimizations for AMD's 3DNow! Technology
- Support for Intel's Pentium III Processor

The new Win9x Treiber v4.10.01.0301-0009 will be available this evening on the ELSA FTP-server. In the meantime you can download them directly from RIVA Station:

ELSA Erazor 2 Windows 9X drivers v0301-0009 (1,8MB)

There is an actual Bios v2.05.00 available for the SDRAM (OEM-only) version of the Erazor II. The actual Bios for the SGRAM version is still 2.03.00. The Bios flasher software detects the correct version of the card.

ELSA Erazor 2 Bios 2.05.00 SDRAM & 2.03.00 SGRAM (260KB)

I´ll update the links on the drivers page when the files are up on the ELSA-FTP server.

Where is NVIDIA RIVA TNT compared ot the 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee? And what about Image quality?
I tested a ASUS V3200 Banshee and compared the card with a ASUS V3400 TNT. The test were made on a PII-450MHz system and a AMD K6-2 350MHz system.

Currently I have only the german version finished
RIVA Station Review: TNT vs. Banshee - Which one bites better?

I hope I can finish the english translation in the next 1-2 days!

UPDATED: More results:
PCGR made some 3DMARK99 runs and compared the results with the standard Canopus Spectra drivers: Detonator results at PCGR

Detonator and PIII: FiringSquad made some Detonator Benchmarks on a Pnetium III and compared the results with a Pentium II running at 504MHz: Pentium III Detonator results

ActiveWindows: Incoming 16Bit/32Bit and QuakeII results: Detonator Review

Download NVIDIA RIVA TNT Detonator Reference drivers:

directly from USA from NVIDIA...and let my servers alive ;-)............Details etc. when the storm is finished.

Note! Previous installed drivers from your manufactorer should be removed with the System properties/software menu of Win9x! If you do not, you may get a drivers mix (that happens with ASUS Beta drivers installed for example)! If you can´t do this, you should install Standard VGA before you install the Detonator drivers.

NVIDIA’S RIVA TNT WINS TOP HARDWARE FOR ‘98

NVIDIA Extends Performance Leadership with "Detonator" Software

SANTA CLARA, CA – FEBRUARY 8, 1999 – NVIDIA™ Corporation announced today that the RIVA TNT™ 3D processor has earned the Special Achievement in Hardware award in PC Gamer’s Fifth Annual PC Gamer Awards. PC Gamer reported that "it was NVIDIA, with its phenomenal RIVA TNT technology, that stole the show in ’98." NVIDIA also announced the availability of its "Detonator" software. With the new software, NVIDIA delivers up to 30% performance gain in DirectX 6.0 and OpenGL applications and has added support for next-generation CPUs and operating systems. The Detonator software extends the performance leadership of the RIVA TNT, as the world’s fastest shipping graphics processor .

In the newly released March 1999 issue of PC Gamer, the RIVA TNT was named for a Special Achievement in Hardware. The article closed with "Top it off with the fact that the TNT can render images in true 32-bit color, multi-texture, and take full advantage of AGP 2X, and you have a 3D chip that stands alone as the best new hardware of 1998."

"NVIDIA’s RIVA products are the most decorated graphics technology in the history of this industry, garnering over 190 industry awards," said Michael Hara, vice president of corporate marketing at NVIDIA. "With the additional performance gains and quality enhancements, NVIDIA brings an even higher level of performance and quality to users this spring."

"The Detonator drivers are one more example of NVIDIA's relentless execution," said Mike Harrington, director of development at Valve Software L.L.C. "Half-Life frame rates in Direct3D jumped 30 percent at 1024x768 when we tested the new drivers."

"The software team at NVIDIA is always tuning their drivers for more performance," said Tim Sweeney, chairman and founder at Epic Games, Inc. "Detonator is a perfect example of NVIDIA's ability to deliver more performance every time you turn around. Unreal D3D is much smoother at high resolutions with the Detonator drivers."

NVIDIA Detonator Optimized for next-generation CPUs, DirectX 6.0 and OpenGL, NVIDIA’s Detonator software provides the highest performance and quality for RIVA TNT-based PC products. In addition to performance enhancements, the Detonator software improves overall stability and is designed to be forward compatible with future NVIDIA processors. Windows 2000-ready, NVIDIA’s Detonator software is available now at www.nvidia.com.

The new drivers are not online yet! (15:25 German Time)

Diamond-USA released new Win9X drivers v0255 for the Viper V550. Besides of 2D and 3D performance enhancements there´s also 3DNow! Support and Pentium III Support. View readme for details: Diamond Viper V550 drivers. Thanks to Felix fot the info! :-)

FullOn3D, a merger of the websites VoodooNation, RoasterCoaster, and the AMD Outpost, made a review of the new Pioneer DVD-ROM DVD-A03S/103S. In addition there´s an article about pro´s and con´s of the DVD technology: DVD-Video Opinionated.

• No frame drops (full frame rate, full feature set), on a broad range of PC platforms
• Optimized for ELSA VICTORY Erazor LT, VICTORY II and ERAZOR II
• Built using the market-proven code and user interface from QI's hardware DVD solutions
• Any resolution or color depth (depending only on VGA memory)
• Fully scalable video window up to full screen
• Smart detection of deinterlacing support (BOB and WEAVE)

The Player costs DM 29,90. You can purchase it directly from ELSA. The ELSA cards are listed in the Hardware requirements, so it seems that it does not work with other cards: ELSA Movie DVD Player

• 3D sound support for DirectSound 3D and EAX compatible sound cards.
• Improvement of memory management for textures on 3D video cards in order to allow more 3D cards using high resolution textures.
• Improved TCP/IP support. Improvement of Lobby mode and synchronisation between players in Network multiplay.
• Better Frame rate when using the software based 3D rendering engine.
• Improved support for the Logitech Force Feedback joystick and the DirectInput Force Feedback compatible joystick.
• Support for Cyrix processors.
• Command line argument for changing joystick threshold and amplitude now functions correctly.
• Support for wheels added (Tested with Microsoft and Logitech wheels).
• Program optimised to run faster.

Download (1,8MB): 3DFiles Download page

click for complete result-view

The driver can be found on the ASUS ftp-server shortly. in the meantime you can download the 1MB sized driver from RIVA Station: ASUS V3400 DETONATOR BETA

This version fixes the same problems as v1.1 with the addition of the following:
- Mouse problems with high framerate machines
- Multiplayer crashes with "Buffer Overflow"
- Problems with ATI cards.
- Crashes reading some pilot files from previous versions.

Download: Decent 3 Demo Patch v1.1.1 (from 1.0 und 1.1)

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