Manufacturer: Canopus Tech: AGP based nVidia TNT board with 16Mb RAM, Reverse Pass though and TV-out Bundle: Titles Price: $199

When Cyrellis reviewed the refreshing Canopus Total3D 128D "Witchdoctor" 2D/3D card a few months ago, we praised the innovative Canopus engineers for taking such extreme measures to provide gamers with the ultimate video card solution.

We lauded the excellent Video-Out capacities of the card, in addition to it's unique "Reverse Pass Through" Voodoo2 ability.

Here's a snippet from that review, which explains the different features that the "Witchdoctor" brings to the table:

"The WitchDoctor includes the standard RCA and S-Video Out ports, for those lucky gamers that regularly use a large size TV for their gaming experience. Also included on the card is a new port sporting an intriguing "3Dfx-In" label."

What the heck is a "3Dfx-In" port? That's what we said when we first saw that Canopus Total3D 128D card, which was the first to sport the Witchdoctor hardware. Here's the explanation:

(Again pulled from our earlier Total3D 128D review, skip all this if you're already 100% familiar with the Witchdoctor's features.)

"The WitchDoctor is designed to take any 3Dfx Voodoo2 card and add a full capacity TV-Out option to it. It does this by reversing the pass-through design that we've all known and loved since the first Voodoo accelerator hit the market in 96. In a normal Voodoo2 equipped PC, the generic 2D card connects to the 3Dfx card via an external pass through cable. Then, the user plugs his/her monitor directly into the 3Dfx card's VGA monitor port. This way the user gets full functionality from the 2D card for Win95/98's desktop and applications, while enjoying the Voodoo card's 3D ability on demand."

"Most users know from both experience and online hardware sites like this one that using any type of pass through cable is undesirable due to the image degradation that occurs. The Voodoo2 cards themselves and their pass-through cables are greatly improved over the original Voodoo cards/cables, so most of the filtering interference has been eliminated. But as resolutions climb and refresh rates lower, the 2D Win95/98 desktop is still susceptible to a less sharp image quality than if the monitor is connected directly to the 2D card with no interruptions."

"The WitchDoctor process solves this problem by incorporating a specific "switch feature" that allows a user to plug their monitor directly into the 2D card's VGA port, while still having any type of Voodoo2 3D card connected. This is due to the new "3Dfx In" port that's located on the WitchDoctor card itself. Using a WitchDoctor, the user will now plug their 3Dfx card into the "3Dfx In" port, while also plugging their monitor into the Witchdoctor's standard VGA port. (Canopus includes a new proprietary cable to accomplish this with any Voodoo2 card) Aside from the benefit of sharper 2D Win95 image clarity, the WitchDoctor adds another fantastic option to any 3Dfx based card: Full TV-Out, including simultaneous monitor/TV display."