The particular Velocity V4400 card we tested for this review was one of STB's newest retail units, running at a core speed of 90MHz, and a memory clock speed of 110MHz. Some of the early V4400s that were shipped last week were set to run at a core speed of 95MHz and a memory clock speed of 112.5MHz (nVidia later changed the recommended ratings, but the early V4400s had already shipped).
Those initial units will perform slightly better than the 90MHz models, but a simple utility like PowerStrip 2.26 (available in SharkyExtreme's Files Section) allows anyone to overclock any TNT card up to a 105MHz core speed and a 130MHz memory clock speed.
STB has equipped their V4400's TNT chip with a standard heat-sink, but does not go as far as the Canopus Spectra 2500's dedicated fan/heatsink combo. During all tests, no failures were registered, both cards performed their duties routinely.
STB, as with most video card vendors currently, has equipped the V4400 with both RCA and S-Video out ports for the use of a TV to play games. The maximum 800x600 setting the V4400 supports isn't up to the standard set by the Matrox MGA-G200 based cards and their 1024x768 max res. Otherwise the TV-Out ability of the V4400 performed fine, with all Win95 apps and games running well.
The bundle that STB has opted to include with the V4400 cards shapes up as follows:
Forsaken by Acclaim
3D Screen Saver by Colorific
Web3D by Asymetrix
Software DVD Player
Digital Video Producer by Asymetrix
Man, I don't know about the rest of you reading this right now, but if I see another unimaginative bundle from a video card vendor I'm going to go tatoo "Half-Life Day One" on their CEO's melon.
NO MORE FORSAKEN, DAMMNIT.
Now that my ranting is done, (someone bring me a bottle of Prozac and some Scotch) let's get down to business.
