Introduction

We’ve just received for review the latest high-end 3D graphics card from Hercules, the 3D Prophet III Titanium 500. Founded in 1982, Hercules, the well known American graphic cards manufacturer created among other things the monochrome graphic standard. Over years the brand has focused on making top quality products and has been bought by Guillemot Corporation in November 1999. Guillemot Corporation is a French hardware manufacturer that has a strong establishment in Europe along with a very good reputation. Since this acquisition Hercules is back in the front scene and is becoming one of the favorite graphics cards makers among hard-core gamers. Their latest product, the 3D Prophet III Titanium 500, is obviously powered by the latest and fastest GPU from NVIDIA, the GeForce 3 Ti 500. This GeForce 3 Ti 500 isn’t a new GPU, but a boosted version of the existing GeForce 3 (known as NV20) that is, to date, the most powerful GPU. The 3D Prophet III Titanium 500 targets a niche market: passionate, hard-core gamers who can afford this beast of 3D power. The 3D Prophet III Titanium 500 is actually more a showcase of Hercules technology know-how than a real source of revenue for the company, especially when we look at its price. So let the review begins.

First Look

The 3D Prophet III Ti 500 sports exactly the same design as its predecessor, thus the 3D Prophet III is identical. As usual with Hercules, the design of the card is meticulous and neat. The PCB of the card is all blue, as well as the GPU fan and the heatsinks. Sure once the board is installed in your computer you won’t see the blue Hercules’ touch anymore, but this thing as well as others really differentiate Hercules from its competitors. The 3D Prophet III Titanium 500 comes with two memory heatsink blocks that cover 4 EliteMT 3.8ns DDR memory chips each. These cooling adapters are here to ensure the reliability of the card providing the opportunity for safe overclocking.  

   The engine of the board is covered by a blue heatsink that includes a strong and powerful fan. Big radiators, powerful and efficient fans are all that hard core gamers need to push their framerate one step ahead. This state of the art 3D graphics card also features a S-VHS TV output: so you can watch DVDs, and play games on your TV. Contrary to competing GeForce 3 card manufacturers, the TV output of the 3D Prophet III Titanium 500 isn’t an adapter plugged onto the card as it is now totally integrated in the device so it doesn’t take more space in your system. Since LCD Monitors are becoming more and more common, the Hercules 3D Prophet III Titanium 500 offers a DVI connector that lets users plug their LCD monitors using a full digital connection for awesome  graphics in resolutions up to 1600*1200.

Installation

Installing the 3D card was very easy and I didn’t encounter any problems: I simply unplugged the 3D Prophet III and replaced it by the Hercules 3D Prophet III Titanium 500. Then I plugged in it a Sony Trinitron 19” monitor. When I started the computer and once Windows XP Professional was loaded I was prompted to insert the CD containing the Detonator XP drivers for the card. The latest drivers were installed and one reboot later I was able to benchmark the 3D Prophet III Titanium 500.