IMSI StarForce 831

WHAT'S HOT: MSI's $139 G2Pro Plus-T64D (formerly known as the StarForce 831) brings with it powerful performance at a reasonable price. The MSI G2Pro Plus-T64D posted 68 frames per second in Unreal Tournament when running at 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 32-bit color, compared with the ELSA Gladiac 920 GeForce3's 64 fps and the Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra's 69 fps.

WHAT'S NOT: This card posted a lethargic 35 fps in MDK2 at 1600 by 1200 resolution using 32-bit color, compared with the Gladiac 920's pace-setting 82 fps.

WHAT ELSE: Oddly enough, this board includes two versions of MSI's 3D Turbo: 3D Turbo 2000 and 3D Turbo 2001. Both versions of this utility offer an easy-to-use set of tools that you can access from a taskbar icon. Right-click on the icon, and then you can change fonts or color depth, overclock the graphics board's memory and core speed, or create virtual desktops. The only discernable difference between the two programs was a different layout in the user interface.