Bundle and extras
Hercules' previous bundles have been adequate more than spectacular. We keep referring to the £375 estimated price point with good reason. That's one hell of an outlay for a single graphics card. Let's see what Hercules can come up with this time.
We like pertitent information on the front cover. It tells the potential purchaser exactly what they're instore for. 412MHz memory / 730MHz DDR. Full DX9 compliance and high-power heat dissipation. Half-Life 2 is mentioned too. Sounds about right to us.
Here's where things begin to get a bit creaky. The bundle isn't what we'd expect with a premier card. Have a look at ASUS' lot for some kind of reference. The manual is decent enough in parts but only devotes 14 pages to the English language section. We'd like a more comprehensive English-only manual that covers every conceivable facet of hardware and software installation and troubleshooting.
PowerDVD 5.0 is touted as a value-adding feature by Hercules. It's only the standard 2-channel version that's often bundled free with £25 DVD-ROM drives. Hercules does add in a molex duplicator as the card requires one for its auxiliary power supply. A DVI-to-VGA adapter is also included. Hercules will also include a coupon that's redeemable against Half-Life 2 on its delayed release. Our sample card arrived from another website, one that 'forgot' to put the voucher back in. How convenient.
The driver / utility CD contains no other full games. Catalyst 3.8 drivers are included as is DirectX 9.0. About the only other aspect worth mentioning here is Hercules' in-house 3DTweaker.
It's got a decent range of speeds for both GPU and memory, ranging up to 535MHz core and 474MHz memory (948MHz DDR). The rotating rings' frame-rate goes up or down depending upon the speed set. We'd like the card to be supplied with the proverbial kitchen sink at this kind of price. Hercules cards aren't noted for their cheap online price. The bundle is disappointing in view of the card's proposed compeition, with ASUS leading the way.