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Conclusion
The benchmarks speak for themselves: the ATI Radeon VE was not designed to be a gaming video card. Throughout our tests, the Radeon VE was trading places with the TNT2 Pro, a nearly-3-year-old graphics chipset, and not its intended competition, the GeForce2 MX, which was ahead of both of the former cards. It's a little sad to see a Radeon core, after being built into such a powerful card as the Radeon DDR, being crippled to an extent that it is only able to compete with a 3-year old product.
Nevertheless, the Radeon VE does have something that the TNT2 Pro does not: a built-in dual-display capability. Unfortunately, its 2D image quality was very poor on the second connector, which potentially makes this feature more annoying than useful. Fortunately, ATI does include extra multiple-monitor management software in the form of Appian Graphics' HydraVision, which, depending on the user, could be of absolutely no use or be of very much use. This extra software is not found on most GeForce2 MX solutions and can be of extra value if the user feels that they need it.
At $129 USD, the Radeon VE is not a card that I would recommend, especially if the purpose is for mainly gaming; however, due to its relatively crisp and clear image quality on the primary display and excellent DVD playback support, the Radeon VE would be a good product for casual users who watches a lot of DVD's (on their computer monitor or on the TV, with the built-in Video-OUT connector) and would like use the dual-display feature only once in a while. The Radeon VE would also be good for casual gamers; even then, I would recommend a GeForce2 MX/200/400 solution over the Radeon VE.
Pros
- Dual-Display feature
- Included AG HydraVision not found on most GeForce2 MX solutions; can be of extra value to some users
- VGA D-Sub connector, DVI-I connector and TV-OUT connector; greatest number of supported display combinations that I've ever seen.
- Best solution for playing DVD's
Cons
- 3D performance is poor. (-1.0)
- 2D image quality on second display connector is very poor. (-1.5)
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