dionb wrote on 2023-11-15, 20:39:
chip A on board by brand X vs chip B on board by brand Y comparison doesn't convincingly make the case that it's really the chip itself that makes the difference.
Why not? That is exactly what I would do to prove that the chip itself is to blame. Collect ten Virge cards from different brands, and put them against ten other cards with non-S3 chips, and if all 10 Virges lose on brightness, that would seal it for me. Or the other way round, find a Virge that has higher brightness than a bunch of other cards in a direct comparison.
We have already proven that there is considerable variance in the output quality between Virge cards from different manufacturers, what remains is a baseline low brightness that could be due to internal settings of the chip.
I also had another no-name Virge DX that was in fact so bad I threw it away. It looked exactly as in the first comparison made by vetz who started this thread. I genuinely thought it was defective, but after seeing his, I am not so sure anymore.