Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/3dgraphics-cards/part1 See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ v 1.2 19 March 1996 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~bm/3dcards/3d-cards1.html http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~bm/3dcards/3d-cards2.html ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/pub/bm/ ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/pub/bm/ Changes and additions to bm@cs.columbia.edu This document provides a partial -- and not comprehensive -- list of 3D graphics accelerators for PCs. In particular, I am interested in PCI-based accelerators. You can help make it more comprehensive by sending me additional information and/or updates. This information is abstracted and condensed from the posts of many different contributors. No guarantees are made regarding its accuracy. The original motivation for this document came from a list of accelerators compiled by Chris Hinch, Management Information Systems, Dunedin City Council, PO Box 5045, Dunedin, New Zealand (chris@dcc.govt.nz) Here are some 3D accelerator related Web sites: * http://spider.compart.fi/~ttammi/3dcards.html "Web Page For 3D accelerator chipsets and graphics cards" by Tiitus Leo Tamminen * http://www.cowboy.net/~biff "Tommy's and Biff's 3D Accelerator Pages" If you have or know of a 3D accelerator related site, please email it to me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Changes since version 1.2 New entries: o CS12) 3DLabs GLINTdelta Changed entries: o GLINT08) Changed the chipset details. * Changes since version 1.1 Changed entries: o B10) Changed contact info. * Changes since version 0.95 New entries: o B11) Matrox Millenium o B12) APD Free Dimension o B13) Arcobel Imagine o B14) Synthetic Images Reality Blaster o B15) S3 ViRGE and ViRGE/VX o NVIDIA02) Jazz Multimedia 3D Magic o NVIDIA03) Genoa Stratos 3D o CS09) 3Dfx Voodoo o CS10) TriTech Pyramid3D TR25201 o CS11) VideoLogic PowerVR Changed entries: o B06) Added GLZ1T and pixel fix rate. o GLINT08) fixed typo in polygon rate, added note that PCI version will probably support OpenGL and might be based on the Rendition Verite instead of the PERMEDIA. * Older changes at the end ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TODO: * organize the information a bit better, remove some extraneous or duplicate info. * answer some frequently asked questions * get more hard data comparing the boards, such as the output of the OpenGL viewperf program. If any manufacturers want to send me a demo unit, or donate one to our group, my address is above. * add more info, as people request and provide it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents of Part 1 * Introduction * Disclaimer * Section I: Frequently Asked Questions o Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs? o Q02) How does the performance of these cards compare to graphics workstations such as those produced by SGI, Sun, DEC, etc? * Section II: 3D Chipsets o CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX o CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D (not yet available) o CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor o CS04) ARTIST Graphics 3GA Graphics Processor o CS05) NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 Multimedia Accelerators o CS06) Rendition Vérité o CS07) Chromatic Research Mpact o CS08) 3DLabs Permedia o CS09) 3Dfx Voodoo o CS10) TriTech Pyramid3D TR25201 o CS11) VideoLogic PowerVR o CS12) 3DLabs GLINTdelta * Section III: Boards using Chips in Section II o GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON o GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX o GLINT03) ELSA GLoria o GLINT04) Omnicomp 3Demon VR (was Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia) o GLINT05) SPEA FireGL o GLINT06) Force Inc. 3DE-300SX o GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX o GLINT08) Creative Labs' 3D Blaster o GLINT09) Microstep AGC-3D o R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100 (not yet available) o ARTIST01) ARTIST Graphics 2000 Series o NVIDIA01) Diamond Edge 3D Accelerators o NVIDIA02) Jazz Multimedia 3D Magic o NVIDIA03) Genoa Stratos 3D Contents of Part 2 * Section V: Other boards o B01) AccelGraphics AG300 and AG500 o B02) ISC PowerGL o B03) Evans & Sutherland Freedom o B04) Matrox Impression Plus o B05) Oki TrianGL o B06) Intergraph GLZ Series o B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems o B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt o B09) Western Digital Tasmania 3D o B10) Dynamic Pictures V192 o B11) Matrox Millenium o B12) APD Free Dimension o B13) Arcobel Imagine o B14) Synthetic Images Reality Blaster o B15) S3 ViRGE and ViRGE/VX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction The original motivation for compiling this list was to compare the features of various 3D graphics accelerators becoming available for microcomputers. In particular, I am interested in PCI-based cards which support OpenGL under Windows NT, Linux, Solaris x86 (none yet!), etc. and support stereo head mounted displays. (In fact, of the currently available boards, only one qualifies. See if you can figure out which one.) Information which falls in that category will obviously be more complete. Other information will be included if someone sends it to me, but I won't be actively researching it myself. As such, there is little or no information right now about 3D accelerators for high-end machines such as those produced by SGI, Sun, HP, DEC, etc, except as the ones listed may also work in those machines. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer I haven't seen or used many of these cards, and all figures are the manufacturers own, as near as I can verify. I am not promoting any one card or company over any other. Any anecdotes, speed comparisons, etc., that I collect will be included on a purely informational level. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Of course, I will not include anything I do not believe or know to be false. No representation is made as to the accuracy of these figures/technical specs. If you are going to buy/bet the farm/otherwise invest in one of these products, CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER first and make sure that what you want is what you'll get!!! CAVEAT EMPTOR!!! All trademarks etc are copyright of their respective owners etc. etc. Furthermore, many of these boards are not yet available, so you should find out delivery dates before getting your heart set on any given one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section I: Frequently Asked Questions [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs? I'm glad you asked. There are quite a few, with more coming out all the time. See the rest of this document for more information. (Ok, it's a stupid question, but I needed something in the FAQ section) Q02) How does the performance of these cards compare to graphics workstations such as those produced by SGI, Sun, DEC, etc? This question is difficult to answer because there are so many factors affecting the overall 3D performance on a PC. Most importantly, while many of the boards listed below have impressive numbers in terms of maximum number of polygons/second, most only accelerate rendering. What this means is that you are still bounded by the speed at which your processor can transform a 3D data stream to a 2D perspective with lighting and material effects and then ship these numbers over the bus to the graphics card. So, the processor, processor speed, bus type and speed, software design, etc., all effect the final throughput. Thus, a board may perform differently on two different machines that have the same "specs" (ie. 90Mhz Pentium, PCI bus) if the bus was designed differently, or if there are other cards on the bus taking up bandwidth. What is really needed is a set of comprehensive benchmarks that give some more realistic numbers about the various combinations of hardware. The NCGA (National Computer Graphics Association) GPC (Graphics Performance Committee) (comprised of the major vendors along with UNC and SDSC) is an organization primarily concerned with developing benchmark standards and performance characterizations for graphics hardware. Check out http://sunsite.unc.edu/gpc/gpc.html for information about the GPC activities. Unfortunately, the GPC Quarterly is about US$200/year, which is beyond my budget. Thus, to get their benchmark results, you'll have to talk to them. However, the benchmarking tool they use to measure OpenGL performance, called Viewperf, is available for free. From the README that comes with Viewperf: What is this Thing Called 'Viewperf' ----------------------------------- Rob Putney, OPC Vice Chairman 4/21/95 Viewperf is a portable OpenGL performance benchmark program written in C. It was developed by IBM. Viewperf provides a vast amount of flexibility in benchmarking OpenGL performance. At the current time, the program runs on most implementations of UNIX, Windows NT, and OS/2. The OpenGL Performance Characterization (OPC) Committee has endorsed Viewperf as its first OpenGL benchmark and results were first published using it in 4Q94 version of The GPC Quarterly. OPC member companies have ported the Viewperf code to their operating system and window environments. The OPC Committee maintains a single source code version of the Viewperf code that is available to the public. In future versions of this FAQ, performance measurements will be added in another section at the end. Stay tuned. If you have any measurements using Viewperf, please send them to me (bm@cs.columbia.edu) Viewperf can currently be obtained from ftp://net1.uspro.fairfax.va.us/pub/gpc/opc/viewperf/ If that directory does not work, try looking on the OpenGL home page at http://www.sgi.com/Technology/openGL/opengl.html which should contain a pointer to ViewPerf. Q03) What are all the features, anyway? Many of the features discussed in the 3D graphics card brochures may not be meaningful to people not already familiar with 3D graphics. Z-buffering, quadratic texture mapping, gouraud shading, fog, etc., are new to many people. However, in the interest of time and space, I am not going to discuss them here. For a comprehensive introduction, refer to a 3D graphics textbook, such as "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice" by Foley, van Dam, Feiner and Hughes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section II: 3D Chipsets available now or in the near future. There are numerous 3D chipsets being worked on, but these 2 happen to be the ones I have detailed information both on the chips and on boards built using them. If I get more information on other chips, I will include them here. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX First, a comment about the GLINT 300SX chip, which I will make because it was not clear to me when I first read their specs. They mention texture mapping acceleration, but on the 300SX texture maps are held in host memory and per pixel information is sent to the chip which performs the necessary interpolations and applications. For the upcoming 300TX, the texture maps are held in local memory on the graphics card (the "localbuffer") and the host just sends per vertex information to the chip which performs all the texture mapping calculations. Information on the 300SX can be obtained from the 3DLabs home page at http://www.3Dlabs.com/ or by sending email to info@3Dlabs.com. The technical specs below were copied directly from the page http://www.3Dlabs.com/300SXinf.html GLINT 300SX Overview The GLINT 300SX high performance graphics processor combines workstation class 3D graphics acceleration and state-of-the-art 2D performance in a single chip. GLINT is capable of processing 300,000 shaded, depth buffered and anti-aliased polygons/second. The chip provides complete 32-bit color, 2D and 3D acceleration, an on-chip PCI-compliant local bus interface and integrated LUT-DAC control, making a complete graphics subsystem possible with minimal chip count. All the rendering operations of OpenGL are accelerated by the GLINT 300SX, including Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing, alpha blending, and texture mapping. 3D ACCELERATION * 100% OpenGL compliant rendering operations in hardware * Point, line, rectangle and polygon primitives * Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing, dithering, depth cueing, texture map filtering and alpha blending * 2.5 Giga operations per second * 300K Gouraud shaded, depth buffered triangles/sec 2D AND GUI ACCELERATION * True color acceleration of window systems such as Win32 and X11 * Accelerated bitBLT, line drawing, fills, text and window clipping SPECIAL FEATURES * 64-bit hyper-pipelined architecture * Vertex level interface * 112-bit pixel datapath to memory * High quality 16 and 8-bpp dithering of 24-bit graphics images * Fast frame and depth buffer clears * Shared framebuffer interface for easy multimedia integration * VRAM block fill and bit masking * Anti-aliasing for high quality images at 4x4 and 8x8 sub-pixel resolution DISPLAY MODES * Resolutions up to 2560x2048 * 8, 16 or 32-bits per pixel RGBA and 4 or 8-bit color indexed * Packed 8, 16 and 32-bit pixels * Supports advanced modes: double buffering, stereo and overlays GLINT 300SX Graphics Architecture The GLINT 300SX delivers 3D and GUI rendering functionality to improve the performance and quality of graphics applications and APIs. * Gouraud shading * Depth buffering * Anti-aliasing * Dithering * Depth cueing and fog * Texture mapping * Scissor and stipple masking * Alpha blending * Logical Operations (e.g. XOR) The unique hyper-pipelined architecture and 112-bit memory datapath ensure that multiple rendering operations can be combined with no performance penalty - allowing a Gouraud shaded polygon to be processed just as fast when depth buffering, dithering and anti-aliasing are enabled. FRAMEBUFFER CONTROLLER The 64/32-bit framebuffer controller directly interfaces to VRAM or DRAM framebuffers and supports a wide range of pixel depths, resolutions and memory sizes - enabling systems to be tuned to meet specific price/performance targets. * 1-32 MBytes VRAM or DRAM * 8,16 or 32-bit RGBA color * 4 or 8-bit color indexed * 2, 4, 8 pixels per 64-bit word * 640x480 to 2560x2048 * VRAM arbitrary shape block fill * VRAM bit masking * Framebuffer bypass mode LOCALBUFFER CONTROLLER The localbuffer holds optional off-screen information for each pixel including; depth (Z) values, stencil data, arbitrary window clip planes, plus a control field for fast window clearing. The format for each field is user defined, up to a maximum of 48 bits. * 0-48 MBytes DRAM * 0-48-bits wide Depth: 0, 16, 24, 32-bit Stencil: 0, 4, 8-bit Window clipping: 0, 4-bit Fast depth clear: 4, 8-bit * Localbuffer bypass mode INTEGRATED VIDEO TIMING An internal timing generator and VRAM transfer controller are incorporated into the GLINT 300SX processor. Advanced systems requiring overlays, stereo, interlace or very large framebuffers can be supported using an external timing generator. SHARED FRAMEBUFFER The GLINT 300SX's on-chip shared framebuffer interface is a fully integrated implementation of S3's interface, allowing GLINT to use video and multimedia co-processors, or for the GLINT to be used as a 3D coprocessor to an S3 device. UPGRADE PATH The GLINT 300SX is the first of a family of GLINT graphics processors that are designed to meet the demands of the graphics designer. The GLINT300TX, is a second generation pin compatible processor that enhances the SX's texture capabilities - supporting local texture storage and pixel address generation for all OpenGL texturing modes. NOTICE: 3Dlabs reserves the right to change the above specifications without notice. From looking at the various boards, it appears that typical performance quotes are in the following range: * 3D Gouraud shaded, depth buffered, window clipped, stippled, dithered, and alpha tested rendering performance with 24-bit RGB color depth is the following: o 300K 25 pixel triangles/sec o 500K 10 pixel vectors/sec o 8M independent points/second o 500K 9x13 pixels characters/second * 2D Graphics performance o 1M 10 pixel vectors/sec o 500K 10x10 pixel, flat shaded rectangles/sec o 500K 9x13 pixels characters/second o Scroll Rate 48M pixels/second - 8 bits/pixel [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D Information on the Lockheed Martin Read3D chipset was obtained from their WWW server at the following URL: http://www.mmc.com/real3d/ Check there for more information, or call 1-800-393-7730, or send email to real3d@mmc.com. The following is taken from a press release found at that site: The REAL3D(tm) chipset is based on real-time computer image generation technology that gives a combination of dynamic response and realism previously available only on dedicated graphics workstations and high end custom image generators. The first product will be the R3D/100 graphics accelerator. Key performance attributes of the new chip set include an embedded 100 MFLOPS geometry processor, pixel write rates of up to 33 million pixels per second, up to 750,000 polygons per second, line processing up to 1.5 million per second, and provides up to 192 color texture maps (128 x 128 mipmapped) in real-time. The new product is an outgrowth of Lockheed Martin's proprietary computer graphics technology previously used in high performance military simulation, engineering research and training applications first developed for astronaut training and military flight simulators. The chip set provides faster processing through its patented hardware design which incorporates geometry processing, rasterization and texture mapping. The R3D/100 embedded floating point geometry processor removes significant processing burden from the host CPU. The patented texture processor applies color mipmapped texture to polygons in true 3D corrected perspective. Designed as a true polygon processor with texture processing and scaleable texture memory from the outset, the R3D/100 chip set includes dedicated hardware acceleration of mipmapped texturing that provides continuous high fidelity image quality. This chip set simulates spotlights, fog and realistic curved surfaces. Additionally, improved image quality is provided with multi-pass anti-aliasing. The R3D/100 chip set directly interfaces with Microsoft 3D/DDI and supports all 3D/DDI-compliant APIs, such as OpenGL(tm) and comes with device driver software and a device driver kit. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 3D Graphics Geometry Processor S-MOS Systems is offering the industry's first commercially available single chip 3D geometry accelerator for the PC marketplace. The SPC1500 will work together with any 3D rendering processors to accelerate 3D graphics up to 300K+ lighted triangles per second. Why is geometry processing acceleration important? Rendering processors alone, even on Pentium class machines, can not deliver true workstation class performance. This is because even the fastest CPUs today are quickly overcome by the amount of algorithmic processing necessary to transform a 3D data stream to a 2D perspective with lighting and material effects. The SPC1500 integrates a 150Mflop dual floating point engine, an on-chip DMA processor, on-chip ROM to store the algorithm instruction set, and an on-chip RAM cache to store customer instructions in a single 223 pin PGA package. Easy integration S-MOS Systems provides a complete design package for the system integrator and board vendor..... PCI Reference Designs S-MOS Systems provides reference designs and evaluation kits showing the capabilities of the SPC1500 running OpenGL on the WindowsNT platform. Full technical manuals, electronic gerber files, and applications notes are available. WindowsNT and OS/2 Support S-MOS Systems provides OpenGL compliant software and system utilities for the WindowsNT platform. This software supports any rendering board (2D or 3D) that supports 3D DDI. It will also supports direct data transfer to the leading 3D rendering board vendors. MacOS Support S-MOS Systems will will support software drivers and system utilities for Quickdraw3D. An Acrobat version of the SPC1500 Datasheet is available via their page at http://www.smos.com/standard/spc1500.htm For more information contact Giri Venkat, Product Marketing Engineer, S-MOS Systems (E-Mail: venkat@smos.com). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS04) ARTIST Graphics 3GA Graphics Processor The 3GA is a 2D and 3D graphics coprocessor with a fast VGA core which means that boards designed around the 3GA will not only run the next generation of software, but will run the software programs of today faster than ever before. Bus support for PCI, ISA, and MicroChannel means that the 3GA is one of the most flexible graphics chips available, as well as the most powerful. The 3GA's features include built-in Windows acceleration, 2D and 3D lines, flat-shading, Gouraud-shading, and texture-mapping. Initial benchmarks show that the 3GA is significantly faster than the S3 968 Windows accelerator. Technical information about the chip design is also available, and if you have Acrobat, you can view the full 24 page datasheet. Information on the 3GA can be obtained from the ARTIST Graphics home page at http://artgraphics.com/ The technical specs below were copied directly from that page. Features High performance 3D graphics processor * 16 bit Z-buffer for automatic hidden surface removal * Secondary 16 bit Z-buffer for arbitrary frontal Z clipping * Gouraud shading for realistic 3D rendering * Dithering for superior shading at 8 and 16 bits per pixel * Texture mapping to map 2D textures onto 3D surfaces * Six arithmetic raster operations (Add, Add with Saturation, Sub, Sub with Saturation, Min, Max) Powerful 2D GUI accelerator * Accelerated drawing at 8, 16, 24 and 32 bits per pixel * 256 Microsoft Windows raster operations in hardware * Color expanding BitBLTs provide extremely fast text * On-chip 8 x 8 color expanding pattern * Variable sized color pattern up to 64 x 64 pixels * Rectangular and arbitrary region clipping * Multicolored "styled" lines and polylines * Eight stencil modes Display controller * VRAM based display controller for maximum performance * Supports displays up to 2048 x 2048 pixels * Refresh rates up to 90Hz at 1600 x 1200 resolution * VESA DPMS support for green applications Video interface * Shared frame buffer interface for multimedia * Supports S3 Vision/VA full video with a shared frame buffer Flexible local memory * 64 bit wide memory bus * VRAM block write support * Supports 1 to 4 megabytes VRAM display memory * Supports 0 to 8 megabytes of off screen DRAM for Z-buffers, fonts, etc. Single chip accelerator * On-chip 32 bit VGA for fast DOS performance * Support for Microsoft Plug & Play ISA specification * Interfaces directly to VESA VL-Bus and PCI with no glue logic * Interfaces to ISA bus with two 74F245 buffers * 128 byte host FIFO for passing data and commands * 240 pin plastic quad flat pack * 50 MHz clock frequency Software drivers * Windows 3.1, Windows NT, Windows '95, OS/2 2.1 and OS/2 Warp * AutoCAD * Hoops * OpenGL * 3D APIs: Argonaut BRender, Criterion Software RenderWare, Rendermorphic Reality Lab, Inter 3DR System Overview A graphics system designed around the 3GA graphics accelerator requires only VRAM, a video DAC, clock generator, and a small number of external buffers. The 3GA graphics accelerator supports a 64 bit wide data path to its local memory array and contains interfaces to an external clock generator, DAC, and ROM BIOS. Performance Estimated performance, based on 8 bits per pixel, 10 pixel lines, 50 pixel triangles, 90 MHz Pentium CPU, PCI bus. 2D lines........................................1,600,000 lines/second 3D lines (shades, Z-buffered).....................280,000 lines/second 2D texture mapped triangles........................75,000 triangles/second 3D texture mapped triangles (Z-buffered)...........65,000 triangles/second 3D Gouraud shaded triangles (Z-buffered)..........110,000 triangles/second Screen-to-screen BitBLTs.......................80,000,000 pixels/second Memory-to-screen BitBLTs (color expanding)....245,000,000 pixels/second Fill rate...................................1,100,000,000 pixels/second CONTACT INFORMATION: You can contact the ARTIST Sales Team on the Web, or by phone at: Tel: (800) 627 8478 (612) 631 7800 Fax: (612) 631 7802 or by sending email to sales@artgraphics.com COMMENTS: There is OpenGL support under NT. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS05) NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 Multimedia Accelerators The information I currently have is from the press releases on the NVIDIA Home page at http://www.nvidia.com/ NVIDIA Corporation and SGS-THOMSON, today announced the introduction of the NV1 and STG2000 Multimedia Accelerators. The first complete multimedia accelerators, the NV1 and STG2000 represent the culmination of a strategic partnership that began over a year ago. The technology will deliver powerful multimedia capabilities exceeding that of next generation game consoles, while preserving the versatility of the personal computer. Available now, they are single-chip Multimedia Accelerators that delivers the power of real-time photorealistic 3D graphics, full-motion video and special effects, and concurrent high-fidelity audio for interactive multimedia. They feature stunning 3D graphics capabilities with texture-mapping, lighting effects, and a special feature called video texturing. This unique feature allows developers to texture a 3D object with full- motion video, creating new levels of realism never before possible in a PC application. In addition, they deliver concurrent high-fidelity wave-table audio, full-motion video acceleration, world-class GUI acceleration, enhanced digital game port, and an internal synchronization timer for multimedia. Market coverage will be provided by two versions of the multimedia accelerator. NVIDIA will market and sell the NV1 (VRAM version) while SGS-THOMSON will market and sell the STG2000 (DRAM version). Both products are available with PCI and VL bus interfaces. The NV1 or STG2000 allow leading-edge adapter card and PC OEMs to offer a multimedia sub-system with dazzling 3D, wave-table audio, GUI acceleration, enhanced game port performance, and video acceleration -- on a single-card with a street price of around $200. Information Contacts: Bruce Brough, PR Contact NVIDIA Corporation Tel : (408) 438-0204 Fax : (408) 438-0204 J.P. Rossomme, PR Contact SGS-THOMSON Tel : (617)259-2534 Fax : (617)259-9423 COMMENTS: There are no current plans to do an NT driver, or OpenGL, although some third parties have expressed interest. They don't think consumers will be running applications on OpenGL or NT. The chips does not support texture memory. They do forward texture mapping: specify the control points (4 for bilinear, 9 for quadratic surface), specify the subdivision of the texture, then write texels. As you write each texel the chip computes its location on-screen, optionally computes a blend value for it, and it shows up on-screen. I'm not sure, but it doesn't not appear to have a Z-buffer, either. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS06) Rendition Vérité The information I currently have is from the Rendition home page at http://www.rendition.com/ Rendition's first product, the Vérité(tm), is a single chip 3D graphics engine, GUI accelerator, digital video accelerator and VGA engine for the personal computer market designed for add-in graphics cards and OEM motherboard implementation. Advanced Rendering Features The Vérité(tm) supports texture mapping with correct perspective, bilinear filtering, z-buffering, alpha blending, fog, and other advanced rendering features. These features will enable game developers to deliver the most engaging, realistic interactive entertainment to date. Sustainable High Performance Design decisions were made with input of many game developers to ensure a real performance advantage. Embedded RISC Core The Vérité(tm) employs a unique architecture, which combines a fully programmable RISC core with a hard-wired pixel pipeline. Optimized Memory Controller In the cost-sensitive markets which Rendition will compete, it is imperative to focus on total solution cost for the OEM customer. It uses low cost EDO DRAM. Support for Two Dimensional GUI and Multimedia Acceleration The Vérité(tm) also provides conventional Windows acceleration, and incorporates all control logic required for a standard graphics card. For acceleration of digital video playback, e.g. MPEG and Indeo, the Vérité(tm) provides YUV-to-RGB color space conversion and image scaling with bilinear interpolation for smooth full-screen full-motion video playback. VGA Compatibility All of this advanced functionality will be of little value if users cannot run their older applications. For this reason, Rendition has incorporated a VGA-compatible core into the Vérité(tm). [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS07) Chromatic Research Mpact The information I currently have is from the Mpact home page at http://www.mpact.com/ The Mpact media engine offers the complete multimedia solution for your PC. For more information, go to their home page for complete technical specs and white papers. * Vector processor optimized for video, graphics, audio and communications processing * VLIW architecture with single instruction multiple data (SIMD) * High performance (up to 2 billion operations/sec) for concurrent multimedia functions * PCI host interface with bus mastering capabilities * Interfaces to popular RAMDACs, video decoders and encoders, and audio and modem codecs * Interfaces to Rambus RDRAM; optimized for full operation with 2MB to 4MB * Loadable Mpact mediaware modules enable functions such as: o Video playback processing with color space conversion, scaling/ interpolation, overlay and compositing o MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video, audio and system decoding o Real-time MPEG-1 video, audio and system encoding o JPEG encoding and decoding o Windows GUI acceleration (of all 256 ROPS) o Graphics output supporting display modes up to 1280 x 1024 x 18bpp at 75Hz o 3D graphics rendering with full shading, lighting, texture mapping and anti-aliasing support o Industry-standard sound card compatible audio (including FM synthesis and general MIDI) o Dolby AC-3 and MPEG audio; wavetable audio synthesis and waveguide physical modeling audio synthesis; 3D sound and effects o Modem and FAX communications up to 28,800 baud with telephony features such as speakerphone and simultaneous voice and data communications o H.320 and H.324 video conferencing * Optimized real-time multitasking kernel executes multiple Mpact mediaware modules concurrently Contact Information: Chromatic Research, Inc. 800A East Middlefield Road Mountain View, CA 94043-4030 415-254-1600 email: info@mpact.com [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS08) 3DLabs Permedia The information I currently have is from the 3DLabs home page at http://www.3dlabs.com/ See section CS01 (3DLabs GLINT 300SX) for more pointers to 3DLabs. PERMEDIA is a high performance graphics processor that balances high quality 3D texturing and graphics performance with leading edge Windows, Video and SVGA acceleration. Based on a proven low-cost and scaleable architecture, PERMEDIA pervasive 3D and multimedia applications, including: games, animation, authoring, web browsing, design, visualization, publishing and general multimedia applications. PERMEDIA sets the standard for 3D and multimedia acceleration, making it the ideal solution to meet the increasingly pervasive need for balanced 3D and multimedia acceleration - and all in a single, low cost PCI device. Pervasive 3D & Multimedia Features * 25M pixels/sec - textured, bilinear filtered with perspective * 500K polygons/sec - textured, bilinear filtered with perspective * Balanced 3D feature set * Ideal for games and pervasive 3D o High quality texture mapping o Smooth and Flat shading o Optional Z-buffer o Fog and depth cueing o Polygon based with sprites * Standard setting Windows acceleration * Accelerated video playback * Fast on-chip SVGA * Optimized software drivers * Register level interface * Low-cost PCI design [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS09) 3Dfx Voodoo The information in this section was taken from various press releases about the Voodoo Graphics chipset. I have no contact information for 3Dfx, and no email to 3dfx.com has yielded a response. 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. has released information on Voodoo Graphics™, a 3D graphics accelerator specifically designed for 3D entertainment applications in the coin-operated/arcade and home consumer markets. Designed to enable a new class of realistic and highly interactive 3D games, Voodoo Graphics offers expanded capabilities above and beyond the basic 3D functionality that will be found in commodity Windows and multimedia accelerators. Major consumer and coin-op OEMs and developers have announced support for the chipset. 3Dfx Interactive has announced that Orchid Technology and FMI Graphics Products, a business unit of Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. have signed OEM agreements to develop consumer 3D game boards based on Voodoo Graphics. In addition to elementary 3D functionality, including perspective correct polygons with point sampled texture mapping, Z- and double-buffering, Gouraud shading capabilities and standard VGA resolution, 3Dfx Interactive has also included level-of-detail (LOD) MIP mapping, bi-linear and advanced filtering and SVGA resolution support. In addition, the chipset delivers realistic imagery through sub-pixel correction, alpha blending, and anti-aliasing. Most importantly however, unlike other multimedia accelerators that suffer significant performance degradation when available 3D features are used, Voodoo Graphics was designed to simultaneously offer all of these features at real-time frame rates. Voodoo Graphics also support per-pixel effects such as fog, translucency, and transparency, texture compositing, a variety of lighting techniques, texture morphing, animated textures, and reflection mapping. The Voodoo Graphics chipset supports full screen games under popular PC operating systems including Microsoft Windows 95, MS DOS, and Microsoft Windows 3.1 using 3D APIs including Microsoft's Direct3D, DirectDraw, 3D-DDI, and Reality Lab 2.0, as well as Intel's 3DR. The chipset also supports embedded operating systems for coin-op/arcade platforms. Development environments supported by the chipset include MS DOS, WindowsNT, Windows95, and Silicon Graphics' IRIX. Important development tools and APIs supported by Voodoo Graphics include Silicon Graphics' IRIS GL and OpenGL, AutoDesk's 3D Studio, MultiGen's GameGen, and Gemini Technology's OpenGVS. Packaged in a two-chip set, the Voodoo Graphics architecture is a PCI Bus 2.1 compliant device that operates transparently with existing VGA and Windows accelerators via analog pass through or shared frame buffer implementations on Intel or RISC-based PCI platforms. The Voodoo Graphics chipset is priced at less than $75 in 20,000 piece quantities. On perspective correct, texture mapped, Z-buffered, filtered, LOD MIP mapped, fogged, alpha blended, 50-pixel triangles Voodoo Graphics delivers more than 45 megapixels per second fill rate and over 350,000 triangles per second polygon rates on a Pentium 90. The first chip, pixelfx, is the primary graphics controller and contains interfaces to the PCI bus and companion texture processing unit, texelfx. The 3Dfx Interactive pixelfx graphics controller is packaged in a 240-pin PQFP. texelfx, the advanced texture processing unit, is packaged in a 208-pin PQFP. For more information, contact: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. 415-934-2400 [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS10) TriTech Pyramid3D TR25201 The information in the section was taken from the TriTech Microelectronics International homepage at http://www.tritech-sg.com/ The Pyramid3D family of 3D accelerator devices is designed for acceleration of games, 3D applications and user interfaces. It offers full compatibility with the new 3D standards (including Direct3D for Windows 95) and old applications (built-in VGA support). In addition, Pyramid3D delivers the performance you would expect from a serious 3D solution. It can render 800 000 z-buffered, textured, and Gouraud shaded 25 pixel triangles per second. In addition to speed, the architecture also provides a wide range of features, some of which have never been implemented in hardware before. Pyramid3D Highlights: * Unified memory architecture for efficient memory utilization * Low host overhead because geometry can be stored in local memory * Perspective correction for both texture and true-color shading * Complex shading effects including bump mapping and specular lighting * Multiple simultaneous lighted textures with filtering * Object oriented scene storage in local memory * Programmable geometry engine * Programmable pixel pipeline The family currently consists of TR25201 and TR25202. They are similar except that only the TR25201 version contains the geometry engine. Both are highly integrated single chip solutions for 3D graphics acceleration on the PC. They combine high rendering quality and speed with an architecture that makes building PCI based 3D Accelerator boards both easy and cost-effective. Geometry * Fixed point arithmetic optimized for 3D calculations * Upgradable microcode allows feature upgrades * Scene data can be stored in local memory * Scene data format programmable * Triangles, lines and 2D regions supported * Primitive rotation, projection and clipping supported * Programmable lighting modes with support for colored lights * Programmable atmospheric effects including volumetric fog Rendering * Programmable pixel pipeline * User specifiable blending * Perspective correct true-color Gouraud lighting * Perspective correct transparency * Perspective correct texture mapping * Multiple simultaneous textures * Environment mapping * Bump mapping * Stencil operations * Logic operations * Specular highlights * Properly handled lighted textures * Rasterized screen door transparency * Destination blending for transparency effects * Fog and depth cue with vertex level control Textures * Texture magnification filtering with point sampling or bilinear filtering * Texture minification filtering with point sampling or MIP mapping * Trilinear filtering possible * Texture sizes from 32x32 pixels to 1024x1024 pixels (nonrectangular supported) * Amount of texture maps limited only by available memory * Texture can be looped, mirrored or have a solid color border * RGB map formats: 32 bit RGBA and 16 bit RGB and 16 bit RGBA * Indexed map formats: 8 bit and 4 bit * Indexed maps have an internal 256 color 32-bit palette (RGBA) * Full blending and filtering possible with indexed maps * Real time texture paging and animation * Rendering directly to texture maps possible Memory * 2-32 Mbytes of SDRAM, SGRAM or EDO DRAM supported * Memory bus width 64 bits or 32 bits * Memory bandwidth up to 800 MBytes/sec with 64 bit bus * Unified memory architecture for frame buffer, geometry and textures Framebuffer * Virtual resolutions up to 2048 x 2048 pixels * 24 bit or 16 bit color (dithering supported) * 24 bit or 16 bit depth buffer * 1 bit stencil mask * Frame buffer can be accessed in RGB or YUV format. * Support for double and triple buffering and stereo imaging Video refresh * Display resolutions from 320 x 200 to 1600 x 1200 pixels * Internal video refresh logic * Internal programmable clock generator (up to 135MHz) * Internal true-color DAC (up to 135MHz pixel clock) Physical Characteristics * 304-pin BGA packaging * 100 MHz operation * I/O interface at 3.3V Compatibility * Compatible VGA core * Drivers for Microsoft Windows 95 * Drivers for DirectDraw and Direct3D (both immediate and retained modes) Performance * 1 000 000 randomly rotated Gouraud shaded 25 pixel triangles per second * 800 000 randomly rotated textured Gouraud shaded 25 pixel triangles per second * Pixel fill rate 50 000 000 pixels per second Pyramid3D engineering samples will be available in summer 1996. Developer kits will be made available along with the engineering samples. For more information, contact: Kok Chin Chang, Product Manager Graphics Prodcuts, kcchang@tmi.com.sg. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS11) VideoLogic PowerVR This information was taken from VideoLogic's home page at http://www.videologic.com/ PowerVR was developed jointly by VideoLogic and NEC. The system is fully scalable, allowing multiple chips to be ganged together giving a linear increase in speed as chips are added. It can be used in a wide range of 3D applications and entertainment markets from games consoles, through PCs, right up to high-end arcade machines. This also allows content producers to target a range of different platforms without redesigning their titles. PowerVR’s core 3D rendering algorithm is infinite plane (surface) based. This approach allows the system to efficiently cater for polygons, polygon meshes, infinite planes, and convex objects. Its polygon object rendering allows the use of conventional, industry-standard APIs such as Microsoft’s® Direct3D™, and the ability to directly process infinite planes and convex objects allows PowerVR to provide advanced features such as full shadows and searchlights in real-time. In addition to support for industry-standard APIs, PowerVR has its own high-level object oriented API, called PowerVR SGL, that provides full access to all the capabilities of the PowerVR hardware. * Real shadows can be cast from any object over any surface, and updated every frame * PowerVR’s equivalent 32-bit Z buffer makes solid outdoor objects a reality * Pixel perfect hidden surface removal * Anti-aliased textures using PowerVR’s mip mapping stops shimmering * Perspective-correct textures do not bend because PowerVR performs a division per pixel * Smooth shading does not change when rotated * Translucency can be applied to whole objects, polygons, or individual pixels for effects like dirty glass, fire, water, and even simulated lens flare and radiosity * True logarithmic colored fog calculated per pixel The chipsets used in the PowerVR are the NEC ISP (Image Synthesis Processor), TSP (Texture and Shading Processor) and MC (Memory Controller). A single chip version, the PCX1 (PC Processor), has one ISP and one TSP on a single chip, and is designed for low cost home markets. Performance * Average polygon size: 100-1000 pixels * Low cost design - 257K mip mapped textured, smooth shaded triangles/second (one ISP or PCX1) * Arcade design - 1028K mip mapped textured, smooth shaded triangles/second (four ISPs) NEC ISP: Image Synthesis Processor * 66 MHz processor * 32 processor elements * 32-bit depth precision * On-chip hidden-surface removal (no need for Z buffer memory) * 12k parameter cache for tile caching * Expansion bus for multiple ISPs * 0 to 2 MB external parameter cache * True shadow generation * Per pixel fogging NEC TSP: Texture & Shading Processor * 66 MHz processor * Perspective correct texturing (division per pixel) * Anti-aliased texture mapping (linear Mip mapping) * 32 x 32 to 256 x 256 texture bitmap sizes * 4 to 16 MB texture memory * Texture flipping (horizontal and/or vertical) * Texture formats: o 8-bit (2,3,2) RGB o 16-bit (5,5,5) RGB o 16-bit (4,4,4,4) RGBT * Optimized architecture for low page break overhead * 4 KB internal parameter cache * 264 MB/sec peak texture memory bandwidth * Smooth shading * Smooth full shadows * Flat shading with offset highlight * 24-bit mixing of texture, lighting and shading * Exponential fogging - with programmable fog color * Accumulation buffer - allows multiple layers of translucency * Translucent textures - 16 levels per pixel * Global translucency allows objects to fade - 16 levels * 2D overlay: 4/8 bit packed double buffered * 2D scrolling * 3D data: 16/24 bit packed double buffered 1 to 4 MB frame buffer * Programmable SPG with sync master/slave (allows overlay) * 1024 x 1024 maximum resolution * 24/16 bit RGB modes NEC MC: Memory Controller * Support for 4300, 4400 and the latest MIPS CPUs * SDRAM interface at 66 MHz * System Control (SC) Bus interface at 66 MHz * Master or Slave device NEC PCX1: PC Processor * 66 MHz processor incorporating ISP and TSP function * 32 processing elements in ISP module * On-chip 12K ISP and 4K TSP parameter caches * Single SDRAM external interface for texture and parameter caching * PCI 2.1 interface * True shadow generation and per pixel fogging * Perspective-correct texturing and anti-aliased textures * 32 x 32 to 256 x 256 texture bitmap sizes * 1 to 4 MB texture memory * Texture formats: o 8-bit (2,3,2) RGB o 16-bit (5,5,5) RGB o 16-bit (4,4,4,4) RGBT * 264 MB/sec peak texture memory bandwidth * Smooth shading * Flat shading with offset highlights * 24-bit mixing of texture, lighting, and shading * Exponential fogging - with programmable fog color * Accumulation buffer - to allow multiple layers of translucency * Translucent textures - 16 levels per pixel * Global translucency allows objects to fade - 16 levels * 24/16 bit RGB and 16 bit dithered RGB modes Software * Microsoft Direct3D Support, PowerVR SGL 3D Graphics API and Library * Immediate mode and Retained mode, Display list hiearchy,Object instancing * Features include: collision detection; level-of-detail management; full shadows; and lighting For more information, contact: NEC Electronics Literature Hotline (800) 366 9782 phone (800) 729 9288 fax Press Contacts in the USA Lili McGirr, VideoLogic, 415 875 0606, lili@videologic.com. Joany Winkler, NEC Electronics Inc., (415) 965 6495, jwinkler@el.nec.com. Press Contacts in the UK Patrick Jubb, VideoLogic, 01923 260 511, patrick@videologic.com. Sue Walder, NEC Electronic UK Ltd, 01908 837 238, walders@euk.nec.co.uk. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section III: Boards using Chips in Section II The descriptions of the boards in this section will attempt to give information not common to all boards based on the chips in Section II. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CS12) 3DLabs GLINTdelta The information in this section was taken from a press release provided by Dave Baldwin (dave_baldwin@3dlabs.com.) The GLINT Delta is 3DLabs 3D Geometry Pipeline Processor. It accelerates GLINT or PERMEDIA-based Graphics Boards up to three times by off-loading up to 70% of the 3D geometry processing load into a hard-wired 100MFlop processor that delivers 1 Million polygons/second for under $50. 3DLabs claims that when used on a high-performance PC, using a Pentium Pro processor, GLINT Delta-based designs have been measured to deliver over 750K polygons per second via OpenGL. For intensive 3D graphics applications, GLINT Delta significantly improves overall system performance by freeing the CPU from demanding 3D pipeline calculations -- providing more processor time for application level processing. The Delta is implemented as a PCI bridge with full PCI master capability. It acts as a front-end processor to GLINT or PERMEDIA and processes the setup calculations for 3D primitives such as lines and polygons. GLINT Delta's advanced design includes support for texture-mapping, anti-aliasing and 16, 24 or 32 bit Z buffering - all with high-precision, sub-pixel accuracy. GLINT Delta's processing throughput is up to 1 million texture-mapped, Z-buffered polygons per second. GLINT Delta supports full byte-swapping and is compatible with PC or Macintosh systems. GLINT Delta provides a glueless, single-chip geometry solution for GLINT 300SX or PERMEDIA. GLINT Delta also supports multiple GLINT rendering processors -- also without glue logic -- for high-end desktop, arcade and VR applications seeking unmatched rendering performance. The combination of GLINT Delta and two GLINT rendering processors enables board vendors to provide dual- GLINT 3D acceleration on a single PCI board, seamlessly combined with full Windows performance and functionality. PERMEDIA does not require GLINT Delta to provide class-leading performance, however the ability to combine the two devices in a low-cost designs enables board vendors to provide a wide-range of price/performance options at performance levels far beyond other 3D chip offerings. GLINT Delta is software compatible with the GLINT and PERMEDIA families, and 3Dlabs' extensive range of software drivers is already available for GLINT Delta-based boards. These drivers include: Windows NT, Windows 95, OpenGL on Windows NT, OpenGL on Windows 95, Heidi from Autodesk, Direct3D from Microsoft, CGL from Creative and QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE from Apple. The drivers for Windows NT and OpenGL are available on Intel, Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC processors. Contact Info 3Dlabs Inc. Neil Trevett, 408/436-3456 neil.trevett@3dlabs.com http://www.3dlabs.com [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON FROM THE SPEC SHEET: 3DEMON 3-D Graphics Accelerator for PCI Local Bus Technical Brief The 3DEMON provides workstation class 3-D graphics and high performance 2-D acceleration using the GLINT (tm) 300SX 3-D processor from 3Dlabs. Frame buffer: * 4 Mbyte high speed VRAM * 8,12,16, and 24/32 bits per pixel Local buffer: * 4 or 8 Mbyte DRAM 3DEMON Model SX44 * 4 MByte frame buffer, 4 MByte local buffer * Double Buffered Resolutions 800x600 24/32-bit (3-D) 1024x768 16-bit (3-D) * Single Buffered Resolutions 1024x768 24/32-bit (3-D) 1280x1024 16-bit (2-D) 3DEMON Model SX48 * 4 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer * Double Buffered Resolutions 800x600 24/32-bit (3-D) 1024x768 16-bit (3-D) 1280x1024 8-bit (3-D) * Single Buffered Resolutions 1024x768 24/32-bit (3-D) 1280x1024 16-bit (3-D) Software Compatibility * Microsoft's implementation of OpenGL under Windows NT (tm) 3.5 and Windows 95 (tm) (included) * 2-D drivers for Microsoft Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT 3.5 (included) * HOOPS, 3DR, and other industry standard 3-D APIs * Reality Lab, RenderWare, BRender, and other 3-D games APIs * Accelerated-X drivers for The X-Window System by X-Inside * Specific applications such as AutoCAD, Microstation, CadKey, and 3D Studio Hardware Compatibility * Minimum OpenGL platform of Pentium processor, Windows NT 3.5, and 32MB RAM recommended * Windows NT 3.5 support for PowerPC and MIPS processors is under development CONTACT INFORMATION: Steve Gillaspy Omnicomp Graphics Corp. 1734 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N. Houston, TX. 77043 Phone: 713-464-2990 Fax: 713-827-7540 email: omnicmp@phoenix.phoenix.net COMMENTS: From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz): These guys are brilliant - they are responsive, and have been really helpful in my own research, often pointing me in the direction of other people and companies who can help, as well as showing a solid technical understanding of my requirements and making recommendations based on that understanding. Here's some pricing information, as of Thursday, 30 March 1995. 3DEMON SX44 (4MB VRAM, 4MB DRAM) ------------------------------- List US$2,170 Educational US$1,995 Quantity 1-9 US$1,845 Quantity 10-24 US$1,715 Quantity 25-99 US$1,605 3DEMON SX48 (4MB VRAM, 8MB DRAM) ------------------------------- List US$2,590 Educational US$2,380 Quantity 1-9 US$2,200 Quantity 10-24 US$2,045 Quantity 25-99 US$1,915 [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX The Sapphire 2SX from Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. integrates GLINT 300SX technology with a 4MB framebuffer and a 4 MB localbuffer. The Sapphire 2SX provides full 32-bit true color at 1024 x 768 resolution (maximum is 1600 x 1200). Fujitsu Microelectronics has developed a proprietary technology called PixelBus which offers unprecedented multi-channel capabilities. PixelBus allows you to link multiple Sapphire cards together to get increased speed. PixelBus also supports a synchronized output mode for panoramic and CAVE display systems. Highly optimized drivers for OpenGL, Windows NT, Autocad and 3D Studio are currently available and many others are under development. The Sapphire 2SX is compatible with Intel and DEC Alpha processors. Support for other processors is under development For more information contact: Hiten Patel Tel: (408) 922-9770 Fax: (408) 922-9857 E-mail: hpatel@fmi.fujitsu.com 3545 North First Street, MS 255, San Jose, CA 9513l [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT03) ELSA GLoria FROM THE SPEC SHEET: Based on the S3-Vision968 and 3Dlabs' GLINT 300SX. Has a 250Mhz RAMDAC with built-in digital video acceleration provided by the S3 chip. Includes a DCI driver. Comes with optimized Windows 3.X/NT/'95, OpenGL and OS/2 drivers and utilities. Includes drivers for multi-screen support as well as Display List Drivers for MicroStation and AutoCAD DOS/Windows for R12/R13/LT. 3D features are similar to all GLINT 300SX cards. GLoria-8 * 8 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer, 250Mhz pixel clock * Double Buffered Resolutions up to 1600x1200 at 32-bit per pixel 1920x1080 at 16-bit GLoria-4 * 4 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer, 220Mhz pixel clock * Double Buffered Resolutions up to 1024x768 at 32-bit per pixel 1280x1024 at 24 bpp 1600x1200 at 16 bpp 1920x1080 at 8 bpp CONTACT INFORMATION: Joy Li ELSA Inc. Graphics Corp. 2041 Mission College Blvd. Suite 165 Santa Clara, CA 95054 Phone: 800-272-3572 Phone: 408-565-9669 Fax: 408-565-9650 email: joyl@elsa-usa.mhs.compuserve.com [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT04) Omnicomp 3Demon VR (was Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia) Formerly the Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia. The name changed when Media Labs was aquired by Omnicomp. The former 3DMedia SR (which I'll call the 3Dmedia VR (SR?)) is a true high performance 3D accelerator based on the 3DLabs GLINT 300SX chip. The 3Demon VR (formerly the 3DMedia SX) provides the same features as the SR, plus additional features such as genlocking to eliminate annoying scrolling bars due to magnetic interference between two monitors in a dual-headed configuration. Furthermore, in provides an on-board studio quality encoder which outputs video in NTSC, PAL or S-Video formats. 3Demon VR (SR?) 3D Acceleration: * Similar to other GLINT 300SX boards Flexible output: * Software selectable standard as well as custom display * formats, interlaced and non-interlaced, are available with a * maximum resolution of two million pixels. Optimized Bandwidth * PCI local bus, rev 2.0. * Target and Read Master interface achieves 20M pixel/second sustained image download rate. * Refresh rates in excess of 200Hz. Product Specification: * PCI Rev 2.0 Target and Read Master interface * 4M Byte framebuffer * 4 MByte localbuffer. Extra 4M available as an option. * Supports 64-bit/pixel, 8/8/8/8 for RGBA, 24-bit depth, 4-bit stencil, 4-bit fast clear * Double buffering at all resolutions and depths. * ISO and VESA Display refresh rates. * Standard and custom resolutions up to 1280x1024. * Pseudo color, true color and direct color output. * Color depths of 4/8/12/15/24 bits with alpha channel for RGB color formats. * VGA PAss-through at any VGA resolution and color depth. * RS-343A Graphics output level. * Sync-on-green and external TTL sync support. * FCC Class B certification. * Output Support: RGB Resolution NI Colors supported Max Refresh in pixels 256 65K 16.7M Rates 1280x1024 yes yes yes 76 1152x900 yes yes yes yes 100 1024x768 yes yes yes yes 125 800x600 yes yes yes yes 175 640x480 yes yes yes yes 250 3Demon VR All of the features described above, plus: More flexible output: * Support for stereoscopic, field sequential RGB and VR displays is implemented in hardware reducing host overhead. * Television and video tape recorders are driven by the studio quality encoder. Square pixel, CCIR and 4x video resolutions can be selected in NTSC, PAL or S-Video format. Phase locking: * Line-lock to external sync signals, such as VGA or other sources, enables windowing and external video multiplexing. * An independent 3D window can be opened within the GUI display, such as VGA, by activating the line-locking feature. * Independent color depth between the GUI and 3D graphics is now possible, depending on the operating system used. Product Specification additions: * Max 135MHz video clock. * Standard and custom resolutions up to 1600x1200 * Supports standard, stereoscopic, field sequential RGB, VR Glasses and other display devices. * Programmable video clock. * Line-lock to external sync signals. * Studio quality encoder with support for different NTSC, PAL, and S-Video resolutions. * Output Support in addition to those above: RGB Resolution NI Colors supported Max Refresh in pixels 256 65K 16.7M Rates 1920x1080 yes yes 45 1600x1280 yes yes 50 Use the contact information for the 3Demon above. The former Contact Information: Media Labs, Inc. 806 Winbern Ste 1 Houston, TX 77002 Tel: (713) 942-0670 Fax: (713) 784-5144 COMMENTS: From Blair MacIntyre: The SX is available now, the SR is not. The pricing is as follows (as of Feb 1, 95): 3Demon VR44: Quantity Price 4M VRAM, 4M DRAM, Encoder, Linelock 1-99 US$1895 100-999 US$1795 1000+ CALL 3Demon VR48: 4M VRAM, 8M DRAM, Encoder, Linelock 1-99 US$2295 100-999 US$2195 1000+ CALL 3Demon VR (SR?): Quantity Price 4M VRAM, 4M DRAM 1-99 US$1595 100-999 US$1495 1000+ CALL 3Demon VR (SR8?): 4M VRAM, 8M DRAM 1-99 US$1995 100-999 US$1895 1000+ CALL One year warranty. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT05) SPEA FireGL (Preliminary Product Information, as of Feb. 95) Summary: * Dual processor 2D and 3D Graphics System * PCI bus Support Hardware - 3D Acceleration * 3Dlabs GLINT 300SX Rendering Processor * Supports advanced modes : double-buffering, stereo and overlays * Accelerates OpenGL, HOOPS, SP3D and other 3D API4s * 8 Mbyte local Memory - expandable to 12 Mbyte Hardware - 2D Acceleration * 64-bit S3 Vision968 GUI Accelerator * 175 MHz Pixelclock * 8 Mbyte high speed Video memory (VRAM) * Multimedia ready through S3 Multimedia extensions * Integrated Video Acceleration Software & Miscelleanous * 100 % OpenGL compatible * SPEA 3D Software drivers for AutoCAD and MicroStation * Third party applications based on SP3D, Criterion Renderware, RenderMorphics RL, Intel 3DR * GUI Support : Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT * Multi-lingual documentation * Software Updates via SPEA BBS or CompuServe * 3 years warranty Video Modes Resolution Color depth (bit/pixel) Line Frequency (KHz) Refresh Rate (Hz) ---------- ----------------------- -------------------- ----------------- 640 x 480 8, 16, 32 31,5 - 52,5 60 - 100 800 x 600 8, 16, 32 37,9 - 64,0 60 - 100 1024 x 768 8, 16, 32 48,4- 80,9 60 - 100 1280 x 1024 8, 16, (32) 64,0 - 100,0 60 - 95 (75) 1600 x 1200 8, 16 74,5 - 84,6 60 - 68 Available now in Europe. CONTACT: David_Fink@spea.ccmail.compuserve.com [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT06) Force Inc. 3DE-300SX The 3DE-300SX from Force Inc. combines the GLINT 300SX with 4 Mbytes of VRAM and up to 8 Mbytes of DRAM. Both IBM PC-AT Japanese DOS/V and NEC PC98 are supported plus Windows NT 3.5, OpenGL and RenderWare 1.4. Available now in Japan. For more detailed information, please contact: Kenyu Uema, Manabu Igarashi or Tatsuya Takagi Tel: +81 3 3490 1172 Fax: +81 3 3490 2277 6-15-9-2F, NishiGotanda Shinagawa-ku,Tokyo 141, Japan [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX The PCI-300SX is a GLINT based PCI card including 4 Mbytes of VRAM framebuffer, 8 Mbytes of DRAM localbuffer, 64-bit IBM RGB525 RAMDAC and VGA pass thru implementation. Optimized drivers are provided for Windows NT 3.5 and OpenGL. The Densan PCI-300SX now shipping as part of NEC RISCstation 2200. For more detailed information, please contact: Tetsuya Kawamoto or Zhang Yuanli Tel: +81 3 3329 3871 Fax: +81 3 3329 9266 5-42-1, Kamikitazawa Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT08) Creative Labs' 3D Blaster The information in this section is taken from the Creative Lab's page at: http://www.creaf.com/www/products/3d/3dfeat.html and from the 3DLabs Press release at: http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dblaster.html The VL-bus version of the 3D Blaster is based on a custom GLINT chip, which is basically a scaled-down 300SX. The PCI version will supposedly be initially based on the Rendition Vérité chipset, with a. possibility that later versions will be based on the 3DLabs Permedia chip. Time will tell. Features * Made to run on Windows 95, Windows 3.x and DOS systems * Industry standard Plug and Play (PnP) support * True Texture, perspective-correct texture mapping * Pixel fill rates of 25,000,000 pixels/second * Processes of up to 200,000 polygons per second * Bit Blt rates of up to 40,000,000 pixels/second * 2 MB RAM onboard supports high-resolution, 3D graphics * Memory is upgradeable to 4MB total RAM * 16-bit hardware z buffering * Hardware double-buffering * Accelerates transparency, fogging and anti-aliased texturing * Bundled with five 3D games written specifically for 3D Blaster including Nascar, Rebel Moon, Magic Carpet Plus, Hi Octane and Flight Unlimited Specifications DATA FORMATS * Depth Formats o 16 Bit Z o 16 Bit Z plus Stencil * Color and Texture Formats o 8 bit index o 8 bit RGB o 8 bit RGBA o 16 bit RGBA (5551) o 24 bit RBG (2D) TEXTURE MAPS * 0-2MB of texture memory * Texture Maps sizes from 32x32 to 1024x1024 * Upgrade to 4MB texture memory SCREEN RESOLUTION SUPPORT Standard Memory supports these common resolutions and others: * 320x200 8/16/24 bit double buffered * 640x200 8/16/24 bit double buffered * 640x350 8/16 bit double buffered * 640x480 bit double buffered * 640x400 bit double buffered * 800x600 bit double buffered * 800x600 16 bit single buffered * 1024x768 bit single buffered 2D GUI SUPPORT * BitBlt * Area and Pattern Fill * 256 Raster Ops * Hardware Cursor API SUPPORT * Microsoft/RenderMorphics' Reality Lab * Criterion's RenderWare * Argonaut's BRender * 3DR * Creative Graphics Library (CGL) MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS * IBM PC or 100% compatible * 486 DX 66MHz (486 DX4 100MHz recommended) * Open VL-Bus slot * Windows 3.1 or higher * DOS 5.0 or higher * Installed VGA * VGA monitor The VL-bus version of 3D Blaster will be available in November, 1995, at an estimated street price of about $349. A PCI version of 3D Blaster will be available in the first quarter of 1996. COMMENT: Apparently, the VL version of the 3D Blaster will probably not support OpenGL, but the PCI version should. CONTACT INFORMATION Theresa Pulido Lisa Kimura Creative Labs, Inc. Copithorne & Bellows (408) 428-6600, ext. 6416 (415) 284-5200, ext. 209 [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLINT09) Microstep AGC-3D MicroStep, Inc., a California based company, specializes in the design and manufacture of high performance computer graphics and imaging controllers. Within 10 years, the company has developed a full line of graphics products, including the world's highest resolution display controller. AGC-3D is the first of MicroStep's 3D graphics accelerator family. Based on the GLINT 300SX chip from 3Dlabs, AGC-3D delivers workstation class performance for all 2D and 3D rendering operations, including Gouraud shading, anti-aliasing, depth buffering, alpha blending and texture mapping assistance. AGC-3D incorporate 4MB of VRAM for display memory, 4/8MB of DRAM for Z-buffering, stencil, etc., and PCI local bus. The supported display modes include 1280x1024x16, 1152x900x24 and 1024x768x16 double buffering, etc. Availability: Q3, 1995 For more information contact: Ping Hu Tel: (818) 964 5048 Fax: (818) 964 6278 17800 Castleton Street, Suite 135, City of Industry, CA 91748. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100 Based on the R3D/100 chipset described above. No other information available. CONTACT INFORMATION: email: real3d@mmc.com voice: 800-393-7730 fax: 407-826-3358 COMMENTS: From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz): Contact these people and ask for the glossy brochure - WOW!!!! (ok, so I'm not being objective...I like poring over glossy brochures as much as the next person...*grin*) Their staff were also really helpful and responsive. Apparently, application notes will be available in August of this year, with sample chipsets and reference boards available in November. Production quantities will be available in the first quarter of 1996. Price for the reference board is in the US$2,800 area. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARTIST01) ARTIST Graphics 2000 Series These graphics boards have been specifically designed to accelerate PC CAD programs. They contain the 3GA chipset: ARTIST 2000 This high speed, high power graphics controller accelerates all graphic intensive programs including Windows and OS/2. See the 2000 Pro for details. ARTIST 2000 Pro This card is the ARTIST 2000 bundled with high-speed CAD drivers and graphical application software designed to accelerate CAD development. Supports PCI, VL and ISA buses. The ARTIST 2000 Pro is available with two and four MB of VRAM. The processor, memory and DAC were carefully selected and integrated with GT Express Professional, ARTIST's CAD utility software, to create the ideal controller for the CAD marketplace. You get ARTIST's legendary quality at a remarkably competitive price, backed by a five-year warranty. ARTIST 2000 Twin Pro This card has dual monitor outputs each with resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 and refresh rates up to 85 Hz, allowing a total displayed image of up to 3200 x 1200 spread across two adjacent monitors. Supports PCI and ISA buses. The ARTIST 2000 TwinPro comes with 4 MB of VRAM. Its processor, memory and DAC were carefully selected and integrated with GT Express Professional, ARTIST's CAD utility software, to create the ideal controller for the CAD marketplace. You get ARTIST's legendary quality at a remarkably competitive price, backed by a five-year warranty. Technical Data Video Bandwidth: to 250 MHz Horizontal Scan Rate: 31.5 - 106 KHz Video Output: Analog RGB video output, separate horizontal and vertical sync, 15 pin D-sub connector Maximum Colors: True color Color Palette: 16.7 million Supported GUIs: Windows 3.1, Windows NT, OS/2 2.1, OS/2 Warp, Windows 95 Supported Software: Includes high performance drivers for Windows, including Command View; AutoCAD for DOS and Windows with Flexicon 30 Technical Support: End user assistance available through telephone, mail, FAX, E-mail, BBS or World Wide Web Warranty: Five-year limited warranty Model Resolution Colors Frequency ARTIST 2000 Pro 1600 x 1280 256 60 - 80 Hz 2 MB VRAM 1600 x 1200 256 60 - 85 Hz 1280 x 1024 256 60 - 120 Hz 1152 x 870 256/6KK 60 - 150 Hz 1024 x 768 256/65K 60 - 200 Hz 800 x 600 256/65K/16.7M 60 - 300 Hz 640 x 480 256/65K/16.7M 60 - 500 Hz ARTIST 2000 Pro 1600 x 1280 256/65,000 60 - 80 Hz 4 MB VRAM 1600 x 1200 256/65,000 60 - 85 Hz 1280 x 1024 256/65,000 60 - 120 Hz 1152 x 870 256/16.7M 60 - 150 Hz 1024 x 768 256/16.7M 60 - 200 Hz 800 x 600 256/65 /16.7M 60 - 300 Hz 640 x 480 256/65K/16.7M 60 - 500 Hz ARTIST 2000 1600 x 1280 256 60 - 80 Hz TwinPro 1600 x 1200 256 60 - 85 Hz 4 MB VRAM 1280 x 1024 256 60 - 120 Hz 1152 x 870 256/65K 60 - 150 Hz 1024 x 768 256/65K 60 - 200 Hz 800 x 600 256/65K/16.7M 60 - 300 Hz 640 x 480 256/65K/16.7M 60 - 500 Hz Prices Board Model VRAM Bus Max. Resolution Retail Price ARTIST 2000 2 MB PCI 1280 x 1024 @ 75 Hz $395 ARTIST 2000i 2 MB PCI 1600 x 1280 @ 80 Hz $595 2 MB ISA 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz $595 ARTIST 2000i 4 MB PCI 1800 x 1440 @ 70 Hz $895 4 MB ISA 1800 x 1350 @ 75 Hz $895 ARTIST 2000i 4 MB PCI 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz $1095 TwinPro ISA 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz $1095 [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NVIDIA01) Diamond Edge 3D Accelerators The information on these boards were obtained from Diamond Multimedia Systems home page at http://www.diamondmm.com/ They contain the NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 chipset. The boards are PCI-based and sport a digital gameport for precise joystick control, as well as two video gameports that allow specialized, multi-player versions of Sega Saturn titles, such as the arcade hit Virtua Fighter Remix, to be played on Windows 95 PCs. It is expected to be initially shipped in late October at consumer prices starting from $249 - $299. With Diamond Edge 3D accelerators, game developers can support resolutions as high as 1024x768 with 65,000 colors while still achieving fast, realistic action. In the past, this type of technology was available only to engineers and designers with prices topping $2,000. The 3D functions of the Diamond Edge 3D were designed specifically for the consumer multimedia market where the primary application is interactive entertainment. Traditionally, 3D graphics were created by drawing large numbers of successive polygons using the CPU, which resulted in a tradeoff between detailed graphics and speed of interactivity. With the Diamond Edge 3D, the hardware engine accelerates polygon rendering of real-time, texture-mapped 3D images at the highest possible frame rates without unduly slowing the CPU. In addition, the Diamond Edge 3D can create realistic 3D graphics by using nine control points to create a curved surface, called quadratic texture mapping (QTM). Features of the Diamond Edge 3D engine include fast polygon rendering, texture-mapping for photo-realism, quadratic texture-mapping for perspective correction and rendering of curved surfaces, as well as special effects including diffused lighting, specular highlights, reflection mapping and alpha blending for fog, smoke and transparency. High Performance 2D Acceleration The Diamond Edge 3D delivers fast 2D Windows acceleration at resolutions as high as 1280x1024, color depths to 1 billion and refresh rates of up to 120Hz. The DRAM version of the Diamond Edge 3D, based on SGS Thomson's STG2000 multimedia accelerator chip, is available for PCI-bus in 1MB upgradable to 2MB (the Diamond Edge 3D 2120XL) or 2MB standard (the Diamond Edge 3D 2200XL.) The VRAM configuration, based on NVIDIA Corp.'s NV1 multimedia accelerator chip, is available for PCI in 2MB upgradable to 4MB (the Diamond Edge 3D 3240XL) or 4MB standard (the Diamond Edge 3D 3400XL.) Both chips are based on NVIDIA's NV1 technology. Diamond estimates pricing for the 2000 series to start at $249 to $299 and for the 3000 series to start at $399 to $449. How to Contact Diamond Multimedia There are many ways to reach Diamond for sales support, technical assistance, driver updates and general information: The Main Phone Number is 408-325-7000; Fax: 408-325-7070 Product Support Voice: 408-325-7100; Product Support Fax: 408-325-7171 24-Hour Fax On Demand Service: 1-800-380-0030 America OnLine (Keyword: DIAMOND) CompuServe (GO DMNDONLINE or GO GRAPHBVEN) [75300,3673] Microsoft Network: GOTO DIAMONDONLINE Internet Web Site: http://www.diamondmm.com FTP Site: ftp.diamondmm.com For information on Diamond products: 1-800-468-5846 BBS numbers at 408-325-7080 (to 14.4K baud) or 408-325-7175 (to 28.8K baud) [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NVIDIA02) Jazz Multimedia 3D Magic The information in this section was taken from the Jazz Multimedia 3D Magic Press release. The 3D Magic multimedia accelerators are based on the NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 chipset. 3D Magic doubles as a Windows 95 graphics accelerator, provides wavetable music synthesis and MPEG playback acceleration, on one card. The PCI product line sports a digital gameport for precise control as well as two Sega gameports that allow specialized, multi-player versions of Sega Saturn titles, to be played on Windows 95 PC's. Jazz will offer 1MB and 2MB DRAM versions and 2MB and 4MB VRAM versions. It includes built-in SRS™ 3D sound and the availability of a Jazz Output to TV Projection Card option. There are two DRAM versions of 3-D Magic, based on SGS THOMSON'S STG2000 multimedia accelerator chip, with 1MB and 2MB of of DRAM. Two VRAM configurations, based on nVIDIA Corp's NV1 multimedia accelerator chip, are also available for PCI in 2MB and 4MB versions. As an option, 3D Magic also provides a Jazz Output to TV Projection Card with capabilities up to 16.7 million colors in composite and S-Video. It allows 3D game titles to be played on TV's and big-screens for total family entertainment and game play. A high-fidelity hardware wavetable audio engine is integrated into 3D Magic. 3D Magic uses the computer's main memory to hold wavetable samples. Contact Information: Jazz Multimedia corporate headquarters are located at 1040 Richard Avenue, Santa Clara, California 95050, telephone: 408-727-8900; fax: 408-727-9092. Corporate contact is Michael Yang, 408-727-8900, Ext. 21. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NVIDIA03) Genoa Stratos 3D The information in this section was taken from Genoa Systems home page at: http://www.genoasys.com/ The Stratos 3D is Genoa’s PC gaming accelerator. Based on the NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 chipset, the Stratos 3D delivers true three dimensional imaging for the latest video games. There is also a Sega Saturn game port supporting up to two players for such games as “Virtua Fighter™ Remix.” 3D Sound The Stratos 3D offers a complete “3Dx3D” experience using Surround Sound™ technology from SRS® with Wavetable synthesis. All game sound effects, CD music and digital audio files are spatially referenced to envelope the listener in a three dimensional sound environment! Multimedia The Stratos 3D delivers vivid 2D graphics acceleration with enhanced full motion digital video playback, providing complete multimedia support for Microsoft® Windows and Windows 95™. Entertainment, reference and educational CD titles also come alive through the Stratos 3D! Product Features Highlights * Acceleration for Windows 95 * Quadratic texture mapping for 3D rendering and display * CD-quality 3D sound using SRS® technology * 1MB EDO DRAM standard; 2MB version available * VRAM versions available Q3/96 Video Playback Features * Supports Indeo™ 3.2, Indeo Video Interactive, Cinepak™ and MPEG * Supports Windows 95 Direct Draw drivers * Full screen full motion MPEG playback * YUV to RGB color space conversion * Hardware scaling of the video window * Hardware vertical and horizontal interpolation 3D Sound * SRS® surround sound technology * Supports Windows 95 DirectSound API for the latest entertainment titles * 16-bit stereo recording/playback with sampling up to 48KHz * Phase shifting and other special effects for reverb, echo, etc. * Sound Blaster compatible * General MIDI compatible Hardware Configuration GENITRONtm; Technology * Hardware level video amplification * Brightens and sharpens video colors Physical Properties * Bus Interface: PCI ver. 2. * VGA connector: DB-15 * CD Audio In: MPC3 compliant * External Audio In: RCA phono * Audio Out: RCA phono * Microphone: RCA phono * SEGA Saturntm; Game Port: 20-pin, dual row * Output to TV: connector for RGB to NTSC/PAL module (optional) * IBM Digital Game Port: RJ-45* *Joystick adapter cable included Interfaces and Compatibility * 100% register/BIOS compatible with IBM VGA, SVGA * Supports VGA, SuperVGA, multifrequency and analog monitors * Supports VESA Display Power Management Signaling (DPMS) SEGA Game Support * Port for up to 2 SEGA Saturntm; game pads * Supports any SEGA title ported to the NV1/STG2000 platform System Requirements * Intel® Pentiumtm 75 or above with one available PCI bus slot * Microsoft® Windows 95 * CD-ROM drive (minimum 2x) Warranty * Two year limited warranty on parts and labor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Display Mode Tables (UNDER CONSTRUCTION!) 1MB DRAM Resolution 16/256 colors 65,000 colors 16.8 Million colors 640x480 Hz Hz Hz 800x600 Hz Hz Hz 1024x768 Hz Hz 1280x1024 Hz 1600x1200 Hz 2MB DRAM Resolution 16/256 colors 65,000 colors 16.8 Million colors 640x480 Hz Hz Hz 800x600 Hz Hz Hz 1024x768 Hz Hz Hz 1280x1024 Hz Hz Hz 1600x1200 Hz Hz NOTE: actual display modes available to user will depend on the monitor capability For more information please contact: Genoa Marketing (jbrunoli@genoasys.com) [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Blair MacIntyre (bm@cs.columbia.edu), Graduate Student (Graphics and UI Lab) smail: Dept. of Computer Science, 450 Computer Science Building, 500 W 120 St. Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 User Contributions:Part1 - Part2 [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre)
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:12 PM
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