Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!panix!news1.erols.com!news2.cais.net!news.cais.net!news.ac.net!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.cs.columbia.edu!news.cs.columbia.edu!news-not-for-mail From: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre) Newsgroups: comp.graphics.api.opengl,alt.3d,comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.graphics,comp.cad.pro-engineer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video,comp.graphics.animation,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc,comp.answers,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ (Part 1 of 2) Supersedes: Followup-To: comp.graphics.api.opengl Date: 7 May 1996 03:08:05 -0400 Organization: Columbia University CS Department, Graphics and UI Lab Lines: 2148 Sender: bm@news.cs.columbia.edu Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Distribution: world Expires: Mon, 10 June 1996 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: Reply-To: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre) NNTP-Posting-Host: roadkill.cs.columbia.edu Summary: The FAQ is about 3D Graphics Accelerators for PC-compatible computers. X-Posting-Frequency: posted on the 7th and 21st of each month X-Content-Currency: This FAQ changes regularly. When a saved or printed copy is over 2 months old, please obtain a new one. Instructions at the beginning of Part 1 indicate where to find it via WWW, FTP, and e-mail. Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.graphics.api.opengl:4744 alt.3d:23383 comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.graphics:13612 comp.cad.pro-engineer:9338 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video:69890 comp.graphics.animation:34232 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc:127306 comp.answers:18589 alt.answers:17600 news.answers:71263 Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2 Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/3dgraphics-cards/part1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/3d-cards.1 ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/pub/bm/3d-cards.2 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 Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!apollo.hp.com!lf.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!col.hp.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!usenet.cis.ufl.edu!purdue!lerc.nasa.gov!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.cs.columbia.edu!news.cs.columbia.edu!news-not-for-mail From: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre) Newsgroups: comp.graphics.api.opengl,alt.3d,comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.graphics,comp.cad.pro-engineer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video,comp.graphics.animation,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc,comp.answers,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ (Part 2 of 2) Supersedes: Followup-To: comp.graphics.api.opengl Date: 7 May 1996 03:08:12 -0400 Organization: Columbia University CS Department, Graphics and UI Lab Lines: 1641 Sender: bm@news.cs.columbia.edu Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Distribution: world Expires: Mon, 10 June 1996 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: References: Reply-To: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre) NNTP-Posting-Host: roadkill.cs.columbia.edu Summary: The FAQ is about 3D Graphics Accelerators for PC-compatible computers. X-Posting-Frequency: posted on the 7th and 21st of each month X-Content-Currency: This FAQ changes regularly. When a saved or printed copy is over 2 months old, please obtain a new one. Instructions at the beginning of Part 1 indicate where to find it via WWW, FTP, and e-mail. Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.graphics.api.opengl:4746 alt.3d:23384 comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.graphics:13613 comp.cad.pro-engineer:9339 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video:69895 comp.graphics.animation:34236 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc:127309 comp.answers:18591 alt.answers:17603 news.answers:71269 Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2 Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/3dgraphics-cards/part2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section V: Other boards [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B01) AccelGraphics AG300 and AG500 The AG300 and AG500 are very similar. I'll describe the AG300 first and then outline the differences. Both support a dual screen configuration with two of the same card. ACCELGRAPHICS AG300 Accelgraphics is a spinoff of Kubota Graphics, which was Kubota Pacific before that. They made the Denali graphics subsystem for DEC's Alpha-based workstation (they were a partner with DEC). Features * PCI option card (short form factor) * Accelerates OpenGL under Windows NT * 24-bit true color and 16-bit Z buffering * 32 color planes with 16-bit double buffering * 1280 x 1024 @ 60-74 Hz, non-interlaced Performance * 1 Million 2D vectors per second (10 pixel, 24-bit) * 1 Million 3D vectors per second (10 x 1 pixels, smooth shaded, Z buffered) * 205k 3D triangles/sec (50 pixels, smooth shaded mesh, lit, Z buffered) Benefits * Performance of a US$25k+ Unix workstation for under US$10,000. * Standard applications with Windows NT (including Windows 3.1 applications compiled for Intel cpu). * Scalable architecture delivers increased graphics performance with higher performance host cpu. Hardware Features * Scalable architecture efficiently leverages the system CPU; a faster CPU yields faster graphics * 7.5 MB of total RAM o 5 MB VRAM used as a 32 plane frame buffer, supporting: + resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 pixels with up to 16.7 million colors (24 bit true color) + 16 bit double buffering + 8 bit color index o 2.5 MB DRAM used as a 16 bit Z-buffer * Rectangle clipping, Alpha blending and Dithering Graphics application programming interfaces * Open GL * HOOPS and 3DR planned for early 1995 Supported Operating System Environments * DOS 6.0 or later, Windows 3.1 or later, Windows 95 (Chicago), Windows NT 3.5 with Open GL (Daytona) Supported Applications * Pro/ENGINEER and Pro/JR. from Parametric Technology Corporation * AutoCAD Release 11, 12, and 13 from Autodesk * MicroStation version 4 and 5 from Bentley Systems (including MOGLE) * Any OpenGL application Platforms supported: Intel, Alpha, MIPS, & PowerPC platforms System requirements * One free PCI slot * VGA or SVGA compatible graphics adapter ACCELGRAPHICS AG500 Similar to the AG300. However, it has 12.5M Memory on board and a list price 3,495. The extra ram adds 8 GL Stencil planes and a 24bit Z-buffer. The AG500 also has 4 hardware "lookup tables", including: * two 256 x 24 tables for color index * one 256 x 24 table for single-buffered overlay * one 16 x 24 table for double-buffered overlay Contact Information: Corporate Headquarters: AccelGraphics, Inc. 1942 Zanker Road San Jose, CA 95112 408-441-1556 408-441-1599 fax Western Region: Kim Rawlings 714-589-2453 714-589-2483 fax Kim_Rawlings@ag3d.com Central Region: Dan Vitale 513-858-1400 513-858-2905 fax Dan_Vitale@ag3d.com Southern Region: John Caravello 407-834-7275 407-834-9052 fax John_Caravello@ag3d.com Europe: David Holman 011-44-1635-40122 011-44-1635-551-147 fax davidh@perform.hiway.co.uk [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B02) ISC PowerGL The PowerGL card is the Accelgraphics AG300 being sold OEM by ISC, which is described above. Since the AG300 and the PowerGL are the exact same card, I won't repeat the specs here. Talk to both companies, see which one better suits your needs. CONTACT INFORMATION: International Software Corporation (ISC) Suite 275 433 Park Point Drive Golden, CO 80401 Orders: 1-800-488-4721 Fax: 303-526-0581 E-mail: 76516.2544@compuserve.com [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B03) Evans & Sutherland Freedom PRESS RELEASE: EVANS & SUTHERLAND BRINGS 3D GRAPHICS EXPERTISE TO THE PERSONAL COMPUTER SALT LAKE CITY, March 2, 1995 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation (NASDAQ: ESCC) today announced Freedom Graphics(tm) for the Personal Computer. Freedom Graphics is the first product to bring the 3D graphics technology of E&S to the personal computing environment. Freedom Graphics is an implementation of the specialized features that 3D graphics applications require for smooth, fast execution. Users can produce impressive realistic images with the product's rich feature set and high-performance graphics for Windows/NT(r) applications. The graphics card supports the OpenGL(r) software application programming interface and is designed to accelerate OpenGL in the PC environment. Freedom Graphics is a PCI bus-based card that incorporates the same technology as the Freedom Series graphics accelerators which supply high-end graphics for the world's largest workstation vendors. Ideal markets to take advantage of the extensive feature set of Freedom Graphics are CAD, Industrial Design, Simulation, Visualization, Animation, Entertainment and Game Development. Supported PC processors include MIPS(tm), Pentium(r) and Power PC(tm). "The interest being generated by Freedom Graphics is extraordinary," said Jim Oyler, President and CEO of Evans & Sutherland. "Freedom Graphics allows a low-cost PC-based system to achieve the performance of a much more expensive workstation. This is going to be an explosive market in the very near future." Evans & Sutherland is the only 3D graphics vendor with a product line that spans the entire computing industry from the personal computer up to multi-million dollar flight simulators and location-based entertainment systems. "We are pleased that Evans & Sutherland has applied their knowledge and experience in high-performance real-time 3D graphics to the PC marketplace," said Tom Coull, President of Sense8 Corporation. "WorldToolKit and Freedom Graphics will offer a definitive hardware-accelerated solution for texture-mapped virtual reality applications." Freedom Graphics' feature set includes real-time 3D graphics rendering and animation, hardware based 24-bit texture acceleration, scalable texture memory up to 16 MBytes, bi-linear and tri-linear MIP-mapping, specular highlights, fast set-up calculations, full scene antialiasing, transparency and depth cueing. The additional experience of E&S with OpenGL will also result in significant performance advantages for applications using the OpenGL library from E&S. According to Ian Reid, Vice-President of Marketing at Advanced Visual Systems, "Freedom Graphics offers a new level of capability for the PC user and AVS/Express allows any PC developer to take immediate advantage of features such as hardware texture-mapping and transparency. It's the ideal combination." Freedom Graphics performance under Windows/NT and OpenGL is 300,000 triangles/second. The card will list price at US$2450 with second quarter availability through OEMs and VARs. Freedom Graphics was first shown at Fall Comdex '94 in Las Vegas. The significance of Freedom Graphics lies in its delivery of a graphics feature set at unsurpassed performance levels. Advanced features such as texture mapping are still unavailable from any other vendor for under US$10,000. Freedom Graphics also provides performance not yet seen in the 3D PC graphics market. Nearest competitors for performance provide minimal feature sets and are only available at much higher prices. Evans & Sutherland is a leader in advanced 3D graphics and visualization systems for science, industry, education, and entertainment. The Graphics Systems Division provides graphics hardware and software solutions that are sold and supported by DEC, HP, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. Evans & Sutherland was founded in 1968 and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Freedom Graphics, and Freedom Series are trademarks of Evans & Sutherland. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Freedom Graphics(tm) for the Personal Computer High-Speed Realism from Evans & Sutherland Evans & Sutherland pioneered the computer graphics industry over 25 years ago. Since then our graphics know-how has been engineered into everything from multi-million dollar flight simulators to high-end graphics accelerators for workstations. Now, the same technology used in those high-end workstations is available for the personal computer with Freedom Graphics. Freedom Graphics is a 3D graphics card that delivers high-performance, workstation-class 3D graphics for your Windows NT applications. Freedom Graphics is a masterful implementation of the specialized features that 3D graphics applications require for smooth, fast execution. Users will be impressed by the realistic images they can produce with the well-crafted feature set. Freedom Graphic Advantages * Real time 3D graphics rendering and animation * 24 bit texture acceleration * Perspective acceleration of colors & textures * Bi-linear & tri-linear MIP-mapping * Color modulation * Fast set-up calculations * Antialiased vectors and polygons * High resolution support * Programmable antialiasing filter * Hardware window clipping * Transparency & Depth cueing * Hardware cursor support * Line-slope intensity correction Software Programming Environment Freedom Graphics supports the OpenGL(tm) software application programming interface and was designed to accelerate OpenGL in the personal computing environment." FROM THE SPEC SHEET: Technical Specifications * 3D Graphics Engine by Evans & Sutherland * Display Memory - 4MByte of VRAM * Z buffer Memory - 4MByte of DRAM * Texture Memory (optional) * 1, 4 or 16 MByte user installable SIMM 3D Resolutions (1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480) * Display Colors - 8, 12, 24 bit color support * Maximum Vertical Refresh Rates of 72Hz non-interlaced at all supported resolutions * PCI local bus * Physical dimensions 12.28" Length x 4.2" Height (PCI Full Length Compliant) * CPU Support: Power PC, MIPS, Pentium Software Support - 2D/3D Drivers * Windows NT 3.5, OpenGL, DDI (Windows95/OpenGL when available) Monitor Video timing supports any monitor capable of displaying the listed resolutions in non-interlaced mode. 15 pin D-shell VGA connector Availability The Freedom Graphics product will be initially sold through OEM's and Value-Added Resellers, who will be announced along with the product. The product will be available on the product announcement date. Freedom Graphics is a trademark of Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. All other products are trademarks of their respective companies. CONTACT INFORMATION: Jennifer Hughes Evans & Sutherland jhughes@dsd.es.com Phone: 1-800-367-7460 Facsimile: (801) 582-0524 [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B04) Matrox Impression Plus FROM THE SPEC SHEET: Windows Features: * 40 million Winmarks * 175 MHz DAC or optional 220 MHz DAC * 1600 x 1200 in 256 and 65K colors * 1280 x 1024 in 16.7m colors * 110 Hz refresh at 1280 x 1024 resolution * 120 Hz refresh at 1024 x 768 resolution * Windows resolution and colours: (* requires 4Mb WRAM) o 1600 x 1200 256, 65k* o 1280 x 1024 256, 65k*, 16.7m* o 1152 x 882 256, 65k, 16.7m* o 1024 x 768 256, 65k, 16.7m* o 800 x 600 256, 65k, 16.7m o 640 x 480 256, 65k, 16.7m Multimedia Features: * Microsoft DCI software video acceleration (Indeo, Cinepak, Video for Windows) * 24 frames per second playback MGA Video XL Upgrade Module: (Q1 95) * Support for VESA Media Channel (VM Channel) video expansion standard and PowerPlay64 * 32 bit connector for increased video datapath (100 Mb/second) * Accepts up to 15 video peripherals * Support for multiple live video windows * VideoLogic PowerPlay64 add-on module for smooth, video playback at 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames/second * resolution scaling using Pixel Interpolation * color space conversion from YUV to RGB Real-Time 2D and 3D Features: * Accelerated 3D Gouraud shaed displays at 1152 x 882 in 65K colors, and 800x600 in 16.7 m colors * 150,000 Gouraud shaded polygons per second * Accelerated double buffering and z-buffering * Support for industry standard 3D API's : 3DR, OpenGL, HOOP's and VAGI * DynaView 2D and 3D Drivers for AutoCAD and Microstation under Windows and DOS * Realtime 3D Wireframe Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires 4Mb WRAM) o 1600 x 1200 256* o 1280 x 1024 256* o 1152 x 882 256, 65k* o 1024 x 768 256, 65k* o 800 x 600 256, 65k, 16.7m* o 640 x 480 256, 65k, 16.7m* * Realtime 3D Gouraud Shaded Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires 4Mb WRAM) o 1600 x 1200 o 1280 x 1024 o 1152 x 882 256* o 1024 x 768 256* o 800 x 600 256, 65k* o 640 x 480 256, 65k* Models Available: MGA-IMP+/P: PCI Bus 2 Mb WRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 1600 x 1200 in 256 colors 800 x 600 in 16.7m colors VM Channel upgradable MGA-IMP+/V: VL Bus 2 Mb WRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 1600 x 1200 in 256 colors 800 x 600 in 16.7m colors VM Channel upgradable MGA-IMP+/A: AT Bus 2 Mb WRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 1600 x 1200 in 256 colors 800 x 600 in 16.7m colors VM Channel upgradable MGA-IMP+/P/220: PCI Bus 2 Mb WRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/P MGA-IMP+/V/220: VL Bus 2 Mb WRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/V MGA-IMP+/A/220: AT Bus 2 Mb WRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/A MGA-MOD/2Mb/1 2Mb upgrade for MGA Impression Plus 1600x1200 in 256 and 65K colors 1280x1024 in 16.7m colors MGA-MOD/VMC VideoLogic PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second MGA-MOD/VMC/2MB 2 Mb upgrade for MGA Impression Plus and VideoLogic PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip for 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second. CONTACT INFORMATION: Telephone 1-800-361-1408 Matrox Graphics Inc. 1055 St Regis Blvd Dorval, Quebec Canada H9P 2T4 Telephone: 514.685.2630 Facsimile: 514.685.2853 COMMENT: From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz): I heard comments on comp.sys.opengl that, at the moment, the Impression Plus doesn't have "true" OpenGL support under Windows NT. I don't know if this is correct or not. From Blair MacIntyre: This is partially true. Someone from Microsoft posted saying that NT 3.51 will include the appropriate driver for OpenGL for this card. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B05) Oki TrianGL More information on Oki and their products can be found on their web page (www.oki.com) or by sending email to triangl@oki.com The information here was extracted from the page http://www.oki.com/products/TrianGL.html Oki's TrianGL is aimed at 3D applications using the OpenGL graphics API. At the heart of the TrianGL is a custom, high-performance rendering ASIC--a drawing engine which provides both 2D and 3D acceleration. The chip interfaces directly to multiple banks of video RAM via a 80-bit data bus, boosting overall drawing performance. The four banks of VRAM, 10 MBytes in all, each operate independently to maximize the performance efficiency of the rendering ASIC. For many drawing primitives, all the banks can operate in parallel. However, for certain primitives, such as vector drawing or triangle drawing, address and color values are sent from the ASIC to the appropriate memory banks in a pipelined, serial fashion. TrianGL's use of triangle drawing primitives gives the board a major performance advantage over other products which use simpler span primitives. Two separate RGB buffers allow true hardware double buffering for smooth, artifact-free animation. An independent 24-bit Z buffer is dedicated for hidden surface removal during 3D object rendering. And finally, eight utility planes support board-specific video options such as overlays, window types and RGB double buffering. In order to support VGA compatibility, a VESA standard VGA passthrough interface is included on the board. Accelerated Drawing Operations * Solid Rectangle Fill - 266 M pixels/second * Pattern Rectangle Fill - 66 M pixels/second (8-bit), 33 M pixels/second (24-bit) * Screen to Screen Copy - 33 M pixels/second (8-bit), 16 M pixels/second (24-bit) * Raster Operations - 33 M pixels/second * Line (2D) - 33 M pixels/second, 1.4 M 10-pixel lines/ second, random orientation * Triangles (3D Gouraud shaded) - 22 M pixels/second, 250K 50-pixel triangles/second, random orientation TrianGL Features * Enables Workstation-class 3D performance on PCs * Accelerates OpenGL API compatible graphics under Windows NT for 2-D and 3D applications * Allows fully configured 3D systems for under US$10,000 (TrianGL pricing has not been set, but it should be around US$2500) * True 24-bit graphics * Fully double-buffered 24-bit VRAM buffers * 24-bit hardware Z-buffer * 8 bits of hardware utility planes * Large 8 kbyte FIFO allows independent host operation * Fast internal RAM for storing patterns,line styles, and intermediate data * 64 x 64 hardware cursor * Host to Screen Copy * Screen to Host Copy * Color Expansion * Color Interpolation * Linear Frame Buffer Support Specifications * Dimensions - Full-length VLbus/ISA board 13.5" length x 5" height * Power Dissipation - 15 Watts typical (20 Watts maximum) * Bus Interface - VESA VLbus Local Bus Standard, Rev. 1.1 Local Bus Target, 32-bit data path * VGA Support - VESA Standard VGA passthrough * Monitor Support - Software-programmable 1024 x 768, non-interlaced, vertical refresh rates from 60 to 76 Hz * Frame Buffers - Two 24-bit, 1024 x 768 RGB * ZBuffer - 24-bit, 1024 x 768 * Memory - 10 Mbytes VRAM, 512 bytes internal RAM * FIFO - 8k x 32-bit for graphics commands and data Software Support Oki supports TrianGL on PC and RISC PC platforms with host software drivers for Windows NT 3.5. OpenGL and DDI support are available for Intel and Mips platforms. Other popular APIs, including AutoCAD, will be supported in future software releases. Look for future TrianGL versions with higher resolution, and a PCI bus interface. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B06) Intergraph GLZ Series The GLZ series accelerates OpenGL[tm] graphics on Intergraph Computer Systems' TDZ workstations. GLZs let you manipulate Gouraud-shaded 3D models by adding realistic effects such as lighting, translucency, and textured surfaces; and performing spectacular flythroughs, walkthroughs, and animations -- all in real time, at high resolutions, and in true color. By performing shading and geometry operations in dedicated hardware, GLZs ease the load on the TDZ's Pentium[tm] processor(s) and cut down traffic on the PCI bus, which results in dramatic improvements in graphics performance. The GLZ family supports Intergraph's 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors and 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels. The GLZs support dual screens and are ready for stereoscopic display on any stereo-ready monitor. (LCD shutter glasses and emitter modules are required and are available from Intergraph Computer Systems.) The GLZ family offers a selection of 34, 24, or 12 megabytes of VRAM. 24 megabytes of VRAM supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 with 16.8 million colors (true color). 12 megabytes of VRAM suppots true color at a maximum resolution of 1,152 x 854. 34 megabytes of VRAM supports a 32-bit Z buffer, double-buffered true color, and display capabilities such as translucency and overlay at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280. Intergraph Computer Systems offers six different GLZ configurations. GLZ6 The top of our 3D graphics accelerator line -- offers shading acceleration, geometry acceleration, and texture-processing for fast, real-time rendering of complex and detailed designs. Product highlights * 34 MB of high-speed VRAM for 126 bit planes of video memory at all display resolutions, providing: o 24-bit, double-buffered image planes o 32-bit Z buffer o 8-bit, double-buffered o 8-bit alpha buffer o Other planes for additional features and further acceleration * Texture processing fully supported in hardware with 8 megatextels of texture memory (32 MB of DRAM) for full trilinear interpolation of mip-mapped images * Geometry acceleration to speed up lighting and transforms * Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library * Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D triangle meshes * Anti-aliased vector support to eliminate anomalies of standard raster displays * Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine * Genlock support for dual screens, eliminating the visual beat frequency effect that can occur when two monitors are placed close together * Support for Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors * Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing, which enhances cartographic applications and design visualization * Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 pixels to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels * Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to simultaneously display using independent color palettes for instantaneous color refinement in demanding imaging applications (see p.11) * 10-bit gamma correction using state-of-the-art, 10-bit digital-to-analog converters, enabling user control of gamma values with no loss of color resolution GLZ5 Our GLZ5 offers the same high-performance shading and geometry acceleration as does GLZ6. With 12 MB of VRAM, GLZ5 supports resolutions up to 1,152 x 864. Two megatexels (8 megabytes of texture memory) provide more than enough texture storage for adding patterns to furniture, waves to water, or trees to parks and forests. GLZ5's low price may even tempt you to invest in dual screens and LCD shutter glasses for a stereoscopic adventure into virtual reality! Product highlights (same as the GLZ6, except where noted) * 12 MB of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: o 24-bit, double-buffered image planes o 24-bit Z buffer o 1-bit, double-buffered overlay o Other planes for additional features and further acceleration * Texture processing fully supported in hardware with 2 megatextels of texture memory (8 MB of DRAM) for full trilinear interpolation of mip-mapped images * Support for Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors * Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 pixels to 1,152 x 864 GLZ4 and GLZ3 GLZ4 and GLZ3 support both shading and geometry acceleration. If you need fast, accurate rendering of complex solid models but don't normally require realtime texture processing for photorealism, GLZ4 (24 MB of VRAM) or GLZ3 (12 MB of VRAM) will give you performance that more than meets your expectations. Don't worry if you occasionally need to render a textured image. Thanks to OpenGL, texture processing is fully supported in software. Product highlights * 24 MB (GLZ4) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at all display resolutions, providing: o 24-bit, double-buffered image planes o 24-bit Z buffer o 1-bit, double-buffered overlay o Other planes for additional features and further acceleration * 12 MB (GLZ3) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: o 24-bit, double-buffered image planes o 24-bit Z buffer o 1-bit, double-buffered overlay o Other planes for additional features and further acceleration * Geometry acceleration to speed up lighting and transforms * Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library * Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D triangle meshes * Anti-aliased vector support * Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine * Genlock support for dual screens * Support for the following Intergraph Computer Systems' monitors: 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ3 and GLZ4) 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors (GLZ4) * Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing * Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels (GLZ4) * Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,152 x 864 pixels (GLZ3) * Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to simultaneously display using independent color palettes * 10-bit gamma correction GLZ2 and GLZ1 Product highlights * 24 MB (GLZ2) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at all display resolutions, providing: o 24-bit, double-buffered image planes o 24-bit Z buffer o 1-bit, double-buffered overlay o Other planes for additional features and further acceleration * 12 MB (GLZ1) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: o 24-bit, double-buffered image planes o 24-bit Z buffer o 1-bit, double-buffered overlay o Other planes for additional features and further acceleration * Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library * Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D triangle meshes * Anti-aliased vector support * Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine * Genlock support for dual screens * Support for the following Intergraph Computer Systems' monitors: o 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ1 and GLZ2) o 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors (GLZ2) * Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing * Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels (GLZ2) * Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,152 x 864 pixels (GLZ1) * Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to simultaneously display using independent color palettes * 10-bit gamma correction GLZ1T This card has the same features as the GLZ1 card, accept that it adds 8 MB of texture memory and supports hardware processing like the GLZ5 and GLZ6. GLZ configurations at a glance GLZ Hardware Hardware Hardware Texture Frame Max model rendering geometry texture DRAM buffer resolution accel accel processing VRAM (in pixels) GLZ6 Yes Yes Yes 32 MB 34 MB 1,600 x 1,280 (8 megatexels) GLZ5 Yes Yes Yes 8 MB 12 MB 1,152 x 864 (2 megatexels) GLZ4 Yes Yes No No 24 MB 1,600 x 1,280 GLZ3 Yes Yes No No 12 MB 1,152 x 864 GLZ2 Yes No No No 24 MB 1,600 x 1,280 GLZ1T Yes No Yes 8 MB 12 MB 1,152 x 864 (2 megatexels) GLZ1 Yes No No No 12 MB 1,152 x 864 Performance specifications for GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6 The following table summarizes hardware performance for GLZs supporting resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 (GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6) on Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors. 3D graphics performance* 3D requests (with Z buffering) Performance Triangle, 50-pixel, Gouraud shaded 450,000 triangles/second Triangle, 25-pixel, Gouraud shaded 515,000 triangles/second Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 1,150,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, Gouraud shaded 1,000,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 550,000 vectors/second Texturing performance (GLZ6)* Textured areas, 512 x 512 (trilinear 15 megatexels/second interpolated, mip-mapped) 2D graphics performance* 2D requests Performance Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 1,450,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 550,000 vectors/second Blit: screen to screen, 64 Bit 26 megapixels/second (R,G,B,A,Z) Fills 400 megapixels/second Text, 9 x 13 240,000 characters/second *These performance numbers are the maximum hardware rate. Actual system performance depends on host processor speed and application. Performance specifications for GLZ1, GLZ1T, GLZ3, and GLZ5 The following table summarizes hardware performance for GLZs supporting resolutions up to 1,152 x 864 on Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors. 3D graphics performance* 3D requests (with Z buffering) Performance Triangle, 50-pixel, Gouraud shaded 230,000 triangles/second Triangle, 25-pixel, Gouraud shaded 425,000 triangles/second Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 800,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, Gouraud shaded 800,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 285,000 vectors/second Texturing performance (GLZ1T, GLZ5)* Textured areas, 512 x 512 (trilinear 15 megatexels/second interpolated, mip-mapped) 2D graphics performance* 2D requests Performance Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 1,150,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 285,000 vectors/second Blit: screen to screen, 64 Bit 13 megapixels/second (R,G,B,A,Z) Fills 200 megapixels/second Text, 9 x 13 190,000 characters/second * These performance numbers are the maximum hardware rate. Actual system performance depends on host processor speed and application. Display support GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6 support Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and our 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels. The following table indicates the currently supported screen resolutions in full 24-bit, true-color, double-buffered mode. Resolutions Colors Maximum supported supported refresh 16.8 M rates 1,600 x 1,280 X 76 Hz 1,600 x 1,200 X 81 Hz 1,280 x 1,024 X 94 Hz 1,280 x 960 X 100 Hz 1,152 x 864 X 85 Hz 1,024 x 768 X 122 Hz 800 x 600 X 153 Hz 640 x 480 X 186 Hz GLZ1, GLZ1T, GLZ3, and GLZ5 support Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864. The following table indicates the currently supported screen resolutions in full 24-bit, true-color, double-buffered mode. Resolutions Colors Maximum supported supported refresh 6.8 M rates 1,152 x 864 X 72 Hz 1,024 x 768 X 85 Hz 800 x 600 X 85 Hz 640 x 480 X 85 Hz For more information or the number of a sales representative or Intergraph Computer Center near you, call: U.S. and Canada : 800-763-0242 Asia-Pacific : 852-2893-3621 Europe : 31-2503-66576 Middle East : 971-4-367555 Other areas : 1-205-730-5441 Or reach us on the Internet at http://www.intergraph.com. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems Division's VPX image generator board in an extended EISA board which offers up to 300,000 fully texture-mapped, z-buffered polygons per second, with screen-fill performance of more than 997 megapixels per second. The VPX board can render a single image (or a stereo image on the VPX-Stereo version only) in NTSC composite or Y/C video, or field-sequential RGB formats. The VPX is available as an OEM PC card, for integration into the OEM's own PC platforms, or as a fully-configured development platform. The ProVision Merlin development platform for the VPX card includes a high-performance Pentium(R) processor, one, two, or three VPX graphics cards, standard MS-DOS PC I/O, and software development tools. The ProVision Merlin is a complete solution for manufacturers who want to immediately start development. The VPX board is also available in Division's ProVision 10 immersive virtual reality accelerator for the HP 700 range of UNIX workstations, or in Division's ProVision 100 fully-integrated virtual reality workstation, which includes an HMD, tracker, 3D audio, and all software required to create complex virtual environments without programming. A key feature of the VPX board is the outstanding pixel fill-rate needed to fill the large numbers of textured polygons required for visually-realistic, real-time applications. The VPX board has been developed from the outset for high-end simulation and entertainment applications, and is capable of a sustained 20-30Hz frame-rate with very rich visual content and 3D depth. The VPX is based on the University of North Carolina's patented Pixel-Planes (tm) massively parallel image generator technology. PRICING ProVision Merlin - PC/DOS based graphics System, Pentium Option * PVMVPX1-PM: US$19,400 The ProVision Merlin is an advanced virtual reality, simulation, or entertainment computer system with the VPX Pixel-Planes(tm) graphics. This 66 MHz Intel(R) Pentium(R) PC includes a compact, rugged, industrial-class chassis, 300 watt power supply, 4 available EISA slots, a keyboard, mouse, 16Mbytes RAM, 500Mbyte Disk, 14" color monitor, MS DOS, MS Windows, and a VPX-Mono image generator board. The ProVision Merlin supports mono head mounted displays and NTSC video monitors. The graphics system includes Division's dPL graphics runtime library for the VPX. One VPX-Mono image generator is included in this system. * VPX-Mono image generator board DBE0150-M: US$14,900 (For OEM sales only. Requires upgraded power supply and cooling in host PC.) * VPX-Stereo image generator board DBE0150-S: US$21,450 (For OEM sales only. Requires upgraded power supply and cooling in host PC.) The ProVision Merlin is also available in configurations with two or three VPX image generator boards, thus achieving up to six simultaneous out-the-window displays and 900,000 fully photo-textured, z-buffered polygons per second. For more information, contact: Pierre duPont dupontp@division.co.uk Marketing Director, Division Limited 19 Apex Court, Woodlands, Bristol UK BS12 4JT phone: +44 1454 615554 fax: +44 1454 615532 They also have a web page at http://www.division.com. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt They had an experimental WWW server running, but it has been down. The URL is http://www.simsys.com/ You can get more info about the company by 1) finger @simsys.com 2) mail info@simsys.com For more information, contact: Reality Simulation Systems, Inc. 1223 Peoples Ave. Troy, NY 12180 Phone: 518.276.3073 Fax: 518.276.6380 [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B09) Western Digital Tasmania 3D The information I currently have is from the press release on Western Digital's home page: http://www.wdc.com/ The actual press release is at: http://www.wdc.com/new/releases/950918-2.html The board is aimed at 3D gaming and is available for either PCI- or VL-based systems. It has an estimated selling price of $250. It renders high-resolution three dimensional games with detailed textures at realistic frame rates on mainstream PCs. Its 640 by 480 resolution redefines state-of-the-art for 3D games, quadrupling the current 320 by 200 resolution of most software-based 3D games. The board comes with two popular high-resolution action games, immediately sending users into the next dimension of computing. The design and implementation of Tasmania 3D allows it to co-exist with any 2D graphics accelerator. Users don't have to invest in any additional hardware to play their 3D games. Tasmania 3D gives users the excitement of 3D without impacting the performance of their existing 2D graphics card. Tasmania 3D incorporates the Yamaha YGV612 Rendering Polygon Accelerator. It provides hardware texture mapping for the highest quality of detail, without sacrificing performance. It also features gouraud shading for smooth, realistic contours and Z-buffering for hidden surface removal, giving gamers the ultimate playing experience. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B10) Dynamic Pictures V192 The information I currently have is from Leo Merta at Dynamic Pictures, Inc. For more information, contact Dinesh Sharma at: Dinesh Sharma (sharma@dypic.com) Dynamic Pictures, Inc. 5225 Betsy Ross Drive Santa Clara, CA 95054-1102 Phone: 408 327-9000 The V192 3D Graphics Accelerator card is the first product in a new generation of workstation-performance Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) graphics acceleration cards for the PC Windows 95/Windows NT desktop market. Dynamic Pictures was recently responsible for developing the ZLXp-L1 and ZLXp-L2 graphics accelerators for the Alpha AXP workstations from Digital Equipment Corporation. The V192 accelerator card is an almost identical product to the ZLXp-L1. Features * 1280x1024 24-bit Z buffer * 1280x1024 24-bit double buffer * 16 MB of high-speed VRAM * On-board VGA * Gouraud shading * Overlays and Window ID planes * 8-bit alpha buffer * 4-bit stencil buffer * Accumulation buffer * Atmospheric effects (i.e. fog, smoke) * Anti-aliasing - points, lines, polygons, and full scenes * Alpha blending * Transparency * Scissor and stipple masking * Stereo Display Performance * The V192 has application-level graphics performance comparable to SGI's Indigo2/Extreme and the HP Visualizer 24 at a fraction of the price. * 200K 3D triangles per second (50 pixels, smooth shaded mesh, Z-buffered) * 1.4 million 3D vectors per second Software Compatibility * 100% OpenGL compliant - The V192 3D Graphics Accelerator card comes with OpenGL drivers developed by the industry leaders in OpenGL driver development. Drivers are available for Pentium, MIPS, Alpha AXP and Power PC based systems. * Seamless integration with Windows NT 3.5 or greater. System Hardware Requirements * PCI-based processor (Pentium, MIPS, Alpha AXP or Power PC). * One available PCI bus-master slot for the V192 card. * Support for on-board VGA, no additional VGA card is required. Availability * The V192 3D Graphics Accelerator is available through selected OEM partners. Please contact Dynamic Pictures for more information. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B11) Matrox Millenium This information was obtained from Matrox's WWW server at http://www.matrox.com/ The Matrox Millenium is consistently reviewed as one of the best 2D graphics cards currently available, with features including * World's highest performance at 61 million Winmarks * Dual ported Window RAM (WRAM) memory technology * Optimized PCI Local Bus Design * Resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 in 256, 65K and 16.7M Colors * 220 Hz flicker-free screen refresh * Base versions available with 2 or 4 MB of Window RAM * Upgradeable to 4 or 8 MB of Window RAM * Hardware accelerated color space conversion and video upscaling to accelerate MPEG and AVI full screen playback. The 3D features include * Gouraud shading * double buffering * 16-bit Z-buffering * renders 190,000 Gouraud shaded polygons per second * display drivers for Windows {3.1, 3.11, '95, NT 3.5}, OS/2 2.1, Warp 3.0, AutoCAD 12 and 13 for DOS and Windows, Microstation 5.0, VESA 2.0 (up to 1280 x 1024) * Support for standard 3D APIs including Silicon Graphics OpenGL, Microsoft Reality Lab, Intel 3DR, and Criterion RenderWare Specifications Summary and Ordering Information Windows Resolutions With 3D and Colors Gouraud Shading Resolutions Colors Resolutions Colors 1600 x 1200 256, 65K*,16.7M** 1600 x 1200 256** 1280 x 1024 256, 65K* 16.7M* 1280 x 1024 256*, 65K** 1152 x 882 256, 65K, 16.7M* 1152 x 882 256,* 65K** 1024 x 768 256, 65K, 16.7M* 1024 x 768 256*, 65K**,16.7M** 800 x 600 256, 65K, 16.7M 800 x 600 256, 65K*, 16.7M** 640 x 480 256, 65K, 16.7M 640 x 480 256, 65K*, 16.7M** *Requires 4 MB of **Requires 8 MB of Window RAM. Window RAM All 3D modes are double buffered with 16-bit Z-buffer Refresh Rates Resolution V. Frequency H. Frequency 1600 x 1200 60 - 85 Hz 76 - 96 KHz 1280 x 1024 60 - 110 Hz 63 - 107 KHz 1152 x 882 60 - 120 Hz 54 - 110 KHz 1024 x 768 60 - 120 Hz 48 - 104 KHz 800 x 600 60 - 200 Hz 37 - 100 KHz 640 x 480 60 - 200 Hz 32 - 100 KHz [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B12) APD Free Dimension This information was received from Victor Silveira (VSilveira@aol.com). The APD Free Dimension is a PCI Bus 3D Graphics Board, ideally suited for Virtual Reality, Simulation, and Entertainment. The "Free Dimension" Board is designed and manufactured by APD, and it is marketed in Europe by APD, and marketed in the US by SILVEIRA Corporation. The Free Dimension Board ("FDB") is designed to provide on a PC or Macintosh the same performance as those of a higher end more expensive workstation (such as Silicon Graphics, or SUN, etc.), but for a fraction of the price. The FDB provides true texture mapping and simultaneous Gouraud Shading, so that the user may experience WorkStation Class 3D on a PC/Mac environment. Real Time Graphics Applications are possible for Virtual Reality (VR) and Simulation applications. FDB incorporates GUL (Graphics Ultra Light),a Library Optimized for Real Time Graphics, that takes advantage of the underlying hardware (GUL works with Studio and SoftImage). Hardware Features * True color double frame-buffer and Z-buffer * TRUE Hardware supported texture mapping and Gouraud Shading (not just acceleration) * perspective correction * 2D-overlay + 3D + 2D underlay * multiple 3D windowing control * frame rate regulation * stereoscopic output at full resolution * plug and play single slot PCI Bus * ... and more. Technical characteristics * Rendering speed. o Textured mapping and/or Gouraud shading at 20 million pixels/second rate. o 320 k textured and / or shared polygons / sec. o Per polygon basis selection of the hardware coloring method (texturing, and / or shading). * Hardware perspective correction of textured polygons. * Frame Buffer o 8 MB of RAM o four, 32 bits wide frame buffers at full-resolution for double buffering + double camera (stereoscopic camera). o no redraws visible o artifact free image sequencing (buffer - switching synchronized with vertical retrace signal) o 24 color bits / pixel o hardware flash erase function o full initialization of the framebuffer in less than 77 micro seconds. * Z Buffer o 16 bits wide Z Buffer o Hardware flash erase function o full initialization of the frame - buffer in less than 77 microseconds. * Shading o Three independent color interpolators o Software definable reflection coefficients. * Colors o True 3D information (24 bits per pixel) o 8 transparency levels applicable of each polygon o 2D VGA information transparently converted to 24 bits using a color palette. * Resolution. Maximum 3D window size, with true color and stereo (for each eye) is: o 800 x 512 pixels in an 800 x 600 screen o 640 x 480 full screen * Stereoscopic output o Jack output ready for standard CrystalEyes shutter glasses emitter o 120 Hz stereo (60 Hz each eye interleaved) video output for multisync monitor (no video synch doubler needed) o Each eye at full resolution (800 x 512) + double buffering + true color. * Texture Mapping o True hardware texture mapping at 20 Million pixels / second rate o texture map coordinates are perspective corrected )no distortion in the resulting image) o textured polygons can be simultaneously lighted, at 20 Million pixels per second rate o texture colors corrected by hardware according to the lighting level of each pixel o 1 MByte texture Memory; 8 Bit wide texture maps o 32 simultaneously definable 8 - bits palettes, of 16 million colors o each texture map can be dynamically associated with any of the 32 available palettes o one of the 256 indexes of the palettes can be defined as transparency color o arbitrary complex shapes can be drawn in the scene using self-orienting bitmaps o hardware texture wrapping function (so that a repeating pattern can be applied to a polygon) o maximum texture size for automatic wrapping textures is 128 x 128 texels o hardware bit mapping support for each texture map. * Object Selection o a 7 bit wide identification can be associated with each object o it is stored in the frame buffer for each pixel belonging to the object o Point-and-select or help functions implementation with minimum overhead o Object tagging can be individually enabled or disabled for each primitive o hardware access to tagging information o tag value returned in less than 16 msecs. * Overlay and Underlay o 2D images, full - motion digital video and textual information can be freely mixed with the 3D scene o Information from the VGA mixed with the 3D information through the feature connector. Four Modes available to control 2D and 3D information mixing as follows: a) pass through mode. b) 3D only mode, c) underlay mode, d) overlay + underlay mode. * Multiple 3D Windowing Control. 3D Rendering on multiple windows that can be freely moved and re-sized within the screen. * Frame Rate Regulation o Synchronous or asynchronous image sequencing o Erasing of frame-buffer and Z Buffer automatically performed after each buffer switching o Horizontal re-trace counter available in all modes o Four different synchronization modes available: Fully Synchronous, Normal Synchronous, Asynchronous, Software synchronization. * System requirements. A PC pr PowerMac with a CPU running at 90MHz or above, 16 MBytes of RAM, SVGA with a standard feature connector, 1 PCI free slot, and Windows 95, Windows NT, MS DOS 6.2, or System 7.5. The APD 3D PCI accelerator Board manufactured by APB scheduled for release during February 1996 in the $4,500 range. Contact Information: You may contact Sales, Marketing and Technical support at the following addresses: APD Attention Luis Pedro Marzan, Vice President Madrid, Spain Telephone: (34) (1) 798 5626 Fax: (34) (1) 797 7897 EMail: freedimension@gapd.es. SILVEIRA Corporation Attention: Mr. Kevin Toler, Manager Washington DC, USA Telephone: (202) 686 2230 Fax: (202) 686 2231 EMail: 102511,652@compuserve.com. [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B13) Arcobel Imagine The following information was provided by Peter Van Ackeren, Technical Support Engineer at Arcobel (ossfs1!pva@relay.NL.net). Features * Based on the 60 Mhz Imagine VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) ultra high speed graphics and image processor * 8000 MIPS pixel processing speed * Equipped with 8 MB of VRAM, allowing display sizes up to 1600x1280 in true colour (32-bit) * Image size up to 8 Mpixels (e.g. 4K x 2K x 8-bit) * 24, 16,or 8 bit images can be combined with an 8 or 16 bit overlay plane * Supports Microsoft Windows '95 and Windows/NT 3.5 operating systems * Provides Windows acceleration using optimized downloaded software * Simultaneous support for Windows acceleration and Imagine native mode graphics applications * Multiple boards in one system can be synchronised with one common signal up to 140 MHz * Industry standard 32-bit PCI interface Rev.2.1 supports up to 132 MB/s (master DMA burst transfers) * Direct memory access capabilities * Memory & I/O expansion bus (up to 240 Mpixel/s bandwidth) * Optional broadcast standard video frame grabber (Imagine Capture Board) Major Application Areas * 3D-Graphics * Multi Media Applications * Broadcast Video Editing and Special Effects * True Colour Desktop Publishing (DTP) * Professional Photo Retouching * Raster Image Processing (RIP) Board Architecture * The Imagine PCI-Board uses the 32-bit PCI local bus providing compatibility with current Intel `486 & Pentium based PC's and PowerPC MacIntosh systems. Configuration conforms to Plug & Play specifications. * The AMCC S5933 PCI Local Bus interface handles all accesses to on-board locations and provides DMA support between the host memory and the Imagine FIFO. * The board has 3 separate memory spaces : up to 8 MB of image memory (VRAM), 2 or 4 MB of data/texture memory and 256kB of instruction memory (synchronous SRAM) * The Texas Instruments TVP3026 Video Interface Palette chip provides RAMDAC and color key functions plus a hardware cursor * SVGA pass-through for alternated SVGA and native mode graphics * On-board Video-In connector supports optional true colour real-time Imagine Capture Board Supported Operating Systems & Graphics Standards * Software drivers for Windows '95 and Windows/NT 3.5 * Windows `95 GDI, 3D-DDI, Intel 3DR, as well as the forthcoming OpenGL for Windows and directX * Imagine native development environment available for Windows '95, Windows/NT 3.5, Solaris 1.0 and Linux Imagine SDE - The Software Development Environment * The SDE bundles all software tools to develop Imagine native code applications and customer specific graphics libraries: o `GCC' ..... GNU ANSI-C Compiler o `IMAS' .... Hierarchical Instruction Set Assembler o `IMLIB' ... Library tool o `IMLINK' .. Linker / loader o `IMCOMM' .. Communication tools o `IMSIM' ... Visual Simulator / Debugger o `Winbug' .. Console based debugger * Imagine Native Software Libraries o `IMCORE' .. Memory management, arithmetic, C initialization, text display, graphic core and timer functions o `I1D' ..... Line drawing, bitblits and fonts o `I2D' ..... 2D graphics image manipulation functions, e.g. arithmetic, copy, raster, relational, blending, affine transformation and convolution functions o `I3D' ..... 3D texture mapped graphics, e.g. vertex based and rendering functions o `IMCC' .... Image compression / decompression and conversion functions o `IIL/SIV' . Intermediate library providing C-macros for vector processing and fixed point arithmetic For more information please: Call: (+31) 73 6444.144 Fax: (+31) 73 6444.150 E-mail: sales-ag@arcobel.nl or write to: Arcobel Graphics B.V. P.O. Box 3523 DM `s Hertogenbosch The Netherlands [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B14) Synthetic Images Reality Blaster This information was provided by Lee Slater, lslater@synthetic.com. Reality Blazer, Model RB-1000PC The Reality Blazer was created and built for one purpose - to process and render virtual worlds. Unlike graphics accelerators, the Reality Blazer is capable of holding an entire virtual world, and then carrying out complex object oriented simulation completely independent of the host processor. This leaves the host PC free to perform complex applications and interface tasks. FEATURES * Designed specifically for high performance Industrial Simulation & Virtual Reality. This is NOT just another graphics accelerator! * Flexible and scaleable. Use a single board by itself for a monoscopic environment. Add a second video processor channel for dual display 3-D stereo. Add optics distortion correction as needed - all right on the same board! * Anti-alias processing and NTSC/PAL included! * Run multiple boards in a single PC - for full speed stereo 3-D, multiple view perspectives or even totally different scenarios. * Dynamic texture swap, texture tiling (up to 8x8), rotating textures, custom bit mapped fonts and 2D texture "stamps", for outrageous special effects! * 120Hz StereoGraphics and Sun ZX compatible LCD shutter glass output. * Optional Optics Distortion Processor allows use of spherical projections or custom optics distortion. * Standard NTSC/PAL processors are sync locked with scene processors - no frame latency! * Load management, LOD blending and fading. * Programmable 3D windows and subscreens! SPECIFICATIONS * 60,000 continuous polys per second * 2,000 polys/frame @ 30 FPS update rate * 60/120Hz video refresh rate (each channel) * 16 million colors (24-bit) on screen * Standard 1Mb of subdividable texture maps (64-128x128, 256-64x64, etc), expandable * Vector and bit mapped text fonts * 512x480 and other resolutions * RS-170A mode also available on VGA connector * 200 instantaneous moving models (>1K in scenario) * Simultaneous flat or smooth shading, texturing, transparancy, translucency and anti-aliasing * Standard 24-bit Z-depth buffering in hardware * Standard 25,000 poly world size, expandable * Object instancing allows millions of polys in world * Standard sync-locked NTSC and PAL processor * Standard hardware anti-aliasing * Standard 120Hz LCD shutter glass interface (TTL) INCLUDED SOFTWARE * 'C' language API * World compiler and visualizer * Conversion utilities for DXF, 3DS and others * Special utilities, such as font compiler and atmospheric effects generator and others. * Diagnostic utilities, sample worlds and programs OPTIONS * Plug-in 2nd channel for full stereo 3-D output * Plug-in Optics Distortion Processor module * Expand onboard texture map RAM to 4Mb * Expand onboard database RAM to 225K polys For more information contact: Lee Slater, Director of Marketting Synthetic Images Voice: 408-267-8451 Fax: 408-267-1812 e-mail: lslater@synthetic.com [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B15) S3 ViRGE and ViRGE/VX The information in this section was taken from the S3 homepage at: http://www.s3.com/ The ViRGE 64-bit DRAM-based accelerator combines a 135MHz RAMDAC and clock synthesizer with the multimedia capabilities of S3's Trio64V+ including video acceleration, video playback using both software and hardware sources, live video support and the ability to connect with popular NTSC and PAL decoders. Additionally, ViRGE is SVGA-compatible, so as to support legacy DOS applications and games, and provides high-performance 2D GUI acceleration support for resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 x 256 colors at 75Hz. S3's ViRGE accelerator also provides support for all major 3D APIs, including OpenGL, Microsoft's Direct3D and RealityLab, as well as Argonaut BRender and Criterion Renderware. The ViRGE/VX product offers all of the same features as the DRAM-based ViRGE, but substitutes support for VRAM and WindowsRAM (WRAM), and increases the integrated RAMDAC performance level to 220 MHz. Resolutions up to 1600x1200x16 million colors @ 75Hz are supported and higher memory bandwidth is enabled by the block write feature. 64-bit S3d Engine The S3d Engine provides 2D acceleration for excellent Windows applications performance and a full-featured high-performance 3D rendering engine for games and other interactive 3D applications. The S3d Engine incorporates the key Windows accelerator functions of BitBLT, line draw and polygon fill. 3D features include flat shading, Gouraud shading and texture mapping support. Advanced texture mapping features include perspective correction, bi-linear and tri-linear filtering, MIP- Mapping, and Z-buffering. The S3d Engine also includes direct support for utilizing video as a texture map. These features provide the most realistic user experience for interactive 3D applications. Other advanced features of the S3d Engine include S3 proprietary compressed texture formats for improved performance and reduced memory requirements, as well as support for S3's MUX buffering (pat. pend.) feature, which allows for Z-buffering support with no additional memory requirement. Streams Processor The S3 Streams Processor provides the stretching and YUV color space conversion features required for full screen video playback with both software CODECs and hardware MPEG-1 sources. The Streams Processor allows simultaneous display of graphics and video of different color depths. For example, it is possible to display 24 bpp- equivalent video on top of an 8- bit graphics background. This saves memory bandwidth and storage capacity while permitting higher frame rates. S3 Scenic Highway The S3 Scenic Highway allows lowest cost direct connection to S3's Scenic/MX2 MPEG-1 audio and video decoder as well as video digitizers such as the Philips SAA7110/SAA7111. Features * High-Performance Integrated DRAM-based 2D/3D Graphics and Video Accelerator o High-performance 64-bit 2D/3D graphics engine o Integrated 135 MHz RAMDAC and clock synthesizer o S3 Streams Processor for accelerated video o S3 Scenic Highway for direct interface to live video and MPEG-1 peripherals Pin compatible with S3 Trio64V+ S3d Graphics Engine Features o High performance 2D Windows acceleration o Flat and Gouraud shading for 3D o High quality/performance 3D texture mapping. Perspective correction Bi-linear and tri-linear texture filtering MIP-Mapping. o Depth cueing and fogging Alpha blending o Video texture mapping o Z-buffering o Vertical interpolation for video playback * S3 Streams Processor Features Supports on-the-fly stretching and blending of primary RGB stream and RGB or YUV (video) secondary stream. Each stream can have a different color depth. High-quality hardware-assisted video playback with horizontal interpolation. o Support for Indeo, Cinepak, and software and hardware-accelerated MPEG-1 video S3 Scenic Highway Interface and Philips SAA7110/SAA7111 video digitizers. o S3 Scenic/MX2 MPEG-1 audio/video decoder * High Screen Resolution (Non-package interlaced) Support o 1280x1024x256 colors at 75 Hz refresh o 1024x768x64K colors at 75 Hz refresh o 800x600x16.7M colors at 75 Hz refresh * High-Performance Memory Support o 64-bit DRAM memory interface o 2- and 4-MByte DRAM video memory o Single-cycle EDO operation * Non-x86 CPU Support o Big endian/little endian byte ordering o Relocatable addressing * Industry-Standard Local Bus Support. o Glueless PCI 2.1 bus interface o Glueless VESA VL-Bus interface * PCI Bus Mastering for Display List Processing and Video Capture Support * Multimedia Support Hooks * Full Software Support. Drivers for major operating systems: [Windows 95, Windows 3.11, Windows NT, OS/2 2.1 and 3.0 (Warp), ADI 4.2] * Green PC/Monitor Plug and Play [return to index] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Complete Change History * Changes since version 0.9 New entries: o CS06) Rendition Vérité o CS07) Chromatic Research Mpact o CS08) 3DLabs Permedia o B09) Western Digital Tasmania 3D o B10) Dynamic Pictures V192 Changed entries: o NVIDIA) Changed NVIDEA to NVIDIA o GLINT05) now available for Windows 3.1 o GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX now shipping as part of NEC RISCstation 2200. o GLINT08) I finally found specs. * Changes since version 0.8 New entries: o CS05) NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 Multimedia Accelerators o GLINT08) Creative Labs' 3D Blaster o GLINT09) Microstep AGC-3D o NVIDIA01) Diamond Edge 3D Accelerators Changed entries: o GLINT02) Working URL added. Better information. o GLINT03) now available o GLINT04) Change entry name to Omnicomp 3Demon VR o GLINT05) now available in Europe o GLINT06) now available in Japan o ARTIST01) Was the B09) entry in v0.8, but was moved due to reorganization. o B01) Added information on the AG500 * Changes since version 0.7 New entries: o CS04) ARTIST Graphics 3GA Graphics Processor o B09) ARTIST 2000 * Changes since version 0.6 Original now kept in html form and text version created by saving as text from Netscape. Changed entries: o B08) Added snail mail and phone contacts. * Changes since version 0.5 o Q02) added pointers to the OpenGL home page and the Viewperf ftp directory * Changes since version 0.4 Changed Entries: o GLINT04) Fixed area code in telephone number * Changes since version 0.3 New entries: o B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems o B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt * Changes since version 0.1 New entries: o Q02) How does the performance of these cards compare to graphics workstations such as those produced by SGI, Sun, DEC, etc? o CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor o B05) Oki TrianGL o B06) Intergraph GLZ Series Changed entries: o CS01) Changed address of www site and added email contact. o GLINT01) added pricing information o B01) Historical correction. o B04) Small change (VLbus parts may not exist) [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