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Voodoo3?

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Steven Hoagland

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Nov 17, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/17/98
to
When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
video card?


Dopefish

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Nov 17, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/17/98
to

If they do it at all, it'll probably be (at the earliest)
Q2 1999, when the Voodoo3 is set to make its appearance.

Check www.3dfx.com, www.gamecenter.com, Yahoo or any of
half a dozen sites to see the press release announcing
the voodoo3 to the world. They aren't even making the
chip yet. :)

-Phil


In article <09981017181715...@mindspring.com>,
ste...@mindspring.com says...

clair

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to
On 17 Nov 1998 23:31:00 GMT, ste...@mindspring.com (Steven Hoagland)
wrote:

>When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
>video card?
>


If this is what you mean, my G-400 came with this last Friday night:
"3DFx Voodoo Banshee AGp"
I ordered th G-400 a week ago last Monday, was told by the sales rep
that because the video card was on back order, that it would not ship
till Nov.23. It arrived last Friday afternoon. Was really surprised.
Clair


Taz

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
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This is an absurdly stupid question for so many reasons...

Steven Hoagland <ste...@mindspring.com> wrote in article
<09981017181715...@mindspring.com>...

Dopefish

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to

Well, I may have been a little more polite about saying
the same thing....but, I have to admire your honesty. :)

-Phil


In article <01be12b6$5b751460$32970218@C38073-A>,
tgerent@**NOSPAM**home.com says...

Russell

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to

clair wrote in message <365236fb...@news.gateway.net>...

>On 17 Nov 1998 23:31:00 GMT, ste...@mindspring.com (Steven Hoagland)
>wrote:
>
>>When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
>>video card?
>>
>
>
>If this is what you mean, my G-400 came with this last Friday night:
>"3DFx Voodoo Banshee AGp"


The Voodoo 3 is an improved Banshee chipset. If you need to run GLIDE games
the Banshee is the way to go but if D3D or OpenGL will fill your needs then
the TNT is the way to go. The TNT supports more 3D features than the
Banshee.

The Voodoo 3 makes up some of the Banshee short comings but still has some
problems (minor ones).

Milt

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to
What recently released V3 ( there is none)
How can it have problems if it won't be out for months

Russell wrote in message <72tv59$5pr$1...@holly.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...


>
>clair wrote in message <365236fb...@news.gateway.net>...
>>On 17 Nov 1998 23:31:00 GMT, ste...@mindspring.com (Steven Hoagland)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
>>>video card?
>>>
>

Pond Scum

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to
ste...@mindspring.com (Steven Hoagland) writes:
>When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
>video card?

It's not "recently released". It's also not a video card.

All they (3Dfx) did was announce it (Voodoo3 2000 and 3000) at COMDEX, and
also state that they've got first silicon. That's a long way from shipping
chips in quantity to OEMs.

-Jonathan jh...@geocities.com

tbc

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to

Russell wrote in message <72tv59$5pr$1...@holly.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
>
>The Voodoo 3 is an improved Banshee chipset. If you need to run GLIDE
games
>the Banshee is the way to go but if D3D or OpenGL will fill your needs then
>the TNT is the way to go. The TNT supports more 3D features than the
>Banshee.
>
>The Voodoo 3 makes up some of the Banshee short comings but still has some
>problems (minor ones).


The VooDoo 3 is due out in the spring. Initial reports indicate that it will
blow out the TNT and even be faster than 2 VooDoo cards in SLI mode. For
more info go to the Maximum PC web site http://www.maximumpcmag.com/ .

Tom

tbc

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to

Pond Scum wrote in message ...

From Maximum PC

It went by many names--Rampage, Banshee II, and even Avenger--but today at
Comdex 98, 3Dfx officially unveiled its next-generation 2D/3D accelerator,
dubbed Voodoo3.

Merging the 2D core of Banshee and the power of dual SLI Voodoo2 in a single
ASIC is no small feat, and 3Dfx is banging the 60fps drum loudly. Only this
time, you'll be digging the 60fps scene at a staggering 1280x1024
resolution!

Voodoo3 represents a trio of new video chips, but all will share the
following features--some of which should be familiar to 3Dfx-ophiles:


PCI 2.1 or AGP 2x/sidebands compliant
.25-micron fabrication
No AGP direct memory execution
Single ASIC containing single-pass dual texturing via dual graphics pipeline
2D based on optimized 128-bit Voodoo Banshee core (Windows GDI hardware
accelerator)
8.2-million transistors
100 billion operations per second
7 million triangles/sec.
256x256 maximum texture size
32-bit internal rendering
16-bit z-buffered output (22-bit effective)
4 to 16MB of SDRAM or SGRAM
Bilinear, trilinear, and anisotropic filtering
Full floating-point triangle set-up engine
Support for LCD panels up to 1280x1024 resolution
Support for up to QXGA mode of 2048x1536
TV-input/output
3D rendering up to 1920x1440
Hardware assisted DVD playback with planar-to-packed conversion
Support for triangle strips and fans
API support via D3D, OpenGL ICD, and Glide (duh!)
The Voodoo3-2000 will be the OEM-friendly silicon strapped with:

300MHz integrated RAMDAC
Maximum resolution of 2048x1536 @ 65Hz
250Mtexels/s fillrate
125MHz internal clock speed
The retail-ready Voodoo3-3000 will come packing:

350MHz integrated RAMDAC
366Mtexels/s fill rate
183MHz internal clock speed
Maximum resolution of 2048x1536 @ 75Hz
An AGP 4x version is also slated.

3D accelerator knuckleheads may notice features that are absent, notably no
AGP direct texture execution and 24-bit z. The 256x256 max texture size and
16-bit maximum rendering output may also alarm polygon pugilists who're
ready for true-color rendering madness. To them, 3Dfx says "bah!" and is
instead placing high-quality rendering at 60fps as its top-most priority, as
going to a 32-bit color depth with a 24-bit z-buffer can incur up to a 50%
performance hit. With regards to the lack of AGP texturing, 3Dfx feels its
3GB/sec. local memory transfer speed is more efficient than the
200-400MB/sec. transfer rates current AGP implementations support.

Even though its only 3 days old (3Dfx literally got its first run silicon
back from the fab on Friday), it was up and running, doing the pixel-nasty
with Quake II.

We managed to get the boys at 3Dfx to run some timedemo benchmarks for ya,
and here they are, for a first-hand peek at what'll be coming at you come Q2
of 1999. Bear in mind, this is 3-day old alpha silicon clocked down roughly
20-30% of its final speed. But, it should give an inkling of what to expect
from this 3D leviathan.

Voodoo3 Quake II (map demo1.dm2) Resolution/Frames-per-second 800x600 /
98.6fps 1024x768 / 72.7fps 1600x1200 / 31.6fps

System specs are as follows:

450MHz Pentium II, Voodoo3 alpha silicon (3 days old) w/16MB. Quake II used
the default 3Dfx OpenGL setting.

At press time, expected retail prices were not announced.


11.16.98 10:14

Voodoo3 Specs Unveiled

Bored with Banshee? Well folks, 3Dfx has taken the lid off its new Voodoo3
graphics chipset, and if the paper specs hold up, they may have another
winner on its hands.

At press time, the Maximum PC boys hadn't actually seen the silicon in
action, but an early morning press breakfast at this week's Comdex tradeshow
was held to officially unveil the specs. We'll have a more in-depth story a
little later today, but we thought you might want to take a gander at what
3Dfx promises to deliver by mid-1999.

Without further ado, here are the juicy details:


Dual, 32-bit rendering pipelines
Greater than 7 million triangles per second utilizing its 100-billion
operations per second 3D architecture
More than twice the triangle performance of two Voodoo2's running in SLI
format
The Voodoo3 family will utilize 3Dfx's patented, full-speed, single-cycle,
single-pass multi-texturing to enable features such as hardware accelerated
bump-mapping and trilinear mip-mapping at 60 frames per second
A 2D core from Voodoo Banshee
Integrated RAMDAC at 350MHz
Maximum resolution/refresh of 2048x1536@75Hz
According to 3Dfx, the Voodoo3 product family will debut with two new
products: the Voodoo3 2000 and the Voodoo3 3000. Targeted at the mainstream
PC-OEM motherboard and add-in-board markets, the Voodoo3 2000 is capable of
achieving a maximum fill rate of 250-megatexels per second, while the
enthusiast-targeted Voodoo3 3000 is capable of delivering greater than
366-megatexels per second fill rate performance. The pin-compatible AGP 2X
Voodoo3 2000 and 3000 are optimized for Intel's 440 LX/BX AGP chipset. In
the first half of 1999, an AGP 4X version will be available for shipment
with Intel's new AGP 4X chipsets to meet PC-OEM production requirements.
Both chips will also provide support for the Linux operating system, in
addition to Windows-based platforms.


Russell

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to

Milt wrote in message <3652c...@news.one.net>...

>What recently released V3 ( there is none)
>How can it have problems if it won't be out for months

The design is done and the reference boards are completed. Go to any 3D
hardware sight and read the previews. Two of the problems the V3 has are 1)
16 bit only color and 2) no AGP texture support, both of these problems are
minor no games currently need either one of these but future games are
expected to take advantage of them.

The AGP problem is very minor because card makers can just pile more memory
on the card.


3Dfx has a bigger problem on its hand, competition has eaten away at their
market share. Earnings are down and their stock is dropping.
S3, ATI and NVIDIA have caught up to them, DirectX is becoming the dominant
API solely due to financial reasons. No publisher is going to overlook
DirectX now that so many cards support it and 3Dfx is in position now to pay
publishers to release GLIDE only games.

We will have to wait for Voodoo 4 to see if 3Dfx makes a come back.

May

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Nov 18, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/18/98
to
Why is it a stupid question? Im just wondering because I know several
people who are as we speak thinking of adding this card to their
systems..die hard gamers..so Im wondering what the so many reasons its a
stupid question are? I dont know too much about it, so please excuse my
ignorance =)
May

Dopefish wrote:
>
> Well, I may have been a little more polite about saying
> the same thing....but, I have to admire your honesty. :)
>
> -Phil
>
> In article <01be12b6$5b751460$32970218@C38073-A>,
> tgerent@**NOSPAM**home.com says...
> > This is an absurdly stupid question for so many reasons...
> >
> >
> >
> > Steven Hoagland <ste...@mindspring.com> wrote in article
> > <09981017181715...@mindspring.com>...

> > > When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
> > > video card?
> >
> >

--

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger..."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Dopefish

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Nov 19, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/19/98
to
Well, it's funny how people get selective and all.

My first post contained a suggestion to look at several
information sources so that you could read it was only an
announcement of the fact that they were going to develop
the board, as well as saying the same thing in plain
english.

Sorry, but, I, for one, thought the sarcastic humor was
at least a bit funny from this guy...

-Phil
In article <09981019214651...@mindspring.com>,
ste...@mindspring.com says...


> On November 18 1998, phil...@adelphia.net (Dopefish) wrote:
> >> Well, I may have been a little more polite about saying
> > the same thing....but, I have to admire your honesty. :)
> >
> > -Phil
> >
> >
> > In article <01be12b6$5b751460$32970218@C38073-A>,
> > tgerent@**NOSPAM**home.com says...
> >> This is an absurdly stupid question for so many reasons...
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Steven Hoagland <ste...@mindspring.com> wrote in article
> >> <09981017181715...@mindspring.com>...
> >>> When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released
> >>> Voodoo3 video card?
>

> There's nothing "honest" about it. OK, the card is only "announced" not
> released. Gateway has been shipping the Voodoo2 card for ages. It is not
> inconceivable that they will start shipping the Voodoo3 card with new
> Gateway PCs whenever the card is actually available for purchase. It
> really should be "absurdly" obvious that I mistook the "announcement"
> news as "release" news. Given that, the question I asked is completely
> reasonable, not stupid.
>
>

Steven Hoagland

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Nov 20, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/20/98
to
On November 18 1998, "Taz" <tgerent@**NOSPAM**home.com> wrote:
>> This is an absurdly stupid question for so many reasons...
>
>
>
> Steven Hoagland <ste...@mindspring.com> wrote in article
> <09981017181715...@mindspring.com>...
>> When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
>> video card?

Not half as stupid as your response--for whatever reason. OK, the card
is "announced," not released. Now, if you're going to go to the trouble
to reply to a question, be "smart" enough to answer it rather than
comment on the question. Nobody cares what you think of the question,
just whether you have any helpful information to provide--get it???


Steven Hoagland

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Nov 20, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/20/98
to
On November 18 1998, phil...@adelphia.net (Dopefish) wrote:
>> Well, I may have been a little more polite about saying
> the same thing....but, I have to admire your honesty. :)
>
> -Phil
>
>
> In article <01be12b6$5b751460$32970218@C38073-A>,
> tgerent@**NOSPAM**home.com says...
>> This is an absurdly stupid question for so many reasons...
>>
>>
>>
>> Steven Hoagland <ste...@mindspring.com> wrote in article
>> <09981017181715...@mindspring.com>...
>>> When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released
>>> Voodoo3 video card?

There's nothing "honest" about it. OK, the card is only "announced" not

Steven Hoagland

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Nov 20, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/20/98
to
On November 18 1998, jh...@geocities.com (Pond Scum) wrote:
> All they (3Dfx) did was announce it (Voodoo3 2000 and 3000) at COMDEX,
> and also state that they've got first silicon. That's a long way
from > shipping chips in quantity to OEMs.

Thanks for the informative correction. Some others waste time talking
about how "stupid" the question was and being no help at all. Thanks
again.


Raymond Russell

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Nov 20, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/20/98
to

tbc wrote:

No true AGP and 16 bit color maximum. NVIDIA's next generation card will be
capable of both. The best way to show the what's wrong with 3Dfx cards is to
run the S3 version of Unreal , the 3Dfx chipsets can not handle large textures.
Currently the use of large texture maps is not used much by programmers but with
chipsets from NVIDIA, S3 and ATI being able to use them you can bet that games
will ship soon with large texture maps. Cards that can do 30 bit color will
also have the edge on visual quality.


Bryan G.

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Nov 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/21/98
to

Russell wrote in message <72tv59$5pr$1...@holly.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
>
>clair wrote in message <365236fb...@news.gateway.net>...
>>On 17 Nov 1998 23:31:00 GMT, ste...@mindspring.com (Steven Hoagland)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>When is Gateway going to start shipping the recently-released Voodoo3
>>>video card?
>>>
>>
>>
>>If this is what you mean, my G-400 came with this last Friday night:
>>"3DFx Voodoo Banshee AGp"
>
>
>The Voodoo 3 is an improved Banshee chipset. If you need to run GLIDE
games
>the Banshee is the way to go but if D3D or OpenGL will fill your needs then
>the TNT is the way to go. The TNT supports more 3D features than the
>Banshee.
>
>The Voodoo 3 makes up some of the Banshee short comings but still has some
>problems (minor ones).

Hogwash!!
The VooDoo and Banshee are entirely different chips.
The VooDoo-III has not been released yet and will be the next generation
VooDoo
not a Banshee

Bryan G.

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Nov 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/21/98
to

Russell wrote in message <72vtpk$iq$1...@ash.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...

>
>Milt wrote in message <3652c...@news.one.net>...
>>What recently released V3 ( there is none)
>>How can it have problems if it won't be out for months
>
>
>
>The design is done and the reference boards are completed.

There is a big difference between reference boards and prototype boards that
were
demonstrated at Comdex.

>Go to any 3D hardware sight and read the previews.

There is only "one" 3Dfx" hardware site and this is there announcement.
http://www.3dfx.com/docs/981116/981116a.html
So better check your sources. It does not begin to ship until Q2/99.

>Two of the problems the V3 has are 1)
>16 bit only color and 2) no AGP texture support, both of these problems are
>minor no games currently need either one of these but future games are
>expected to take advantage of them.

What you have actually pointed out above are Banshee weaknesses not VooDoo
but as you said not real issues.

>The AGP problem is very minor because card makers can just pile more memory
>on the card.

And how would more memory solve an AGP problem with the VooDoo-III (If one
existed)?

>3Dfx has a bigger problem on its hand, competition has eaten away at their
>market share. Earnings are down and their stock is dropping.
>S3, ATI and NVIDIA have caught up to them,

Have taken some share but not yet "caught up".

> DirectX is becoming the dominant API solely due to financial reasons.

B*llsh*t!! Where did you get the idea that DirectX was becoming the
dominant API for
financial reasons.

> No publisher is going to overlook DirectX now that so many cards support
it and 3Dfx is in >position now to pay publishers to release GLIDE only
games.

Doesn't work that way.


>We will have to wait for Voodoo 4 to see if 3Dfx makes a come back.

You don't mind if we wait for the VooDoo-III first do you?

Bryan


Bryan G.

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Nov 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/21/98
to

tbc wrote in message <72vmsq$rcn$1...@supernews.com>...

And your point?
Hopefully to confirm the chip is not yet in use.


Bryan G.

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Nov 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/21/98
to

Raymond Russell wrote in message <3655B2E1...@earthlink.net>...

>
>
>tbc wrote:
>
>> Russell wrote in message <72tv59$5pr$1...@holly.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
>> >
>> >The Voodoo 3 is an improved Banshee chipset. If you need to run GLIDE
>> games
>> >the Banshee is the way to go but if D3D or OpenGL will fill your needs
then
>> >the TNT is the way to go. The TNT supports more 3D features than the
>> >Banshee.
>> >
>> >The Voodoo 3 makes up some of the Banshee short comings but still has
some
>> >problems (minor ones).
>>
>> The VooDoo 3 is due out in the spring. Initial reports indicate that it
will
>> blow out the TNT and even be faster than 2 VooDoo cards in SLI mode. For
>> more info go to the Maximum PC web site http://www.maximumpcmag.com/ .
>>
>> Tom
>
>No true AGP and 16 bit color maximum. NVIDIA's next generation card will
be
>capable of both. The best way to show the what's wrong with 3Dfx cards is
to
>run the S3 version of Unreal , the 3Dfx chipsets can not handle large
textures.
>Currently the use of large texture maps is not used much by programmers but
with
>chipsets from NVIDIA, S3 and ATI being able to use them you can bet that
games
>will ship soon with large texture maps. Cards that can do 30 bit color
will
>also have the edge on visual quality.
>

Hey Ray!
Get your facts straight and stop trying to make the Nvidia, S# and ATI
resource hogs look better by comparing them to the Banshee and not the
VooDoo-III
specs you claim to be.

Pond Scum

unread,
Nov 22, 1998, 3:00:00 AM11/22/98
to
"Bryan G." <bgri...@pinn.net> writes:
>>The Voodoo 3 makes up some of the Banshee short comings but still has some
>>problems (minor ones).
>Hogwash!!
>The VooDoo and Banshee are entirely different chips.

The Voodoo Banshee contains a Voodoo2 3D core, but with just a single
texture unit, rather than two like the Voodoo2 chip.

>The VooDoo-III has not been released yet and will be the next generation
>VooDoo not a Banshee

Totally wrong. Maybe you should try to get your facts straight before
labeling someone else's post "Hogwash".

The Voodoo3 is a combined 2D and 3D chip like the Banshee.

-Jonathan jh...@geocities.com

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