3dfx announced details about their upcoming Voodoo 5 6000 AGP, 5500 AGP and 5000 PCI as well as for their Voodoo 4 4500 AGP and Voodoo 4 4500 PCI. All five cards will be based upon 3dfx’s new 14 million transistors VSA-100 chip, which is manufactured with an enhanced .25 micron six layer metal CMOS process. Both the Voodoo 4 and Voodoo 5 will support 32-bit 3D color, DXTC and FXT1 texture compression, and 32-bit textures of up to 2048x2048 in size. The Voodoo 5 will also support 3dfx’s T-buffer technology through the use of multiple VSA-100 processors. Beyond these features, here are the specifics for each card: Voodoo 5 6000 AGPFour VSA-100 processors working in SLI128MB of memory1.33 – 1.47 Gigapixels/second fill rateRenders eight fully featured pixels per clockESP of $599.99 Voodoo 5 5500 AGPTwo VSA-100 processors working in SLI64MB of memory667 – 733 Megapixels/second fill rate Renders four fully featured pixels per clockESP of $299.99 Voodoo 5 5000 PCITwo VSA-100 processors working in SLI32MB of memory667 – 733 Megapixels/second fill rateRenders four fully featured pixels per clockESP of $229.99 Voodoo 4 4500 AGP and PCIOne VSA-100 processor32MB of memory333 – 367 Megapixels/second fill rateRenders two fully featured pixels per clockESP of $179.99 The first thing you should know is that all of the Voodoo 5 cards use multiple VSA-100 processors and run in an SLI mode. The Voodoo 5 architecture is actually capable of running up to 32 processors in an SLI setup. Quantum3D will be making VSA-100 powered systems with 8-32 processors and up to 2GB of RAM in their Aalchemy product line. That comes to over a 100 Gigapixels/second fill rate! The various VSA-100 processors in the Voodoo 5 architecture each process (256/number of VSA-100 processors on-board) lines at a time and are synched together so that all the chips on the card are processing the same frame. So each VSA-100 on an four-chip Voodoo 6000 AGP processes 256/4=64 lines at a time and they are all synched together so that there will not be tearing or other inaccuracies. For comparison, the processors of a Voodoo2 SLI setup are not synched and each processor draws every other line. Because of this, it was possible and is often the case that each processor draws a different frame from each other and graphical glitches occur. The second thing you should know is that the clock rate of the VSA-100 has not yet been set, hence the ranges for fill rates instead of single values. This is because 3dfx is unsure of future RAM prices, and depending on cost they will clock the VSA-100s at either 166 or 183MHz. And now you’re probably dying to know, “When will it ship?!?” According to 3dfx, the Voodoo 4 will ship sometime in March, followed a few weeks later by the rest of the various Voodoo 5 boards. [Leave Your Comments Here] We had a chat with the Elsa crew at COMDEX and learned some interesting things. Their ErazorX2, a GeForce 256 DDR video card, is expected to ship in early to mid-December with 32MB of DDR SGRAM. It will include a pair of their 3D Revelator glasses, which we tested out in Re-Volt and saw that they do add to the 3D effect. We found out that the major difference between Elsa’s GeForce board design and NVIDIA’s reference design that everyone else uses is that Elsa adds their Chip Guard technology. It is a temperature sensor and fan sensor that warn you when the card is beginning to overheat or when your fan is failing, which allows you time to either downclock the ErazorX or ErazorX2 or repair your fan. If you don’t heed its warning, in some situations it will downclock the speed for you and in others it will turn off the computer to prevent damage to the card. In the future, Elsa plans on upping the RAM on their high-end GeForce to 64MB of DDR SGRAM as they phase out the SDR SDRAM version of the card. As for their high-end 3D card, the GLoria II powered by NVIDIA’s Quadro, we found out it should ship early in December. It should be noted that Elsa is the only card maker that will have cards based upon the Quadro. We don’t know of any other company that has as much NVIDIA TNT experience as well as the high-end 3D experience that Elsa has, so it strikes us as a good move on NVIDIA’s part to choose Elsa exclusively for the Quadro. [Leave Your Comments Here] Guillemot informed us that they expect the DDR SGRAM version of their GeForce 256 powered card to ship within two to three weeks. We have some worries about this since their already shipping SDR SDRAM GeForce cards are difficult to find. [Leave Your Comments Here] A week or so ago we reported that Gigabyte will be producing a Matrox G400 powered video card that will only work with their GA-6CX motherboards. We can add on top of that tidbit, the news that they’re also making a Voodoo3 powered card with an identical limitation. Gigabyte’s G400 and Voodoo3 both have their video BIOS on the GA-6CX’s motherboard, which means they won’t work with any other motherboard. Both cards are intended for the system integrator market and will mostly, if not only, be sold bundled with a motherboard. [Leave Your Comments Here] Be sure to check yesterday's news if you missed it as we posted some great news items including a scoop on Voyetra Turtle Beach's upcoming sound card, the Santa Cruz. [Leave Your Comments Here] >> More News!
Voodoo 5 6000 AGP
Voodoo 5 5500 AGP
Voodoo 5 5000 PCI
Voodoo 4 4500 AGP and PCI
The first thing you should know is that all of the Voodoo 5 cards use multiple VSA-100 processors and run in an SLI mode. The Voodoo 5 architecture is actually capable of running up to 32 processors in an SLI setup. Quantum3D will be making VSA-100 powered systems with 8-32 processors and up to 2GB of RAM in their Aalchemy product line. That comes to over a 100 Gigapixels/second fill rate!
The various VSA-100 processors in the Voodoo 5 architecture each process (256/number of VSA-100 processors on-board) lines at a time and are synched together so that all the chips on the card are processing the same frame. So each VSA-100 on an four-chip Voodoo 6000 AGP processes 256/4=64 lines at a time and they are all synched together so that there will not be tearing or other inaccuracies. For comparison, the processors of a Voodoo2 SLI setup are not synched and each processor draws every other line. Because of this, it was possible and is often the case that each processor draws a different frame from each other and graphical glitches occur.
The second thing you should know is that the clock rate of the VSA-100 has not yet been set, hence the ranges for fill rates instead of single values. This is because 3dfx is unsure of future RAM prices, and depending on cost they will clock the VSA-100s at either 166 or 183MHz.
And now you’re probably dying to know, “When will it ship?!?” According to 3dfx, the Voodoo 4 will ship sometime in March, followed a few weeks later by the rest of the various Voodoo 5 boards. [Leave Your Comments Here]
We had a chat with the Elsa crew at COMDEX and learned some interesting things. Their ErazorX2, a GeForce 256 DDR video card, is expected to ship in early to mid-December with 32MB of DDR SGRAM. It will include a pair of their 3D Revelator glasses, which we tested out in Re-Volt and saw that they do add to the 3D effect. We found out that the major difference between Elsa’s GeForce board design and NVIDIA’s reference design that everyone else uses is that Elsa adds their Chip Guard technology. It is a temperature sensor and fan sensor that warn you when the card is beginning to overheat or when your fan is failing, which allows you time to either downclock the ErazorX or ErazorX2 or repair your fan. If you don’t heed its warning, in some situations it will downclock the speed for you and in others it will turn off the computer to prevent damage to the card. In the future, Elsa plans on upping the RAM on their high-end GeForce to 64MB of DDR SGRAM as they phase out the SDR SDRAM version of the card. As for their high-end 3D card, the GLoria II powered by NVIDIA’s Quadro, we found out it should ship early in December. It should be noted that Elsa is the only card maker that will have cards based upon the Quadro. We don’t know of any other company that has as much NVIDIA TNT experience as well as the high-end 3D experience that Elsa has, so it strikes us as a good move on NVIDIA’s part to choose Elsa exclusively for the Quadro. [Leave Your Comments Here] Guillemot informed us that they expect the DDR SGRAM version of their GeForce 256 powered card to ship within two to three weeks. We have some worries about this since their already shipping SDR SDRAM GeForce cards are difficult to find. [Leave Your Comments Here] A week or so ago we reported that Gigabyte will be producing a Matrox G400 powered video card that will only work with their GA-6CX motherboards. We can add on top of that tidbit, the news that they’re also making a Voodoo3 powered card with an identical limitation. Gigabyte’s G400 and Voodoo3 both have their video BIOS on the GA-6CX’s motherboard, which means they won’t work with any other motherboard. Both cards are intended for the system integrator market and will mostly, if not only, be sold bundled with a motherboard. [Leave Your Comments Here] Be sure to check yesterday's news if you missed it as we posted some great news items including a scoop on Voyetra Turtle Beach's upcoming sound card, the Santa Cruz. [Leave Your Comments Here] >> More News!
As for their high-end 3D card, the GLoria II powered by NVIDIA’s Quadro, we found out it should ship early in December. It should be noted that Elsa is the only card maker that will have cards based upon the Quadro. We don’t know of any other company that has as much NVIDIA TNT experience as well as the high-end 3D experience that Elsa has, so it strikes us as a good move on NVIDIA’s part to choose Elsa exclusively for the Quadro. [Leave Your Comments Here]
Guillemot informed us that they expect the DDR SGRAM version of their GeForce 256 powered card to ship within two to three weeks. We have some worries about this since their already shipping SDR SDRAM GeForce cards are difficult to find. [Leave Your Comments Here] A week or so ago we reported that Gigabyte will be producing a Matrox G400 powered video card that will only work with their GA-6CX motherboards. We can add on top of that tidbit, the news that they’re also making a Voodoo3 powered card with an identical limitation. Gigabyte’s G400 and Voodoo3 both have their video BIOS on the GA-6CX’s motherboard, which means they won’t work with any other motherboard. Both cards are intended for the system integrator market and will mostly, if not only, be sold bundled with a motherboard. [Leave Your Comments Here] Be sure to check yesterday's news if you missed it as we posted some great news items including a scoop on Voyetra Turtle Beach's upcoming sound card, the Santa Cruz. [Leave Your Comments Here] >> More News!
A week or so ago we reported that Gigabyte will be producing a Matrox G400 powered video card that will only work with their GA-6CX motherboards. We can add on top of that tidbit, the news that they’re also making a Voodoo3 powered card with an identical limitation. Gigabyte’s G400 and Voodoo3 both have their video BIOS on the GA-6CX’s motherboard, which means they won’t work with any other motherboard. Both cards are intended for the system integrator market and will mostly, if not only, be sold bundled with a motherboard. [Leave Your Comments Here] Be sure to check yesterday's news if you missed it as we posted some great news items including a scoop on Voyetra Turtle Beach's upcoming sound card, the Santa Cruz. [Leave Your Comments Here] >> More News!
Be sure to check yesterday's news if you missed it as we posted some great news items including a scoop on Voyetra Turtle Beach's upcoming sound card, the Santa Cruz. [Leave Your Comments Here] >> More News!
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