And it's a BIG but… Unless the design is changed or the heat problems solved in time, it's highly unlikely that by the end of Q2 you'll actually be able to buy a board such as the one being tested here (try the 143MHz and 166MHz versions). Perhaps by Q2 a memory vendor will be found whose yields are good at 183MHz and 'beyond'. Either way, the 3500 boards we originally tested (with a cooling fan) will NOT be the same as the ones available in retail at a later date as Burke clearly stated to us,
"We will test the 3500 board in environments that will exceed any heat experienced in a computer system and put the adequate cooling on it. There is no plan to ship it with a fan, but it will have a more substantial heat sink than the boards that we have sent to Sharky Extreme."
And even when the 3500 does ship we're fairly certain that the availability of the product itself won't exactly mirror the 3000 or 2000 (3dfx has pointed this fact out too). We suspect it'll be harder to find but given the choice, many of you might want to opt for the slightly faster 3500 with its LCDfx technology and higher price tag.
"It is not that we think it will be harder to find. We expect that the 166Mhz board will satisfy all but our most avid fans. The performance at $179.99 is outstanding. There are folks who will have to have the 3500 at $249.99. We expect to be able to meet that demand", Burke went on to say.
At this time the single most important element that 3dfx pushes is their raw 16-bit performance. They clearly intend to have the fastest 3D performance on the scene. If Nvidia UltraTNT2s start appearing at higher clock speeds then (they use the same STMC FAB as 3dfx in Taiwan) they will certainly challenge for pole position. The same might also be said for ATI's recently announced Rage 128 PRO (code named Aurora, which will be due out in June/July. Thus by Q2 3dfx still has some time to 'rework' their Voodoo3 3500. Otherwise it's possible that we might see similar clock speeds as used on our 3500 being applied to the 4000 part due out in Q2. There may yet be an increase in clock speed for some lucky 3500 owners.
Alex "Sharky" Ross
Editor-In-Chief & Member of The Annual Overclocker & Tweaking Convention.
