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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ v 0.9 27 September 1995 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [*]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) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ??? ???Changes since version 0.8 New entries: ??? ???[*]CS05) NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 Multimedia Accelerators ??? ???[*]GLINT08) Creative Labs' 3D Blaster ???[*]GLINT09) Microstep AGC-3D ???[*]NVIDEA01) Diamond Edge 3D Accelerators Changed entries: ??? ???[*]GLINT02) Working URL added. Better information. ???[*]GLINT03) now available ???[*]GLINT04) Change entry name to Omnicomp 3Demon VR ???[*]GLINT05) now available in Europe ???[*]GLINT06) now available in Japan ???[*]ARTIST01) Was the B09) entry in v0.8, but was moved due ???to reorganization. ???[*]B01) Added information on the AG500 ???Changes since version 0.7 New entries: ??? ???[*]CS04) ARTIST Graphics 3GA Graphics Processor ???B09) ARTIST 2000 ???[*]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 ??? ???[*]Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs? ???[*]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 ??? ???[*]CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX ???[*]CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D (not yet available) ???[*]CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor ???[*]CS04) ARTIST Graphics 3GA Graphics Processor ???[*]CS05) NVidia/SGS-THOMSON NV1/STG-2000 Multimedia Accelerators ??? ???[*]Section III: Boards using Chips in Section II ??? ???[*]GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON ???[*]GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX ???[*]GLINT03) ELSA GLoria ???[*]GLINT04) Omnicomp 3Demon VR (was Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia) ??? ???[*]GLINT05) SPEA FireGL ???[*]GLINT06) Force Inc. 3DE-300SX ???[*]GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX (availability unknown) ???[*]GLINT08) Creative Labs' 3D Blaster ???[*]GLINT09) Microstep AGC-3D ???[*]R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100 (not yet available) ???[*]ARTIST01) ARTIST Graphics 2000 Series ???[*]NVIDEA01) Diamond Edge 3D Accelerators Contents of Part 2 ???[*]Section V: Other boards ??? ???[*]B01) AccelGraphics AG300 and AG500 ???[*]B02) ISC PowerGL ???[*]B03) Evans & Sutherland Freedom ???[*]B04) Matrox Impression Plus ???[*]B05) Oki TrianGL ???[*]B06) Intergraph GLZ Series ???[*]B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems ???[*]B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/3Dlabs/ or by sending email to [*]info@3Dlabs.com. The technical specs below were copied directly from the page [*]http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/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: ??? ???300K 25 pixel triangles/sec ???500K 10 pixel vectors/sec ???8M independent points/second ???500K 9x13 pixels characters/second ???2D Graphics performance ??? ???1M 10 pixel vectors/sec ???500K 10x10 pixel, flat shaded rectangles/sec ???500K 9x13 pixels characters/second ???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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- CONTACT INFORMATION: You can contact the [*]ARTIST Sales Team on the Web, or by phone at: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tel: (800) 627 8478 (612) 631 7800 Fax: (612) 631 7802 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 NVIDEA Home page at [*]http://www.nvidea.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] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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): -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Here's some pricing information, as of Thursday, 30 March 1995. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [[*]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: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- RGB Resolution NI Colors supported Max Refresh in pixels 256 65K 16.7M Rates 1920x1080 yes yes 45 1600x1280 yes yes 50 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The SX is available now, the SR is not. The pricing is as follows (as of Feb 1, 95): -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- One year warranty. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [[*]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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. 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 Press release at: [*]http://www.creaf.com/www/corporate/press.htm/p950816a.html and from the 3DLabs Press release at: [*]http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/3Dblaster.html 3D Blaster is based on a custom variation of the [*]GLINT 300SX chip from 3DLabs that has been optimized for the 3D gaming market. 3D Blaster is a graphics display card with hardware-accelerated 3D rasterization. A fully Plug-n-Play product, 3D Blaster delivers compelling 640x480 resolution by 16-bit color at an engaging 30 frames per second. It also supprts perspective corrected texture mapped images. The system also features double buffered graphics, Z buffering, alpha transparency, hardware fogging and texture anti-aliasing. The Creative Labs 3D Blaster card operates as a 2D Windows accelerator and 3D graphics accelerator. It comes with 2 megabytes of memory. Minimum system requirements suggested for use with the 3D Blaster include: ??? ???IBM-compatible PC VESA VL bus (PCI to be available 1996) ???486-DX2 running at 66 Mhz ???4 MB RAM ???Windows 3.1 or higher 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. CONTACT INFORMATION -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Theresa Pulido Lisa Kimura Creative Labs, Inc. Copithorne & Bellows (408) 428-6600, ext. 6416 (415) 284-5200, ext. 209 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [[*]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): -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [[*]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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Prices -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 2MB ISA 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz $595 ARTIST 2000i 4 MB PCI 1800 x 1440 @ 70 Hz $895 4MB 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 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [[*]return to index] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NVIDEA01) 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: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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) -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ??? ???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 ???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: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 VRAM) ??? ???1600 x 1200 256, 65k* ???1280 x 1024 256, 65k*, 16.7m* ???1152 x 882 256, 65k, 16.7m* ???1024 x 768 256, 65k, 16.7m* ???800 x 600 256, 65k, 16.7m ???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 VRAM) ??? ???1600 x 1200 256* ???1280 x 1024 256* ???1152 x 882 256, 65k* ???1024 x 768 256, 65k* ???800 x 600 256, 65k, 16.7m* ???640 x 480 256, 65k, 16.7m* ???Realtime 3D Gouraud Shaded Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires ???4Mb VRAM) ??? ???1600 x 1200 ???1280 x 1024 ???1152 x 882 256* ???1024 x 768 256* ???800 x 600 256, 65k* ???640 x 480 256, 65k* Models Available: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- MGA-IMP+/P: PCI Bus 2Mb VRAM 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 2Mb VRAM 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 2Mb VRAM 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 2Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/P MGA-IMP+/V/220: VL Bus 2Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/V MGA-IMP+/A/220: AT Bus 2Mb VRAM 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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): -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- From Blair MacIntyre: -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This is partially true. Someone from Microsoft posted saying that NT 3.51 will include the appropriate driver for OpenGL for this card. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [[*]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--photorealism in real time 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: ??? ???24-bit, double-buffered image planes ???32-bit Z buffer ???8-bit, double-buffered ???8-bit alpha buffer ???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--cost-effective photorealism 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: ??? ???24-bit, double-buffered image planes ???24-bit Z buffer ???1-bit, double-buffered overlay ???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--accelerated geometry and shading 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: ??? ???24-bit, double-buffered image planes ???24-bit Z buffer ???1-bit, double-buffered overlay ???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: ??? ??? ???24-bit, double-buffered image planes ???24-bit Z buffer ???1-bit, double-buffered overlay ???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--cost-effective 3D rendering Product highlights ??? ???24 MB (GLZ2) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video ???memory at all display resolutions, providing: ??? ???24-bit, double-buffered image planes ???24-bit Z buffer ???1-bit, double-buffered overlay ???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: ??? ??? ???24-bit, double-buffered image planes ???24-bit Z buffer ???1-bit, double-buffered overlay ???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: ??? ??? ???17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ1 and GLZ2) ???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 GLZ configurations at a glance -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 GLZ1 Yes No No No 12 MB 1,152 x 864 -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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. -=- [PREFORMATTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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