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Conclusion
3dfx in the future...
Following the
Voodoo3, 3dfx is under development of the Voodoo4 and Voodoo5. These cards are
being produced simultaneously and are based upon the VSA-100 (VSA = Voodoo
Scalable Architecture) which is the core chip. The VSA-100 does support
additional features which are not supported by the previous Voodoo line such as
32-bit rendering, AGP 4x, 64MB texture memory access (per chip) and 2K x 2K
texture size support. 3dfx's newest chip will communicate via a 32-bit data path
and consists of 14 million transistors as compared to 8 million on the Voodoo3.
But probably the biggest feature is the return of SLI. Technically, it is
different from the SLI used in Voodoo2 but the main objective is to be able to
utilize more than one VSA chip simultaneously. In the Voodoo2, SLI was achieved
by the use of 2 boards and that was the limit. Now, 3dfx will utilize SLI on a
single board. The upcoming Voodoo5 6000 will have 4 VSA-100 chips in SLI
configuration, 128MB texture memory, full-screen anti-aliasing and 3dfx's
T-Buffer technology. And get this... The estimated maximum pixel fill rate is
1.47 GIGApixels/sec!!! Yes, I said GIGA! On first release, the estimated street
price is said to be around $600 (US) for the Voodoo5 6000. That is pretty
expensive but as technology advances beyond that, the cost will go down (but
then again, the gaming requirements will go up!).
Now alot of criticism
has been thrown on 3dfx for not introducing 32-bit rendering on their Voodoo3
line. Also that 3dfx does not support onboard T&L (transform &
lighting). Naturally, this will occur between competitors similar to how Indian
politicians throw mud on each other. But in the technological arena competition
is good. It keeps producing higher quality and cheaper priced components. The
only winners are the consumers. That's great news...
Let's see how 3dfx's
competition responds to the 1.47 Gpixels/sec... I for one, am certainly
waiting!
Final Thoughts
Frame rate Vs. Image
Quality. Even on lower end platforms like the Celeron, this baby pumps out the
frames with a fury! I would certainly recommend this board to anyone who wants
smooth, high-performance 3D-acceleration by their side. Is 32-bit rendering
useless? Not all at! Some people do want 32-bit over framerate. Unofficial polls
though favour the framerate majority. Considering the performance hits of most
32-bit rendering cards in the market, I would gladly stick by a 16-bit speed
demon which is the 3dfx Voodoo3 3000. To put it simply, if you are going the way
of multiplayer games, you certainly want the absolutely fastest performance out
of your card, which would of course be in 16-bit. People who just don't care
about framerates want the absolute best image quality possible. Alot of people
don't even notice the difference in image quality from 16 to 32-bit. This is a
choice for your to decide
The only drawbacks I can see (aside from no
32-bit rendering) is that the Voodoo3 (and before) only have support for 256x256
texture sizes and lack of AGP-texturing support. 256x256 textures are fine but
future games will definately be capable of putting out 2048x2048 texture sizes.
AGP texturing allows for textures that are larger than local graphics memory to
be stored in system memory and can be accessed through the AGP bus with a
nominal performance hit. As it is now, 3dfx uses its proprietary DME transfer
which allows a 2.66GB/sec bandwidth available to transfer textures around in
local memory.
At around $150 (Rs. 6750), it is certainly worth every
paisa if you are an avid gamer and need the most performance at your fingertips.
Since it isn't available in India yet, go knock down the door of your local
computer bania and tell him to stock up on some of these
cards.
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