1995-97 3D Chipset Guide

Key:
Entries in orange are uncertain or unknown at present.

 

  Voodoo Graphics Voodoo Rush 3D Rage Rage II Rage Pro Mystique Mystique 220 RiVA 128
Release Date Winter 1996 Spring 1997 Spring 1996 Fall 1996 Fall 1997 Fall 1996 Summer 1997 Fall 1997
Core Chipset Voodoo Graphics Voodoo Rush 3D Rage 3D Rage II / 3D Rage II+ / 3D Rage IIc 3D Rage Pro MGA-1064SG "Hurricane" MGA-1164SG "Cyclone" RiVA 128
Manufacturer 3Dfx Interactive 3Dfx Interactive ATI Technologies ATI Technologies ATI Technologies Matrox Graphics Matrox Graphics nVidia Corp.
Clock Speed 50MHz 50MHz ~40MHz? ~-50MHz? ~50MHz? ~50MHz ~60MHz? 100MHz
Number of Chips 2 (1) 3 (1) 1 1 1 1 1 1
Rendering Pipelines 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Texels/Clock 1 1 1/2? 1/2? 1 1/2? 1/2? 1
Texels/Sec
(Fill Rate)		 45MTex/s 45MTex/s ~20MTex/s? 26MTex/s 45MTex/s 25MTex/s 30MTex/s 100MTex/s
Triangles/Sec
(Triangle Count)		 1 MTriangles/s 1 MTriangles/s ? ? 1.2 MTriangles/s? ? ? 1.5 MTriangles/s
Memory Configuration 4 or 6mb (2) 6 or 8mb (5) 2mb 2,4, 6, or 8mb 2, 4, or 8mb 2, 4, or 8mb 2,4 or 8mb 4mb
Memory Bus 64-bit EDO DRAM 64-bit EDO DRAM 64-bit EDO DRAM 64-bit EDO DRAM, SDRAM, or SGRAM 64-bit SDRAM or SGRAM 64-bit SGRAM 64-bit SGRAM 128-bit SGRAM
Memory Clock 28-50ns (3) 35-50ns 50-60ns? 50ns(edo)- 100MHz (SGRAM) 100 MHz 100MHz 100MHz 100MHz
Memory Bandwidth 400MB/s (50ns) (4) 400MB/s (50ns) (4) 320-400MB/s? 400-800MB/s 800MB/s 800 MB/s  800 MB/s 1.6 GB/s
Manufacturing Process 0.50-micron 0.50-micron 0.5 -micron 0.5-micron (II/II+) 0.35-micron (IIc) 0.25-micron 0.35-micron 0.35-micron 0.35-micron
RAMDAC (Digital to CRT conv.) 135MHz 160-220MHz 135MHz 135-200MHz 230MHz 157 or 170MHz 220MHz 200-230MHz
PCB Form Factor PCI PCI PCI PCI & AGP PCI & AGP PCI PCI PCI or AGP
API support (6) Direct3D, MiniGL, DOSGlide, WinGlide, BRender Direct3D, MiniGL, DOSGlide, WinGlide, BRender Direct3D, ATI 3D CIF. (RenderWare, Brender, OpenGL planned, but not sure if they were released) Direct3D, ATI 3D CIF, (RenderWare, Brender, OpenGL planned, but not sure if they were released) Direct3D, ATI CIF, MiniGL Direct3D, MSI, more? Direct3D, MSI, more? Direct3D, OpenGL (ICD),
Win95 native API Glide Glide ATI 3D CIF ATI 3D CIF ATI 3D CIF MSI MSI DirectD
Comments
(as of 1997)		 Good: Great Speed, Nice Visuals, Great Support.

Bad: somehat expensive, limited to 640x480, no window 3D (if you care)

 Good: Very Good Speed, Nice Visuals, Great Support.

Bad: Slower than Voodoo in some apps. Not great 2D.

 Good: Inexpensive PCI option w/ descent 2D and entry level 3D.

Bad: Only 2mb memory, limited resolutions, slow 3D.

 Good: Reasonable price, nice broad feature set.

Bad: Not particularly great at any one of those features.

 Good: Nice 2D, Much improved 3D, good MPEG Support.

Bad: Weak 3D drivers & support.

 Good: Nice 2D, good price, decent 3D speed.

Bad: No bilinear fitering for 3D

 Good: Excellent 2D, good price, decent 3D speed.

Bad: Like the earlier Mystique, lacks bilinear filtering.

 Good: Fast in 2D/3D.

Bad: 3D image quality is weak due to nVidia's MIP map algorithma & square texture requirement, only 4mb of memory.

 

  PowerVR Series 1(A) PowerVR Series 1(B) Verite V1000 Verite V2100 Rendition Verite V2200 ViRGE VIRGE VX VIRGE DX / ViRGE GX VIRGE GX2
Release Date Winter 1996 Summer 1997 Fall 1996 Fall 1997 Early 1998 (12) Spring 1996 Fall 1996 Spring 1997 Summer 1997
Core Chipset NEC PCX1 NEC PCX2 Verite V1000 V2100 V2200 ViRGE (325) ViRGE VX (988) ViRGE DX (375) ViRGE GX (385) ViRGE GX2 (357)
Manufacturer NEC NEC Rendition, Inc Rendition, Inc Rendition, Inc S3, Inc. S3, Inc. S3, Inc. S3, Inc.
Clock Speed 66MHz 66Mhz ~50MHz? 40MHz 50-62.5MHz 50MHz 50MHz 66MHz 66MHz
Number of Chips 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Rendering Pipelines 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Texels/Clock 1 1 1/2? 1 1 1/2?? 1/2? 1/2? 1/2?
Texels/Sec
(Fill Rate)		 varies (7) varies (7) 25MTex/s 40MTex/s 50-62.5MTex/s ~20MTex/s? ~20MTex/s? ~30MTex/s? ~30MTex/s?
Triangles/Sec
(Triangle Count)		 * (8) * (8) 600 KTriangles/s? 2 MTriangles/s 2 MTriangles/s 150 KTraingles/s? 150 KTraingles/s? 450 KTriangles/s? (DX) ?
Memory Configuration 4mb 4mb (9) 4mb 4mb 4 or 8mb 2 or 4mb 4 or 8mb 2, 4mb 4mb
Memory Bus 32-bit SDRAM 32-bit SDRAM 64-bit EDO DRAM 64-bit SGRAM 64-bit SGRAM 64-bit EDO DRAM 64-bit VRAM (4mb) + EDO DRAM (4mb) 64-bit EDO DRAM (DX), EDO DRAM or SGRAM (GX) 64-bit SGRAM
Memory Clock 66MHz 66MHz 40-50ns 100MHz 100-120MHz 30-50ns ? ns 30-50ns (EDO) 66MHz (SGRAM) 83/100MHz
Memory Bandwidth 264MB/s (10) 264MB/s (10) 400-480MB/s 800MB/s 800-960MB/s 400-600MB/s ~800+ MB/s? 400-600 MB/s 664/800MB/s
Manufacturing Process 0.50-micron 0.35-micron 0.50-micron? 0.35-micron 0.35-micron 0.50 -micron 0.50 -micron? 0.45-micron? 0.35? -micron
RAMDAC (Digital to CRT conv.) External External 135MHz 170MHz 230 MHz 135MHz 220MHz 170MHz 170MHz
PCB Form Factor PCI PCI PCI PCI or AGP PCI or AGP PCI PCI PCI AGP
API Support (6) Direct3D, MiniGL, PowerSGL, MiniGL Direct3D, MiniGL, PowerSGL, MiniGL Direct3D, MiniGL, Speedy3D, RRedline, 3DR, Heidi(R), GCL Direct3D, MiniGL, Speedy3D, RRedline Direct3D, MiniGL, Speedy3D, RRedline Direct3D, S3D, Interl 3DR, BRender, RenderWare Direct3D, S3D, BRender, RenderWare Direct3D, S3D, limited MiniGL Direct3D, S3D, limited MiniGL
Win95 native API PowerSGL PowerSGL RRedline (11) RRedline RRedline S3D S3D S3D S3D
Comments Good: Good in 3D PowerSGL apps, no pass-through cable.

Bad: No bilinear filtering, D3D compatibility probs, needs fast CPU, PowerSGL apps rare.

 Good: Great in 3D PowerSGL apps, no pass-through cable, scales better than Voodoo.

Bad: D3D compatibility probs, still needs fast CPU, PowerSGL apps rare.

 Good: Affordable 2D/3D option, good visual quality in 3D.

Bad: Slow VGA, 3D performance is good, but not great.

 Good: Very Good 2D/3D quality, decent 3D speed.

Bad: Slow VGA, lower fill rate for generation of card.

 Good: Nice 2D/3D quality, fast 2/D3D speed.

Bad: Slow VGA performance, only 1x/DMA agp mode.

 Good: Low price, above average 2D, gets you entry level 3D

Bad: You will experience a slow, painfully death in that entry level 3D.

 Good: Fast 2D, nice 3D feature set.

Bad: VRAM seems to help little for 3D as it is still painfully slow.

 Good: Good 2D, nice 3D feature set.

Bad: 3D improved, but still slow

 Good: Descent budget 2/3D agp option.

Bad: Only 4mb of memory, still slow in 3D.

 

Notes:

  1. The 3Dfx Voodoo & Voodoo Rush use 1 pixelfx chip + 1 texelfx chip. The Rush also adds a third for the 2D chipset              (Alliance's AT3D).
  2. This excludes the [relatively] rare and expensive Quantum3D Obsidian series of boards, that used various combinations of       3Dfx Voodoo TMU's & FBI's, memory configurations, daughter cards and even a two board Voodoo 1 SLI setup.
  3. The first Voodoo boards (M3D/R3D) had 45-50ns EDO DRAM memory. Memory settings were generally ~50MHz as default,         though many people ran them at 57+ MHz. Many of the later manufactors such as Deltron, Skywell & Canopus used faster           28-40ns EDO DRAM allowing for even higher overclocking
  4. 400MB/sec memory bandwidth using 50ns (50Mhz) EDO DRAM, 600MB/sec bandwidth with 30ns EDO DRAM running at            75Mhz.
  5. The Voodoo card was locked at 4mb, but the 2d chipset had either 2 or 4mb.
  6. The API support can vary greatly depending on the manufacturer of the card/drivers.
  7. Due to the nature of the PCX1/2, the fill rate varies because there is no onboard setup for pixels or triangles. Videologic's        fill   website claims "a sustained fill rate of 40 million pixels per second on an Intel Pentium Pro 200MHz PC." and "with pixel        using it rates of up to 66 million pixels/sec (dependent on processor performance)" The latter statement probably referring to        on a PII 266-300MHz/66fsb system)'
   8. The PowerVR architecture uses tile based rendering and rather than triangles, uses "Infnite Planes." For D3D, PowerVR             takes a performance hit, because Dx was set up for triangles and the PCX1/2 had to translate them into infinite planes. This        process was not completed soley by the PowerVR chip, so the CPU took a bit of a hit. The PCX2 reduced the load on the           CPU over the PCX1, but did not eliminate it. For the native PowerSGL api, this was direct and no conversion needed to                occur.
   9. The Apocalypse 5D and 5D Sonic also added 2 or 4mb of MDRAM for the Tseng Labs 6x00 2D chipset.
 10. While PowerVR's infinite planes technology is efficient due it not having to render hidden objects, the process is also very          bandwith intensive. Perhaps done to keep costs down, the PowerVR only used a 32-bit memory interface which effective          halved the cards bandwidth. This limitation is part of what kept the PowerVR slower than 3Dfx's Voodoo Graphics.
 11. The V1000 did not have a native API for Win95 until the release of RRedline in the Spring of 1997.
 12. This chipset *should* have been out in 1997, but [aside from those cool red reference boards] due to various delays, it really         wasn't really available until early 1998 (which didn't exactly help Rendition's cause).

 

Chipset Available Cards (not complete listing)
3Dfx Voodoo Graphics
Diamond Monster 3D, Orchid Righteous 3D, Realvision-Deltron Flash 3d, Skywell Magic3D, Canopus Pure3D (6mb), Guillemot/UbiSoft MaxiGamer 3D, TechWorks Power3D (Mac), VillageTronic MacMagic (Mac, 8mb), Quantum3D Obsidian 50-XXXX and 100-XXXX series, BestData ArcadeFX, MiroMedia Hiscore 3d (6mb), Cardex (Gainward) Dragon 1000, Atrend Helios
3Dfx Voodoo Rush
Hercules Stringray 128/3D (several versions), JazzMM Adrenaline Rush 3D, Intergraph Intense 3D Voodoo, I/O Magic Rush 3D, Skywell Magic Rush, Skywell Magic Rush Lite, Skywell Magic Rush LiteTV, Realvision Flash AT3D Rush, DFI WG-8200/3DX, 3D Emotion, Biostar Voodoo Rush, Cardex (Gainward) Dragon 2000, Atrend Helios 3D
ATI 3D Rage
ATI Xpression
ATI Rage II
ATI Xpression+, ATI Xpression+PCTV, 3D Pro Turbo, ATI All-in-Wonder, XClaimVR (earlier version, Mac)
ATI Rage Pro
ATI Xpert98, ATI Xpert@Play, Xpert@Work, ATI All-in-Wonder Pro, XClaimVR (later version, Mac), XClaim3D (Mac)
Matrox Mystique
Matrox Mystique
Matrox Mystique 220
Matrox Mystique 220
NVIDIA RiVA 128
STB Velocity 128, DiamondMM Viper 330, Canopus Total3D 128V, Elsa Victory Erazor
PowerVR Series 1(A)
Videologic Apocalypse 3D
PowerVR Series 1(B)
Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx, Videologic Apocalypse 5D, Videologic Apocalypse 5D Sonic, Matrox M3D
Rendition Verite V1000
Intergraph Reactor (later renamed 'Intense 3D 100'), Sierra Screamin' 3D, Creative Labs 3D Blaster PCI, Canopus Total3D
Rendition Verite V2100
DiamondMM Stealth II S220
Rendition Verite V2200
Hercules Thriller3D, JazzMM Outlaw 3D, JazzMM Bonnie & Clyde, Genoa V-Raptor
S3 ViRGE
STB Powergraph 64 3D, Diamond Stealth 3D 2000, Hercules Terminator 64/3D, Orchid Fahrenheit Video 3D
S3 VIRGE VX
STB Velocity 3D, DiamondMM Stealth 3D 3000
S3 VIRGE DX & ViRGE GX
(DX): Hercules Terminator 3D/DX, DiamondMM Stealth 3D 2000 Pro. Elsa Victory 3Dx (GX): STB Nitro 3D (but uses EDO DRAM)
S3 VIRGE GX2
DiamondMM Stealth 4000

 

Related Links*

3Dfx Voodoo Graphics:

nVidia RiVA 128:

PowerVR Series 1:

3Dfx Voodoo Rush:

Rendition Verite 1000 and 2x00:

V1000

V2x00

ATI Rage Series:

S3 ViRGE Series

Matrox Mystique Series:

* All links are included for historical purposes, regardless of status.

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