Accelerate Your Mac! - 3dfx Mac VSA100 Next Generation Graphics Cards Press release

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VSA100 series cards
3Dfx Formally Announces Mac Retail VSA100 Cards
Published: 1/6/2000 (Updated 1/8 with Q&A)

Review of Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI! On July 26th, 2000 I posted my Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI Review.

Dual Chip (Voodoo5 Series) & Quad Chip (Voodoo 6000 Series)
(Note: Initial Mac Models are to be a PCI 4500 and PCI 5500)
V5000

Note About Power: The dual chip models will have a power supply connection (you can see it in the photo above, the small white connector near the top back edge) and the 6000 is said to have its own power supply. This should avoid the issues of the PCI or AGP slot supplying enough current, which has affected some motherboards with cards like the nVidia GeForce (I had to swap out a motherboard for a friend due to this issue).

[The following is a copy of my Questions and Answers on the Mac VSA-100 cards post from the Jan. 8th weekend news. Note that I was later told by another 3dfx contact that the DVD software mentioned below is not a sure thing at this point. ]
3Dfx Mac VSA-100 Card Q&A (DVD Fans Rejoice): Since I was unable to make the Macworld SF show, I sent my roving reporter Matthew Culmore a list of questions to discuss with 3dfx's Greg Hartman, director of their Apple Products Division. Below is a summary of comments and replies to my questions including great news on DVD and Quicktime support with their recently announced VSA-100 chip based Mac retail cards.
Greg Hartman emphasized that they have an "entire dedicated team of Mac employees". He said they made the decision many months ago for a full blown commitment to the Mac. Their Mac team includes several ex-Apple employees as well as long-time Mac users.
The new VSA-100 silicon was designed to be completely Macintosh compatible. Full 1555 pixel support, Bi-Endian, 32-bit 3D, large texture support as well hardware anti-aliasing and a scaleable (multiple processor) design.
First Silicon arrives Monday. Then they will be working "full bore" with spring availability of a complete Mac retail boxed product with DVD and QT support in the box! (see below for more info) [NOTE: This did not happen, the DVD Player did not ship with the retail cards and as of summer 2000, was still not available with no plans that I know of for a release unless perhaps if Apple were to add the cards at BTO]. Greg also stressed there will be a full Mac customer technical support team ready at launch (not shared PC personnel). After the first Mac retail product release, future plans are for concurrent Mac and PC product releases.
Matthew said an emulation demo was running in the 3dfx suite showing off the VSA-100's features like hardware anti-aliasing, motion blur and soft reflections. A split screen demo comparing the Rage128 to the VSA-100 showed dramatic image quality improvements in side-by-side comparison he said. Since anti-aliasing is totally done in hardware, it should be backward compatible with existing games.
3dfx commented the VSA-100 will 'reset the bar' in Mac graphics card performance, with much improved 2D and 3D that 'sets a new standard'. Native Quicktime and DVD support will round out a very complete total Mac graphics card solution.
The following are the questions I had sent to Matthew to ask of 3dfx.

Will there be several models? (1 chip, 2 chip, 4 chip SLI)
Likely more than one SLI, 2 and 4 chip. No SKUs assigned yet.

Will pricing be the same as the PC versions?
Undetermined until SKUs/models are finalized.

Any ideas on pricing at this time?
Not at this time. Price/performance will be a breakthrough for the Mac however.

Will there be Quicktime drivers in the box?
Absolutely Yes.

Any plans for a DVD player?
Yes - we'll have full DVD support. It will be an in-house solution.
(NOTE - this did not happen, and other than this Q&A from MWSF (January) 2000, it was never officially promised.)

I understand that the full screen anti-aliasing feature will be backward compatible with existing games - is this true?
Yes. This is a hardware-only solution, not software dependent so virtually all existing games will work out of the box.

PCI and AGP versions or only PCI initially?
PCI may be first release item due to a larger installed base but the final product models will be announced at a later date.

When will the new cards be available at retail?
Spring 2000.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that a DVD player will be bundled in the box as that's one major reason I currently keep an ATI card installed (I'm about to buy a Wired4DVD PCI decoder card however). With full 32-bit 3D, fully mac compatible silicon, large texture support, DVD player and Quicktime hardware acceleration the VSA-100 in my opinion is one of the most eagerly awaited Mac consumer products on the horizon.
Pair the VSA-100 with a Creative Labs Soundblaster Live audio card's 4 speaker/surround sound and you've got a major shot in the arm for Mac consumer appeal. That benefits all of us as more sales = more hardware and software offerings in the future. 3dfx and Creative are two of the best known names in the PC world - their support of the Mac will not go unnoticed by other companies that may also jump on the Mac bandwagon.

[The original press release info from 1/6/2000 follows:]
Since I could not find this 3dfx press release online this morning, I've posted a copy below.

"3DFX ANNOUNCES STRATEGY TO DELIVER VOODOO DIRECTLY TO THE MACINTOSH MARKET
3dfx To Bring High-Performance 3D Graphics and Digital Cinematic Effects to the Mac Via VSA-100 Processor
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Macworld - January 6, 2000 - 3dfx InteractiveÆ Inc. (NASDAQ: TDFX) today announced its strategy to bring its high-quality and extreme performance 3D graphics to the Mac with branded products featuring the new VSA-100 (Voodoo Scalable Architecture) processor. Board products based on the VSA-100, which contains native Mac support and acceleration, will deliver ultimate fill rates and high visual reality through breakthrough digital cinematic effects, bringing Mac gaming to the next level. Additionally, 3D rendering quality on the Mac will be dramatically improved through the VSA-100's advanced full-scene anti-aliasing technology, a capability never before available from 3dfx for Mac.
Specific board configurations will be announced in the first quarter of 2000 and are expected to be available at retail in the second quarter of 2000.
"This announcement demonstrates our strong commitment to the Mac platform and our desire to be the number one graphics supplier for the Mac," said Scott Sellers, founder and chief technology officer at 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "No other graphics board can deliver the power and performance of the VSA-100 to the Mac. With full-scene anti-aliasing and digital cinematic effects, the VSA-100 will provide Mac users an improved visual quality and performance level."
"We have listened to the user community and have received tremendous support to enter the Mac market and dominate with 3dfx branded products," said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "We will fully support boards on the Mac platform, including customer service, technical support, driver updates, game developer evangelism and all of the other services available to users of 3dfx PC products."
"The new family of iMacs and the new Power Mac G4 are great platforms for beginning and hard-core gamers alike," said Clent Richardson, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "3dfx's technology will help make games and other intensive visual applications stand out on the Mac."
In August 1999, 3dfx introduced the first version of its beta drivers for the Voodoo3 to the Mac development community in order to enable leading game developers to create Mac versions of their best-selling WindowsÆ PC games, and to attract more cutting-edge 3D titles to the Mac platform. Developer support played an important role in 3dfx's decision to enter the market with branded products.
"3dfx really created the hardware-accelerated 3D gaming market on the PC and we're anticipating a similar effect on the Mac," said Michael Evans, project lead for Oni at Bungie Software. "With their forthcoming VSA-100 products, users can expect to experience Oni and Halo at higher resolutions, significantly higher frame rates and remarkably better image quality."
"Having 3dfx show this kind of support for the Mac is something that will excite Mac users everywhere," said Trey Smith, technical director at Graphic Simulations. "Today the Voodoo3 is the fastest board for the Mac and we expect VSA-100 products to carry on that market leadership by delivering outstanding visual quality and performance to the platform. This will make the games we bring to the Mac more immersive and exciting than ever before"
"By committing to branded Mac products, 3dfx will raise the standard for gaming on the Mac," said Al Schilling, product manager of MacSoft. "The development community is anxious and ready to work with 3dfx to bring more content to the Macintosh. We strongly support their decision to enter the market and look forward to the future of Mac gaming."
About The VSA-100
At the heart of the VSA-100 is a new advanced 3D engine which enables extremely high fill rates. Sustaining high fill rate is critical to deliver real-time frame rates at high resolution, with significant depth complexity, digital effects and the highest visual quality. The VSA-100 allows for the first time, true full-scene, hardware anti-aliasing at real-time frame rates. True full-scene anti-aliasing removes visual artifacts, such as "jaggies" and triangle "popping" to create smooth images that deliver a substantially improved immersive experience for the viewer. Additionally, multiple chip implementations of the VSA-100 enable advanced T-Buffer(tm) digital cinematic effects including motion blur, programmable depth-of-field, soft shadows and soft reflections.
The VSA-100, composed of over 14 million transistors, is fabricated in an enhanced .25 micron, 6-layer metal semiconductor process. The architecture incorporates industry standard 3D features including 32-bit RGBA rendering, 24-bit depth-buffer (Z and W), 8-bit stencil rendering, FXT1 texture compression support, 32-bit textures, 2048x2048 texture size support, and advanced texture and color combine capabilities. Additional support is provided for both AGP 4x and PCI, DVD hardware assist, and the world's most powerful 128-bit 2D engine.
About 3dfx Interactive
3dfx Interactive is leading the 3D multimedia revolution in personal computers and consumer products. With its patented and award-winning graphics accelerator chips, boards and software, 3dfx provides the technology to create high-impact visual experiences. The company is recognized worldwide for its ability to bring the world's finest games, educational content, interactive entertainment and media-rich business applications to life. 3dfx products are available through leading PC makers including Compaq, Dell, Gateway and in retail stores worldwide. 3dfx Interactive has headquarters in San Jose, Calif., with engineering and manufacturing facilities in Richardson, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. 3dfx Interactive (NASDAQ: TDFX) is available on the Web at http://www.3dfx.com.
3dfx Interactive is a registered trademark and VSA-100, T-Buffer and Voodoo3 are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive. All other names may be trademarks of their respective holders. "

Related Links:

Detailed Review of the Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI including 3d, games and 2d performance tests and comparisons.
3dfx to Acquire Gigapixel (Q&A and info on what this means for future products)

3dfx.com and 3dfxgamers.com have more tech details on the VSA-100 design

www.mac3dfx.com (our Mac Voodoo web site)

Our 3dfx Forum - message board with discussions on 3dfx/mac related topics

Mac Game/Video Card Performance - Searchable (by game/video card/system) database of framerates

Our Mac Game News page - see the sidebar there for dozens of reviews/tips/articles

Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright ©, 2000.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.

The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews
3Dfx Formally Announces Mac Retail VSA100 Cards Published: 1/6/2000 (Updated 1/8 with Q&A)
Review of Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI! On July 26th, 2000 I posted my Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI Review.
Dual Chip (Voodoo5 Series) & Quad Chip (Voodoo 6000 Series) (Note: Initial Mac Models are to be a PCI 4500 and PCI 5500) Note About Power: The dual chip models will have a power supply connection (you can see it in the photo above, the small white connector near the top back edge) and the 6000 is said to have its own power supply. This should avoid the issues of the PCI or AGP slot supplying enough current, which has affected some motherboards with cards like the nVidia GeForce (I had to swap out a motherboard for a friend due to this issue). [The following is a copy of my Questions and Answers on the Mac VSA-100 cards post from the Jan. 8th weekend news. Note that I was later told by another 3dfx contact that the DVD software mentioned below is not a sure thing at this point. ] 3Dfx Mac VSA-100 Card Q&A (DVD Fans Rejoice): Since I was unable to make the Macworld SF show, I sent my roving reporter Matthew Culmore a list of questions to discuss with 3dfx's Greg Hartman, director of their Apple Products Division. Below is a summary of comments and replies to my questions including great news on DVD and Quicktime support with their recently announced VSA-100 chip based Mac retail cards. Greg Hartman emphasized that they have an "entire dedicated team of Mac employees". He said they made the decision many months ago for a full blown commitment to the Mac. Their Mac team includes several ex-Apple employees as well as long-time Mac users. The new VSA-100 silicon was designed to be completely Macintosh compatible. Full 1555 pixel support, Bi-Endian, 32-bit 3D, large texture support as well hardware anti-aliasing and a scaleable (multiple processor) design. First Silicon arrives Monday. Then they will be working "full bore" with spring availability of a complete Mac retail boxed product with DVD and QT support in the box! (see below for more info) [NOTE: This did not happen, the DVD Player did not ship with the retail cards and as of summer 2000, was still not available with no plans that I know of for a release unless perhaps if Apple were to add the cards at BTO]. Greg also stressed there will be a full Mac customer technical support team ready at launch (not shared PC personnel). After the first Mac retail product release, future plans are for concurrent Mac and PC product releases. Matthew said an emulation demo was running in the 3dfx suite showing off the VSA-100's features like hardware anti-aliasing, motion blur and soft reflections. A split screen demo comparing the Rage128 to the VSA-100 showed dramatic image quality improvements in side-by-side comparison he said. Since anti-aliasing is totally done in hardware, it should be backward compatible with existing games. 3dfx commented the VSA-100 will 'reset the bar' in Mac graphics card performance, with much improved 2D and 3D that 'sets a new standard'. Native Quicktime and DVD support will round out a very complete total Mac graphics card solution. The following are the questions I had sent to Matthew to ask of 3dfx. Will there be several models? (1 chip, 2 chip, 4 chip SLI) Likely more than one SLI, 2 and 4 chip. No SKUs assigned yet. Will pricing be the same as the PC versions? Undetermined until SKUs/models are finalized. Any ideas on pricing at this time? Not at this time. Price/performance will be a breakthrough for the Mac however. Will there be Quicktime drivers in the box? Absolutely Yes. Any plans for a DVD player? Yes - we'll have full DVD support. It will be an in-house solution. (NOTE - this did not happen, and other than this Q&A from MWSF (January) 2000, it was never officially promised.) I understand that the full screen anti-aliasing feature will be backward compatible with existing games - is this true? Yes. This is a hardware-only solution, not software dependent so virtually all existing games will work out of the box. PCI and AGP versions or only PCI initially? PCI may be first release item due to a larger installed base but the final product models will be announced at a later date. When will the new cards be available at retail? Spring 2000. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that a DVD player will be bundled in the box as that's one major reason I currently keep an ATI card installed (I'm about to buy a Wired4DVD PCI decoder card however). With full 32-bit 3D, fully mac compatible silicon, large texture support, DVD player and Quicktime hardware acceleration the VSA-100 in my opinion is one of the most eagerly awaited Mac consumer products on the horizon. Pair the VSA-100 with a Creative Labs Soundblaster Live audio card's 4 speaker/surround sound and you've got a major shot in the arm for Mac consumer appeal. That benefits all of us as more sales = more hardware and software offerings in the future. 3dfx and Creative are two of the best known names in the PC world - their support of the Mac will not go unnoticed by other companies that may also jump on the Mac bandwagon. [The original press release info from 1/6/2000 follows:] Since I could not find this 3dfx press release online this morning, I've posted a copy below. "3DFX ANNOUNCES STRATEGY TO DELIVER VOODOO DIRECTLY TO THE MACINTOSH MARKET 3dfx To Bring High-Performance 3D Graphics and Digital Cinematic Effects to the Mac Via VSA-100 Processor SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Macworld - January 6, 2000 - 3dfx InteractiveÆ Inc. (NASDAQ: TDFX) today announced its strategy to bring its high-quality and extreme performance 3D graphics to the Mac with branded products featuring the new VSA-100 (Voodoo Scalable Architecture) processor. Board products based on the VSA-100, which contains native Mac support and acceleration, will deliver ultimate fill rates and high visual reality through breakthrough digital cinematic effects, bringing Mac gaming to the next level. Additionally, 3D rendering quality on the Mac will be dramatically improved through the VSA-100's advanced full-scene anti-aliasing technology, a capability never before available from 3dfx for Mac. Specific board configurations will be announced in the first quarter of 2000 and are expected to be available at retail in the second quarter of 2000. "This announcement demonstrates our strong commitment to the Mac platform and our desire to be the number one graphics supplier for the Mac," said Scott Sellers, founder and chief technology officer at 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "No other graphics board can deliver the power and performance of the VSA-100 to the Mac. With full-scene anti-aliasing and digital cinematic effects, the VSA-100 will provide Mac users an improved visual quality and performance level." "We have listened to the user community and have received tremendous support to enter the Mac market and dominate with 3dfx branded products," said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "We will fully support boards on the Mac platform, including customer service, technical support, driver updates, game developer evangelism and all of the other services available to users of 3dfx PC products." "The new family of iMacs and the new Power Mac G4 are great platforms for beginning and hard-core gamers alike," said Clent Richardson, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "3dfx's technology will help make games and other intensive visual applications stand out on the Mac." In August 1999, 3dfx introduced the first version of its beta drivers for the Voodoo3 to the Mac development community in order to enable leading game developers to create Mac versions of their best-selling WindowsÆ PC games, and to attract more cutting-edge 3D titles to the Mac platform. Developer support played an important role in 3dfx's decision to enter the market with branded products. "3dfx really created the hardware-accelerated 3D gaming market on the PC and we're anticipating a similar effect on the Mac," said Michael Evans, project lead for Oni at Bungie Software. "With their forthcoming VSA-100 products, users can expect to experience Oni and Halo at higher resolutions, significantly higher frame rates and remarkably better image quality." "Having 3dfx show this kind of support for the Mac is something that will excite Mac users everywhere," said Trey Smith, technical director at Graphic Simulations. "Today the Voodoo3 is the fastest board for the Mac and we expect VSA-100 products to carry on that market leadership by delivering outstanding visual quality and performance to the platform. This will make the games we bring to the Mac more immersive and exciting than ever before" "By committing to branded Mac products, 3dfx will raise the standard for gaming on the Mac," said Al Schilling, product manager of MacSoft. "The development community is anxious and ready to work with 3dfx to bring more content to the Macintosh. We strongly support their decision to enter the market and look forward to the future of Mac gaming." About The VSA-100 At the heart of the VSA-100 is a new advanced 3D engine which enables extremely high fill rates. Sustaining high fill rate is critical to deliver real-time frame rates at high resolution, with significant depth complexity, digital effects and the highest visual quality. The VSA-100 allows for the first time, true full-scene, hardware anti-aliasing at real-time frame rates. True full-scene anti-aliasing removes visual artifacts, such as "jaggies" and triangle "popping" to create smooth images that deliver a substantially improved immersive experience for the viewer. Additionally, multiple chip implementations of the VSA-100 enable advanced T-Buffer(tm) digital cinematic effects including motion blur, programmable depth-of-field, soft shadows and soft reflections. The VSA-100, composed of over 14 million transistors, is fabricated in an enhanced .25 micron, 6-layer metal semiconductor process. The architecture incorporates industry standard 3D features including 32-bit RGBA rendering, 24-bit depth-buffer (Z and W), 8-bit stencil rendering, FXT1 texture compression support, 32-bit textures, 2048x2048 texture size support, and advanced texture and color combine capabilities. Additional support is provided for both AGP 4x and PCI, DVD hardware assist, and the world's most powerful 128-bit 2D engine. About 3dfx Interactive 3dfx Interactive is leading the 3D multimedia revolution in personal computers and consumer products. With its patented and award-winning graphics accelerator chips, boards and software, 3dfx provides the technology to create high-impact visual experiences. The company is recognized worldwide for its ability to bring the world's finest games, educational content, interactive entertainment and media-rich business applications to life. 3dfx products are available through leading PC makers including Compaq, Dell, Gateway and in retail stores worldwide. 3dfx Interactive has headquarters in San Jose, Calif., with engineering and manufacturing facilities in Richardson, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. 3dfx Interactive (NASDAQ: TDFX) is available on the Web at http://www.3dfx.com. 3dfx Interactive is a registered trademark and VSA-100, T-Buffer and Voodoo3 are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive. All other names may be trademarks of their respective holders. " Related Links: Detailed Review of the Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI including 3d, games and 2d performance tests and comparisons. 3dfx to Acquire Gigapixel (Q&A and info on what this means for future products) 3dfx.com and 3dfxgamers.com have more tech details on the VSA-100 design www.mac3dfx.com (our Mac Voodoo web site) Our 3dfx Forum - message board with discussions on 3dfx/mac related topics Mac Game/Video Card Performance - Searchable (by game/video card/system) database of framerates Our Mac Game News page - see the sidebar there for dozens of reviews/tips/articles
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright ©, 2000. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.