The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews

3dfx's Retail Mac Voodoo4/Voodoo5 PCI Graphics Cards Details Published: 4/12/2000 (Updated 6/26/2000)

Voodoo4 4500 PCI (single chip) & Voodoo5 5500 PCI (dual chip) (Mac versions will include DVI LCD display output port ) Voodoo4 4500 Voodoo5 5500 Actual Retail Mac Voodoo5 PCI Features/Highlights: DVI Video Output: Only the Mac versions of the Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 will feature a standard DVI output port for support of Apple's 22" LCD Cinema Display and current 15" LCD Studio Displays. There are not only the highest performance Mac DVI output cards but also the lowest cost to date. Includes support for 1600x1024 pixel mode (Apple Cinema Display native resolution). Full Driver Support: RAVE, OpenGL, Quickdraw, Quicktime, and Glide (When released, driver support for OS X as well) Highest 2D and 3D Performance ever seen on a Mac. World's fastest 128-Bit 2D Engine. Full 32-Bit 3D support: 32-Bit RGBA rendering, 24-Bit depth buffer (Z & W), 8-bit stencil buffer, FXT1 texture compression support, 32-Bit textures (up to 2048x2048 pixel sizes), advanced texture and color combine capabilities and native support for Mac data formats. Brain Speece told me the RAVE driver was rewritten from scratch and is currently running Nanosaur and Bugdom and supports windowed RAVE so 3D applications that support RAVE are accelerated. Real-Time Full Screen Anti-Aliasing: Voodoo5 (dual chip) cards feature hardware-based full screen anti-aliasing that's backward compatible with all OpenGL and Glide programs with no software changes required. (RAVE does not support this feature.) This feature has to been seen to be appreciated and I'm told once you see this in person "you'll never go back" to anything else. T-Buffer Special Effects: Voodoo 5 (dual chip) cards feature T-Buffer support for motion blur, depth of field and other cinematic special effects (requires software title support) Fill Rate Performance: Fill Rate determines framerates (3D performance) and is sorely lacking in most Mac 3D cards to date, clearly seen by their performance nosedive at higher resolutions. Voodoo4 4500 (single chip): 333-367 Megapixels Per Second Voodoo5 5000 (dual chip): 667-733 Megapixels Per Second 350MHz RAMDAC: For high refresh rates (see links below for complete list of resolutions) Estimated Retail Pricing: Voodooo4 4500 PCI (32MB) under $200, Voodoo5 5500 PCI (64MB) $329.99 Availability at retail is targeted for the company's second quarter. Details are not finalized on an AGP version of the new cards. In case you're wondering, DVD hardware assist including planar to packed-pixel conversion is supported in hardware. No definite word on a DVD player, but it is under consideration. Software bundle options have not been finalized. It's going to be pure torture waiting for these cards to be available. I'd dying to see how these new cards perform. Here's a snippet from the press release: "Users will be simply amazed by the visual experience of our new products specifically designed and optimized for the Mac platform," said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "All Mac users, from pre-press professionals to hardcore gamers, will now be able to enjoy a powerful new level of graphics performance and visual quality whether they're playing the hottest new games, or working against a deadline to complete their next design project. Once users experience our 3D full-scene anti-aliasing, they will never go back." At the heart of the new Mac products is the VSA-100 (Voodoo Scalable Architecture) processor. 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, advanced texture and color combine capabilities, and the native support of Macintosh data formats. Additional features include the world's most powerful and feature-complete 2D engine, as well as compelling video features including a 350 MHz RAMDAC for unsurpassed video quality. The Voodoo4 4500 PCI for Mac features a single VSA-100 processor and 32 MB of graphics memory. It is the ideal choice for both pre-press professionals, and casual gamers, as well as users who want to upgrade to a board with planned OS X support, or to drive Apple's new digital flat panel monitors. For professional designers, the Voodoo4 4500 PCI also has the necessary power to deliver high visual quality with a 350MHz RAMDAC that provides rock-solid images at high refresh rates. The Voodoo4 4500 PCI for Mac, which renders two fully featured pixels per clock, will deliver up to 333 megatexels/megapixels per second fill rates and is expected to be priced below $200 in retail stores. The Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac features dual VSA-100 processors and 64MB of total graphics memory. The product is targeted at both 3D Professionals and hardcore gamers, providing compelling support for 3D modeling, CAD, animation, and virtual reality applications, in addition to the fastest gaming experience on the Mac. The multi-chip capabilities of the VSA-100 allow, for the first time, 3D rendering that employs, true full-scene, hardware anti-aliasing at real-time frame rates. Additionally, the Voodoo5 5500 PCI enables advanced T-Buffer(TM) digital cinematic effects including motion blur, programmable depth-of-field, soft shadows and soft reflections. The Voodoo5 5500 PCI, which renders four fully-featured pixels per clock, will deliver up to 667 megatexels/megapixels per second fill rates and is expected to be priced at $329.99 in retail stores. Both the Voodoo5 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac support all major 3D APIs including OpenGL®, GLIDE®, QuickDraw(TM) 3D Rave, providing the highest possible software compatibility. In addition both products have planned support for Apple's upcoming OS X in the future. " Learn More: For more details and definitions on the special features of 3dfx's new Voodoo4/5 cards see 3dfx's product pages. (DVI display output is not mentioned in the specs pages as that is a Mac-only card feature). (Original Reference 3Dfx site Links from 2000 removed after 3dfx closed down.) Reviews of Mac 3Dfx Voodoo 4 and 5 Cards here: Mac Voodoo5 5500 PCI Review Mac Voodoo4 4500 PCI Review

Back to XLR8YOURMAC.com

Copyright © 2000, all rights reserved. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.