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| October 1 - October 8 |
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 by Alessandro CancianI still remember when, some years ago, 3dfx introduced their Voodoo graphics chip. PC users, especially hardcore game players, were so impressed by the performance of that chip that they dreamed of having one in their graphics cards. Since then the 3D video graphics world evolved a lot, both as regards technology and the number of manufacturers offering interesting novelties on the market. Several other companies came to the limelight ATI and nVidia just to name a few, and the war for market leadership is generating pleasant surprises for the lovers of 3D computer games. 3dfx seems poised to reconquer its former place as the best manufacturer of graphics chips designed for 3D games, and its strategy opens with the presentation of the next generation of graphics cards. For the San Josè, California based company, the present consists of Voodoo 4 and 5, but the difference lies also in strategic choices such as the full support of Mac platforms and the release of drivers conceived for the Linux world. I could test one of 3dfxs top product, i.e. Voodoo 5 5500 AGP. My Guinea pig was a new PC equipped with an Athol 850-MHz processor recently bought by the company. Installation of the video card was laborious due to some unforeseen circumstances, such as the size of the Voodoo 5 card (not exactly small), and the cramped and ill-managed space inside the PCs case. The unusual length is due to the presence on the card of two VSA-100 chips working in SLI (Scan Line Interleave) mode, requiring a higher-than-normal power consumption, thus needing direct connection to the computers power supply. These two chips share tasks equally, thus achieving interesting performance, especially in the cards real strongpoint: FSAA. Game players will understand what Im referring to. 3dfx preferred to enhance image quality, with technologies such as Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) and T-buffer, trading it off for lower quantity, i.e. frames per second. In my opinion, the results vindicate 3dfxs choice completely, considering the image quality I saw on my computer screen. In active FSAA mode, even the oldest title will acquire a new look. The FSAA technology implemented on the card smoothes those edges and removes those triangle edges that even today are the leats appealing characteristic of PC games. The control software is fully customizable, leaving the user the choice between full, partial or no FSAA, according to performance required. Surprises for the 64 Mb SDRAM card arent over: the card also includes the T-buffer technology, adding a bunch of movie effects like motion blur to make a game look realistic. But whereas the FSAA technology does not require any modification to the games, the T-buffer is more of a promise for future games that will incorporate it in their code. I tested the real capabilities of the card with a classic: Quake 3. At a 800x600 resolution with active FSAA, image quality was really good and game playability did not suffer in the least. With higher resolutions (1024x768), however, the effects of the FSAA mode were felt, with a slight slowdown that could only be corrected by deactivating the Anti-Aliasing mode. Available in AGP and PCI versions, the new Voodoo 5 has a street price of $299 for PC users; $329 for Mac lovers (available only in PCI version). Thanks to its inexpensive, although not cheap, price, the 3dfx card represents one of the best products on the market, and all game lovers should at least try its quality. For further information please visit 3dfx web site at www.3dfx.com |
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