PenguinJim
01-09-03, 06:17 AM
Was cleaning some old files of mine off Daddy's Win95 machine when I came across this document (not literally, of course - that would be disgusting :p)
Thought I'd share it with you as a blast from the past :D :
GamesMansion : Voodoo2 vs PowerVR2
GamesMansion is a online-magazine with a lot of good news about the Games-world. it has undergone a rebuild the last months and is now back with some interesting news about the future of 3D :
If you thought that the feud between 3Dfx and Videologic was bad in 1997, then 1998 should hold some surprises for you. Both hardware developers have new technology waiting in the wings and they've both learnt some serious lessons over the last couple of years. The end result will be a titanic battle for control of the 3D accelerator market on hitherto unimaginable scale.
According to 3Dfx, Voodoo 2 can deliver 50Bops (billion of operations per second), shifting 2.2Gb of memory per second. Its 192-bit architecture can shift 3 million triangles per second and 90 million dual-textured, bilinear-filtered, per-pixel MIP-mapped, alpha-blended, Z-buffered pixels per second. If that all sounds like techo-garble then let me put it this way - it's three times quicker than the existing Voodoo chipset (according to both company and independent testing) and it's scaleable, which means you can join two cards together for double the power.
3Dfx have clearly learnt some valuable lessons from the Voodoo Rush debacle and the good news is that Voodoo 2 is completely compatible with Voodoo, meaning that all 150 Voodoo enhanced games will run on the new system. Such is the power of the new hardware (featuring two texture processors) that 3Dfx reckon that GL Quake runs at over 110fps.
Videologic have got a seriously busy year ahead of them. Just before Christmas they did a press tour of all the leading magazines (which did of course include us) during which they outlined their plans for the year. Amongst the many announcements they made, they revealed that they are attacking the PC market, the console market and the arcade market at the same time.
Videologic have made terrific in-roads onto the high street, signing up deals with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and stores. They look set to take advantage of that in 1998 with no less than five new chip level products released during the year. And whilst the full announcement hasn't been made yet (that comes at the end of January), those chips will include Power VR2, the new Sega console chipset and an arcade level chip. Reading between the lines we also reckon that they've got their own sound chip waiting in the wings.
After spending vast amounts of cash, Videologic are finally seeking widespread developer level acceptance of Power VR2, as well as increasing levels of third party development, such as the Matrox M3d. The company believe that the forthcoming Direct X6.0 is good news for them, because it is optimised directly for tile-based processors such as the Power VR architecture.
So who's going to win this battle? We see the market polarising over the course of 1998 between two completely distinct camps. 3Dfx will occupy the high ground - they'll have to, because there's no way on earth that they can match the pricepoint of Power VR. Voodoo 2 will undoubtedly become a popular choice with hardcore gamers, but the high retail price will discourage newcomers to the sector. Videologic will cheerfully dominate the mass market, getting their cards shipped inside PCs, selling through the high street and, we think, eventually winning the war through mass-product selling. As good as Voodoo 2 is - it's unlikely to be any better than Power VR2 and is destined to become a niche product in what's rapidly becoming a mass market PC hardware sector.
This piece again shows that Videologic is doing a good job contacting the media and telling them about their plans for the next year. In the GamesMansion forum their editor said that he knows everything about the next generation of PowerVR but that he is like everybody sworn to secrecy. He did tell us that it is worth to wait for. Sounds to me like a lot of people got a glimpse of HighLander and most seem to be pretty convinced that it will be just as powerful as Voodoo2. The price will make PowerVR2 the big winner of 1998.
Kristof 19/1/1998 (18:00:00).
Mwahahahaha!!!
Thought I'd share it with you as a blast from the past :D :
GamesMansion : Voodoo2 vs PowerVR2
GamesMansion is a online-magazine with a lot of good news about the Games-world. it has undergone a rebuild the last months and is now back with some interesting news about the future of 3D :
If you thought that the feud between 3Dfx and Videologic was bad in 1997, then 1998 should hold some surprises for you. Both hardware developers have new technology waiting in the wings and they've both learnt some serious lessons over the last couple of years. The end result will be a titanic battle for control of the 3D accelerator market on hitherto unimaginable scale.
According to 3Dfx, Voodoo 2 can deliver 50Bops (billion of operations per second), shifting 2.2Gb of memory per second. Its 192-bit architecture can shift 3 million triangles per second and 90 million dual-textured, bilinear-filtered, per-pixel MIP-mapped, alpha-blended, Z-buffered pixels per second. If that all sounds like techo-garble then let me put it this way - it's three times quicker than the existing Voodoo chipset (according to both company and independent testing) and it's scaleable, which means you can join two cards together for double the power.
3Dfx have clearly learnt some valuable lessons from the Voodoo Rush debacle and the good news is that Voodoo 2 is completely compatible with Voodoo, meaning that all 150 Voodoo enhanced games will run on the new system. Such is the power of the new hardware (featuring two texture processors) that 3Dfx reckon that GL Quake runs at over 110fps.
Videologic have got a seriously busy year ahead of them. Just before Christmas they did a press tour of all the leading magazines (which did of course include us) during which they outlined their plans for the year. Amongst the many announcements they made, they revealed that they are attacking the PC market, the console market and the arcade market at the same time.
Videologic have made terrific in-roads onto the high street, signing up deals with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and stores. They look set to take advantage of that in 1998 with no less than five new chip level products released during the year. And whilst the full announcement hasn't been made yet (that comes at the end of January), those chips will include Power VR2, the new Sega console chipset and an arcade level chip. Reading between the lines we also reckon that they've got their own sound chip waiting in the wings.
After spending vast amounts of cash, Videologic are finally seeking widespread developer level acceptance of Power VR2, as well as increasing levels of third party development, such as the Matrox M3d. The company believe that the forthcoming Direct X6.0 is good news for them, because it is optimised directly for tile-based processors such as the Power VR architecture.
So who's going to win this battle? We see the market polarising over the course of 1998 between two completely distinct camps. 3Dfx will occupy the high ground - they'll have to, because there's no way on earth that they can match the pricepoint of Power VR. Voodoo 2 will undoubtedly become a popular choice with hardcore gamers, but the high retail price will discourage newcomers to the sector. Videologic will cheerfully dominate the mass market, getting their cards shipped inside PCs, selling through the high street and, we think, eventually winning the war through mass-product selling. As good as Voodoo 2 is - it's unlikely to be any better than Power VR2 and is destined to become a niche product in what's rapidly becoming a mass market PC hardware sector.
This piece again shows that Videologic is doing a good job contacting the media and telling them about their plans for the next year. In the GamesMansion forum their editor said that he knows everything about the next generation of PowerVR but that he is like everybody sworn to secrecy. He did tell us that it is worth to wait for. Sounds to me like a lot of people got a glimpse of HighLander and most seem to be pretty convinced that it will be just as powerful as Voodoo2. The price will make PowerVR2 the big winner of 1998.
Kristof 19/1/1998 (18:00:00).
Mwahahahaha!!!