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3dfx: T-Buffer Technology
by Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford |
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Was releasing Voodoo3 without 32-bit color really an issue? It was an issue for debate, but no a practical issue at all. When 32-bit rendering will really make a difference in most of the games we play 3dfx will have a card on the market that supports 32-bit color and with the always-kept promise of 60 FPS to boot. I could argue the same points about texture size. Does texture size really matter now? No. But the fact is that it will make an impact within the next 12 months and so 3dfx plans on addressing this issue as well. With the introduction of the T-Buffer, 3dfx has shown true forward vision for its products and for the gaming world. 3dfx has stayed with a proven formula and kept their chipset at the top of the heap for many years. Now, they are not just moving ahead with increased image quality, they plan to set the standard! Voodoo4 It was no secret that many of us were expecting to hear something new about Voodoo4 (or whatever they are going to call it) this past week. We did hear some news, and we did not hear some news. We were not given specs for the new card but some details were revealed. As I have already stated the next generation card will have 32-bit color. We have already learned that it will have texture sizes in excess of 256x256 (exact texture size was not revealed.) 4X AGP support will also be standard. With a new generation video card will come a new version of Glide. In addition the new version of Glide will have some new features that are not found in D3D to make the Glide API the preferred API for gamers. What those new features are 3dfx did not reveal. Of course the T-Buffer will be standard and so will 60 FPS speed with resolutions of 1024x768 and above. |
 3dfx did comment to me that they want to continue the tradition begun by the Voodoo3 3500-TV. In other words, look for a next generation card (probably a different board like the 3500 TV was to the 2000 and 3000) to have a version with TV out, FM out, S-video, etc… Questions, Questions! Many questions remain about the next generation card. Speculation about fill-rate, memory sizes and features are rampant around the Internet. I really want to shy away from any guesses about specific specs like memory and fill-rate since I do not really know what they are and if I did, NDA would prevent me from saying so. What I want to focus on is what the next generation 3D card might have in terms of features. One of the questions many gamers ask is, "Will it have Texture and Lighting (T&L), which will be directly supported by DirectX 7?" The answer is that we do not know. I suspect that the initial version may not have T&L but perhaps a later version of the next generation card will (DAMN that speculation.) Aonther question I had was about environmental bump mapping. 3dfx was not touching this with a ten-foot pole! The answer is anybody's guess. What about dual header technology like in the Matrox G400? Again, 3dfx is mum on the issue. "No comment", co-founder Scott Sellers said. Finally, how fast will the next generation card be in comparison to Voodoo3 or Voodoo2? Well here I MAY just be able to give you an idea. Emulating the T-Buffer technology was a box on the table that had a total of 8 Voodoo2 boards running in SLI. For comparison, also on the table was a box containing a single Voodoo3 board. We each had two flat screen monitors to stare at so we could compare the non T-Buffer computer (single V3) with the enabled T-Buffer emulation computer (8-way Voodoo2 SLI). Go to Page Five: Conclusion
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