3Dfx Unveils Voodoo3 2000, 3000 and 3500

3Dfx has finally decided how it's going to offer its forthcoming Voodoo3 technology. The company intends to make the information public later today, but details of the announcement were leaked to the SharkyExtreme Web site.

The company's entry-level product, the Voodoo3 2000, will now contain memory running at 143MHz, up from 125MHz, an increase that doesn't sound too significant, but 3Dfx claims the higher clock speed generates an "incredibly high yield". The company says the chip-set will generate six million triangles per second and 286 million texels per second (Mtps), up from the originally specified 250Mtps. For comparison, the Voodoo2 does 180Mtps, Banshee 100Mtps.

The 2000 will ship for around $129, contain 16MB of SDRAM, sport a 300MHz RAMDAC and come in AGP and PCI versions.

The Voodoo3 3000's 16MB of SDRAM will run at 166MHz, as originally specced and be based on a 350MHz RAMDAC. It will retail for around $179.99, but only be available in AGP form. A TV/S-VHS output facility rounds off the feature set.

Both the 3000 and 2000 were discussed when 3Dfx launched Voodoo3 back at Comdex/Fall 1998. Today's announcement will add a third, new product, the Voodoo3 3500. It will offer 16MB of SDRAM clocked at 183MHz. That, plus a 350MHz RAMDAC, will generate 366Mtps, claim 3Dfx and eight million triangles per second all at screen resolutions of up to 2048x1536.

The 3500 will also feature 3Dfx's LCDfx technology to drive digital flat-panel displays, plus TV/S-VHS output. The card, manufactured by 3Dfx's subsidiary, STB, and will retail for around $189.99. Again, it will only be made available in AGP form.

3Dfx originally also mentioned a Voodoo3 4000. That apparently is still on the cards, and will ship when Intel gets its AGO 4X-supporting Camino chip-set out of the door, some time in the second quarter of the year. ®

Full details of each product are available at SharkyExtreme, here

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