3DFX Announces First Mac-Branded Products
Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI bring immersive 3D and lightning-fast 2D to the Mac.
3DFX Interactive, a global leader in developing and marketing 3D technology for personal computers, today announced that the Voodoo4 4500 PCI for Macintosh and
Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Macintosh will be the first two Mac products released by the company.
The boards mark 3DFX 's move into the Mac market with fully supported 3DFX branded products, tailored specifically to address the needs of Mac users. The Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI are expected to provide the fastest 2D and 3D perfomance for the Mac platform. Both products include a standard CRT monitor output in addition to a DVI output, which enables support for Apple's new,
all-digital flat panel displays. The new boards feature the industry's first hardware anti-aliasing solution, in addition to a compelling set of 3D features including T-Buffer digital cinematic effects and FXT1 texture compression.
The Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac are expected to be available in the company's second quarter.
"For the first time, Mac users will now be able to fully experience the
incredible performance and visual quality of our products," said Dr Alex Leupp, president and CEO of 3DFX Interactive. "We expect strong demand for our Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac products, as we turbo-charge the 2D and 3D graphics capabilities of the Mac platform."
"Users will be simply amazed by the visual experience of our new products specifically designed and optimised for the Mac platform," said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3DFX Interactive.
"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 colour 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.
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 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.
Both the Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac support all major 3D APIs including OpenGL, GLIDE, QuickDraw 3D Rave, providing the highest possible
software compatibility. In addition both products have planned support for Apple's upcoming OS X in the future.
3DFX Interactive is a registered trademark and Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 are trademarks of 3DFX Interactive. All other names may be trademarks of their respective holders.
Bastion contact:
Christina Erskine christina@bastion.co.uk
Telephone: +44(0) 171 490 1323
Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Macintosh will be the first two Mac products released by the company.
The boards mark 3DFX 's move into the Mac market with fully supported 3DFX branded products, tailored specifically to address the needs of Mac users. The Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI are expected to provide the fastest 2D and 3D perfomance for the Mac platform. Both products include a standard CRT monitor output in addition to a DVI output, which enables support for Apple's new,
all-digital flat panel displays. The new boards feature the industry's first hardware anti-aliasing solution, in addition to a compelling set of 3D features including T-Buffer digital cinematic effects and FXT1 texture compression.
The Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac are expected to be available in the company's second quarter.
"For the first time, Mac users will now be able to fully experience the
incredible performance and visual quality of our products," said Dr Alex Leupp, president and CEO of 3DFX Interactive. "We expect strong demand for our Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac products, as we turbo-charge the 2D and 3D graphics capabilities of the Mac platform."
"Users will be simply amazed by the visual experience of our new products specifically designed and optimised for the Mac platform," said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3DFX Interactive.
"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 colour 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.
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 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.
Both the Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI for Mac support all major 3D APIs including OpenGL, GLIDE, QuickDraw 3D Rave, providing the highest possible
software compatibility. In addition both products have planned support for Apple's upcoming OS X in the future.
3DFX Interactive is a registered trademark and Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 are trademarks of 3DFX Interactive. All other names may be trademarks of their respective holders.
Bastion contact:
Christina Erskine christina@bastion.co.uk
Telephone: +44(0) 171 490 1323
Companies:
3DFX