From news@cs.columbia.edu Mon Jun 26 18:26:30 1995 Return-Path: Received: from mx4.u.washington.edu by saul5.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW95.05/UW-NDC Revision: 2.33 ) id AA31292; Mon, 26 Jun 95 18:26:30 -0700 Received: from hitl-new.hitl.washington.edu by mx4.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW95.05/UW-NDC Revision: 2.31 ) id AA15068; Mon, 26 Jun 95 18:26:30 -0700 Received: from relay4.UU.NET (relay4.UU.NET [192.48.96.14]) by hitl.hitl.washington.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id SAA15389 for ; Mon, 26 Jun 1995 18:26:26 -0700 Received: from cs.columbia.edu by relay4.UU.NET with SMTP id QQyvwf08826; Mon, 26 Jun 1995 21:26:19 -0400 Received: from lol.cs.columbia.edu (lol.cs.columbia.edu [128.59.10.14]) by cs.columbia.edu (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id VAA15951 for ; Mon, 26 Jun 1995 21:26:23 -0400 Received: (from news@localhost) by lol.cs.columbia.edu (8.6.12/8.6.6) id VAA22509; Mon, 26 Jun 1995 21:26:21 -0400 To: sci-virtual-worlds@uunet.uu.net Path: news!bm From: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre) Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds Subject: NEW: 3D Graphics Acclerators for PCs (FAQ) Followup-To: sci.virtual-worlds Date: 27 Jun 1995 01:26:18 GMT Organization: Columbia University Lines: 1798 Distribution: world Message-Id: Nntp-Posting-Host: shadow.cs.columbia.edu Status: OR I have recently been researching 3D graphics acclerators for PCs. After gathering as much information as I could, I decided to make it into a FAQ. I'm posting it here because there are a lot of people in this community who would be interested. If you have any additional information, or corrections, or suggestions as to possible questions that could be answered, let me know. The current content is necessarily slanted toward the level of product I was interested in. That will change. The current version will be kept on my home page, at http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~bm/ Blair ----------------- Archive-name: pc-3dcards-faq Last-modified: 19-june-95 ======================================================================== PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ v 0.2 19 June 1995 ======================================================================== Changes and additions to: Blair MacIntyre bm@cs.columbia.edu Work: +1 212 939 7087 Columbia University, Dept. of Computer Science 500 W 120th St., Room 450 New York, NY 10027 USA This document provides a partial -- and not comprehensive -- list of 3D graphics accelerators for PCs. In particular, I am interested in PCI-based accelerators. You can help make it more comprehensive by sending me additional information and/or updates. This information is abstracted and condensed from the posts of many different contributors. No guarantees are made regarding its accuracy. This document is available via WWW. See above URL. The original motivation for this document came from a list of accelerators compiled by Chris Hinch, Management Information Systems, Dunedin City Council, PO Box 5045, Dunedin, New Zealand (chris@dcc.govt.nz) ---------------- Changes since version 0.1 New entries: CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor B05) Oki TrianGL B06) Intergraph GLZ Series Changed entries: CS01) Changed address of www site and added email contact. GLINT01) added pricing information B01) Historical correction. B04) Small change (VLbus parts may not exist) --------------- TODO: - organize the information a bit better, remove some extraneous or duplicate info. - answer some frequently asked questions - get more hard data comparing the boards, such as the output of the OpenGL viewperf program. If any manufacturers want to send me a demo unit, or donate one to our group, my address is above. - add more info, as people request and provide it! ================================================================== Contents Introduction Disclaimer Part I: Frequently Asked Questions Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs? Part II: 3D Chipsets Availability CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D (not yet available) CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor Part III: GLINT 300SX-based Boards GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX (?) GLINT03) ELSA GLoria (not yet available) GLINT04) Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia GLINT05) SPEA FireGL (not yet available) GLINT06) Force Inc. 3DE-300SX (?) GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX (?) Part IV: Real3D-based Boards R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100 (not yet available) Part V: Other boards B01) AccelGraphics AG300 B02) ISC PowerGL B03) Evans & Sutherland Freedom (not yet available) B04) Matrox Impression Plus B05) Oki TrianGL B06) Intergraph GLZ Series ================================================================== Introduction The original motivation for compiling this list was to compare the features of various 3D graphics accelerators becoming available for microcomputers. In particular, I am interested in PCI-based cards which support OpenGL under Windows NT, Linux, Solaris x86 (none yet!), etc. and support stereo head mounted displays. (In fact, of the currently available boards, only one qualifies. See if you can figure out which one.) Information which falls in that category will obviously be more complete. Other information will be included if someone sends it to me, but I won't be actively researching it myself. As such, there is little or no information right now about 3D accelerators for high-end machines such as those produced by SGI, Sun, HP, DEC, etc, except as the ones listed may also work in those machines. ================================================================== Disclaimer I haven't seen or used many of these cards, and all figures are the manufacturers own, as near as I can verify. I am not promoting any one card or company over any other. Any anecdotes, speed comparisons, etc., that I collect will be included on a purely informational level. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Of course, I will not include anything I do not believe or know to be false. No representation is made as to the accuracy of these figures/technical specs. If you are going to buy/bet the farm/otherwise invest in one of these products, CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER first and make sure that what you want is what you'll get!!! CAVEAT EMPTOR!!! All trademarks etc are copyright of their respective owners etc. etc. Furthermore, many of these boards are not yet available, so you should find out delivery dates before getting your heart set on any given one. ==================================================================== Part I: Frequently Asked Questions ==================================================================== Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs? I'm glad you asked. There are quite a few, with more coming out all the time. See the rest of this document for more information. (Ok, it's a stupid question, but I needed _something_ in the FAQ section) ==================================================================== Part II: 3D Chipsets available now or in the near future. There are numerous 3D chipsets being worked on, but these 2 happen to be the ones I have detailed information both on the chips and on boards built using them. If I get more information on other chips, I will include them here. ==================================================================== CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX First, a comment about the GLINT 300SX chip, which I will make because it was not clear to me when I first read their specs. They mention texture mapping acceleration, but on the 300SX texture maps are held in host memory and per pixel information is sent to the chip which performs the necessary interpolations and applications. For the upcoming 300TX, the texture maps are held in local memory on the graphics card (the "localbuffer") and the host just sends per vertex information to the chip which performs all the texture mapping calculations. Information on the 300SX can be obtained from the 3DLabs home page at http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/ or by sending email to info@3Dlabs.com. The technical specs below were copied directly from the page http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/300SXinf.html GLINT 300SX Overview The GLINT 300SX high performance graphics processor combines workstation class 3D graphics acceleration and state-of-the-art 2D performance in a single chip. GLINT is capable of processing 300,000 shaded, depth buffered and anti-aliased polygons/second. The chip provides complete 32-bit color, 2D and 3D acceleration, an on-chip PCI-compliant local bus interface and integrated LUT-DAC control, making a complete graphics subsystem possible with minimal chip count. All the rendering operations of OpenGL are accelerated by the GLINT 300SX, including Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing, alpha blending, and texture mapping. 3D ACCELERATION o 100% OpenGL compliant rendering operations in hardware o Point, line, rectangle and polygon primitives o Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing, dithering, depth cueing, texture map filtering and alpha blending o 2.5 Giga operations per second o 300K Gouraud shaded, depth buffered triangles/sec 2D AND GUI ACCELERATION o True color acceleration of window systems such as Win32 and X11 o Accelerated bitBLT, line drawing, fills, text and window clipping SPECIAL FEATURES o 64-bit hyper-pipelined architecture o Vertex level interface o 112-bit pixel datapath to memory o High quality 16 and 8-bpp dithering of 24-bit graphics images o Fast frame and depth buffer clears o Shared framebuffer interface for easy multimedia integration o VRAM block fill and bit masking o Anti-aliasing for high quality images at 4x4 and 8x8 sub-pixel resolution DISPLAY MODES o Resolutions up to 2560x2048 o 8, 16 or 32-bits per pixel RGBA and 4 or 8-bit color indexed o Packed 8, 16 and 32-bit pixels o Supports advanced modes: double buffering, stereo and overlays GLINT 300SX Graphics Architecture The GLINT 300SX delivers 3D and GUI rendering functionality to improve the performance and quality of graphics applications and APIs. o Gouraud shading o Depth buffering o Anti-aliasing o Dithering o Depth cueing and fog o Texture mapping o Scissor and stipple masking o Alpha blending o Logical Operations (e.g. XOR) The unique hyper-pipelined architecture and 112-bit memory datapath ensure that multiple rendering operations can be combined with no performance penalty - allowing a Gouraud shaded polygon to be processed just as fast when depth buffering, dithering and anti-aliasing are enabled. FRAMEBUFFER CONTROLLER The 64/32-bit framebuffer controller directly interfaces to VRAM or DRAM framebuffers and supports a wide range of pixel depths, resolutions and memory sizes - enabling systems to be tuned to meet specific price/performance targets. O 1-32 MBytes VRAM or DRAM O 8,16 or 32-bit RGBA color O 4 or 8-bit color indexed O 2, 4, 8 pixels per 64-bit word O 640x480 to 2560x2048 O VRAM arbitrary shape block fill O VRAM bit masking O Framebuffer bypass mode LOCALBUFFER CONTROLLER The localbuffer holds optional off-screen information for each pixel including; depth (Z) values, stencil data, arbitrary window clip planes, plus a control field for fast window clearing. The format for each field is user defined, up to a maximum of 48 bits. O 0-48 MBytes DRAM O 0-48-bits wide Depth: 0, 16, 24, 32-bit Stencil: 0, 4, 8-bit Window clipping: 0, 4-bit Fast depth clear: 4, 8-bit O Localbuffer bypass mode for direct access by external devices INTEGRATED VIDEO TIMING An internal timing generator and VRAM transfer controller are incorporated into the GLINT 300SX processor. Advanced systems requiring overlays, stereo, interlace or very large framebuffers can be supported using an external timing generator. SHARED FRAMEBUFFER The GLINT 300SX's on-chip shared framebuffer interface is a fully integrated implementation of S3's interface, allowing GLINT to use video and multimedia co-processors, or for the GLINT to be used as a 3D coprocessor to an S3 device. UPGRADE PATH The GLINT 300SX is the first of a family of GLINT graphics processors that are designed to meet the demands of the graphics designer. The GLINT300TX, is a second generation pin compatible processor that enhances the SX's texture capabilities - supporting local texture storage and pixel address generation for all OpenGL texturing modes. NOTICE: 3Dlabs reserves the right to change the above specifications without notice. >From looking at the various boards, it appears that typical performance quotes are in the following range: 3D Gouraud shaded, depth buffered, window clipped, stippled, dithered, and alpha tested rendering performance with 24-bit RGB color depth is the following: 300K 25 pixel triangles/sec 500K 10 pixel vectors/sec 8M independent points/second 500K 9x13 pixels characters/second 2D Graphics performance 1M 10 pixel vectors/sec 500K 10x10 pixel, flat shaded rectangles/sec 500K 9x13 pixels characters/second Scroll Rate 48M pixels/second - 8 bits/pixel ==================================================================== CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D Information on the Lockheed Martin Read3D chipset was obtained from their WWW server at the following URL: http://www.mmc.com/real3d/ Check there for more information, or call 1-800-393-7730, or send email to real3d@mmc.com The following is taken from a press release found at that site: The REAL3D(tm) chipset is based on real-time computer image generation technology that gives a combination of dynamic response and realism previously available only on dedicated graphics workstations and high end custom image generators. The first product will be the R3D/100 graphics accelerator. Key performance attributes of the new chip set include an embedded 100 MFLOPS geometry processor, pixel write rates of up to 33 million pixels per second, up to 750,000 polygons per second, line processing up to 1.5 million per second, and provides up to 192 color texture maps (128 x 128 mipmapped) in real-time. The new product is an outgrowth of Lockheed Martin's proprietary computer graphics technology previously used in high performance military simulation, engineering research and training applications first developed for astronaut training and military flight simulators. The chip set provides faster processing through its patented hardware design which incorporates geometry processing, rasterization and texture mapping. The R3D/100 embedded floating point geometry processor removes significant processing burden from the host CPU. The patented texture processor applies color mipmapped texture to polygons in true 3D corrected perspective. Designed as a true polygon processor with texture processing and scaleable texture memory from the outset, the R3D/100 chip set includes dedicated hardware acceleration of mipmapped texturing that provides continuous high fidelity image quality. This chip set simulates spotlights, fog and realistic curved surfaces. Additionally, improved image quality is provided with multi-pass anti-aliasing. The R3D/100 chip set directly interfaces with Microsoft 3D/DDI and supports all 3D/DDI-compliant APIs, such as OpenGL(tm) and comes with device driver software and a device driver kit. ==================================================================== CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 3D Graphics Geometry Processor S-MOS Systems is offering the industry's first commercially available single chip 3D geometry accelerator for the PC marketplace. The SPC1500 will work together with any 3D rendering processors to accelerate 3D graphics up to 300+ lighted triangles per second. Why is geometry processing acceleration important? Rendering processors alone, even on Pentium class machines, can not deliver true workstation class performance. This is because even the fastest CPUs today are quickly overcome by the amount of algorithmic processing necessary to transform a 3D data stream to a 2D perspective with lighting and material effects. The SPC1500 integrates a 150Mflop dual floating point engine, an on-chip DMA processor, on-chip ROM to store the algorithm instruction set, and an on-chip RAM cache to store customer instructions in a single 223 pin PGA package. Easy integration S-MOS Systems provides a complete design package for the system integrator and board vendor..... PCI Reference Designs S-MOS Systems provides reference designs and evaluation kits showing the capabilities of the SPC1500 running OpenGL on the WindowsNT platform. Full technical manuals, electronic gerber files, and applications notes are available. Full Software Support WindowsNT and OS/2 Support S-MOS Systems provides OpenGL compliant software and system utilities for the WindowsNT platform. This software supports any rendering board (2D or 3D) that supports 3D DDI. It will also supports direct data transfer to the leading 3D rendering board vendors. MacOS Support S-MOS Systems will will support software drivers and system utilities for Quickdraw3D. An Acrobat version of the SPC1500 Datasheet is available via their page at http://www.smos.com/standard/spc1500.htm For more information contact Giri Venkat, Product Marketing Engineer, S-MOS Systems (E-Mail: venkat@smos.com). ==================================================================== Part III: GLINT 300SX-based Boards The descriptions of the boards in this section will attempt to give information not common to all GLINT 300SX-based boards. ==================================================================== GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON FROM THE SPEC SHEET: 3DEMON 3-D Graphics Accelerator for PCI Local Bus Technical Brief The 3DEMON provides workstation class 3-D graphics and high performance 2-D acceleration using the GLINT (tm) 300SX 3-D processor from 3Dlabs. Frame buffer: * 4 Mbyte high speed VRAM * 8,12,16, and 24/32 bits per pixel Local buffer: * 4 or 8 Mbyte DRAM 3DEMON Model SX44 * 4 MByte frame buffer, 4 MByte local buffer * Double Buffered Resolutions 800x600 24/32-bit (3-D) 1024x768 16-bit (3-D) * Single Buffered Resolutions 1024x768 24/32-bit (3-D) 1280x1024 16-bit (2-D) 3DEMON Model SX48 * 4 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer * Double Buffered Resolutions 800x600 24/32-bit (3-D) 1024x768 16-bit (3-D) 1280x1024 8-bit (3-D) * Single Buffered Resolutions 1024x768 24/32-bit (3-D) 1280x1024 16-bit (3-D) Software Compatibility * Microsoft's implementation of OpenGL under Windows NT (tm) 3.5 and Windows 95 (tm) (included) * 2-D drivers for Microsoft Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT 3.5 (included) * HOOPS, 3DR, and other industry standard 3-D APIs * Reality Lab, RenderWare, BRender, and other 3-D games APIs * Accelerated-X drivers for The X-Window System by X-Inside * Specific applications such as AutoCAD, Microstation, CadKey, and 3D Studio Hardware Compatibility * Minimum OpenGL platform of Pentium processor, Windows NT 3.5, and 32MB RAM recommended * Windows NT 3.5 support for PowerPC and MIPS processors is under development CONTACT INFORMATION: Steve Gillaspy Omnicomp Graphics Corp. 1734 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N. Houston, TX. 77043 Phone: 713-464-2990 Fax: 713-827-7540 email: omnicmp@phoenix.phoenix.net COMMENTS: >From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz): "These guys are brilliant - they are responsive, and have been really helpful in my own research, often pointing me in the direction of other people and companies who can help, as well as showing a solid technical understanding of my requirements and making recommendations based on that understanding. Here's some pricing information, as of Thursday, 30 March 1995. 3DEMON SX44 (4MB VRAM, 4MB DRAM) ------------------------------- List $2,170 Educational $1,995 Quantity 1-9 $1,845 Quantity 10-24 $1,715 Quantity 25-99 $1,605 3DEMON SX48 (4MB VRAM, 8MB DRAM) ------------------------------- List $2,590 Educational $2,380 Quantity 1-9 $2,200 Quantity 10-24 $2,045 Quantity 25-99 $1,915 ==================================================================== GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX The Sapphire 2SX PCI-bus graphics accelerator uses the GLINT 300SX to provide acceleration for 3D multimedia and Virtual Reality applications. The Sapphire 2SX supports multiple configurations and memory options. Put out by their Microelectronic division. The following URL appears to be partially invalid (the vspace/index.html doesn't exist anymore). Possible URL: http://www.fujitsu.com:80/FMI/vspace/index.html Some information I received off the net (lost the source): Pixel bus: use one card - one monitor use two cards - one monitor (double performance) use two cards - one / two desktop Drivers: PCI bus - Windows 95 - NT 3.5 - Apple PowerPC Headquarters 3545 North First Street San Jose, California 95134-1807 (408) 922-9000 (408) 432-9044 (fax) 1-800-642-7616 (FMI Product Information) Manufacturing Gresham Manufacturing Divison 21015 S. E. Stark Street Gresham, Oregon 97030-2099 (503) 669-6000 (503) 669-6109 (fax) COMMENTS: >From Blair MacIntyre: "They can mail but not fax information. I'm waiting to receive it." ==================================================================== GLINT03) ELSA GLoria FROM THE SPEC SHEET: Based on the S3-Vision968 and 3Dlabs' GLINT 300SX. Has a 250Mhz RAMDAC with built-in digital video acceleration provided by the S3 chip. Includes a DCI driver. Comes with optimized Windows 3.X/NT/'95, OpenGL and OS/2 drivers and utilities. Includes drivers for multi-screen support as well as Display List Drivers for MicroStation and AutoCAD DOS/Windows for R12/R13/LT. 3D features are similar to all GLINT 300SX cards. GLoria-8 * 8 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer, 250Mhz pixel clock * Double Buffered Resolutions up to 1600x1200 at 32-bit per pixel 1920x1080 at 16-bit GLoria-4 * 4 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer, 220Mhz pixel clock * Double Buffered Resolutions up to 1024x768 at 32-bit per pixel 1280x1024 at 24 bpp 1600x1200 at 16 bpp 1920x1080 at 8 bpp CONTACT INFORMATION: Joy Li ELSA Inc. Graphics Corp. 2041 Mission College Blvd. Suite 165 Santa Clara, CA 95054 Phone: 800-272-3572 Phone: 408-565-9669 Fax: 408-565-9650 email: joyl@elsa-usa.mhs.compuserve.com COMMENTS: >From Blair MacIntyre: "Looks pretty good. I'd choose this over a GLINT based board that doesn't have the S3 chip on it. It will be out in late June, early July: they say are redesigning it to increase the performance (both they and someone at 3DLabs said they are hoping to increase performance by 30%)." ==================================================================== GLINT04) Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia The 3DMedia SR is a true high performance 3D accelerator based on the 3DLabs GLINT 300SX chip. The 3DMedia SX provides the same features as the SR, plus additional features such as genlocking to eliminate annoying scrolling bars due to magnetic interference between two monitors in a dual-headed configuration. Furthermore, in provides an on-board studio quality encoder which outputs video in NTSC, PAL or S-Video formats. 3DMedia SX ---------- 3D Acceleration: Similar to other GLINT 300SX boards Flexible output: Software selectable standard as well as custom display formats, interlaced and non-interlaced, are available with a maximum resolution of two million pixels. Optimized Bandwidth PCI local bus, rev 2.0. Target and Read Master interface achieves 20M pixel/second sustained image download rate. Refresh rates in excess of 200Hz. Product Specification: PCI Rev 2.0 Target and Read Master interface 4M Byte framebuffer 4 MByte localbuffer. Extra 4M available as an option. Supports 64-bit/pixel, 8/8/8/8 for RGBA, 24-bit depth, 4-bit stencil, 4-bit fast clear Double buffering at all resolutions and depths. ISO and VESA Display refresh rates. Standard and custom resolutions up to 1280x1024. Pseudo color, true color and direct color output. Color depths of 4/8/12/15/24 bits with alpha channel for RGB color formats. VGA PAss-through at any VGA resolution and color depth. RS-343A Graphics output level. Sync-on-green and external TTL sync support. FCC Class B certification. Output Support: RGB Resolution NI Colors supported Max Refresh in pixels 256 65K 16.7M Rates 1280x1024 yes yes yes 76 1152x900 yes yes yes yes 100 1024x768 yes yes yes yes 125 800x600 yes yes yes yes 175 640x480 yes yes yes yes 250 3DMedia SX ---------- All of the features described above, plus: More flexible output: Support for stereoscopic, field sequential RGB and VR displays is implemented in hardware reducing host overhead. Television and video tape recorders are driven by the studio quality encoder. Square pixel, CCIR and 4x video resolutions can be selected in NTSC, PAL or S-Video format. Phase locking: Line-lock to external sync signals, such as VGA or other sources, enables windowing and external video multiplexing. An independent 3D window can be opened within the GUI display, such as VGA, by activating the line-locking feature. Independent color depth between the GUI and 3D graphics is now possible, depending on the operating system used. Product Specification additions: Max 135MHz video clock. Standard and custom resolutions up to 1600x1200 Supports standard, stereoscopic, field sequential RGB, VR Glasses and other display devices. Programmable video clock. Line-lock to external sync signals. Studio quality encoder with support for different NTSC, PAL, and S-Video resolutions. Output Support in addition to those above: RGB Resolution NI Colors supported Max Refresh in pixels 256 65K 16.7M Rates 1920x1080 yes yes 45 1600x1280 yes yes 50 Contact Information: Media Labs, Inc. 806 Winbern Ste 1 Houston, TX 77002 Tel: (703) 942-0670 Fax: (703) 784-5144 COMMENTS: >From Blair MacIntyre: "The SX is available now, the SR is not. The pricing is as follows (as of Feb 1, 95): 3DMedia SX: Quantity Price 4M VRAM, 4M DRAM, Encoder, Linelock 1-99 $1895 100-999 $1795 1000+ CALL 3DMedia SX8: 4M VRAM, 8M DRAM, Encoder, Linelock 1-99 $2295 100-999 $2195 1000+ CALL 3DMedia SR: Quantity Price 4M VRAM, 4M DRAM 1-99 $1595 100-999 $1495 1000+ CALL 3DMedia SR8: 4M VRAM, 8M DRAM 1-99 $1995 100-999 $1895 1000+ CALL One year warranty." ==================================================================== GLINT05) SPEA FireGL (Preliminary Product Information, as of Feb. 95) Summary: o Dual processor 2D and 3D Graphics System o PCI bus Support Hardware - 3D Acceleration o 3Dlabs GLINT 300SX Rendering Processor o Supports advanced modes : double-buffering, stereo and overlays o Accelerates OpenGL, HOOPS, SP3D and other 3D API4s o 8 Mbyte local Memory - expandable to 12 Mbyte Hardware - 2D Acceleration o 64-bit S3 Vision968 GUI Accelerator o 175 MHz Pixelclock o 8 Mbyte high speed Video memory (VRAM) o Multimedia ready through S3 Multimedia extensions o Integrated Video Acceleration Software & Miscelleanous o 100 % OpenGL compatible o SPEA 3D Software drivers for AutoCAD and MicroStation o Third party applications based on SP3D, Criterion Renderware, RenderMorphics RL, Intel 3DR o GUI Support : Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT o Multi-lingual documentation o Software Updates via SPEA BBS or CompuServe o 3 years warranty Video Modes Resolution Color depth (bit/pixel) Line Frequency (KHz) Refresh Rate (Hz) ---------- ----------------------- -------------------- ----------------- 640 x 480 8, 16, 32 31,5 - 52,5 60 - 100 800 x 600 8, 16, 32 37,9 - 64,0 60 - 100 1024 x 768 8, 16, 32 48,4- 80,9 60 - 100 1280 x 1024 8, 16, (32) 64,0 - 100,0 60 - 95 (75) 1600 x 1200 8, 16 74,5 - 84,6 60 - 68 Availability : Q2/1995 Technical specifications subject to change The board will cost approximately DM 5000 in Germany (as of early April). CONTACT: David_Fink@spea.ccmail.compuserve.com ==================================================================== GLINT06) Force Inc. 3DE-300SX The 3DE-300SX from Force Inc. combines the GLINT 300SX with 4 Mbytes of VRAM and up to 8 Mbytes of DRAM. Both IBM PC-AT Japanese DOS/V and NEC PC98 are supported plus Windows NT 3.5, OpenGL and RenderWare 1.4. For more detailed information, please contact: Kenyu Uema, Manabu Igarashi or Tatsuya Takagi Tel: +81 3 3490 1172 Fax: +81 3 3490 2277 6-15-9-2F, NishiGotanda Shinagawa-ku,Tokyo 141, Japan ==================================================================== GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX The PCI-300SX is a GLINT based PCI card including 4 Mbytes of VRAM framebuffer, 8 Mbytes of DRAM localbuffer, 64-bit IBM RGB525 RAMDAC and VGA pass thru implementation. Optimized drivers are provided for Windows NT 3.5 and OpenGL. For more detailed information, please contact: Tetsuya Kawamoto or Zhang Yuanli Tel: +81 3 3329 3871 Fax: +81 3 3329 9266 5-42-1, Kamikitazawa Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan ==================================================================== Part IV: Real3D-based Boards ==================================================================== R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100 Based on the R3D/100 chipset described above. No other information available. CONTACT INFORMATION: email: real3d@mmc.com voice: 800-393-7730 fax: 407-826-3358 COMMENTS: >From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz): "Contact these people and ask for the glossy brochure - WOW!!!! (ok, so I'm not being objective...I like poring over glossy brochures as much as the next person...*grin*) Their staff were also really helpful and responsive. Apparently, application notes will be available in August of this year, with sample chipsets and reference boards available in November. Production quantities will be available in the first quarter of 1996. Price for the reference board is in the US$2,800 area." ==================================================================== Part V: Other boards ==================================================================== B01) AccelGraphics AG300 ACCELGRAPHICS AG300 =================== Accelgraphics is a spinoff of Kubota Graphics, which was Kubota Pacific before that. They made the Denali graphics subsystem for DEC's Alpha-based workstation (they were a partner with DEC). Features -------- * PCI option card (short form factor) * Accelerates OpenGL under Windows NT * 24-bit true color and 16-bit Z buffering * 32 color planes with 16-bit double buffering * 1280 x 1024 @ 60-74 Hz, non-interlaced Performance ----------- * 1 Million 2D vectors per second (10 pixel, 24-bit) * 1 Million 3D vectors per second (10 x 1 pixels, smooth shaded, Z buffered) * 205k 3D triangles/sec (50 pixels, smooth shaded mesh, lit, Z buffered) Benefits -------- * Performance of a $25k+ Unix workstation for under $10,000. * Standard applications with Windows NT (including Windows 3.1 applications compiled for Intel cpu). * Scalable architecture delivers increased graphics performance with higher performance host cpu. Price ----- * PowerGL XL3 graphics accelerator: $2,195 * Complete PCI-based systems: CALL 1-800-839-4721 Don't get left behind. Join the 3D desktop revolution with the PowerGL XL3 on your PCI-based systems. You won't find better price/performance! PowerGL specifications ---------------------- Graphics performance -------------------- * 2D vectors (10 pixel, 24-bit) 1M/sec * 3D vectors (10 pixel, smooth shaded, unlit, Z buffered) 1M/sec * 3D triangles (50 pixels, smooth shaded mesh, 205K/sec lit, Z buffered) * Frame buffer-to-frame buffer copy 30/15 Mpixels/sec (8/16-bit images and 32-bit images respectively) * Non-Z buffered clears and solid fills 320 Mpixels/sec * Bitmap writes and unaligned fills 80 Mpixels/sec Hardware Features ----------------- * Scalable architecture efficiently leverages the system CPU; a faster CPU yields faster graphics * 7.5 MB of total RAM - 5 MB VRAM used as a 32 plane frame buffer, supporting: * resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 pixels with up to 16.7 million colors (24 bit true color) * 16 bit double buffering * 8 bit color index - 2.5 MB DRAM used as a 16 bit Z-buffer * Rectangle clipping, Alpha blending and Dithering Graphics application programming interfaces ------------------------------------------- * Open GL * HOOPS and 3DR planned for early 1995 Supported Operating System Environments --------------------------------------- * DOS 6.0 or later, Windows 3.1 or later, Windows 95 (Chicago), Windows NT 3.5 with Open GL (Daytona) Supported Applications ---------------------- * Pro/ENGINEER and Pro/JR. from Parametric Technology Corporation * AutoCAD Release 11, 12, and 13 from Autodesk * MicroStation version 4 and 5 from Bentley Systems (including MOGLE) * Any OpenGL application Platforms supported: Intel, Alpha, MIPS, & PowerPC platforms System requirements: -------------------- * One free PCI slot * VGA or SVGA compatible graphics adapter Contact Information: Corporate Headquarters: AccelGraphics, Inc. 1942 Zanker Road San Jose, CA 95112 408-441-1556 408-441-1599 fax Western Region: Kim Rawlings 714-589-2453 714-589-2483 fax Kim_Rawlings@ag3d.com Central Region: Dan Vitale 513-858-1400 513-858-2905 fax Dan_Vitale@ag3d.com Southern Region: John Caravello 407-834-7275 407-834-9052 fax John_Caravello@ag3d.com Europe: David Holman 011-44-1635-40122 011-44-1635-551-147 fax davidh@perform.hiway.co.uk ==================================================================== B02) ISC PowerGL The PowerGL card is the Accelgraphics AG300 being sold OEM by ISC, which is described above. Since the AG300 and the PowerGL are the exact same card, I won't repeat the specs here. Talk to both companies, see which one better suits your needs. CONTACT INFORMATION: International Software Corporation (ISC) Suite 275 433 Park Point Drive Golden, CO 80401 Orders: 1-800-488-4721 Fax: 303-526-0581 E-mail: 76516.2544@compuserve.com ==================================================================== B03) Evans & Sutherland Freedom PRESS RELEASE: "EVANS & SUTHERLAND BRINGS 3D GRAPHICS EXPERTISE TO THE PERSONAL COMPUTER SALT LAKE CITY, March 2, 1995 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation (NASDAQ: ESCC) today announced Freedom Graphics(tm) for the Personal Computer. Freedom Graphics is the first product to bring the 3D graphics technology of E&S to the personal computing environment. Freedom Graphics is an implementation of the specialized features that 3D graphics applications require for smooth, fast execution. Users can produce impressive realistic images with the product's rich feature set and high-performance graphics for Windows/NT(r) applications. The graphics card supports the OpenGL(r) software application programming interface and is designed to accelerate OpenGL in the PC environment. Freedom Graphics is a PCI bus-based card that incorporates the same technology as the Freedom Series graphics accelerators which supply high-end graphics for the world's largest workstation vendors. Ideal markets to take advantage of the extensive feature set of Freedom Graphics are CAD, Industrial Design, Simulation, Visualization, Animation, Entertainment and Game Development. Supported PC processors include MIPS(tm), Pentium(r) and Power PC(tm). "The interest being generated by Freedom Graphics is extraordinary," said Jim Oyler, President and CEO of Evans & Sutherland. "Freedom Graphics allows a low-cost PC-based system to achieve the performance of a much more expensive workstation. This is going to be an explosive market in the very near future." Evans & Sutherland is the only 3D graphics vendor with a product line that spans the entire computing industry from the personal computer up to multi-million dollar flight simulators and location-based entertainment systems. "We are pleased that Evans & Sutherland has applied their knowledge and experience in high-performance real-time 3D graphics to the PC marketplace," said Tom Coull, President of Sense8 Corporation. "WorldToolKit and Freedom Graphics will offer a definitive hardware-accelerated solution for texture-mapped virtual reality applications." Freedom Graphics' feature set includes real-time 3D graphics rendering and animation, hardware based 24-bit texture acceleration, scalable texture memory up to 16 MBytes, bi-linear and tri-linear MIP-mapping, specular highlights, fast set-up calculations, full scene antialiasing, transparency and depth cueing. The additional experience of E&S with OpenGL will also result in significant performance advantages for applications using the OpenGL library from E&S. According to Ian Reid, Vice-President of Marketing at Advanced Visual Systems, "Freedom Graphics offers a new level of capability for the PC user and AVS/Express allows any PC developer to take immediate advantage of features such as hardware texture-mapping and transparency. It's the ideal combination." Freedom Graphics performance under Windows/NT and OpenGL is 300,000 triangles/second. The card will list price at $2450 with second quarter availability through OEMs and VARs. Freedom Graphics was first shown at Fall Comdex '94 in Las Vegas. The significance of Freedom Graphics lies in its delivery of a graphics feature set at unsurpassed performance levels. Advanced features such as texture mapping are still unavailable from any other vendor for under $10,000. Freedom Graphics also provides performance not yet seen in the 3D PC graphics market. Nearest competitors for performance provide minimal feature sets and are only available at much higher prices. Evans & Sutherland is a leader in advanced 3D graphics and visualization systems for science, industry, education, and entertainment. The Graphics Systems Division provides graphics hardware and software solutions that are sold and supported by DEC, HP, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. Evans & Sutherland was founded in 1968 and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Freedom Graphics, and Freedom Series are trademarks of Evans & Sutherland. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. ------------------------------------- Freedom Graphics(tm) for the Personal Computer High-Speed Realism from Evans & Sutherland Evans & Sutherland pioneered the computer graphics industry over 25 years ago. Since then our graphics know-how has been engineered into everything from multi-million dollar flight simulators to high-end graphics accelerators for workstations. Now, the same technology used in those high-end workstations is available for the personal computer with Freedom Graphics. Freedom Graphics is a 3D graphics card that delivers high-performance, workstation-class 3D graphics for your Windows NT applications. Freedom Graphics is a masterful implementation of the specialized features that 3D graphics applications require for smooth, fast execution. Users will be impressed by the realistic images they can produce with the well-crafted feature set. Freedom Graphic Advantages o Real time 3D graphics rendering and animation o 24 bit texture acceleration o Perspective acceleration of colors & textures o Bi-linear & tri-linear MIP-mapping o Color modulation o Fast set-up calculations o Antialiased vectors and polygons o High resolution support o Programmable antialiasing filter o Hardware window clipping o Transparency & Depth cueing o Hardware cursor support o Line-slope intensity correction Software Programming Environment Freedom Graphics supports the OpenGL(tm) software application programming interface and was designed to accelerate OpenGL in the personal computing environment." FROM THE SPEC SHEET: Technical Specifications 3D Graphics Engine by Evans & Sutherland Display Memory - 4MByte of VRAM Z buffer Memory - 4MByte of DRAM Texture Memory (optional) 1, 4 or 16 MByte user installable SIMM 3D Resolutions (1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480) Display Colors - 8, 12, 24 bit color support Maximum Vertical Refresh Rates 72Hz non-interlaced at all supported resolutions Software Support - 2D/3D Drivers Windows NT 3.5, OpenGL, DDI (Windows95/OpenGL when available) PCI local bus Physical dimensions 12.28" Length x 4.2" Height (PCI Full Length Compliant) CPU Support: Power PC, MIPS, Pentium Monitor Video timing supports any monitor capable of displaying the listed resolutions in non-interlaced mode. 15 pin D-shell VGA connector Availability The Freedom Graphics product will be initially sold through OEM's and Value-Added Resellers, who will be announced along with the product. The product will be available on the product announcement date. Freedom Graphics is a trademark of Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. All other products are trademarks of their respective companies." CONTACT INFORMATION: Jennifer Hughes Evans & Sutherland jhughes@dsd.es.com Phone: 1-800-367-7460 Facsimile: (801) 582-0524 ==================================================================== B04) Matrox Impression Plus FROM THE SPEC SHEET: Windows Features: - 40 million Winmarks - 175 MHz DAC or optional 220 MHz DAC - 1600 x 1200 in 256 and 65K colors - 1280 x 1024 in 16.7m colors - 110 Hz refresh at 1280 x 1024 resolution - 120 Hz refresh at 1024 x 768 resolution Windows resolution and colours: (* requires 4Mb VRAM) - 1600 x 1200 256, 65k* - 1280 x 1024 256, 65k*, 16.7m* - 1152 x 882 256, 65k, 16.7m* - 1024 x 768 256, 65k, 16.7m* - 800 x 600 256, 65k, 16.7m - 640 x 480 256, 65k, 16.7m Multimedia Features: - Microsoft DCI software video acceleration (Indeo, Cinepak, Video for Windows) - 24 frames per second playback MGA Video XL Upgrade Module: (Q1 95) - Support for VESA Media Channel (VM Channel) video expansion standard and PowerPlay64 - 32 bit connector for increased video datapath (100 Mb/second) - Accepts up to 15 video peripherals - Support for multiple live video windows - VideoLogic PowerPlay64 add-on module for smooth, video playback at 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames/second - resolution scaling using Pixel Interpolation - color space conversion from YUV to RGB Real-Time 2D and 3D Features: - Accelerated 3D Gouraud shaed displays at 1152 x 882 in 65K colors, and 800x600 in 16.7 m colors - 150,000 Gouraud shaded polygons per second - Accelerated double buffering and z-buffering - Support for industry standard 3D API's : 3DR, OpenGL, HOOP's and VAGI - DynaView 2D and 3D Drivers for AutoCAD and Microstation under Windows and DOS Realtime 3D Wireframe Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires 4Mb VRAM) - 1600 x 1200 256* - 1280 x 1024 256* - 1152 x 882 256, 65k* - 1024 x 768 256, 65k* - 800 x 600 256, 65k, 16.7m* - 640 x 480 256, 65k, 16.7m* Realtime 3D Gouraud Shaded Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires 4Mb VRAM) - 1600 x 1200 - 1280 x 1024 - 1152 x 882 256* - 1024 x 768 256* - 800 x 600 256, 65k* - 640 x 480 256, 65k* Models Available: MGA-IMP+/P: PCI Bus 2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 1600 x 1200 in 256 colors 800 x 600 in 16.7m colors VM Channel upgradable MGA-IMP+/V: VL Bus 2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 1600 x 1200 in 256 colors 800 x 600 in 16.7m colors VM Channel upgradable (may not actually exist! If you can confirm or deny this, tell me!) MGA-IMP+/A: AT Bus 2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 1600 x 1200 in 256 colors 800 x 600 in 16.7m colors VM Channel upgradable MGA-IMP+/P/220: PCI Bus 2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/P MGA-IMP+/V/220: VL Bus 2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/V (may not actually exist! If you can confirm or deny this, tell me!) MGA-IMP+/A/220: AT Bus 2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb 220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200 Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/A MGA-MOD/2Mb/1 2Mb upgrade for MGA Impression Plus 1600x1200 in 256 and 65K colors 1280x1024 in 16.7m colors MGA-MOD/VMC VideoLogic PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second MGA-MOD/VMC/2MB 2 Mb upgrade for MGA Impression Plus and VideoLogic PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip for 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second. CONTACT INFORMATION: Telephone 1-800-361-1408 Matrox Graphics Inc. 1055 St Regis Blvd Dorval Quebec Canada H9P 2T4 Telephone: 514.685.2630 Facsimile: 514.685.2853 COMMENT: >From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz): "I heard comments on comp.sys.opengl that, at the moment, the Impression Plus doesn't have "true" OpenGL support under Windows NT. I don't know if this is correct or not." >From Blair MacIntyre: This is partially true. Someone from Microsoft posted saying that NT 3.51 will include the appropriate driver for OpenGL for this card. ==================================================================== B05) Oki TrianGL More information on Oki and their products can be found on their web page (www.oki.com) or by sending email to triangl@oki.com. The information here was extracted from the page http://www.oki.com/products/TrianGL.html Oki's TrianGL is aimed at 3D applications using the OpenGL graphics API. At the heart of the TrianGL is a custom, high-performance rendering ASIC--a drawing engine which provides both 2D and 3D acceleration. The chip interfaces directly to multiple banks of video RAM via a 80-bit data bus, boosting overall drawing performance. The four banks of VRAM, 10 MBytes in all, each operate independently to maximize the performance efficiency of the rendering ASIC. For many drawing primitives, all the banks can operate in parallel. However, for certain primitives, such as vector drawing or triangle drawing, address and color values are sent from the ASIC to the appropriate memory banks in a pipelined, serial fashion. TrianGL's use of triangle drawing primitives gives the board a major performance advantage over other products which use simpler span primitives. Two separate RGB buffers allow true hardware double buffering for smooth, artifact-free animation. An independent 24-bit Z buffer is dedicated for hidden surface removal during 3D object rendering. And finally, eight utility planes support board-specific video options such as overlays, window types and RGB double buffering. In order to support VGA compatibility, a VESA standard VGA passthrough interface is included on the board. Accelerated Drawing Operations Solid Rectangle Fill - 266 M pixels/second Pattern Rectangle Fill - 66 M pixels/second (8-bit), 33 M pixels/second (24-bit) Screen to Screen Copy - 33 M pixels/second (8-bit), 16 M pixels/second (24-bit) Raster Operations - 33 M pixels/second Line (2D) - 33 M pixels/second, 1.4 M 10-pixel lines/ second, random orientation Triangles (3D Gouraud shaded) - 22 M pixels/second, 250K 50-pixel triangles/second, random orientation TrianGL Features Enables Workstation-class 3D performance on PCs Accelerates OpenGL API compatible graphics under Windows NT for 2-D and 3D applications Allows fully configured 3D systems for under $10,000 (TrianGL pricing has not been set, but it should be around $2500) True 24-bit graphics Fully double-buffered 24-bit VRAM buffers 24-bit hardware Z-buffer 8 bits of hardware utility planes Large 8 kbyte FIFO allows independent host operation Fast internal RAM for storing patterns,line styles, and intermediate data 64 x 64 hardware cursor Host to Screen Copy Screen to Host Copy Color Expansion Color Interpolation Linear Frame Buffer Support Specifications Dimensions - Full-length VLbus/ISA board 13.5" length x 5" height Power Dissipation - 15 Watts typical (20 Watts maximum) Bus Interface - VESA VLbus Local Bus Standard, Rev. 1.1 Local Bus Target, 32-bit data path VGA Support - VESA Standard VGA passthrough Monitor Support - Software-programmable 1024 x 768, non-interlaced, vertical refresh rates from 60 to 76 Hz Frame Buffers - Two 24-bit, 1024 x 768 RGB ZBuffer - 24-bit, 1024 x 768 Memory - 10 Mbytes VRAM, 512 bytes internal RAM FIFO - 8k x 32-bit for graphics commands and data Software Support Oki supports TrianGL on PC and RISC PC platforms with host software drivers for Windows NT 3.5. OpenGL and DDI support are available for Intel and Mips platforms. Other popular APIs, including AutoCAD, will be supported in future software releases. Look for future TrianGL versions with higher resolution, and a PCI bus interface. ==================================================================== B06) Intergraph GLZ Series The GLZ series accelerates OpenGL[tm] graphics on Intergraph Computer Systems' TDZ workstations. GLZs let you manipulate Gouraud-shaded 3D models by adding realistic effects such as lighting, translucency, and textured surfaces; and performing spectacular flythroughs, walkthroughs, and animations -- all in real time, at high resolutions, and in true color. By performing shading and geometry operations in dedicated hardware, GLZs ease the load on the TDZ's Pentium[tm] processor(s) and cut down traffic on the PCI bus, which results in dramatic improvements in graphics performance. The GLZ family supports Intergraph's 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors and 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels. The GLZs support dual screens and are ready for stereoscopic display on any stereo-ready monitor. (LCD shutter glasses and emitter modules are required and are available from Intergraph Computer Systems.) The GLZ family offers a selection of 34, 24, or 12 megabytes of VRAM. 24 megabytes of VRAM supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 with 16.8 million colors (true color). 12 megabytes of VRAM suppots true color at a maximum resolution of 1,152 x 854. 34 megabytes of VRAM supports a 32-bit Z buffer, double-buffered true color, and display capabilities such as translucency and overlay at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280. Intergraph Computer Systems offers six different GLZ configurations. GLZ6 -- photorealism in real time --------------------------------- The top of our 3D graphics accelerator line -- offers shading acceleration, geometry acceleration, and texture-processing for fast, real-time rendering of complex and detailed designs. Product highlights o 34 MB of high-speed VRAM for 126 bit planes of video memory at all display resolutions, providing: - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes - 32-bit Z buffer - 8-bit, double-buffered overlay - 8-bit alpha buffer - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration o Texture processing fully supported in hardware with 8 megatextels of texture memory (32 MB of DRAM) for full trilinear interpolation of mip-mapped images o Geometry acceleration to speed up lighting and transforms o Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library o Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D triangle meshes o Anti-aliased vector support to eliminate anomalies of standard raster displays o Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine o Genlock support for dual screens, eliminating the visual beat frequency effect that can occur when two monitors are placed close together o Support for Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors o Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing, which enhances cartographic applications and design visualization o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 pixels to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels o Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to simultaneously display using independent color palettes o 10-bit gamma correction using state-of-the-art, 10-bit digital-to-analog converters, enabling user control of gamma values with no loss of color resolution GLZ5 -- cost-effective photorealism ----------------------------------- Our GLZ5 offers the same high-performance shading and geometry acceleration as does GLZ6. With 12 MB of VRAM, GLZ5 supports resolutions up to 1,152 x 864. Two megatexels (8 megabytes of texture memory) provide more than enough texture storage for adding patterns to furniture, waves to water, or trees to parks and forests. GLZ5's low price may even tempt you to invest in dual screens and LCD shutter glasses for a stereoscopic adventure into virtual reality! Product highlights (same as the GLZ6, except where noted) o 12 MB of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes - 24-bit Z buffer - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration o Texture processing fully supported in hardware with 2 megatextels of texture memory (8 MB of DRAM) for full trilinear interpolation of mip-mapped images o Support for Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 pixels to 1,152 x 864 GLZ4 and GLZ3 -- accelerated geometry and shading ------------------------------------------------- GLZ4 and GLZ3 support both shading and geometry acceleration. If you need fast, accurate rendering of complex solid models but don't normally require realtime texture processing for photorealism, GLZ4 (24 MB of VRAM) or GLZ3 (12 MB of VRAM) will give you performance that more than meets your expectations. Don't worry if you occasionally need to render a textured image. Thanks to OpenGL, texture processing is fully supported in software. Product highlights o 24 MB (GLZ4) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at all display resolutions, providing: - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes - 24-bit Z buffer - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration o 12 MB (GLZ3) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes - 24-bit Z buffer - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration o Geometry acceleration to speed up lighting and transforms o Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library o Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D triangle meshes o Anti-aliased vector support o Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine o Genlock support for dual screens o Support for the following Intergraph Computer Systems' monitors: 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ3 and GLZ4) 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors (GLZ4) o Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels (GLZ4) o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,152 x 864 pixels (GLZ3) o Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to simultaneously display using independent color palettes o 10-bit gamma correction GLZ2 and GLZ1 -- cost-effective 3D rendering -------------------------------------------- Product highlights o 24 MB (GLZ2) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at all display resolutions, providing: - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes - 24-bit Z buffer - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration o 12 MB (GLZ1) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes - 24-bit Z buffer - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration o Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library o Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D triangle meshes o Anti-aliased vector support o Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine o Genlock support for dual screens o Support for the following Intergraph Computer Systems' monitors: 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ1 and GLZ2) 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors (GLZ2) o Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels (GLZ2) o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 to 1,152 x 864 pixels (GLZ1) o Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to simultaneously display using independent color palettes o 10-bit gamma correction GLZ configurations at a glance ------------------------------ GLZ Hardware Hardware Hardware Texture Frame Max model rendering geometry texture DRAM buffer resolution accel accel processing VRAM (in pixels) GLZ6 Yes Yes Yes 32 MB 34 MB 1,600 x 1,280 (8 megatexels) GLZ5 Yes Yes Yes 8 MB 12 MB 1,152 x 864 (2 megatexels) GLZ4 Yes Yes No No 24 MB 1,600 x 1,280 GLZ3 Yes Yes No No 12 MB 1,152 x 864 GLZ2 Yes No No No 24 MB 1,600 x 1,280 GLZ1 Yes No No No 12 MB 1,152 x 864 Performance specifications for GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6 --------------------------------------------------- The following table summarizes hardware performance for GLZs supporting resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 (GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6) on Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors. 3D graphics performance* 3D requests (with Z buffering) Performance Triangle, 50-pixel, Gouraud shaded 450,000 triangles/second Triangle, 25-pixel, Gouraud shaded 515,000 triangles/second Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 1,150,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, Gouraud shaded 1,000,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 550,000 vectors/second Texturing performance (GLZ6)* Textured areas, 512 x 512 (trilinear 15 megatexels/second interpolated, mip-mapped) 2D graphics performance* 2D requests Performance Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 1,450,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 550,000 vectors/second Blit: screen to screen, 64 Bit 26 megapixels/second (R,G,B,A,Z) Fills 400 megapixels/second Text, 9 x 13 240,000 characters/second *These performance numbers are the maximum hardware rate. Actual system performance depends on host processor speed and application. Performance specifications for GLZ1, GLZ3, and GLZ5 --------------------------------------------------- The following table summarizes hardware performance for GLZs supporting resolutions up to 1,152 x 864 (GLZ1, GLZ3, and GLZ5) on Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors. 3D graphics performance* 3D requests (with Z buffering) Performance Triangle, 50-pixel, Gouraud shaded 230,000 triangles/second Triangle, 25-pixel, Gouraud shaded 425,000 triangles/second Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 800,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, Gouraud shaded 800,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 285,000 vectors/second Texturing performance (GLZ5)* Textured areas, 512 x 512 (trilinear 15 megatexels/second interpolated, mip-mapped) 2D graphics performance* 2D requests Performance Vector, 10-pixel, solid color 1,150,000 vectors/second Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased 285,000 vectors/second Blit: screen to screen, 64 Bit 13 megapixels/second (R,G,B,A,Z) Fills 200 megapixels/second Text, 9 x 13 190,000 characters/second * These performance numbers are the maximum hardware rate. Actual system performance depends on host processor speed and application. Display support --------------- GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6 support Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and our 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels. The following table indicates the currently supported screen resolutions in full 24-bit, true-color, double-buffered mode. Resolutions Colors Maximum supported supported refresh 16.8 M rates 1,600 x 1,280 X 76 Hz 1,600 x 1,200 X 81 Hz 1,280 x 1,024 X 94 Hz 1,280 x 960 X 100 Hz 1,152 x 864 X 85 Hz 1,024 x 768 X 122 Hz 800 x 600 X 153 Hz 640 x 480 X 186 Hz GLZ1, GLZ3, and GLZ5 support Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864. The following table indicates the currently supported screen resolutions in full 24-bit, true-color, double-buffered mode. Resolutions Colors Maximum supported supported refresh 6.8 M rates 1,152 x 864 X 72 Hz 1,024 x 768 X 85 Hz 800 x 600 X 85 Hz 640 x 480 X 85 Hz For more information or the number of a sales representative or Intergraph Computer Center near you, call: U.S. and Canada : 800-763-0242 Asia-Pacific : 852-2893-3621 Europe : 31-2503-66576 Middle East : 971-4-367555 Other areas : 1-205-730-5441 Or reach us on the Internet at http://www.intergraph.com. ==================================================================== -- Blair MacIntyre (bm@cs.columbia.edu), Graduate Student (Graphics and UI Lab) smail: Dept. of Computer Science, 450 Computer Science Building, 500 W 120 St. Columbia University, New York, NY 10027