Vogons Wiki - User contributions [en]

List of CPU speed sensitive games

2017-11-21T12:47:51Z

Idspispopd: Alone in the Dark

This is a list of games that do not run properly in some ways on CPUs faster than what was common than at the game's release. 1990+ for the most part, since before that, this was more often the case than not: As a general rule, games for IBM XT computers require a 8088 4.77 MHz to play right.

Some CPUs, for example AMD K6-2 and earlier Pentium IIs have selectable multipliers, which may help with achieving the lower speeds recommended for some of the games in this article. Additionally, disabling L1/L2 caches will slow down the processor as well, e.g. a Pentium III with disabled caches will be comparable to a 386. [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul] is a software utility by forum member gerwin that allows multipliers and caches to be changed/disabled and enabled without a reboot. For certain P54C Pentiums, it also allows manipulating Test Register options for further speed control.

Also, it is possible to use a slow 3D card to slow some of the games down, especially with the early proprietary APIs; a special case here are Rendition Vérité cards, since their slow VGA performance will also bottleneck DOS games using these modes. Finally, as a last resort one may try slowdown utilities such as [http://www.cpukiller.com/ CPU Killer] and [http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/ Mo'Slo].

For games with unlisted CPU specs refer to the requirements published by the developers.

== DOS ==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Game title !! Symptoms with faster CPUs !! Maximum suitable CPU !! Fix available?
|-
| Aces of the Pacific (1992) || Slippery flight controls || 486 25 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Alien Carnage (1993) || Runtime 200 error || P233MMX; K6-2/III 500MHz; M II-433GP || Run TPPATCH on every .exe file, including harry*.-0 (except harry.-0), which are also .exe files for Pentium Pro 180 and faster; Pentium MMX 266; all PII and Celeron; K6-2/III faster than 500MHz and all Athlon
|-
| Alien Trilogy (1996) || Runs too fast on higher P3s || ? ||
|-
| rowspan="2" |Alone in the Dark (1992) || Animations too fast || 386DX 33 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Direction keys need to be tapped extremely fast to run || || AITDRUN: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=37118#p326838
|-
| Arctic Adventure (1991) || Gives runtime error on P100 || ? || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Betrayal at Krondor (1993) || glitching MIDI music / game freezes on startup || 486 25 (SB); 486 16 (GM) || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Bubble Ghost (1987) || Runs too fast/slow || 386SX 16 ||
|-
| Carmageddon (1997) || Runs too fast || ? ||
|-
| Day of the Tentacle (1993) || garbled Adlib music || 486 16 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Descent (1994) || Runs too fast with ~higher PIIs || P233 || Increase resolution
|-
| Descent II (1996) || Normal game speed, but mouse sensitivity drops down on high framerates || P2 300? ||
|-
| Double Dragon (1988) || Locks up before final battle and player 2 will have fewer moves || 8088 4.77 ||
|-
| Duke Nukem II (1993) || With certain sound cards, Sound Blaster digitized sounds might not play || 486 16 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Dune (1992) || no speech || P2 333 ||
|-
| Dyna Blaster (1992) || locks up || 486 50 ||
|-
| Game Wizard 32 Pro 3.0 (cheat tool) || locks up || P3 500 ||
|-
| Halloween Harry (1993) ||colspan=3| ''See Alien Carnage''
|-
| Hard Drivin' (1990) || Music is ear-piercing and game runs too fast overall on P100 || ? || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Hi-Octane (1996) || Speed problems || P100 ||
|-
| Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1993) || garbled Adlib music || 486 16 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) || With Adlib sound "Runtime error R6003 - integer divide by zero" || 386DX 40 || For the the 256 color VGA version: [http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/indy-last.html "486 Upgrade" patch]. For 16 color EGA version, on older CPUs with integrated L1 cache you can turn off the L1 cache to avoid the problem.
|-
| Jazz Jackrabbit (1994) || Runtime error 200 || P233MMX; K6-2/III 500MHz; M II-433GP || [http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/341/jazz-1-tppatch/ TPPATCH] for Pentium Pro 180 and faster; Pentium MMX 266; all PII and Celeron; K6-2/III faster than 500MHz and all Athlon or reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994) || Speed bug with one or two puzzles || ? ||
|-
| Knights of the Sky (1990) || Runs too fast || 386SX 20 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993) || Requires HDD smaller than 504 MB (CHS limit) or else the copy protection checksum calculated by the installer is wrong || ? ||
|-
| Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge (1992) || Crashes with invalid opcode error || P2 350 ||
|-
| MegaRace (1993) || Speed powerups make your car speed up way too fast || P100? || Use a slower CD-ROM drive. The speed powerups speed up the car as fast as your CPU and CD drive can handle, so using a slower drive can help.
|-
| Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament (1996) || ? || ? ||
|-
| Might & Magic III (1991) || Animations too fast || 486 16 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Might & Magic: World of Xeen (1994) || Flashing mouse cursor when hovering over game window, map, and char page || 486 40 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| One Must Fall 2097 (1994) || Runs too fast || 486 66 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Pharaoh's Tomb (1990) || Gives runtime error on P100 || ? || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Quarantine (1994) || Runs too fast on P3 || 486 33 ? || Use [http://bretjohnson.us Slowdown], reduce clock speed or disable cache
|-
| Quest for Glory III (1992) || Garbled General MIDI || 486 16 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Red Baron (1990) || Joystick won't detect on Pentium MMX || P133 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| rowspan="2" |Secret of Monkey Island, The (1990) || With Adlib sound "Runtime error R6003 - integer divide by zero" || 386DX 40 || For the the 256 color VGA version: [http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/monkey-1.html#486%20Upgrade "486 Upgrade" patch]. For 16 color EGA version, on older CPUs with integrated L1 cache you can turn off the L1 cache to avoid the problem.
|-
| Garbled MT-32 music with fast CPUs || ? ||
|-
| Sid Meier's Colonization (1994) || Crashes with Integer Divide by Zero error with Pentium 200MMX || P166 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Sierra games || no sound card detection || P200 ||
|-
| Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers (1991) || Bugs every time a sequel police is on the screen || 386? ||
|-
| Space Quest V: Roger Wilco - The Next Mutation (1993) || unable to initialize audio hardware || 486 25 (SB); 486 16 (GM) || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Star Control (1990) || FM sound malfunction || P150 ||
|-
| Star Control II (1992) || ? || ? ||
|-
| Syndicate (1993) || crashes at startup || P166 ||
|-
| Terminator: Future Shock (1995) || too fast on high P2 || ? || SkyNET version
|-
| Test Drive III (1990) || Runs too fast || 386DX 25 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Theme Park (1994) || Runs too fast || 486 66? ||
|-
| Thor's Hammer: The Trilogy (1995) || Inconsistent in-game speeds (turning around and opening doors very slow) || P3 600 || reduce clock speed or disable CPU cache
|-
| Toonstruck (1996) || Speed bug with one or two puzzles || ? ||
|-
| Ultima Underworld (1992) || Keyboard movement too fast on fast Pentiums || 486 66 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Ultima Underworld II (1993) || Keyboard movement too fast on fast Pentiums || P60 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Ultima VI (1990) || Runs too fast, music distortion || 386DX 25 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) || Runs too fast || 486 33 [http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/06/ultima-vii-on-real-hardware.html] || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Vette (1989) || Sometimes doesn't start on a P100 and if it does run controls are too sensitive || ? || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) || scrolls too fast, water animation too fast, but playable || 386DX 33 ||
|-
| Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) || Scrolls too fast with PII, but playable || P133? || Battle.net Windows version works fine
|-
| Warlords II Deluxe (1995) || Crashes on startup with fast CPUs || 486 66 ||
|-
| Wing Commander (1990) || Runs too fast || 386DX 33 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (1990) || Runs too fast || 386DX 33 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (1992) || "Divide Overflow Flaw/Reboot" on Pentium processors || 5x86; Nx586 || [http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/patches.htm Pentium reboot patch] for all Pentium, 5K86, 6x86 and laters
|-
| Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams (1991) || Runs too fast || 386DX 25 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire (1990) || Runs too fast || 386DX 25 || Reduce clock speed or disable cache with [http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=38613 Setmul]
|-
| X-Com UFO Defense (1994) || Scrolls too fast/ Shots fired very fast, Still very Playable || P90 || Adjust fire/scroll speed to your liking, not always effective
|-
| Zool (1992) || ? || ? ||
|-
|}

== Windows ==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Game title !! Symptoms with faster CPUs !! Recommended CPUs !! Fix available?
|-
| Al Unser Jr. Arcade Racing (1995) || Runs too fast || P166? ||
|-
| Betrayal In Antara (1997) || Day/Night transitions + movement too fast || P233 || GOG.com version works fine
|-
| Cossacks: European Wars (2001) || Runs too fast in multiplayer? || ? ||
|-
| FIFA Football 2002 (2001) || Crashes to desktop || P4 2.0 ||
|-
| Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998) || Lack of framerate limiter may cause the game to play too fast in certain situations || ? ||
|-
| Grand Prix Legends (1998) || Runs too fast || P4 1.7 GHz || [http://www.vroc.net/papy.com/gpl/download.html#1.2 CPU patch for version 1.2]
|-
| Havoc (1995) || Too fast on late PII || P2 300? ||
|-
| Hexplore (1998) || Crashes after a minute on fast P4 and above || P3 500? || [http://www.mediafire.com/?0291qrmgkdbzv6v# Fix for Modern Systems]
|-
| Imperialism (1997) || World map scrolls too fast || plays fine with patch || Patch 1.1 (slight scrolling delay added)
|-
| Interstate '76 (1997) || Broken physics? || ? ||
|-
| Jane's US Navy Fighters 97 (1996) || Runs too fast || ? || Increase resolution; Jane's Fighters Anthology version works fine
|-
| Jeopardy (1994) || Question timer is too fast || ? ||
|-
| Master of Orion II (1996) || Battle screen scrolls too fast, minor issue || P166? ||
|-
| Monaco GP Racing Simulation 2 (1999) || Runs too fast || P4 2.0 ||
|-
| No. 11 Downing Street: Ninja Nanny & Sherrloch Sheltie (1993) || Animations play too fast in cartoon quality mode || P100? ||
|-
| Pro Rally 2001 (2000) || hangs || P4 2.0 || Install with [http://ubisoft-en.custhelp.com/ci/fattach/get/267/0/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzYwNTI0MjI5L3NpZC9fNGlPUXdpbA==/filename/PRSetup-IV.zip], update to 1.1, [http://www.zeus-software.com/files/nglide/prorally2001_patch.zip], may not work with AMD FX CPUs
|-
| Sega Rally Championship (1997) || Direct3D version plays too fast || ? ||
|-
| Silver (1999) || Timing issues with a certain bell puzzle on high P4 || P3 1.0 || GOG.com version works fine
|-
| SimCopter (1996) || Runs too fast/glitchy and crashes on P4 3.2 GHz/98SE || K6-2 350 ||
|-
| Speed Busters (1999) || crashes || P4 2.0 || GOG.com version works fine
|-
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen (2000) || CPU throttling issues || ? || Use Direct3D renderer
|-
| Star Trek Generations (1997) || Runs too fast || ? ||
|-
| Star Trek: The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard (1998) || Crashes to desktop in the "Advanced Options" menu, CPU throttling issues || ? ||
|-
| Streets of SimCity (1997) || ? || ? ||
|-
| TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter (1998) || ? || ? ||
|-
| Unreal (1998) || erratic speed-up/slow-down || ? || See 3rd post [https://forums.beyondunreal.com/threads/ut-goty-and-framerates-speed-up.182599/ here], and [http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/ this launcher.]
|-
| [[Unreal Tournament]] (1999) || CPU throttling, erratic speed-up/slow-down || ? || See main article for details. Also read [https://forums.beyondunreal.com/threads/ut-goty-and-framerates-speed-up.182599/ here] and [http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/ here.]
|-
| Wipeout 2097/Wipeout XL (1997) || Runs too fast || ? || supposedly available
|-
|}

== Related links ==
*[http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=34869 VOGONS thread on the subject]

EWS64

2016-05-26T09:52:26Z

Idspispopd: Updated link to Terratec FTP archive

The EWS64 is a line of semi-professional ISA soundcards released by [[Terratec]] in 1997. They consist of a codec and the Dream SAM9407 synthesizer chip and are thus basically two soundcards on one PCB.

There are two different versions of the actual card: the EWS64L/XL/XXL and the EWS64S. The former are basically variants built around the same card and only differ in the type of the front panel delivered with the card (L: no front panel, XL: basic front panel, XXL: front panel with integrated Waldorf Microwave XT synthesizer).

The latter EWS64S has a different, more simple card design and comes with a different codec chip. Both cards are PnP-compatible and can be configured by software.

== EWS64L/XL/XXL ==

[[File:EWS64XL.JPG|thumb|400px|EWS64L rev. 1.2 with 32MB PS/2 RAM fitted]]
=== Hardware description ===
The codec is a CS4236B made by Crystal Semiconductors, featuring SBPro, OPL3 and Windows Sound System compatibility. The card's IN-1 and the CD/MIDI-DB analog-in is wired to the codec. The synthesizer is a Dream SAM9407 which has access to the on-board memory (2MB) and PS/2 SIMM module (max. 64MB). Version 1.0 of the EWS64 also had an on-board ROM, which was removed for the 1.2 revision of the card. The IN-2 connector can also be wired to the SAM9407.

The card has two analog outputs: OUT-2 is permanently connected to the SAM9407. OUT-1, however, can either output the analog signal from the codec or the output from the SAM9407. In the former case, the synthesizers' signal is routed into the codec. In the latter case, the signal of the codec can be sent to the SAM9407 instead of the IN-2 signal.

The Dream chip also features an effects processor which can apply different (predefined) reverb, chorus and echo effects to the SAM9407 input signals. If the codec sound is routed through the synthesizer, these effects also can be applied to this signal. The SAM9407 also provides a four-band equalizer and pseudo-3D (Vspace) effects. The SAM9407 has a 34 voice polyphony with all features enabled that increases if unused features get disabled (up to 64).

Using OUT-1 and OUT-2, the EWS64 also provides basic DirectSound3D compatibility, however, in 4-channel mode, the effects are unavailable. The EWS64 also has two independent MPU-401 MIDI interfaces (UART only). MIDI-1 is always connected to the SAM9407 chip, while MIDI-2 is connected to the daughterboard header in the front panel. The game port on the back of the card can be routed to either of the ports, although it is only usable for MIDI when the front module is not attached (L cards). The MIDI part of it may also be completely disabled, which can be useful with some older joysticks which short pin 12 (MIDI out) to ground. Both MIDI ports are simultaneously accessible through the 5-pin DIN connectors in the front panel, with input and output available for each.

Only the 1.2 revision features soft-clipping.

=== Operating system support ===
The EWS64 is supported by the following operating systems: DOS, Windows 9x, Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Linux (via 3rd-party driver). OSs which have support for the CS4236 can drive the codec part only. The DOS and Windows drivers and tools can be downloaded from the Terratec FTP server.

Only the 1.2 revision can be used with Windows 2000 or XP.

==== DOS support ====
The EWS64 comes with a few DOS utilities:

* EWS64CFG.EXE: Is used to configure the IO/IRQ/DMA resources used by the card. The codec can also be disabled with this tool. EWS64CFG '''must''' be run under plain DOS (i.e. Not in a Win9x DOS box). This tool writes a default configuration to the internal EEPROM that is used for ISA-PnP initialization of the card. After changing resource settings the computer has to be cold booted (i.e. by pressing Reset).

* EWSINIT.EXE: This must be called on each boot as it initializes the codec and the SAM9407 according to the EEPROM settings. It loads the SAM9407s firmware and can load a single .94B sound set into the on-board RAM. It also sets up the mixer, card routing and effects using a .TTM file.

* FMON.EXE: Enables output from the codecs FM-Synth. The codecs FM-Synth uses the same mixer volume setting as the Dream SAM9407 wavetable in a typical routing configuration of the card for DOS games.

As the EWS64 has no dedicated DOS mixer application, all mixer settings are read from a configuration file (extension .TTM). The easiest way to create these mixer files is to use the Windows EWS64-Mixer to adjust the volumes as desired and then save the settings to a .TTM file. This file, in turn, can be passed to the DOS initialization tool.

Due to a (hardware?) bug, the codec tends to mute several of its input channels (such as the wavetable daughterboard / CD-in) when the SBPro part is used. In 2009 user Locutus from Vogons forum [http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?p=156857&highlight=#156857 reported a solution]. The bug can be overcome by doing a „post-initialization“ of the codec with the DOS mixer application from the original Crystal CX423X drivers. This program is usually called CS32MIX or CWDMIX, depending on the driver version and can also be used as DOS mixer application. To make the DB/CD-in audible, it is enough to boost the volume for the „CD“ controller. This can be achieved by simply running the file after booting and setting the volume manually, or using a typical default initialization from autoexec.bat such as this:

<pre>C:\EWS64\EWSINIT -F -V -B SOUNDSET.94B -M MIXER.TTM
C:\EWS64\FMON
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
C:\EWS64\CS32MIX /M=15,15 /W=13,13 /L=0,0 /X=1 /F=7,7 /C=11,11 /I=L</pre>

where W denotes the digital part of the codec as SBPro and WSS, L is Line-In, F is FM-Synth and SAM9407 wavetable, C is the volume of the front module wavetable and I chooses the input. The BLASTER= settings should of course correspond to the resources set by EWSINIT that are shown with the -V switch.

See [[Example .TTM file for EWS64L/XL/XXL|here]] for an example .TTM file for EWS64L/XL/XXL cards.

==== Windows 9x support ====
The EWS64 Windows driver comes with several tools in order to control the EWS64:

* The EWS Control Panel controls the volume settings of the codec and the SAM9407 as well as the audio signal routing on the card.

* The FX panel is used for adjusting the effects processor. Echo, Equalizer, Reverb and Chorus settings can be changed here.

* The „Virtual Channels“ tool is used to control the individual hardware mixing channels. See „Hardware Mixing“ section below.

* The Set Manager loads and removes sound sets to and from the cards' RAM.

The 3rd party application „EWS ProMix“ is highly recommended, as it combines the first three programs into one convenient application. As mentioned before, all settings done in the configuration utilities are permanently saved, eliminating the need for a .TTM file in pure Windows operation. For optimal sound quality (i.e. lower noise), it is recommended to set the Audio IN-2 to ~45 and boost the other values in turn.

==== Control panel settings ====

[[File:EWScontrol.png|frameless|600px|EWS64XL Control Panel layout]]

The Control panel has several sections which control either volume levels or specific routing settings. Section A has all the volume sliders for the CS4236 codec. If the codec is disabled, these sliders do nothing. The slider SYN adjusts the volume of the SAM9407 if its output is routed into the codec. This is done when the switch D is set to „A“. When set to „B“, the synthesizer is directly connected to OUT-1 (section B left). The remaining input channel IN-2 of the SAM9407 can be switched with switch „C“ between the IN-2 connector on the cards' bracket (setting A), the digital input of the front panel (setting D) or the output signal from the codec mixer (setting M). The OUT-2 is always connected to the SAM9407.

The MIDI routing switch E controls which of the two MIDI ports of the card is connected to the game port on the back plate. The corresponding MIDI connectors in the front panel are disabled if the routing is active.

==== Hardware Mixing ====
As the SAM9407 also supports hardware mixing, the Windows driver allows for the use of 16 independent wave output devices which represent 2x16 channels of the synthesizer chip. The number of these virtual channels can be adjusted under Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Terratec Devices/EWS Synthesizer. Each of those channels has its own volume and effects control slider, accessible via the „Virtual Channels“ application. If the Reverb/Chorus sliders are set to zero, no effects are applied to the selected virtual channel, regardless of the settings in the FX panel.

==== Windows NT4 and 2000 support ====
TBD

==== Linux support ====
<nowiki>Although Terratec does not offer a driver for it, the EWS64 can be used under Linux as well. The codec is supported by the appropriate ALSA or OSS driver for Crystal CX423X chips. The Dream chip, however, needs a third-party driver from Gerd Rausch (see links below). Unfortunately, this driver has now been unmaintained for years and has several problems:</nowiki>

* Only kernels up to and including 2.4.x are supported.

* The control panel looks sort of „clumsy“ and requires profound knowledge of the inner working of the EWS64.

* Only EWS64L/XL hardware version 1.2 is supported.

The driver requires the firmware EWS64OS.BIN and a .94B sound bank in order to work. As it is a generic driver for all SAM9407-based cards, some of the elements in the control panel are non-functional or disabled.

When installed and configured successfully, the SAM9407 can be used as an audio output device via /dev/sam0_dsp and as a MIDI playback device via /dev/sam0_sequencer or (via MikMod) as a MOD player.

== EWS64S ==
=== Hardware description ===
[[File:EWS64S.JPG|thumb|400px|EWS64S with 8MB PS/2 RAM fitted]]

Despite the name and the use of the same synthesizer chip, the EWS64S is a completely different piece of hardware when compared with the L/XL/XXL counterpart. The main differences are the codec chip and the internal routing possibilities. The codec is an Analog Devices AD1816 which provides SBPro and OPL3 compatibility. It is, however, not WSS-compatible. The AD codec is wired permanently to the SAM9407 and can not be routed directly to the OUT-1. In addition, the codec cannot be disabled as on the L/XL/XXL variants.
The XL/XXL front panel is incompatible with the 64S. In order to get digital outputs, a small slot-mountable PCB called "DigitalXtension R" is needed. The EWS64S has no waveblaster header but a connector for Terratecs ActiveRadio extension.

=== OS support ===
The 64S needs a different set of drivers and applications from Terratec, the L/XL/XXL drivers do not work. Moreover, there are no NT4 or Windows 2000 drivers available for this card. The card is supported under Linux with Gerd Rauschs generic SAM9407 driver.

=== DOS ===
* 64SCFG.EXE: This tool allows to change the resource configuration of the card. Changes are saved to the EEPROM on exit. This tool should be used once upon first installation in a new system and must be run in plain DOS. If resources were changed a cold boot is required. Recommended settings for DOS are:

WSS I/O 530, WSS IRQ 5, WSS Play DMA 1, WSS Record DMA ---, FM I/O 388, SB Pro I/O 220, GAME I/O 200, MIDI-1 I/O 330, MIDI-1 IRQ ---, MIDI-2 I/O PnP, MIDI-2 IRQ ---, Dig. Control I/O PnP

The WSS IRQ and DMA setting is also used for SB Pro.

For DOS initialization 64SINIT is called. So a typical startup look like this:

<pre>C:\EWS64S\64SINIT -V -F -B SOUNDSET.94B -M MIXER.TTM
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T4</pre>

The BLASTER= settings should of course correspond to the resources set by 64SINIT that are shown with the -V switch.
A .TTM file is used for mixer settings and SAM9407 configuration.

See [[Example .TTM file for EWS64S|here]] for an example .TTM file for EWS64S cards.

== List of all .TTM values ==
TBD

== External links ==
* [http://terratec.ultron.info/Audio/EWS/64XL Terratec FTP archive]
* [http://www.studio4all.de/htmle/welcomeewst.html Site dedicated to the EWS64]
* [http://sam9407.sourceforge.net Linux SAM9407 driver]

[[Category:Hardware]]
[[Category:Sound Cards]]

S3

2015-06-08T07:44:13Z

Idspispopd: /* Related links */ - VOGONS thread

S3 Graphics, Ltd is a graphics hardware manufacturer founded in January 1989. Their proprietary API's were S3D for DOS and Windows 9x and MeTaL for Windows.

''*S3 chip sets were very popular among low-end graphic hardware manufacturers. Sometimes standard S3 drivers won't work on such cards. Use [http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/ FCC ID] to confirm the graphic card's origin.''

== Chips ==
=== S3 911, 911A ===
S3's first Windows accelerators. VRAM based (16/256-color, high-color acceleration). Released June 10, 1991.
=== S3 924 ===
Like the 911 but with 24-bit true-color acceleration.
=== S3 801, 805, 805i ===
These were S3's first mainstream DRAM VESA Windows accelerators (16/256-color, high-color acceleration). Offered good value for the money at tht time. Available for ISA and VLB. The 805i used interleaved memory.
=== S3 928 ===
Less buggy version of 924 with 24/32-bit true-color acceleration, DRAM or VRAM
=== S3 805p, 928p ===
Adds PCI support
=== S3 Vision===
[[File:S3_Vision968.JPG|thumb||S3 Vision968]]
High performance GUI accelerators during 1994 and 1995. The family includes the 864, 868, 964 and 968 chips. The 9xx series uses VRAM memory instead of fast-page DRAM, enhancing memory performance and improving high-resolution GUI performance. The x68 chips include motion video acceleration features including color space conversion and video scaling.

=== S3 Trio 32/64 ===
[[File:S3_Trio64.JPG|thumb||S3 Trio64]]
An evolution of the 864. The name refers to the integration of 3 components into one ASIC: RAMDAC, graphics core and clock generator. Higher integration reduces overall product cost.

Trio64 variants are popular for DOS gaming due to their high compatibility and good speed.

=== S3 ViRGE ===
[[File:VirgeDX.JPG|thumb||ViRGE DX 4MB]]
[[File:S3 3D2X.JPG|thumb||S3 Trio 3D/2X]]

The ViRGE is the first S3 chip with 3D acceleration support and launched in 1996. Aside from the 3D hardware, it is quite similar to the Trio64V+. These cards typically come equipped with 2-4MB RAM. S3 created the S3D API to program directly for the ViRGE accelerators although they also support Direct3D 3+.

There are several variants. The original ViRGE (marked 325), the ViRGE VX, ViRGE DX, ViRGE GX, ViRGE MX, ViRGE GX/2, Trio3D and Trio3D/2X. VX is slower at 3D but uses VRAM memory to somewhat improve high-resolution GUI performance. DX and GX are the second generation and GX supports SGRAM. MX was designed as a power-effecient mobile graphics solution, yet it made appearance on desktop due to low cost. GX/2 and MX are AGP capable and therefore mostly used on AGP cards. The MX and GX/2 might be called third generation. The later Trio3D model based on ViRGE architecture was marketed as an office solution with basic 3D capabilities and became successful in OEM market.

All ViRGE chips posses a fairly complete 3D feature set and can output quality 3D visuals. The original 325 chip and the VX have inadequate performance outside of S3D games. S3 Trio3D lacks support for S3D titles. The DX and GX have approximately double the 3D performance and can run some Direct3D adequately if the driver is compatible with the game. Later chips are somewhat faster still.

S3D games often only recognize the original ViRGE 325 chip but there is a third party utility to fix the game executable.

The similarity to Trio64V+ provides high compatibility for DOS games.

==== S3D accelerated games ====
*Actua Soccer
*Battlerace
*Croc
*Descent II
*Descent II: Destination Quartzon 3D
*Destruction Derby
*Fatal Racing
*FX Fighter Turbo
*Havoc
*Mechwarrior 2
*POD
*Screamer
*Terminal Velocity
*Terracide DEMO
*Time Warriors
*Tomb Raider
*Whiplash 3D

Includes bundled games (OEM releases), official and unofficial patches

=== S3 Savage3D ===
[[File:S3savage3d.jpg|thumb|Savage3D]]
Savage3D was released in 1998 and was S3's first 3D chip with useful Direct3D and OpenGL performance. Its performance is similar to [[3dfx|Voodoo Banshee]] or [[Matrox|Matrox G200]], and its image quality is excellent. GUI performance is excellent. It supports single-cycle trilinear filtering, meaning one can enable trilinear filtering with little speed impact. It can use textures up to 2048x2048 pixels. It is also fully AGP 2x compliant.

It is the first 3D accelerator to support texture compression, in the form of S3TC, which would later become the DXT1 Direct3D standard. Texture compression dramatically reduces the size of a texture while only minimally affecting quality, allowing very high quality textures to be used even with the limited 8MB RAM of the Savage3D.

S3 created a new API called Metal for the Savage family. Unreal Engine 1 games frequently support it, and may also have optional S3TC textures available. Like 3dfx Glide, it offers superior quality and performance compared to Direct3D and OpenGL with Unreal Engine.

Savage3D's greatest failing was, as typical with S3, driver quality.

=== S3 Savage4 ===
This is an enhancement of Savage3D. Clock speed was improved, AGP 4x implemented, and the cards typically come equipped with 16-32MB RAM. It doesn't have enough fill-rate to compete with the other 3D cards of 1999 such as NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 and 3dfx Voodoo3, and drivers are again sub par. However, S3 Metal support made it somewhat popular for Unreal Tournament because the S3TC textures were a dramatic visual upgrade.

=== S3 Savage 2000 ===
[[File:Dviper2z200.jpg|thumb|Savage 2000]]
Savage 2000 was an ambitious overhaul of previous 3D technology and was released at the end of 1999. It was to be a fully Direct3D 7 compliant part, meaning support for a hardware transform and lighting engine. Compared to Savage4, it has twice the pixel throughput per clock, and potentially quadruple the texture processing rate. It is superficially comparable to NVIDIA GeForce 256.

However, the chip is not entirely functional. It is faster than Savage4, but it is not Direct3D 7 compliant because the S3TL (HW T&L) engine is not entirely bug-free. S3TL is disabled by default, but can be enabled. It produces visual anomalies and it does not improve performance because it is not fast enough to outperform the CPU at the task. In many cases enabling S3TL can worsen performance. Overall the Savage 2000 is not as fast as GeForce 256, but it can beat Matrox G400, 3dfx Voodoo3 and RIVA TNT2.

Like Savage4, this chip was somewhat popular for Unreal Tournament. It is significantly faster than Savage4 and only the Savage series could run the game with the S3TC textures. Likewise with the Savage4, the Savage 2000 also support's S3's MeTal API.

== S3 Savage Comparison Chart ==
[[File:S3quake.png|thumb|S3 cards DOS performance]]
{| class="wikitable"
! Chip !! Release !! Die process !! Core clock !! Pipeline<br />(Px × Tex) !! Fillrate (MT/s)!! Memory clock !! Bus width !! Memory bandwidth !! System interface !! Notes
|-
| Savage 3D
|| 6/1998
|| 0.25 μm
|| 100-120 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 100-120
|| 120 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 0.96 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2x
||Versions: 390, 391 with Macrovision.
|-
| Savage 4 Pro
|| 2/1999
|| 0.25 μm
|| 110-143 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 110-143
|| 125-143 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 1.00-1.14 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
||
|-
| Savage 4 GT
|| 2/1999
|| 0.25 μm
|| 110 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 110
|| 125 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 1.00 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
||
|-
| Savage 4 MX
|| 2/1999
|| 0.25 μm
||
|| 1 × 1
||
||
|| 64-bit
||
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
|| Notebooks
|-
| Savage 4 Xtreme
|| 8/1999
|| 0.25 μm
|| 166 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 166
|| 166 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 1.33 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
|| Diamond Stealth III
|-
| Savage 2000
|| 11/1999
|| 0.18/0.22 μm
|| 125 MHz
|| 2 × 2
|| 500
|| 155 MHz
|| 128-bit
|| 2.48 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
|| aka GX4. S3TL hardware is bugged and disabled.
|}

==Related links==
*[http://vintage3d.org/ Vintage3D] - has a section dedicated to the examination of performance and image quality of ViRGE cards.
*[http://www.servodata.com.pl/ftp/ELSA/GRAPHICS/ELSAWARE/S3DTOOL.ZIP S3DTool] - a game patcher that enables S3D games to run on later ViRGE chips.
*[http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=26 VOGONS Vintage Driver Library] - S3 file section
*[http://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/ Gona's PCI and AGP DOS game compatibility matrix]
*[http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=33483 3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)] - VOGONS thread

[[Category:Hardware]]
[[Category:Graphics Cards]]

S3

2015-06-08T07:41:47Z

Idspispopd: /* S3D accelerated games */

TruForm

2014-01-28T12:29:35Z

Idspispopd: Radeon 9100

'''TruForm''' was an early tessellation implementation created by [[ATI]] and employed primarily on Radeon 8500 (R200). It was never accepted into the DirectX or OpenGL specifications.

== Overview ==
Before the adoption of pixel shader-enhanced bump mapping methods such as normal and parallax mapping that simulate higher mesh detail, curved 3D shapes in games were typically created with large numbers of triangles. TruForm creates a curved surface using the existing triangles, and tessellates this surface to make a new, more detailed polygonal model. By performing this geometry improvement on the graphics card, bus transfer and system memory utilization are reduced compared to if a complex mesh was used for the entire process[http://www.ati.com/products/pdf/truform.pdf]. For best results, Truform needs to be implemented in the models with flags that identify areas to be tessellated.

The Radeon R200 chip is the only chip that performs TruForm fully in hardware. Radeon 9000 and later use a combination of CPU and vertex shader processing to perform it[http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=2134065&postcount=5] and this impacts performance and stability. (Radeon 9100 also uses an R200 chip so it will support TruForm just like Radeon 8500.) In later versions of Catalyst drivers, the TruForm feature is removed. Beginning with the Radeon R520 generation, TruForm was no longer advertised as a hardware feature.

== Games with support ==
*[[Bugdom]]
*[[Command & Conquer: Renegade]]
*[[Counter-Strike]] (ati_subdiv "2.0", ati_npatch "1.0")
*[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]] (unofficially, with the FPS Optimizer)
*[[FTE QuakeWorld]] (Quake World, Net Quake, Quake II, Quake, Quake III: Arena, Hexen 2, Nexuiz) [http://sourceforge.net/projects/fteqw/files/Full%20GL-only/3343/] [http://fteqw.com/wiki/index.php?title=Gl_ati_truform]
*[[Hexen II]] (TruHexen2 Patch, developed by RaVeN [http://hexen.clan.su/forum/7-804-1])
*[[Madden NFL 2004]]
*[[Neverwinter Nights]] (must edit the game's ".ini" file and set "Enable Truform=1")
*[[Quake]] (TruQuake Patch)
*[[Quake 2]] (TruQuake2 Patch)
*[[Quake III Arena]] [http://raven-05.narod.ru/Test-Quake-III-Arena-Truform.7z] (developed by RaVeN )
*[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]
*[[Serious Sam]]
*[[Soldier of Fortune]]
*[[Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix]]
*[[Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six]]
*[[Unreal Tournament]] (TruUT Patch)
*[[Unreal Tournament 2003]] and [[Unreal Tournament 2004]] (must edit the game's ".ini" file and set "UseNPatches=True")
*[[Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory]]
*[[Homeplanet]]

== External links==
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20080225041723/http://ati.amd.com/fr/products/gamesupport/index.html ATI's Official List of TruForm Enabled Games]

[[Category:Hardware]]
[[Category:Graphics Cards]]

Matrox Mystique

2013-03-10T15:01:01Z

Idspispopd: Typos

[[File:Mystique 2.jpg|thumb|Matrox Mystique]]
[[File:Mystique.JPG|thumb|Matrox Mystique (Compaq version)]]
[[Matrox]] Mystique is a 2D/3D/video accelerator for PC. [[Matrox]] released their first Mystique on August 14, 1996. Newer versions, including Mystique 220, kept appearing until summer 1997. The videocard usually had 2-4 Mb SGRAM expandable to 8MB with a special memory add-on card. However, apart from higher resolutions, upgrading memory did not make much difference.

Mystique was oriented on mid-end consumer and business market, offering excellent 2D performance, traditional for Matrox. It also has basic 3D capabilities, delivered mainly through [[Matrox]] Simple Interface API. As for the 2D part, it's safe to say the videocard has no known flaws. The image is crisp, has fine colors. But the 3D part is not as good as 2D. Its major flaws are:
* absence of texture filtering
* absence of mipmapping
* crude alpha-blending and environmental mapping emulation
* performance issues.

Basically, it means that:
* pixels of low-resolution textures have sharp edges
* distant textures appear noisy
* glass, fog, smoke, etc. appear as a check pattern of fully transparent/opaque pixels, environment (like underwater) is frequently not implemented at all.
* many early Direct3D titles are barely playable.

[[Matrox]] Mystique had its own advantages. It outran its competitors (S3 ViRGE, ATI Mach64) in 2D. It still accelerated 3D graphics a great deal, and, although the picture was close to software rendering, Mystique worked on calculating 3D instead of the CPU, which was already under heavy load. For a friendly price it offered gamers, who could not afford a [[3dfx]] Voodoo, a playable framerate on some 3D titles, which was more than enough. Indeed, if one learns to deal without alpha-blending and proper environment mapping, Mystique brings its owner a nice crisp image with bright colors. In games, where it's not crucial (Tomb Raider, for example), the picture can be described as curious and overall not bad. Due to its good 2D performance and lower than average 3D capabilities, it is common practice to put Mystique in pair with a [[3dfx]] Voodoo Graphics to combine fast 2D with widely supported and almost perfect 3D.

'''Today:''' Mystique is a nice 2D choice to run alongside [[3dfx]] Voodoo and as a secondary 3D accelerator for wider 3D experience.

==Matrox Simple Interface API compatible games==

Thanks to '''[http://vogons.zetafleet.com/onzin.php?mode=viewprofile&u=25315 vetz]''', we can enjoy this list of games, that work with Matrox Mystique API (MSI):
*Actua Soccer ''(does not work on Mystique 220)''
*Battle Arena Toshinden ''(does not work on Mystique 220)''
*Destruction Derby 2
*Croc
*Mechwarrior 2: Mystique Edition
*Monster Trucks (Thunder Truck Rally)
*Scorched Planet
*Screamer II
*Screamer Rally
*Time Warriors
*Tomb Raider
*UEFA Champions League 1996/1997
For more information on the supported games, see [http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=33483 forum thread]

==Mystique 220==

Original [[Matrox]] Mystique has 170 MHz RAMDAC and is based on MGA 1064 GPU. The later version, Mystique 220, has 220MHz RAMDAC and is based on MGA 1164 GPU. Other than that, there is basically no difference between two versions of the card. The major problems of Mystique were never resolved.

However, benchmarking concludes that Matrox kept including minor changes in Mystique without informing the customers, so later Mystique versions, like the one made by Compaq (on the picture above), can have 220 MHz RAMDAC and identify themselves as Mystique 220 while having old 1064 GPU.

3dfx

2013-03-09T23:44:55Z

Idspispopd: Voodoo2 texture memory calculation

3dfx (written as 3Dfx until 1999) was a 3D graphics chipset manufacturer and later on graphics card manufacturer. Founded in 1994, the company was one of the pioneers of 3D graphics in the PC industry in the mid to late 1990's. Their products were popular for arcade machines, PC 3D game accelerators and professional visualization systems. They played an important role in the 3D graphics industry until 2000, when most of their assets were purchased by [[NVIDIA]] Corporation, after which the company filed for bancruptcy and officialy went defunct in 2002.

== General 3dfx advice ==

3dfx cards - namely their proprietary Glide API - can be considered one of the prime reasons to use vintage hardware today, because many early 3D games starting from 1996 had versions for at least some 3dfx cards, and in a lot of times, those versions had the superior image quality. Perhaps the most notorious example here is Unreal (1998), a game that first was developed for software rendering, but had a Glide renderer added as soon as it was clear that Voodoo would come out as the best 3D accelerator. The game also had Direct3D and OpenGL renderers, but Direct3D was well in its infancy back in the day and even the OpenGL renderer wasn't their best effort, therefore players with competitor cards had to wait for Epic's patches to improve the graphics, but in the end it would take fanmade patches to provide competitive renderers.

It was also common for game developers to put 3dfx logos on their games' boxes, leading to misconceptions for a decent amount of games supporting Glide which actually do not at all, or only provide a special MiniGL driver for 3dfx cards. This was again due to 3dfx being the dominant 3D solution at this time, and also a commonly known brand with PC gamers. Technically, all 3dfx MiniGL/OpenGL ICDs and the 3dfx Direct3D HAL redirect to Glide. If software does not straightforwardly access either glide2x.dll/ovl or glide3x.dll, it cannot be said to directly support the Glide API.

Since Glide was a proprietary interface, there were 3rd party efforts from day one to bring it to all 3D cards. Glide wrappers are at a level where they can properly emulate how those games would look on a real Voodoo card and can be considered a viable alternative to the real cards. A problem with them is that games written for Win9x are not necessarily compatible with modern operating systems, so only a (at best) period-correct Win9x system can be guaranteed to play all games properly.

The main weak points of all vintage cards apart from incompatibility with modern mainboards/operating systems are lack of full screen anti-aliasing (addressed with V5), anisotropic filtering (only started to be useful with about GF3) and bad performance in some then available Direct3D games, since Microsoft's API had the problem of not being programmable as close to the hardware as OpenGL and its MiniGL/Glide derivatives were and therefore was slow to take off initally.

The biggest disadvantage of 3dfx' SLI multiple GPU solution (V2 SLI/V5 for consumer cards) is that it is prone to slight horizontal artifacts somewhat akin to screen tearing, which results from the multiple chips not fully working synchronously. This can be prevented by activating VSync in the drivers or in the games, a solution which itself has the problem of causing mouse lag in many cases.

Cards of Voodoo2 SLI/3 grade speed scale with CPUs up until about a ~1 GHz Intel Pentium III Coppermine, although a PIII 500 Katmai should be enough to get all Glide games going fluently. AMD's K6 line can only be considered second choice when building a 3dfx centered PC, because these CPUs can be a significant bottleneck with some later games. Pentium Classic and Pentium MMX CPUs will only be able to run the earliest Glide titles decently, as these CPUs were already reaching the end of their lifecycle when 3dfx cards arrived. Older games besides a very few [[List of games that require specific CPUs to run properly|exceptions]] should be able to cope with faster CPUs. Lastly, it should be noted that Voodoo Graphics cards will not work with K7 (Athlon) CPUs, and Voodoo2 cards will need special 3rd party drivers to work with these CPUs.

Community-made resources for 3dfx cards include drivers, such as Amigamerlin, x3dfx and SFFT, which can provide more features and speed than the latest official drivers from 2000 and some of which allow the cards to be run under Windows XP, or tools such as V.Control which provide more in-depth tweaking options. For potentially better OpenGL compatibility or speed, one can use the MesaFX standalone OpenGL driver or Metabyte's WickedGL MiniGL driver.

== Getting the best compatibility ==

For better compatibility and versatility, it is common practice among vintage computer enthusiasts to have multiple video or sound cards in one system. Back in the day, this was typically widespread and necessary for 3D-only 3dfx cards with a loop cable (V1/V2). That way, one can easily have a faster card for OpenGL/D3D (or a card supporting one of the other proprietary 3D APIs) combined with e.g. V2 SLI which will automatically engage when Glide is chosen in games. This may cause issues with some cards if for some reason OpenGL/D3D would be needed on the 3dfx card(s).

Another way is to combine said non-3dfx card with a 2D+3D 3dfx card, one of them being AGP and the other one PCI. Due to both being full video cards one would need to perform the switch in the BIOS under "Primary VGA adapter", "Boot from AGP/PCI" or likewise (if it supports it) depending on what card is needed. This method has the disadvantage of requiring to relocate the monitor cable each time because there is no passthrough; a monitor with multiple inputs or a VGA or KVM switch would solve that problem, potentially with DVI for one of the cards of available. This should work very reliably without any conflicts.

It is also possible to take advantage of multi-monitor support in Windows 98, either with a multi-input monitor by switching between inputs on the monitor itself or two monitors. However, this has been reported to cause Windows to use the OpenGL software fallback mode as long as the secondary display is enabled, so it is perhaps not the optimal solution. Direct3D hardware acceleration only works on the primary display.

Finally, for maximum Glide compatibility, one could even use three cards (e.g. V1, V2 and V3/4/5) and switch between the cards by copying the appropriate glide2x.dll/glide3x.dll drivers into the game directory depending on which card the game should run with. When using this method, it is important to install the drivers in ascending order, so that games which access the drivers in the Windows folder use the newest 3dfx card. For DOS games, one would analogically copy Glide2x.ovl into the game folder.

To get games which were originally made for Voodoo Graphics to work with Voodoo2 boards, one can use the following SST variables in the autoexec.bat, either directly or by an external batchfile:

<pre>SET SST_GRXCLK=90
SET SST_FT_CLK_DEL=0x4
SET SST_TF0_CLK_DEL=0x6
SET SST_TF1_CLK_DEL=0x6
SET SST_VIN_CLKDEL=0x1
SET SST_VOUT_CLKDEL=0x0
SET SST_TMUMEM_SIZE=2</pre>

== Voodoo Graphics ==

[[File:Canopus_Pure3D.jpg|200px|thumb||Canopus Pure3D]]
[[File:Voodoo_1.jpg|200px|thumb||Diamond Monster 3D]]

The Voodoo Graphics chipset, based on the SST1 architecture, was 3dfx' first foray into the PC market. Its release in 1996 was primarily made possible by EDO DRAM declining in price, allowing good profits from an adequately-equipped ~$300 Voodoo Graphics solution. The PCI cards, which were manufactured by board partners, feature a frame buffer processor, a texture processor (texture mapping unit, TMU), a RAMDAC and 4 MB EDO DRAM (some later versions were released with 6 or even 8 MB). Both the RAM and graphics processors operate at 50 MHz, with 2 MB RAM being used as framebuffer and 2 MB as texture memory. The RAM banks are on independent 64-bit buses. A Pentium 90 with 8 MB RAM was considered the minimal specifications for these cards.

The chipset was rich in features, boasting perspective correct texture mapping, bilinear texture filtering, level of detail MIP mapping, sub-pixel correction, polygonal-based Gouraud shading and texture modulation. It natively supported Direct3D 5 and introduced Glide, 3dfx's own proprietary API that worked initially under DOS and later under Windows 9x and NT 4.0/2000. Glide was essentially a subset of OpenGL, with no support for features deemed unnecessary for PC gaming at the time, and for some functions not supported by the SST-1 architecture. OpenGL games were initially only supported through the use of MiniGL, which was an OpenGL driver with only the necessary functions implemented for a specific game, most notably Quake engines. In 1999, 3dfx released a full OpenGL ICD, providing support for all OpenGL applications, which was becoming increasingly important at the time since it was required for the then-upcoming Quake 3.

Voodoo Graphics does not have 2D functions like VGA or GUI acceleration, meaning that they have to be used in conjunction with a standard 2D card by means of a [[VGA passthrough cable]]. Voodoo cards have relays onboard that switch between passthrough mode and output mode, controlled by the driver or DOS game/Glide. Unfortunately the passthrough impacts 2D quality because of the signal passing through additional circuitry that may not be of optimum quality. High resolution GUI modes are most noticeably affected.

Thanks to 3dfx's efforts with game developers and publishers and the excellent performance of their solution, the company's technology was quickly adopted as the de-facto standard in PC 3D gaming. Voodoo 1 enjoyed lengthy support from game developers. Despite only supporting resolutions as high as 640x480 (800x600 without the usage of Z-buffering) and 16-bit color depth, the card was usable with games into 2000.

The prime competitors upon its release were the [[PowerVR]] PCX1 and [[Rendition]] Vérité V1000 chipsets, the latter of which already featured complete 2D processing onboard. Other competitors include the [[Matrox]] Millenium II/[[Matrox Mystique]], [[ATI]] Rage II, [[S3]] Virge and [[NVIDIA]] RIVA 128, all of which had 2D functions, but only the RIVA 128 can be said to match the Voodoo 1 in performance, while of course lacking Glide support.

'''Today:'''
The card's prime use case would be statically-linked Glide games in DOS that depend on the first Voodoo chipset. Later games, starting with ca. 1997, are better played with the subsequent Voodoo cards.

Cards with higher than 4 MB are a trade-off: they have somewhat higher compatibility to later games, but lose some compatibility with first generation titles. 6 MB versions only have more texture memory and are therefore still limited to 640x480; 8 MB boards are able to show 800x600 resolutions due to extra framebuffer memory. Both offer smoother frame rates in games with more texture memory usage, such as Unreal and Quake 2.

== Voodoo Rush ==

[[File:Jazz Multimedia Voodoo Rush.jpg|200px|thumb|Jazz Adrenaline 3D (Alliance ProMotion)]]
[[File:Voodoo_Rush_with_Macronix_2D.jpg|200px|thumb|Procomp G108 (Macronix)]]

Voodoo Rush was released in August 1997 for the PCI bus and addressed the main shortcoming of the Voodoo Graphics by being a complete 2D/3D solution. The chipset combined either an [[Alliance Semiconductor]] AT25/AT3D or [[Macronix]] 2D core on the same board as the exact same Voodoo chipset (on some cards the 3dfx part came as a daughterboard).

The combination of two independent chipsets led to a bottleneck for the 3dfx part and therefore about 10% lower performance. The cards had 4, 6 or 8 MB total memory, with only 8 MB versions offering 4 MB for texture space, similarly to Voodoo Graphics. Some cards had slightly higher clocks to close the performance gap. The cards also sometimes weren't fully compatible to existing games, leading to specific Voodoo Rush patches for some games, e.g. Tomb Raider.

The AT3D chipset has rudimentary 3D functions which can be activated, meaning that Rush cards that feature it have two 3D chipsets.

'''Today:''' Rush cards were an infamous early attempt at a 2D/3D card by 3dfx and should be avoided when building a vintage gaming system. Primarily a curiosity. Despite that, the cards may be potentially useful in fringe cases like in a system with only a single available PCI slot that does not support a Banshee or Voodoo3 because of a weak power supply or weak voltage regulators. They shouldn't be difficult to acquire since the demand is not as high as for other 3dfx cards.

== Voodoo2 ==

[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_2.jpg|200px|thumb|Provideo PV830 (reference Voodoo2)]]

Released in early 1998, the Voodoo2 chipset (SST96) expanded upon its predecessor by adding a second texture processor and featuring 8 or 12 MB EDO DRAM. The clock was increased to 90 MHz, almost doubling the performance compared to Voodoo1. Since the V2 features single-pass multi-texturing and single-pass trilinear filtering (and therefore supports Direct3D 6), performance in games utilizing these features is further increased because the second texture unit is taken advantage of. The first notable game to do so was Quake II (1997). The cards also support SLI (Scan-Line Interleave), a technique which allows 2 cards to be run simultaneously and draw the lines of the image in turn, boosting performance and enabling resolutions up to 1024x768. With one card installed, up to 800x600 is possible regardless of memory.

Following the same principle as the Voodoo1 there are three independent 64-bit RAM buses, one for the frame buffer processor and one for each TMU. While 4 MB RAM are available for the frame buffer, the textures have to be copied into the RAM of both TMUs. So even though there are technically 4 or 8 MB of texture memory on a card effectively there are only 2 or 4 MB available for textures. With SLI this amount does not grow, instead the textures will be copied two more times.

A large number of cards from different manufacturers were released, with some deviating from the reference design and/or featuring extra cooling and even slight factory overclocks. The Voodoo2 remained the best 3D accelerator card throughout 1998.

Voodoo2 still requires the passthrough cable and use of a separate 2D card. However, the chipset does have some 2D features and there is a driver for Linux that allows one to use Voodoo2 as a GUI accelerator.

'''Today:''' The iconic Voodoo2 SLI setup holds nostalgic value for some people. Thanks to the PCI interface, they can theoretically be used even with some modern mainboards. Voodoo2 SLI is viable for almost all Glide games, and has the advantage over Voodoo3 that it can play more Glide games originally only designed for Voodoo1, with necessary environment variable configuration.

== Banshee ==

Released in 1998, the Banshee was 3dfx's first fully integrated 2D+3D chip. Due to its 100 MHz clock the midrange Banshee is actually slightly faster than the high-end Voodoo2 in single-textured games, yet falls clearly behind in games utilizing multi-texturing. Banshee cards were the first 3dfx cards to universally feature some kind of cooling solution and came equipped with 8MB/16MB SDRAM or SGRAM, with PCI and AGP versions existent.

Its 2D acceleration was very capable. It rivaled the fastest 2D cores from Matrox, Nvidia, and ATI, consisting of a 128-bit GUI engine and a 128-bit VESA VBE 3.0 VGA core. DirectDraw is accelerated, and the GUI portion supports all of the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) in hardware. The GUI engine achieved near-theoretical maximum performance with a null driver test in Windows NT.

'''Today:''' Banshee cards are far superior to Voodoo Rush, although they have a few bugs in various areas such as video playback and DOS VESA modes. As such they are not ideal gaming choices, although they can be still useful for some games.

== Voodoo 3 ==

[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_3_3000.jpg|200px|thumb||Voodoo 3 3000 AGP]]
[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_3_3500.jpg|200px|thumb||Voodoo 3 3500 TV]]

The Voodoo 3, codenamed "Avenger", was announced at COMDEX in November 1998 and released on April 3, 1999. Following the buyout of STB, 3dfx was now manufacturing their own cards. The Voodoo 3 was basically a higher-clocked Banshee core outfitted with a second texture unit and some bugfixes. The cards were released in four different flavors: the 125 MHz Voodoo 3 1000, the 143 MHz Voodoo 3 2000, the 166 MHz Voodoo 3 3000, and the 183 MHz Voodoo 3 3500 TV with integrated TV tuner. Except for the low-end V3 1000, which could also come with 8 MB, all cards featured 16 MB. The V3 line came both in PCI or AGP versions, with the 3500 being AGP-only. Some PCI versions featured SGRAM instead of the standard SDRAM. Thanks to the integrated 350 MHz RAMDAC (V3 3000/3500), the maximum resolution is 2048x1536 at about 75 Hz.

Now facing stronger competition from [[NVIDIA|NVIDIA's]] RIVA TNT line, which already supported 32-bit color depth, higher than 256x256 textures and AGP texturing (all 3dfx cards use the AGP port as a mere 66 MHz PCI port), the Voodoo 3 line was somewhat panned by critics and called outdated in terms of features, but was still considered to be very competitive speed-wise, because 32-bit rendering introduced a big performance hit on competitor cards. At that time, 3dfx' marketing was centered around speed, but to demonstrate that the image quality was still better than their last year's high-end setup, they invented the term "22-bit", describing the fact that the RAMDAC of the card would perform either a 2x2 box or 4x1 line filter on the image, depending on the driver settings, masking some of the dithering.

The RIVA TNT2 Ultra was competitive to the higher V3 cards in speed. The GeForce 256, which came out later that year, beats it both by features and performance in D3D and OGL games, yet can still merely tie it in some Glide-centric games such as Unreal Tournament.

A noteworthy problem with Voodoo3 or other cards from this generation was the higher power demands, which certain mainboards at the time could not cope with. The issue lied specifically in the voltage regulators for the AGP slot. Intel specified 6A at 3.3V for this slot, but due to cost saving measures some mainboard manufacturers utilized parts that were specified for less than that. Voodoo3 cards were reported to demand up to 4.8A, which could cause severe thermal issues, crashes and even hardware failures with these boards. One known manufacturer with this problem was Gigabyte. A list with Gigabyte motherboards which are confirmed for use with Voodoo3 cards by the company is available in the links section.

'''Today:''' A Voodoo 3 2000 roughly matches Voodoo2 SLI 12MB in speed, while only taking one slot and offering better real-world performance due to more texture memory (for 1024x768 as the highest resolution available with Voodoo2 SLI there would be 16 - 4.5 = 11.5 MB available instead of 4 MB, nearly three times as much). The image quality is slightly better due to more advanced RAMDAC filtering and the end of the passthrough design. AGP and PCI versions of all 3dfx cards will perform similarly.

Like with all Voodoo cards, the cards will run games requiring 8-bit paletted textures or table fog. If all this is taken into account together with their good DOS compatibility/speed, wide availability and low cost, the Voodoo 3 can be considered the all-around best vintage card for games of its time frame and before.

== Voodoo 4/5 ==

[[File:PowerColor_Voodoo_4_4500.jpg|200px|thumb||PowerColor Evilking IV]]
[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_5_5500.jpg|200px|thumb||Voodoo 5 5500]]

The VSA-100 (Voodoo Scalable Architecture), codenamed "Napalm", was the final product from 3dfx and was released in 2000. Only the single-chip Voodoo 4 4500 and the dual-chip Voodoo 5 5500 made it to market, both clocked at 166 MHz and released both in AGP and PCI versions. It is a further refinement of the architecture of all previous products, with some changes and additions such as two pixel pipelines with one texture unit each (instead of one pipeline with two texture units), 32-bit rendering and larger texture caches. The chip supports 2048x2048 textures, FXT1 and DXTC texture compression.

The marketing was now more centered on image quality ("cinematic effects") than speed: Due to the added "T-buffer" the Voodoo 4 4500 can do 2x RGSSAA (rotated-grid super-sampling anti-aliasing), while the Voodoo 5 5500 is capable of up to 4x RGSSAA. This method of anti-aliasing is considered high quality until today and was actually usable in a large number of titles, albeit with considerable performance impact.

The Voodoo 5 matched the GeForce 256 or slightly edged it out, but was not competitive with high-end GeForce 2 cards, especially since Glide support in new games was rapidly declining by that time. Unlike the GeForce cards which were Direct3D 7 capable, the VSA-100 line was still limited to Direct3D 6, as it lacked Hardware T&L. This feature, which was introduced by Nvidia a year ago, was slowly taking off in 2000 and games from that time which use it are not optimally suited for these cards.

Voodoo 4 4500 cards have 32 MB SDRAM. Voodoo 5 5500 cards have 64 MB SDRAM, although only 32 of it are actually usable due to the SLI method used, much like with Voodoo2 SLI. Voodoo5 cards require supplementary power in the form of a single Molex connection.

'''Today:''' The V4 4500 is arguably not much better than the V3, since it performs similarly and its new features are of limited benefit. The V5 5500 is considerably faster and provides an optimal Glide experience up to around 1280x1024 without AA, with the added possibility of adding anti-aliasing for higher image quality in lower resolutions.

For the best possible frame rates, it can be combined with fast CPUs such as Athlon XPs with the KT333 chipset. AGP 3.3v support is necessary.

Macintosh PCI versions of the V5 5500 have DVI outputs for clearer image quality. Using this with DOS games is said to cause problems due to locked refresh rates though.

== Other 3dfx cards ==

The company also released other cards, such as the budget Velocity (name taken after the acquisition of STB) line, which only came with 1 TMU similar to Banshee, although the second one can reportedly be enabled by a registry hack. Also, 3dfx had plans for a Voodoo 5 6000, which would have come with four VSA-100 chips installed and would have been powered by an external power supply, dubbed "Voodoo Volts". About 150-250 of these were made as prototypes. These cards beat Nvidia's GeForce 2 line and are even competitive with GeForce 3 when used with faster CPUs, and are also capable of 8x RGSSAA. The prototypes are considered "legendary" in the enthusiast community and are highly sought after, with prices easily as high as $1000 paid for them.

== User benchmarks ==

''Main article: [[3dfx Benchmarks]]''

== External links ==
*[http://www.tdfx.de/eng/grafikkarten_alle.shtml Complete database of 3dfx cards]
*[http://www.falconfly.de/ Best resource for 3dfx drivers + other information]
*[http://www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide/compatibility nGlide wrapper compatibility list]
*[http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=886 Complete list of Glide games for DOS]
*[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2DC6912FD577F199 3D Acceleration Comparison with many 3dfx games]
*[http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.voodooalert.de%2Fde%2Fcontent%2Ftests%2Findex.php&act=url Many 3dfx tests and driver comparisons]
*[http://patrizio1.tripod.com/var.htm List of SST variables]
*[http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20000108224559%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.gigabyte.de%2Fgigadeutsch%2Fnews%2Fnews.htm&act=url List of Gigabyte mainboards which will accept a Voodoo3]
*[http://www.3dgw.com/faq/moodys_voodoo2_faq.htm Moody's Voodoo2 FAQ]

Windows 9x Builds

2013-03-02T13:51:09Z

Idspispopd: /* 3D Card */

[[File:Win9x bench setup.jpg|thumb|250px|Win9x Bench Setup]]
== Hardware ==

In 1996 Windows 95 was beginning to take over the role MS-DOS previously had as the preferred PC gaming platform, since the release of DirectX made fast paced 2D games more easily programmable for developers. While the OS has a 386 as the minimum requirement, popular games like Diablo and Starcraft had required specifications of P60-P90 systems with at least 16 MB of RAM. A high-end 486 will run these particular games as well. This defines the entry level hardware for a Windows9x gaming build.
In retrospect one can say that Windows 98SE is the most refined Windows 9x while still being compatible with earlier versions.
It is more comfortable to setup due to Windows Driver Model (WDM), FAT32, AGP, P6, better USB support and other minor enhancements which make it overall more stable than its predecessor.

=== CPU / Motherboard Platform ===

Most games scale well with faster CPUs, so picking the latest CPU/mainboard components with Windows 9x support usually does not emerge problems. This allows to play most games of the Windows 9x era on one system.

Some people prefer to maintain period authenticity by using hardware from the time. A popular target is an Intel 440BX motherboard combined with a supported CPU, which can be up to a Pentium III "Tualatin" with some motherboards. Another popular target is a K6-2 through K6-3+ combined with a Ali1541 chipset mainboard and e.g. a 3dfx Voodoo3 graphics card.

However, it is possible to run Windows 9x on newer hardware, up to some Core 2 boards using Intel 865 or Athlon 64 boards with VIA K8T800. By running such fast hardware, potential CPU bottlenecks are eliminated and there are numerous games that benefit from this. Few Win9x games respond problematic to faster CPUs.

The pool of possible hardware combination could be lowered due to limitation of selected hardware.
Voodoo5 AGP requires a 3.3V AGP slot, therefore a VIA KT333 chipset is the top performing choice on an AMD platform.

=== 2D Card ===
Matrox cards are often considered good choices as a companion for a Voodoo 1 or 2. They have sharp output.

NVIDIA cards are a somewhat risky choice in that the quality of the boards vary a lot. They are all very fast accelerators, but the output quality varies from blurry mess to razor sharp depending on the manufacturing quality.

Voodoo Banshee through Voodoo5 have high performance GUI accelerators and typically have sharp output as well.

S3 cards such as Trio64 and the various ViRGE chips are adequate GUI cards, but they often don't maintain sharp output at high resolutions.

3DLabs Permedia 2 cards like Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro are often sharp and they are fast. These were low-end CAD cards and so may be likely to have maintained a certain quality level.

=== 3D Card ===
The can't-go-wrong choices are the 3dfx Voodoo 2-5 cards. Games from the time were often designed around 3dfx hardware features, even Direct3D and OpenGL games. Glide support is of course very common in games of the day. Some Direct3D games use features like 8-bit paletted textures and table fog which are 3dfx-related features that not all other cards support/emulate.

NVIDIA GeForce 256 through FX cards are good choices too because they support the popular features of the time as TnL. They also have exceptional OpenGL support. Note that RIVA TNT/TNT2 and GeForce 6 lack paletted texture support.

ATI cards are best avoided because they do not support table fog or 8-bit paletted textures.

There are also more exotic cards from the dawn of 3D hardware acceleration. Those cards manufacturers introduced proprietary APIs that some early 3D games have specific support for.
[http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=33483 Comprehensive overview at Vogons], also integrated into the wiki: [[List of games supporting proprietary APIs]]

=== Sound Cards ===
For PCI cards with best possible sound extension support, typically you should look at Aureal Vortex 2, Creative Sound Blaster Live! or Audigy. Vortex 2 supports A3D 2.0 and some games use it to great effect. Creative cards get you quality EAX support and some games do use that well, and Aureal cards do not emulate it properly.

On the other hand, if 3D sound is of no importance to you, ISA cards can be used for better DOS compatibility or even combined with the aforementioned without problems. Testing has shown that ISA cards do not come with a penalty on framerates in Win9x games, and cards such as the AWE series and some Terratec cards even have rudimentary 3D features.

== Software ==
=== Operating System ===
Windows 9x encompasses Windows 95, Windows 98(SE) and Windows Millennium.

*Windows 95 essentially lacks support for AGP and USB and so isn't useful unless that hardware isn't needed. Windows 95 is lighter weight than 98 though and is very fast.

*Windows 98's original release is unrefined so it's best to use Second Edition (98SE).

*Windows Millennium has numerous advancements over 98SE but it also has some limitations and quirks that cause people to prefer 98SE.

Talk:3dfx

2013-03-02T13:10:07Z

Idspispopd: SST variables

Perhaps 3dfx Gameplay Videos could be added?

There are some nice videos by LGR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RiuD8MRGi0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUlCkH5v938

We could get author's permission on vogons.

== Comments ==

Is there any source for this fact: "Lastly, it should be noted that Voodoo Graphics cards will not work with K7 (Athlon) CPUs, and Voodoo2 cards will need special 3rd party drivers to work with these CPUs. " ?

I had such a system running with Voodoo2 and can not remember having any issues.

Why is in the Voodoo3 series the Voodoo 3500TV mentioned, whereas the more logical follow up would be to mention the Voodoo3500 ?
I don't see the TV extension as a crucial feature for the targeted audience.

:swaaye is the source for that, can't find the post but he said it just recently somewhere... there are indeed drivers specially made for K7 on falconfly
:as for the TV part I tried to make it somewhat comprehensive and complete as possible, not just to cater to a hardcore audience that very most likely knows everything here anyway<br>
:anything that's factually wrong or missing? And to all users commenting, please sign your messages with four tildes each time [[User:D1stortion|D1stortion]] ([[User talk:D1stortion|talk]]) 11:46, 21 February 2013 (EST)

Well, what might be added is that the 8 MB Voodoo already has the advantage of being able to show 800x600 resolution and it is about 20% faster is texture intense games like Unreal.
While there is a patched driver for Athlon CPUs this does not mean that the Reference driver does not work with Athlon CPUs.
[[User:Enigma|Enigma]] ([[User talk:Enigma|talk]]) 13:03, 21 February 2013 (EST)

:http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=34664 I cannot verify this statement myself, but I'll leave it on here for now [[User:D1stortion|D1stortion]] ([[User talk:D1stortion|talk]]) 13:24, 21 February 2013 (EST)

Benchmarks are ok, but be sure to include the system and OS used for them :) [[User:D1stortion|D1stortion]] ([[User talk:D1stortion|talk]]) 22:21, 22 February 2013 (EST)

"To get games which were originally made for Voodoo Graphics to work with Voodoo2 boards, one can use the following SST variables in the autoexec.bat"
Does this work for all games?
[[User:Idspispopd|Idspispopd]] ([[User talk:Idspispopd|talk]]) 00:10, 3 March 2013 (EST)

3dfx

2013-03-01T21:42:43Z

Idspispopd: Small additions/corrections

3dfx (written as 3Dfx until 1999) was a 3D graphics chipset manufacturer and later on graphics card manufacturer. Founded in 1994, the company was one of the pioneers of 3D graphics in the PC industry in the mid to late 1990's. Their products were popular for arcade machines, PC 3D game accelerators and professional visualization systems. They played an important role in the 3D graphics industry until 2000, when most of their assets were purchased by [[NVIDIA]] Corporation, after which the company filed for bancruptcy and officialy went defunct in 2002.

== General 3dfx advice ==

3dfx cards - namely their proprietary Glide API - can be considered one of the prime reasons to use vintage hardware today, because many early 3D games starting from 1996 had versions for at least some 3dfx cards, and in a lot of times, those versions had the superior image quality. Perhaps the most notorious example here is Unreal (1998), a game that first was developed for software rendering, but had a Glide renderer added as soon as it was clear that Voodoo would come out as the best 3D accelerator. The game also had Direct3D and OpenGL renderers, but Direct3D was well in its infancy back in the day and even the OpenGL renderer wasn't their best effort, therefore players with competitor cards had to wait for Epic's patches to improve the graphics, but in the end it would take fanmade patches to provide competitive renderers.

It was also common for game developers to put 3dfx logos on their games' boxes, leading to misconceptions for a decent amount of games supporting Glide which actually do not at all, or only provide a special MiniGL driver for 3dfx cards. This was again due to 3dfx being the dominant 3D solution at this time, and also a commonly known brand with PC gamers. If a game does not directly access either glide2x.dll/ovl or glide3x.dll, it cannot be said to support Glide.

Since Glide was a proprietary interface, there were 3rd party efforts from day one to bring it to all 3D cards. Glide wrappers are at a level where they can properly emulate how those games would look on a real Voodoo card and can be considered a viable alternative to the real cards. A problem with them is that games written for Win9x are not necessarily compatible with modern operating systems, so only a (at best) period-correct Win9x system can be guaranteed to play all games properly.

The main weak points of all vintage cards apart from incompatibility with modern mainboards/operating systems are lack of full screen anti-aliasing (addressed with V5), anisotropic filtering (only started to be useful with about GF3) and bad performance in some then available Direct3D games, since Microsoft's API had the problem of not being programmable as close to the hardware as OpenGL and its MiniGL/Glide derivatives were and therefore was slow to take off initally.

The biggest disadvantage of 3dfx' SLI multiple GPU solution (V2 SLI/V5 for consumer cards) is that it is prone to slight horizontal artifacts somewhat akin to screen tearing, which results from the multiple chips not fully working synchronously. This can be prevented by activating VSync in the drivers or in the games, a solution which itself has the problem of causing mouse lag in many cases.

Cards of Voodoo2 SLI/3 grade speed scale with CPUs up until about a ~1 GHz Intel Pentium III Coppermine, although a PIII 500 Katmai should be enough to get all Glide games going fluently. AMD's K6 line can only be considered second choice when building a 3dfx centered PC, because these CPUs can be a significant bottleneck with some later games. Pentium Classic and Pentium MMX CPUs will only be able to run the earliest Glide titles decently, as these CPUs were already reaching the end of their lifecycle when 3dfx cards arrived. Older games besides a very few exceptions should be able to cope with faster CPUs. Lastly, it should be noted that Voodoo Graphics cards will not work with K7 (Athlon) CPUs, and Voodoo2 cards will need special 3rd party drivers to work with these CPUs.

Community-made resources for 3dfx cards include drivers, such as Amigamerlin, x3dfx and SFFT, which can provide more features and speed than the latest official drivers from 2000 and some of which allow the cards to be run under Windows XP, or tools such as V.Control which provide more in-depth tweaking options. For potentially better OpenGL compatibility or speed, one can use the MesaFX standalone OpenGL driver or Metabyte's WickedGL MiniGL driver.

== Getting the best compatibility ==

For better compatibility and versatility, it is common practice among vintage computer enthusiasts to have multiple video or sound cards in one system. Back in the day, this was typically widespread and necessary for 3D-only 3dfx cards with a loop cable (V1/V2). That way, one can easily have a faster card for OpenGL/D3D (or a card supporting one of the other proprietary 3D APIs) combined with e.g. V2 SLI which will automatically engage when Glide is chosen in games. This may cause issues with some cards if for some reason OpenGL/D3D would be needed on the 3dfx card(s).

Another way is to combine said non-3dfx card with a 2D+3D 3dfx card, one of them being AGP and the other one PCI. Due to both being full video cards one would need to perform the switch in the BIOS under "Primary VGA adapter", "Boot from AGP/PCI" or likewise (if it supports it) depending on what card is needed. This method has the disadvantage of requiring to relocate the monitor cable each time because there is no passthrough; a monitor with multiple inputs or a VGA or KVM switch would solve that problem, potentially with DVI for one of the cards of available. This should work very reliably without any conflicts.

It is also possible to take advantage of multi-monitor support in Windows 98, either with a multi-input monitor by switching between inputs on the monitor itself or two monitors. However, this has been reported to cause Windows to use the OpenGL software fallback mode as long as the secondary display is enabled, so it is perhaps not the optimal solution. Direct3D hardware acceleration only works on the primary display.

Finally, for maximum Glide compatibility, one could even use three cards (e.g. V1, V2 and V3/4/5) and switch between the cards by copying the appropriate glide2x.dll/glide3x.dll drivers into the game directory depending on which card the game should run with. When using this method, it is important to install the drivers in ascending order, so that games which access the drivers in the Windows folder use the newest 3dfx card. For DOS games, one would analogically copy Glide2x.ovl into the game folder.

To get games which were originally made for Voodoo Graphics to work with Voodoo2 boards, one can use the following SST variables in the autoexec.bat, either directly or by an external batchfile:

<pre>SET SST_GRXCLK=90
SET SST_FT_CLK_DEL=0x4
SET SST_TF0_CLK_DEL=0x6
SET SST_TF1_CLK_DEL=0x6
SET SST_VIN_CLKDEL=0x1
SET SST_VOUT_CLKDEL=0x0
SET SST_TMUMEM_SIZE=2</pre>

== Voodoo Graphics ==

[[File:Canopus_Pure3D.jpg|200px|thumb||Canopus Pure3D]]
[[File:Voodoo_1.jpg|200px|thumb||Diamond Monster 3D]]

The Voodoo Graphics chipset, based on the SST1 architecture, was 3dfx' first foray into the PC market. Its release in 1996 was primarily made possible by EDO DRAM declining in price, allowing good profits from an adequately-equipped ~$300 Voodoo Graphics solution. The PCI cards, which were manufactured by board partners, feature a frame buffer processor, a texture processor, a RAMDAC and 4 MB EDO DRAM (some later versions were released with 6 or even 8 MB). Both the RAM and graphics processors operate at 50 MHz, with 2 MB RAM being used as framebuffer and 2 MB as texture memory. The RAM banks are on independent 64-bit buses. A Pentium 90 with 8 MB RAM was considered the minimal specifications for these cards.

The chipset was rich in features, boasting perspective correct texture mapping, bilinear texture filtering, level of detail MIP mapping, sub-pixel correction, polygonal-based Gouraud shading and texture modulation. It natively supported Direct3D 5 and introduced Glide, 3dfx's own proprietary API that worked initially under DOS and later under Windows 9x and NT 4.0/2000. Glide was essentially a subset of OpenGL, with no support for features deemed unnecessary for PC gaming at the time, and for some functions not supported by the SST-1 architecture. OpenGL games were initially only supported through the use of MiniGL, which was an OpenGL driver with only the necessary functions implemented for a specific game, most notably Quake engines. In 1999, 3dfx released a full OpenGL ICD, providing support for all OpenGL applications, which was becoming increasingly important at the time since it was required for the then-upcoming Quake 3.

Voodoo Graphics does not have 2D functions like VGA or GUI acceleration, meaning that they have to be used in conjunction with a standard 2D card by means of a [[VGA passthrough cable]]. Voodoo cards have relays onboard that switch between passthrough mode and output mode, controlled by the driver or DOS game/Glide. Unfortunately the passthrough impacts 2D quality because of the signal passing through additional circuitry that may not be of optimum quality. High resolution GUI modes are most noticeably affected.

Thanks to 3dfx's efforts with game developers and publishers and the excellent performance of their solution, the company's technology was quickly adopted as the de-facto standard in PC 3D gaming. Voodoo 1 enjoyed lengthy support from game developers. Despite only supporting resolutions as high as 640x480 (800x600 without the usage of Z-buffering) and 16-bit color depth, the card was usable with games into 2000.

The prime competitors upon its release were the [[PowerVR]] PCX1 and [[Rendition]] Vérité V1000 chipsets, the latter of which already featured complete 2D processing onboard. Other competitors include the [[Matrox]] Millenium II/[[Matrox Mystique]], [[ATI]] Rage II, [[S3]] Virge and [[NVIDIA]] RIVA 128, all of which had 2D functions, but only the RIVA 128 can be said to match the Voodoo 1 in performance, while of course lacking Glide support.

'''Today:'''
The card's prime use case would be statically-linked Glide games in DOS that depend on the first Voodoo chipset. Later games, starting with ca. 1997, are better played with the subsequent Voodoo cards.

Cards with higher than 4 MB are a trade-off: they have somewhat higher compatibility to later games, but lose some compatibility with first generation titles. 6 MB versions only have more texture memory and are therefore still limited to 640x480; 8 MB boards are able to show 800x600 resolutions due to extra framebuffer memory. Both offer smoother frame rates in games with more texture memory usage, such as Unreal and Quake 2.

== Voodoo Rush ==

[[File:Jazz Multimedia Voodoo Rush.jpg|200px|thumb|Jazz Adrenaline 3D (Alliance ProMotion)]]
[[File:Voodoo_Rush_with_Macronix_2D.jpg|200px|thumb|Procomp G108 (Macronix)]]

Voodoo Rush was released in August 1997 for the PCI bus and addressed the main shortcoming of the Voodoo Graphics by being a complete 2D/3D solution. The chipset combined either an [[Alliance Semiconductor]] AT25/AT3D or [[Macronix]] 2D core on the same board as the exact same Voodoo chipset (on some cards the 3dfx part came as a daughterboard).

The combination of two independent chipsets led to a bottleneck for the 3dfx part and therefore about 10% lower performance. The cards had 4, 6 or 8 MB total memory, with only 8 MB versions offering 4 MB for texture space, similarly to Voodoo Graphics. Some cards had slightly higher clocks to close the performance gap. The cards also sometimes weren't fully compatible to existing games, leading to specific Voodoo Rush patches for some games, e.g. Tomb Raider.

The AT3D chipset has rudimentary 3D functions which can be activated, meaning that Rush cards that feature it have two 3D chipsets.

'''Today:''' Rush cards were an infamous early attempt at a 2D/3D card by 3dfx and should be avoided when building a vintage gaming system. Primarily a curiosity. Potentially useful only in fringe cases like in a system with only a single available PCI slot that does not support a Banshee or Voodoo3 because of a weak power supply or other reasons. They shouldn't be difficult to acquire since the demand is not as high as for other 3dfx cards.

== Voodoo2 ==

[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_2.jpg|200px|thumb|Provideo PV830 (reference Voodoo2)]]

Released in early 1998, the Voodoo2 chipset (SST96) expanded upon its predecessor by adding a second texture processor and featuring 8 or 12 MB EDO DRAM. The clock was increased to 90 MHz, almost doubling the performance compared to Voodoo1. Since the V2 features single-pass multi-texturing and single-pass trilinear filtering (and therefore supports Direct3D 6), performance in games utilizing these features is further increased because the second texture unit is taken advantage of. The first notable game to do so was Quake II (1997). The cards also support SLI (Scan-Line Interleave), a technique which allows 2 cards to be run simultaneously and draw the lines of the image in turn, boosting performance and enabling resolutions up to 1024x768. With one card installed, up to 800x600 is possible regardless of memory.

A large number of cards from different manufacturers were released, with some deviating from the reference design and/or featuring extra cooling and even slight factory overclocks. The Voodoo2 remained the best 3D accelerator card throughout 1998.

Voodoo2 still requires the passthrough cable and use of a separate 2D card. However, the chipset does have some 2D features and there is a driver for Linux that allows one to use Voodoo2 as a GUI accelerator.

'''Today:''' The iconic Voodoo2 SLI setup holds nostalgic value for some people. Thanks to the PCI interface, they can theoretically be used even with some modern mainboards. Voodoo2 SLI is viable for almost all Glide games, and has the advantage over Voodoo3 that it can play more Glide games originally only designed for Voodoo1, with necessary environment variable configuration.

== Banshee ==

Released in 1998, the Banshee was 3dfx's first fully integrated 2D+3D chip. Due to its 100 MHz clock the midrange Banshee is actually slightly faster than the high-end Voodoo2 in single-textured games, yet falls clearly behind in games utilizing multi-texturing. Banshee cards were the first 3dfx cards to universally feature some kind of cooling solution and came equipped with 8MB/16MB SDRAM or SGRAM, with PCI and AGP versions existent.

Its 2D acceleration was very capable. It rivaled the fastest 2D cores from Matrox, Nvidia, and ATI, consisting of a 128-bit GUI engine and a 128-bit VESA VBE 3.0 VGA core. DirectDraw is accelerated, and the GUI portion supports all of the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) in hardware. The GUI engine achieved near-theoretical maximum performance with a null driver test in Windows NT.

'''Today:''' Banshee cards are far superior to Voodoo Rush, although they have a few bugs in various areas such as video playback and DOS VESA modes. As such they are not ideal gaming choices, although they can be still useful for some games.

== Voodoo 3 ==

[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_3_3000.jpg|200px|thumb||Voodoo 3 3000 AGP]]
[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_3_3500.jpg|200px|thumb||Voodoo 3 3500 TV]]

The Voodoo 3, codenamed "Avenger", was announced at COMDEX in November 1998 and released on April 3, 1999. Following the buyout of STB, 3dfx was now manufacturing their own cards. The Voodoo 3 was basically a higher-clocked Banshee core outfitted with a second texture unit and some bugfixes. The cards were released in four different flavors: the 125 MHz Voodoo 3 1000, the 143 MHz Voodoo 3 2000, the 166 MHz Voodoo 3 3000, and the 183 MHz Voodoo 3 3500 TV with integrated TV tuner. Except for the low-end V3 1000, which could also come with 8 MB, all cards featured 16 MB. The V3 line came both in PCI or AGP versions, with the 3500 being AGP-only. Some PCI versions featured SGRAM instead of the standard SDRAM. Thanks to the integrated 350 MHz RAMDAC (V3 3000/3500), the maximum resolution is 2048x1536 at about 75 Hz.

Now facing stronger competition from [[NVIDIA|NVIDIA's]] RIVA TNT line, which already supported 32-bit color depth, higher than 256x256 textures and AGP texturing (all 3dfx cards use the AGP port as a mere 66 MHz PCI port), the Voodoo 3 line was somewhat panned by critics and called outdated in terms of features, but was still considered to be very competitive speed-wise, because 32-bit rendering introduced a big performance hit on competitor cards. At that time, 3dfx' marketing was centered around speed, but to demonstrate that the image quality was still better than their last year's high-end setup, they invented the term "22-bit", describing the fact that the RAMDAC of the card would perform either a 2x2 box or 4x1 line filter on the image, depending on the driver settings, masking some of the dithering.

The RIVA TNT2 Ultra was competitive to the higher V3 cards in speed. The GeForce 256, which came out later that year, beats it both by features and performance in D3D and OGL games, yet can still merely tie it in some Glide-centric games such as Unreal Tournament.

'''Today:''' A Voodoo 3 2000 roughly matches Voodoo2 SLI 12MB in speed, while only taking one slot and offering better real-world performance due to 4 MB more texture memory. The image quality is slightly better due to more advanced RAMDAC filtering and the end of the passthrough design. AGP and PCI versions of all 3dfx cards will perform similarly.

Like with all Voodoo cards, the cards will run games requiring 8-bit paletted textures or table fog. If all this is taken into account together with their good DOS compatibility/speed, wide availability and low cost, the Voodoo 3 can be considered the all-around best vintage card for games of its time frame and before.

== Voodoo 4/5 ==

[[File:PowerColor_Voodoo_4_4500.jpg|200px|thumb||PowerColor Evilking IV]]
[[File:3dfx_Voodoo_5_5500.jpg|200px|thumb||Voodoo 5 5500]]

The VSA-100 (Voodoo Scalable Architecture), codenamed "Napalm", was the final product from 3dfx and was released in 2000. Only the single-chip Voodoo 4 4500 and the dual-chip Voodoo 5 5500 made it to market, both clocked at 166 MHz and released both in AGP and PCI versions. It is a further refinement of the architecture of all previous products, with some changes and additions such as two pixel pipelines with one texture unit each (instead of one pipeline with two texture units), 32-bit rendering and larger texture caches. The chip supports 2048x2048 textures, FXT1 and DXTC texture compression.

The marketing was now more centered on image quality ("cinematic effects") than speed: Due to the added "T-buffer" the Voodoo 4 4500 can do 2x RGSSAA (rotated-grid super-sampling anti-aliasing), while the Voodoo 5 5500 is capable of up to 4x RGSSAA. This method of anti-aliasing is considered high quality until today and was actually usable in a large number of titles, albeit with considerable performance impact.

The Voodoo 5 matched the GeForce 256 or slightly edged it out, but was not competitive with high-end GeForce 2 cards, especially since Glide support in new games was rapidly declining by that time. Unlike the GeForce cards which were Direct3D 7 capable, the VSA-100 line was still limited to Direct3D 6, as it lacked Hardware T&L. This feature, which was introduced by Nvidia a year ago, was slowly taking off in 2000 and games from that time which use it are not optimally suited for these cards.

Voodoo 4 4500 cards have 32 MB SDRAM. Voodoo 5 5500 cards have 64 MB SDRAM, although only 32 of it are actually usable due to the SLI method used, much like with Voodoo2 SLI. Voodoo5 cards require supplementary power in the form of a single Molex connection.

'''Today:''' The V4 4500 is arguably not much better than the V3, since it performs similarly and its new features are of limited benefit. The V5 5500 is considerably faster and provides an optimal Glide experience up to around 1280x1024 without AA, with the added possibility of adding anti-aliasing for higher image quality in lower resolutions.

For the best possible frame rates, it can be combined with fast CPUs such as Athlon XPs with the KT333 chipset. AGP 3.3v support is necessary.

Macintosh PCI versions of the V5 5500 have DVI outputs for clearer image quality. Using this with DOS games is said to cause problems due to locked refresh rates though.

== Other 3dfx cards ==

The company also released other cards, such as the budget Velocity (name taken after the acquisition of STB) line, which only came with 1 TMU similar to Banshee, although the second one can reportedly be enabled by a registry hack. Also, 3dfx had plans for a Voodoo 5 6000, which would have come with four VSA-100 chips installed and would have been powered by an external power supply, dubbed "Voodoo Volts". About 150-250 of these were made as prototypes. These cards beat Nvidia's GeForce 2 line and are even competitive with GeForce 3 when used with faster CPUs, and are also capable of 8x RGSSAA. The prototypes are considered "legendary" in the enthusiast community and are highly sought after, with prices easily as high as $1000 paid for them.

== User benchmarks ==

''Main article: [[3dfx Benchmarks]]''

== External links ==
*[http://www.tdfx.de/eng/grafikkarten_alle.shtml Complete database of 3dfx cards]
*[http://www.falconfly.de/ Best resource for 3dfx drivers + other information]
*[http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=534 Complete list of Glide games for Windows]
*[http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=886 Complete list of Glide games for DOS]
*[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2DC6912FD577F199 3D Acceleration Comparison with many 3dfx games]
*[http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.voodooalert.de%2Fde%2Fcontent%2Ftests%2Findex.php&act=url Many 3dfx tests and driver comparisons]
*[http://patrizio1.tripod.com/var.htm List of SST variables]

Rendition

2013-02-22T04:53:51Z

Idspispopd: RAM clock of V2x00

Rendition was a graphics chip manufacturer that produced cards for PCs from 1996 through 1999.

==Vérité==
===V1000===
[[File:Veritev1000.jpg|thumb|V1000E]]
V1000 was one of the earliest chips with VGA, GUI, DirectDraw, 3D and video functions all integrated into one ASIC. It still used an external RAMDAC, which was common at the time. The GUI acceleration is adequate but not exceptional. DirectDraw and VESA VBE 2.0 functions are fast. All V1000 cards are equipped with 4MB of EDO DRAM running synchronously with the graphics chip.

The chip is based upon customized MIPS RISC CPU technology with microcode programmability and a fixed-function pixel pipeline. This processor accelerates 3D, GUI and DOS VESA modes. The programmable flexibility allowed the chip to be tweaked for various use cases, algorithms to be optimized, and was said to allow additional functionality to be implemented. Its 3D capabilities were second only to Voodoo Graphics in 1996. 3D performance is perhaps around 50% of Voodoo level. V1000 is by far best utilized with Rendition's APIs, Speedy3D (DOS) and RRedline (Win9x). Direct3D is less optimal for it though Direct3D 5 games like Jedi Knight are quite playable. The chip is not really adequately capable of OpenGL although there is an ICD available.

Legacy VGA modes operate on a slower part of the chip and are unbearably slow. For example Doom, which uses VGA Mode X, will run at around 10 fps on a Pentium III. There is a DOS utility program to remap some VGA modes to VESA modes, but Mode X can not be improved in this manner.

There are two V1000 chips, V1000E and V1000L. V1000L operates on 3.3v instead of 5v and so uses less power and may be slightly higher clocked. V1000E boards should be used with the available BIOS update TSR for improved performance.

===V2x00===
[[File:Rendition_2100.JPG|thumb||V2100]]
The second generation Vérité chip is similar in design to the V1000 but it has been drastically enhanced with a focus on single-cycle operation. V2200 can get much more work done per clock than the V1000 and this improves both 2D and 3D performance. The chip was offered in a budget form as V2100 and a high-end model as V2200 although both are identical and clock speed is the only differentiation. V2100 operates at 40-45 MHz while V2200 is 55-60 MHz. Memory is 4-8 MB SGRAM operating asynchronously, by default usually clocked twice as high as the chip clock. V2x00 is AGP capable but operates as a 66 MHz PCI device, without AGP's special features.

Unfortunately one major limitation of V2x00 is the inability to perform per-pixel mip-mapping, something even Voodoo 1 could do.

===V3300===
The V3300 was to be Rendition's third generation 3D graphics chipset and was initially scheduled for release in 1999. It was never released, likely because it was not going to be adequately competitive.

*Dual Pixel Engine
**dual-texturing for bilinear and trilinear filtering
**specular highlighting (per vertex), Anti-aliasing
**3 million triangles/second triangle setup engine, 200 million pixels/s trilinear fillrate
*Dual independent 250 MHz RAMDAC CRT controllers
*iDCT transformations & motion compensation support (DVD playback acceleration)
*Compatible with 166 MHz SDRAM/SGRAM
*128-bit bus architecture
*AGP 2X execute mode support
*0.35 μm process

===V4400===
After canceling V3300, Rendition accelerated development of V4400. This chip was to utilize Micron's EDRAM technology and have 4MB of integrated memory. The project was eventually canceled.

==Related links==
*[http://gona.mactar.hu/v1000/ Gona's V1000-E vs. V1000L-P benchmarks]
*[http://vintage3d.org/index.php Vintage3D] - Rendition sections with benchmarks and screenshots
*[http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=18 VOGONS Drivers] - Rendition section

Talk:S3

2013-02-22T04:48:23Z

Idspispopd:

It's funny that we mention Trio3D as a "typically AGP product", while the picture is a PCI version.
It's worth adding the card should be better avoided. The article here has a lot of data on the subject: http://www.vintage3d.org/trio3d.php

[[User:RacoonRider|RacoonRider]] ([[User talk:RacoonRider|talk]]) 15:22, 22 February 2013 (EST)

There are native S3D games for Windows (eg. Mechwarrior II - all Mechwarrior II 3D ports are for Windows) so I added that. I'm pretty sure that S3D will only work under 9x, most ViRGE cards will not even have 3D acceleration at all in 2000/XP.
Does anyone know if the Savage drivers for 2000/XP include MeTaL support? Or is that 9x only?

[[User:Idspispopd|Idspispopd]] ([[User talk:Idspispopd|talk]]) 15:48, 22 February 2013 (EST)

S3

2013-02-22T04:47:50Z

Idspispopd: Small additions/corrections

S3 Graphics, Ltd is a graphics hardware manufacturer founded in January 1989. Their proprietary API's were S3D for DOS and Windows 9x and MeTaL for Windows.

''*S3 chip sets were very popular among low-end graphic hardware manufacturers. Sometimes standard S3 drivers won't work on such cards. Use [http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/ FCC ID] to confirm the graphic card's origin.''

== Chips ==
=== S3 Vision ===
[[File:S3_Vision968.JPG|thumb||S3 Vision968]]
High performance GUI accelerators during 1994 and 1995. The family includes the 864, 868, 964 and 968 chips. The 9xx series uses VRAM memory instead of fast-page DRAM, enhancing memory performance and improving high-resolution GUI performance. The x68 chips include motion video acceleration features including color space conversion and video scaling.

=== S3 Trio ===
[[File:S3_Trio64.JPG|thumb||S3 Trio64]]
An evolution of previous accelerators. The name refers to the integration of 3 components into one ASIC: RAMDAC, graphics core and clock generator. Higher integration reduces overall product cost.

Trio64 variants are popular for DOS gaming due to their high compatibility and good speed.

=== S3 ViRGE / Trio 3D ===
[[File:VirgeDX.JPG|thumb||ViRGE DX 4MB]]
[[File:S3 3D2X.JPG|thumb||S3 Trio 3D/2X]]
The ViRGE is the first S3 chip with 3D acceleration support and launched in 1996. Aside from the 3D hardware, it is quite similar to the Trio64V+. These cards typically come equipped with 2-4MB RAM. S3 created the S3D API to program directly for the ViRGE accelerators although they also support Direct3D 3+.

There are several variants. The original ViRGE (marked 325), the ViRGE VX, ViRGE DX, ViRGE GX, ViRGE GX/2, Trio3D and Trio3D/2X. VX is slower at 3D but uses VRAM memory to somewhat improve high-resolution GUI performance. DX and GX are the second generation and GX supports SGRAM. GX/2 and Trio3D are AGP capable and therefore mostly used on AGP cards. They might be called third generation.

All ViRGE chips posses a fairly complete 3D feature set and can output quality 3D visuals. The original 325 chip and the VX have inadequate performance outside of S3D games. The DX and GX have approximately double the 3D performance and can run some Direct3D adequately if the driver is compatible with the game. Later chips are somewhat faster still.

S3D games often only recognize the original ViRGE 325 chip but there is a third party utility to fix the game executable.

The similarity to Trio64V+ provides high compatibility for DOS games.

==== S3D accelerated games ====
*Demolition Derby
*Descent 2
*Mechwarrior 2
*Terminal Velocity
*Tomb Raider

=== S3 Savage3D ===
[[File:S3savage3d.jpg|thumb|Savage3D]]
Savage3D was released in 1998 and was S3's first 3D chip with useful Direct3D and OpenGL performance. Its performance is similar to [[3dfx|Voodoo Banshee]] or [[Matrox|Matrox G200]], and its image quality is excellent. GUI performance is excellent. It supports single-cycle trilinear filtering, meaning one can enable trilinear filtering with little speed impact. It can use textures up to 2048x2048 pixels. It is also fully AGP 2x compliant.

It is the first 3D accelerator to support texture compression, in the form of S3TC, which would later become the DXT1 Direct3D standard. Texture compression dramatically reduces the size of a texture while only minimally affecting quality, allowing very high quality textures to be used even with the limited 8MB RAM of the Savage3D.

S3 created a new API called Metal for the Savage family. Unreal Engine 1 games frequently support it, and may also have optional S3TC textures available. Like 3dfx Glide, it offers superior quality and performance compared to Direct3D and OpenGL with Unreal Engine.

Savage3D's greatest failing was, as typical with S3, driver quality.

=== S3 Savage4 ===
This is an enhancement of Savage3D. Clock speed was improved, AGP 4x implemented, and the cards typically come equipped with 16-32MB RAM. It doesn't have enough fill-rate to compete with the other 3D cards of 1999 such as NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 and 3dfx Voodoo3, and drivers are again sub par. However, S3 Metal support made it somewhat popular for Unreal Tournament because the S3TC textures were a dramatic visual upgrade.

=== S3 Savage 2000 ===
[[File:Dviper2z200.jpg|thumb|Savage 2000]]
Savage 2000 was an ambitious overhaul of previous 3D technology and was released at the end of 1999. It was to be a fully Direct3D 7 part, meaning support for a hardware transform and lighting engine. Compared to Savage4, it has twice the pixel throughput per clock, and potentially quadruple the texture processing rate. It is superficially comparable to NVIDIA GeForce 256.

However, the chip is not entirely functional. It is faster than Savage4, but it is not Direct3D 7 compliant because the S3TL (HW T&L) engine is not entirely bug-free. S3TL is disabled by default, but can be enabled. It produces visual anomalies and it does not improve performance because it is not fast enough to outperform the CPU at the task. Overall the Savage 2000 is not as fast as GeForce 256, but it can beat Matrox G400, 3dfx Voodoo3 and RIVA TNT2.

Like Savage4, this chip was somewhat popular for Unreal Tournament. It is significantly faster than Savage4 and only the Savage series could run the game with the S3TC textures.

== S3 Savage Comparison Chart ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Chip !! Release !! Die process !! Core clock !! Pipeline<br />(Px × Tex) !! Fillrate (MT/s)!! Memory clock !! Bus width !! Memory bandwidth !! System interface !! Notes
|-
| Savage 3D
|| 6/1998
|| 0.25
|| 100-120 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 100-120
|| 120 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 0.96 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2x
||Versions: 390, 391 with Macrovision.
|-
| Savage 4 Pro
|| 2/1999
|| 0.25
|| 110-143 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 110-143
|| 125-143 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 1.00-1.14 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
||
|-
| Savage 4 GT
|| 2/1999
|| 0.25
|| 110 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 110
|| 125 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 1.00 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
||
|-
| Savage 4 MX
|| 2/1999
|| 0.25
||
|| 1 × 1
||
||
|| 64-bit
||
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
|| Notebooks
|-
| Savage 4 Xtreme
|| 8/1999
|| 0.25
|| 166 MHz
|| 1 × 1
|| 166
|| 166 MHz
|| 64-bit
|| 1.33 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
|| Diamond Stealth III
|-
| Savage 2000
|| 11/1999
|| 0.18/0.22
|| 125 MHz
|| 2 × 2
|| 500
|| 155 MHz
|| 128-bit
|| 2.48 GB/s
|| PCI, AGP 2/4x
|| aka GX4. S3TL hardware is bugged and disabled.
|}

==Related links==
*[http://vintage3d.org/ Vintage3D] - has a section dedicated to the examination of performance and image quality of ViRGE cards.
*[http://www.servodata.com.pl/ftp/ELSA/GRAPHICS/ELSAWARE/S3DTOOL.ZIP S3DTool] - a game patcher that enables S3D games to run on later ViRGE chips.
*[http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=26 VOGONS Vintage Driver Library] - S3 file section