PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ

Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/3dgraphics-cards/part1

========================================================================
                        PC 3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ
                                  v 0.6

                              9 August 1995
========================================================================

	    &#60;<A NAME=id HREF="http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~bm/pc-3dcards.txt&#62;">http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~bm/pc-3dcards.txt&#62;</A>
	   &#60;<A NAME=id1 HREF="ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/pub/bm/pc-3dcards.txt&#62;">ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/pub/bm/pc-3dcards.txt&#62;</A>

Changes and additions to:
	Blair MacIntyre
	bm@cs.columbia.edu

	Work:
		+1 212 939 7087
		Columbia University, Dept. of Computer Science
		500 W 120th St., Room 450
		New York, NY 10027
		USA

This document provides a partial -- and not comprehensive -- list of
3D graphics accelerators for PCs.  In particular, I am interested in
PCI-based accelerators.  You can help make it more comprehensive by
sending me additional information and/or updates.  This information is
abstracted and condensed from the posts of many different
contributors. No guarantees are made regarding its accuracy.

This document is available via WWW.  See above URL.

The original motivation for this document came from a list of
accelerators compiled by Chris Hinch, Management Information Systems,
Dunedin City Council, PO Box 5045, Dunedin, New Zealand (chris@dcc.govt.nz)

----------------
Changes since version 0.5
  Q02) added pointers to the OpenGL home page and the Viewperf ftp directory

Changes since version 0.4

Changed Entries:
  GLINT04) Fixed area code in telephone number
  
Changes since version 0.3

New entries:
  B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems
  B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt

Changes since version 0.1

New entries:

  Q02) How does the performance of these cards compare to graphics
       workstations such as those produced by SGI, Sun, DEC, etc?
  CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor
  B05) Oki TrianGL
  B06) Intergraph GLZ Series

Changed entries:

  CS01) Changed address of www site and added email contact.
  GLINT01) added pricing information
  B01) Historical correction.
  B04) Small change (VLbus parts may not exist)

---------------
TODO: 
 - organize the information a bit better, remove some extraneous or
   duplicate info.
 - answer some frequently asked questions
 - get more hard data comparing the boards, such as the output of the OpenGL
   viewperf program.  If any manufacturers want to send me a demo
   unit, or donate one to our group, my address is above.
 - add more info, as people request and provide it!

==================================================================

Contents of Part 1

   Introduction
   Disclaimer

   Section I: Frequently Asked Questions 
	Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs?
	Q02) How does the performance of these cards compare to graphics
	     workstations such as those produced by SGI, Sun, DEC, etc?

   Section II: 3D Chipsets				Availability
	CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX
	CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D		(not yet available)
	CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 Geometry Processor

   Section III: GLINT 300SX-based Boards
	GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON
	GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX		(?)
	GLINT03) ELSA GLoria			(not yet available)
	GLINT04) Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia
	GLINT05) SPEA FireGL			(not yet available)
	GLINT06) Force Inc. 3DE-300SX		(?)
	GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX		(?)

   Section IV: Real3D-based Boards
	R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100		(not yet available)

Contents of Part 2

   Section V: Other boards
	B01) AccelGraphics AG300
	B02) ISC PowerGL
	B03) Evans &#38; Sutherland Freedom		(not yet available)
	B04) Matrox Impression Plus
	B05) Oki TrianGL
	B06) Intergraph GLZ Series
	B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems
	B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt

==================================================================
Introduction

    The original motivation for compiling this list was to compare 
    the features of various 3D graphics accelerators becoming available
    for microcomputers.  In particular, I am interested in PCI-based 
    cards which support OpenGL under Windows NT, Linux, Solaris x86
    (none yet!), etc.  and support stereo head mounted displays.
    (In fact, of the currently available boards, only one qualifies.  
     See if you can figure out which one.)

    Information which falls in that category will obviously be more
    complete.  Other information will be included if someone sends it
    to me, but I won't be actively researching it myself.  As such, 
    there is little or no information right now about 3D accelerators for 
    high-end machines such as those produced by SGI, Sun, HP, DEC,
    etc, except as the ones listed may also work in those machines.

==================================================================
Disclaimer
    
    I haven't seen or used many of these cards, and all figures are the
    manufacturers own, as near as I can verify.  I am not promoting
    any one card or company over any other.   Any anecdotes, speed 
    comparisons, etc., that I collect will be included on a purely
    informational level.  USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  Of course, 
    I will not include anything I do not believe or know to be false.
    
    No representation is made as to the accuracy of these
    figures/technical specs.  If you are going to buy/bet the
    farm/otherwise invest in one of these products, CONTACT THE
    MANUFACTURER first and make sure that what you want is what you'll
    get!!!
    
    CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!
    
    All trademarks etc are copyright of their respective owners etc. etc.

    Furthermore, many of these boards are not yet available, so
    you should find out delivery dates before getting your heart set on
    any given one.


====================================================================
Section I: Frequently Asked Questions 
====================================================================

Q01) Are there any 3D graphics accelerators for PCs?

I'm glad you asked.  There are quite a few, with more coming out all
the time.  See the rest of this document for more information.

(Ok, it's a stupid question, but I needed _something_ in the FAQ
section)

Q02) How does the performance of these cards compare to graphics
     workstations such as those produced by SGI, Sun, DEC, etc?

This question is difficult to answer because there are so many factors
affecting the overall 3D performance on a PC.  Most importantly, while
many of the boards listed below have impressive numbers in terms of
maximum number of polygons/second, most only accelerate rendering.
What this means is that you are still bounded by the speed at which
your processor can transform a 3D data stream to a 2D perspective with
lighting and material effects and then ship these numbers over the bus
to the graphics card.  So, the processor, processor speed, bus type
and speed, software design, etc., all effect the final throughput.
Thus, a board may perform differently on two different machines that
have the same "specs" (ie. 90Mhz Pentium, PCI bus) if the bus was
designed differently, or if there are other cards on the bus taking up
bandwidth.  

What is really needed is a set of comprehensive benchmarks that give
some more realistic numbers about the various combinations of
hardware.  The NCGA (National Computer Graphics Association) GPC
(Graphics Performance Committee) (comprised of the major vendors along
with UNC and SDSC) is an organization primarily concerned with
developing benchmark standards and performance characterizations for
graphics hardware.

	Check out:
		<A NAME=id2 HREF="http://sunsite.unc.edu/gpc/gpc.html">http://sunsite.unc.edu/gpc/gpc.html</A>
	for information about the GPC activities.  

Unfortunately, the GPC Quarterly is about $200/year, which is beyond
my budget.  Thus, to get their benchmark results, you'll have to talk
to them.  However, the benchmarking tool they use to measure OpenGL
performance, called Viewperf, is available for free.  From the README
that comes with Viewperf:

    What is this Thing Called 'Viewperf'
    -----------------------------------
    Rob Putney, OPC Vice Chairman
    4/21/95
    
    Viewperf is a portable OpenGL performance benchmark program 
    written in C. It was developed by IBM.  Viewperf provides a vast amount of 
    flexibility in benchmarking OpenGL performance.  At the current time, 
    the program runs on most implementations of UNIX, Windows NT, and OS/2.
    The OpenGL Performance Characterization (OPC) Committee has endorsed 
    Viewperf as its first OpenGL benchmark and results 
    were first published using it in 4Q94 version of The GPC Quarterly.
    
    OPC member companies have ported the Viewperf code to their operating
    system and window environments.  The OPC Committee maintains a single
    source code version of the Viewperf code that is available to the 
    public.

In future versions of this FAQ, performance measurements will be added
in another section at the end.  Stay tuned.  If you have any
measurements using Viewperf, please send them to me (bm@cs.columbia.edu)

Viewperf can currently be obtained from 
	<A NAME=id3 HREF="ftp://net1.uspro.fairfax.va.us/pub/gpc/opc/viewperf/">ftp://net1.uspro.fairfax.va.us/pub/gpc/opc/viewperf/</A>
If that directory does not work, try looking on the OpenGL home page at
	<A NAME=id4 HREF="http://www.sgi.com/Technology/openGL/opengl.html">http://www.sgi.com/Technology/openGL/opengl.html</A>
which should contain a pointer to ViewPerf.

====================================================================
Section II: 3D Chipsets available now or in the near future.

There are numerous 3D chipsets being worked on, but these 2 happen to
be the ones I have detailed information both on the chips and on
boards built using them.  If I get more information on other chips,
I will include them here.

====================================================================
CS01) 3DLabs GLINT 300SX

First, a comment about the GLINT 300SX chip, which I will make because
it was not clear to me when I first read their specs.  They mention
texture mapping acceleration, but on the 300SX texture maps are held
in host memory and per pixel information is sent to the chip which
performs the necessary interpolations and applications. For the
upcoming 300TX, the texture maps are held in local memory on the
graphics card (the "localbuffer") and the host just sends per vertex
information to the chip which performs all the texture mapping
calculations.

Information on the 300SX can be obtained from the 3DLabs home page at 
	<A NAME=id5 HREF="http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/">http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/</A>
or by sending email to info@3Dlabs.com.

The technical specs below were copied directly from the page
	<A NAME=id6 HREF="http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/300SXinf.html">http://www.3Dlabs.com/3Dlabs/300SXinf.html</A>

GLINT 300SX Overview

The GLINT 300SX high performance graphics processor combines workstation
class 3D graphics acceleration and state-of-the-art 2D performance
in a single chip.

GLINT is capable of processing 300,000 shaded, depth buffered
and anti-aliased polygons/second. The chip provides complete 32-bit
color, 2D and 3D acceleration, an on-chip PCI-compliant local
bus interface and integrated LUT-DAC control, making a complete
graphics subsystem possible with minimal chip count.

All the rendering operations of OpenGL are accelerated by the
GLINT 300SX, including Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing,
alpha blending, and texture mapping.

3D ACCELERATION

	o 100% OpenGL compliant rendering operations in hardware
	o Point, line, rectangle and polygon primitives
	o Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing, dithering,
	  depth cueing, texture map filtering and alpha blending
	o 2.5 Giga operations per second
	o 300K Gouraud shaded, depth buffered triangles/sec

2D AND GUI ACCELERATION

	o True color acceleration of window systems such as Win32 and
	  X11
	o Accelerated bitBLT, line drawing, fills, text and window clipping

SPECIAL FEATURES

	o 64-bit hyper-pipelined architecture
	o Vertex level interface
	o 112-bit pixel datapath to memory
	o High quality 16 and 8-bpp dithering of 24-bit graphics images
	o Fast frame and depth buffer clears
	o Shared framebuffer interface for easy multimedia integration
	o VRAM block fill and bit masking
	o Anti-aliasing for high quality images at 4x4 and 8x8 sub-pixel
	  resolution

DISPLAY MODES

	o Resolutions up to 2560x2048
	o 8, 16 or 32-bits per pixel RGBA and 4 or 8-bit color indexed
	o Packed 8, 16 and 32-bit pixels
	o Supports advanced modes: double buffering, stereo and overlays

GLINT 300SX Graphics Architecture

The GLINT 300SX delivers 3D and GUI rendering functionality to
improve the performance and quality of graphics applications and
APIs.

	o Gouraud shading
	o Depth buffering
	o Anti-aliasing
	o Dithering
	o Depth cueing and fog
	o Texture mapping
	o Scissor and stipple masking
	o Alpha blending
	o Logical Operations (e.g. XOR)

The unique hyper-pipelined architecture and 112-bit memory datapath
ensure that multiple rendering operations can be combined with
no performance penalty - allowing a Gouraud shaded polygon to
be processed just as fast when depth buffering, dithering and
anti-aliasing are enabled.

FRAMEBUFFER CONTROLLER

The 64/32-bit framebuffer controller directly interfaces to VRAM
or DRAM framebuffers and supports a wide range of pixel depths,
resolutions and memory sizes - enabling systems to be tuned to
meet specific price/performance targets.

	O 1-32 MBytes VRAM or DRAM
	O 8,16 or 32-bit RGBA color
	O 4 or 8-bit color indexed
	O 2, 4, 8 pixels per 64-bit word
	O 640x480 to 2560x2048
	O VRAM arbitrary shape block fill
	O VRAM bit masking
	O Framebuffer bypass mode

LOCALBUFFER CONTROLLER

The localbuffer holds optional off-screen information for
each pixel including; depth (Z) values, stencil data, arbitrary
window clip planes, plus a control field for fast window clearing.
The format for each field is user defined, up to a maximum of
48 bits. 

	O 0-48 MBytes DRAM
	O 0-48-bits wide
		Depth: 0, 16, 24, 32-bit
		Stencil: 0, 4, 8-bit
		Window clipping: 0, 4-bit
		Fast depth clear: 4, 8-bit
	O Localbuffer bypass mode for direct access by external devices

INTEGRATED VIDEO TIMING

An internal timing generator and VRAM transfer controller
are incorporated into the GLINT 300SX processor. Advanced systems
requiring overlays, stereo, interlace or very large framebuffers
can be supported using an external timing generator.

SHARED FRAMEBUFFER

The GLINT 300SX's on-chip shared framebuffer interface is
a fully integrated implementation of S3's interface, allowing
GLINT to use video and multimedia co-processors, or for the GLINT
to be used as a 3D coprocessor to an S3 device.

UPGRADE PATH

The GLINT 300SX is the first of a family of GLINT graphics
processors that are designed to meet the demands of the graphics
designer. The GLINT300TX, is a second generation pin compatible
processor that enhances the SX's texture capabilities - supporting
local texture storage and pixel address generation for all OpenGL
texturing modes.

NOTICE: 3Dlabs reserves the right to change the above specifications
	without notice.

From looking at the various boards, it appears that typical
performance quotes are in the following range:

	3D Gouraud shaded, depth buffered, window clipped, stippled,
		dithered, and alpha tested rendering performance with
		24-bit RGB color depth is the following:
		300K 25 pixel triangles/sec
		500K 10 pixel vectors/sec
		8M independent points/second
		500K 9x13 pixels characters/second
	2D Graphics performance
		1M 10 pixel vectors/sec
		500K 10x10 pixel, flat shaded rectangles/sec
		500K 9x13 pixels characters/second
		Scroll Rate 48M pixels/second - 8 bits/pixel

====================================================================
CS02) Lockheed Martin Real3D

Information on the Lockheed Martin Read3D chipset was obtained from
their WWW server at the following URL:
	<A NAME=id7 HREF="http://www.mmc.com/real3d/">http://www.mmc.com/real3d/</A>
Check there for more information, or call 1-800-393-7730, or send
email to real3d@mmc.com

The following is taken from a press release found at that site:

The REAL3D(tm) chipset is based on real-time computer image generation
technology that gives a combination of dynamic response and realism
previously available only on dedicated graphics workstations and high
end custom image generators.

The first product will be the R3D/100 graphics accelerator.  Key
performance attributes of the new chip set include an embedded 100
MFLOPS geometry processor, pixel write rates of up to 33 million
pixels per second, up to 750,000 polygons per second, line processing
up to 1.5 million per second, and provides up to 192 color texture
maps (128 x 128 mipmapped) in real-time.

The new product is an outgrowth of Lockheed Martin's proprietary
computer graphics technology previously used in high performance
military simulation, engineering research and training applications
first developed for astronaut training and military flight
simulators. 

The chip set provides faster processing through its patented hardware
design which incorporates geometry processing, rasterization and
texture mapping. The R3D/100 embedded floating point geometry
processor removes significant processing burden from the host CPU. The
patented texture processor applies color mipmapped texture to polygons
in true 3D corrected perspective.

Designed as a true polygon processor with texture processing and
scaleable texture memory from the outset, the R3D/100 chip set
includes dedicated hardware acceleration of mipmapped texturing that
provides continuous high fidelity image quality. This chip set
simulates spotlights, fog and realistic curved surfaces. Additionally,
improved image quality is provided with multi-pass anti-aliasing.

The R3D/100 chip set directly interfaces with Microsoft 3D/DDI and
supports all 3D/DDI-compliant APIs, such as OpenGL(tm) and comes with
device driver software and a device driver kit.

====================================================================
CS03) S-MOS SPC1500 3D Graphics Geometry Processor

S-MOS Systems is offering the industry's first commercially
available single chip 3D geometry accelerator for the PC marketplace.

The SPC1500 will work together with any 3D rendering processors to
accelerate 3D graphics up to 300K+ lighted triangles per second.

Why is geometry processing acceleration important?

Rendering processors alone, even on Pentium class machines, can not
deliver true workstation class performance. This is because even the
fastest CPUs today are quickly overcome by the amount of algorithmic
processing necessary to transform a 3D data stream to a 2D perspective
with lighting and material effects.

The SPC1500 integrates a 150Mflop dual floating point engine, an
on-chip DMA processor, on-chip ROM to store the algorithm instruction
set, and an on-chip RAM cache to store customer instructions in a
single 223 pin PGA package.

Easy integration

S-MOS Systems provides a complete design package for the system
integrator and board vendor.....

PCI Reference Designs

S-MOS Systems provides reference designs and evaluation kits showing
the capabilities of the SPC1500 running OpenGL on the WindowsNT
platform. Full technical manuals, electronic gerber files, and
applications notes are available.

Full Software Support

WindowsNT and OS/2 Support

S-MOS Systems provides OpenGL compliant software and system utilities
for the WindowsNT platform. This software supports any rendering board
(2D or 3D) that supports 3D DDI. It will also supports direct data
transfer to the leading 3D rendering board vendors.

MacOS Support

S-MOS Systems will will support software drivers and system utilities
for Quickdraw3D.

An Acrobat version of the SPC1500 Datasheet is available via their page at
	<A NAME=id8 HREF="http://www.smos.com/standard/spc1500.htm">http://www.smos.com/standard/spc1500.htm</A>

For more information contact 
Giri Venkat, Product Marketing Engineer, S-MOS Systems
(E-Mail: venkat@smos.com). 

====================================================================
Section III: GLINT 300SX-based Boards

The descriptions of the boards in this section will attempt to give
information not common to all GLINT 300SX-based boards.

====================================================================
GLINT01) Omnicomp 3DEMON

FROM THE SPEC SHEET:

3DEMON 3-D Graphics Accelerator for PCI Local Bus Technical Brief

The 3DEMON provides workstation class 3-D graphics and high
performance 2-D acceleration using the GLINT (tm) 300SX 3-D processor
from 3Dlabs.  

Frame buffer:

*       4 Mbyte high speed VRAM
*       8,12,16, and 24/32 bits per pixel

Local buffer:

*       4 or 8 Mbyte DRAM

3DEMON Model SX44

*       4 MByte frame buffer, 4 MByte local buffer
*       Double Buffered Resolutions
        800x600 24/32-bit (3-D)
        1024x768 16-bit (3-D)
*       Single Buffered Resolutions
        1024x768 24/32-bit (3-D)
        1280x1024 16-bit (2-D)

3DEMON Model SX48

*       4 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer
*       Double Buffered Resolutions
        800x600 24/32-bit (3-D)
        1024x768 16-bit (3-D)
        1280x1024 8-bit (3-D)
*       Single Buffered Resolutions
        1024x768 24/32-bit (3-D)
        1280x1024 16-bit (3-D)

Software Compatibility

*       Microsoft's implementation of OpenGL under Windows NT (tm) 3.5 and
        Windows 95 (tm) (included)
*       2-D drivers for Microsoft Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT
        3.5 (included)
*       HOOPS, 3DR, and other industry standard 3-D APIs
*       Reality Lab, RenderWare, BRender, and other 3-D games APIs
*       Accelerated-X drivers for The X-Window System by X-Inside
*       Specific applications such as AutoCAD, Microstation, CadKey, and
        3D Studio

Hardware Compatibility

*       Minimum OpenGL platform of Pentium processor, Windows NT 3.5, and
        32MB RAM recommended
*       Windows NT 3.5 support for PowerPC and MIPS processors is under
        development

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Steve Gillaspy
Omnicomp Graphics Corp.
1734 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N.
Houston, TX. 77043
Phone:  713-464-2990
Fax:    713-827-7540
email:  omnicmp@phoenix.phoenix.net

COMMENTS:
From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz):

"These guys are brilliant - they are responsive, and have been really
helpful in my own research, often pointing me in the direction of
other people and companies who can help, as well as showing a solid
technical understanding of my requirements and making recommendations
based on that understanding.  

Here's some pricing information, as of Thursday, 30 March 1995.

3DEMON SX44 (4MB VRAM, 4MB DRAM)
-------------------------------
List            $2,170
Educational     $1,995
Quantity 1-9    $1,845
Quantity 10-24  $1,715
Quantity 25-99  $1,605

3DEMON SX48 (4MB VRAM, 8MB DRAM)
-------------------------------
List            $2,590
Educational     $2,380
Quantity 1-9    $2,200
Quantity 10-24  $2,045
Quantity 25-99  $1,915

====================================================================
GLINT02) Fujitsu Sapphire 2SX

The Sapphire 2SX PCI-bus graphics accelerator uses the GLINT 300SX to
provide acceleration for 3D multimedia and Virtual Reality
applications. The Sapphire 2SX supports multiple configurations and
memory options.

Put out by their Microelectronic division.  The following URL appears
to be partially invalid (the vspace/index.html doesn't exist anymore).

Possible URL:
	<A NAME=id9 HREF="http://www.fujitsu.com:80/FMI/vspace/index.html">http://www.fujitsu.com:80/FMI/vspace/index.html</A>

Some information I received off the net (lost the source):

        Pixel bus:   use one card - one monitor
                     use two cards - one monitor (double performance)
                     use two cards - one / two desktop
        Drivers:     PCI bus - Windows 95
                             - NT 3.5
                             - Apple PowerPC

Headquarters 

       3545 North First Street 
       San Jose, California 95134-1807 
       (408) 922-9000 
       (408) 432-9044 (fax) 
       1-800-642-7616 (FMI Product Information) 

Manufacturing 

       Gresham Manufacturing Divison 
       21015 S. E. Stark Street 
       Gresham, Oregon 97030-2099 
       (503) 669-6000 
       (503) 669-6109 (fax) 

COMMENTS: 
From Blair MacIntyre:

"They can mail but not fax information.  I'm waiting to receive it."

====================================================================
GLINT03) ELSA GLoria

FROM THE SPEC SHEET:

Based on the S3-Vision968 and 3Dlabs' GLINT 300SX.  Has a 250Mhz
RAMDAC with built-in digital video acceleration provided by the S3
chip.  Includes a DCI driver.  Comes with optimized Windows
3.X/NT/'95, OpenGL and OS/2 drivers and utilities.  Includes drivers
for multi-screen support as well as Display List Drivers for
MicroStation and AutoCAD DOS/Windows for R12/R13/LT.

3D features are similar to all GLINT 300SX cards.

GLoria-8

*       8 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer, 250Mhz pixel clock
*       Double Buffered Resolutions
	up to 1600x1200 at 32-bit per pixel 
        1920x1080 at 16-bit

GLoria-4

*       4 MByte frame buffer, 8 MByte local buffer, 220Mhz pixel clock
*       Double Buffered Resolutions
        up to 1024x768 at 32-bit per pixel 
	1280x1024 at 24 bpp
	1600x1200 at 16 bpp
        1920x1080 at 8 bpp

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Joy Li
ELSA Inc. Graphics Corp.
2041 Mission College Blvd.
Suite 165
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Phone:  800-272-3572
Phone:  408-565-9669
Fax:    408-565-9650
email:  joyl@elsa-usa.mhs.compuserve.com


COMMENTS:
From Blair MacIntyre:

"Looks pretty good.  I'd choose this over a GLINT based board that
doesn't have the S3 chip on it.   It will be out in late June, early
July: they say are redesigning it to increase the performance (both they
and someone at 3DLabs said they are hoping to increase performance by
30%)."

====================================================================
GLINT04) Media Labs Inc. 3DMedia

The 3DMedia SR is a true high performance 3D accelerator based on the
3DLabs GLINT 300SX chip.  

The 3DMedia SX provides the same features as the SR, plus additional
features such as genlocking to eliminate annoying scrolling bars due
to magnetic interference between two monitors in a dual-headed
configuration.  Furthermore, in provides an on-board studio quality
encoder which outputs video in NTSC, PAL or S-Video formats.

3DMedia SX
----------

3D Acceleration:
	Similar to other GLINT 300SX boards

Flexible output:
	Software selectable standard as well as custom display
	formats, interlaced and non-interlaced, are available with a
	maximum resolution of two million pixels.  

Optimized Bandwidth
	PCI local bus, rev 2.0. 
	Target and Read Master interface achieves 20M pixel/second
		sustained image download rate.
	Refresh rates in excess of 200Hz.

Product Specification:
	PCI Rev 2.0 Target and Read Master interface
	4M Byte framebuffer
	4 MByte localbuffer.  Extra 4M available as an option.
	Supports 64-bit/pixel, 8/8/8/8 for RGBA, 24-bit depth, 
		4-bit stencil, 4-bit fast clear
	Double buffering at all resolutions and depths.
	ISO and VESA Display refresh rates.
	Standard and custom resolutions up to 1280x1024.
	Pseudo color, true color and direct color output.
	Color depths of 4/8/12/15/24 bits with alpha channel for 
		RGB color formats.
	VGA PAss-through at any VGA resolution and color depth.
	RS-343A Graphics output level.
	Sync-on-green and external TTL sync support.
	FCC Class B certification.

	Output Support:
	RGB Resolution	  NI	   Colors supported	Max Refresh
	  in pixels		256	65K	16.7M	   Rates
	1280x1024	 yes	yes	yes		    76
	1152x900	 yes	yes	yes	yes	   100
	1024x768	 yes	yes	yes	yes	   125
	800x600		 yes	yes	yes	yes	   175
	640x480		 yes	yes	yes	yes	   250

3DMedia SX
----------

All of the features described above, plus:

More flexible output:
	Support for stereoscopic, field sequential RGB and VR displays
	is implemented in hardware reducing host overhead. 
	Television and video tape recorders are driven by the studio
	quality encoder.  Square pixel, CCIR and 4x video resolutions
	can be selected in NTSC, PAL or S-Video format.

Phase locking:
	Line-lock to external sync signals, such as VGA or other
	sources, enables windowing and external video multiplexing.
	An independent 3D window can be opened within the GUI display,
	such as VGA, by activating the line-locking feature.
	Independent color depth between the GUI and 3D graphics is now
	possible, depending on the operating system used.

Product Specification additions:
	Max 135MHz video clock.
	Standard and custom resolutions up to 1600x1200
	Supports standard, stereoscopic, field sequential RGB, 
		VR Glasses and other display devices.
	Programmable video clock.
	Line-lock to external sync signals.
	Studio quality encoder with support for different NTSC, PAL,
		and S-Video resolutions.

	Output Support in addition to those above:
	RGB Resolution	  NI	   Colors supported	Max Refresh
	  in pixels		256	65K	16.7M	   Rates
	1920x1080		yes	yes		    45
	1600x1280		yes	yes		    50

Contact Information:
Media Labs, Inc.
806 Winbern Ste 1
Houston, TX 77002
Tel: (713) 942-0670
Fax: (713) 784-5144

COMMENTS:
From Blair MacIntyre:

"The SX is available now, the SR is not.  The pricing is as follows (as
 of Feb 1, 95):

3DMedia SX:					Quantity	Price
	4M VRAM, 4M DRAM, Encoder, Linelock	1-99		$1895
						100-999		$1795
						1000+		CALL
3DMedia SX8:
	4M VRAM, 8M DRAM, Encoder, Linelock	1-99		$2295
						100-999		$2195
						1000+		CALL

3DMedia SR:					Quantity	Price
	4M VRAM, 4M DRAM			1-99		$1595
						100-999		$1495
						1000+		CALL
3DMedia SR8:
	4M VRAM, 8M DRAM			1-99		$1995
						100-999		$1895
						1000+		CALL

One year warranty."

====================================================================
GLINT05) SPEA FireGL

(Preliminary Product Information, as of Feb. 95)

Summary:
o Dual processor 2D and 3D Graphics System
o PCI bus Support

Hardware - 3D Acceleration
o 3Dlabs GLINT 300SX Rendering Processor
o Supports advanced modes : double-buffering, stereo and overlays
o Accelerates OpenGL, HOOPS, SP3D and other 3D API4s
o 8 Mbyte local Memory - expandable to 12 Mbyte

Hardware - 2D Acceleration
o 64-bit S3 Vision968 GUI Accelerator
o 175 MHz Pixelclock
o 8 Mbyte high speed Video memory (VRAM)
o Multimedia ready through S3 Multimedia extensions
o Integrated Video Acceleration 

Software &#38; Miscelleanous
o 100 % OpenGL compatible
o SPEA 3D Software drivers for AutoCAD  and MicroStation
o Third party applications based on SP3D, Criterion Renderware,
  RenderMorphics RL, Intel 3DR
o GUI Support : Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT
o Multi-lingual documentation
o Software Updates via SPEA BBS or CompuServe
o 3 years warranty

Video Modes

Resolution Color depth (bit/pixel) Line Frequency (KHz) Refresh Rate (Hz)
---------- ----------------------- -------------------- -----------------
640 x 480        8, 16, 32             31,5 - 52,5        60 - 100
800 x 600        8, 16, 32             37,9  - 64,0       60 - 100
1024 x 768       8, 16, 32             48,4- 80,9         60 - 100
1280 x 1024      8, 16, (32)           64,0 - 100,0       60 - 95 (75)
1600 x 1200      8, 16                 74,5 - 84,6        60 - 68               
Availability :  Q2/1995

Technical specifications subject to change

The board will cost approximately DM 5000 in Germany (as of early
April).

CONTACT:
David_Fink@spea.ccmail.compuserve.com

====================================================================
GLINT06) Force Inc.  3DE-300SX

The 3DE-300SX from Force Inc. combines the GLINT 300SX with 4 Mbytes
of VRAM and up to 8 Mbytes of DRAM. Both IBM PC-AT Japanese DOS/V and
NEC PC98 are supported plus Windows NT 3.5, OpenGL and RenderWare 1.4.

For more detailed information, please contact: 

Kenyu Uema, Manabu Igarashi or Tatsuya Takagi
Tel: +81 3 3490 1172
Fax: +81 3 3490 2277
6-15-9-2F, NishiGotanda Shinagawa-ku,Tokyo 141, Japan 

====================================================================
GLINT07) Densan PCI-300SX

The PCI-300SX is a GLINT based PCI card including 4 Mbytes of VRAM
framebuffer, 8 Mbytes of DRAM localbuffer, 64-bit IBM RGB525 RAMDAC
and VGA pass thru implementation. Optimized drivers are provided for
Windows NT 3.5 and OpenGL.

For more detailed information, please contact: 

Tetsuya Kawamoto or Zhang Yuanli
Tel: +81 3 3329 3871
Fax: +81 3 3329 9266
5-42-1, Kamikitazawa Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan

====================================================================
Section IV: Real3D-based Boards
====================================================================
R3D01) Lockheed Martin R3D/100

Based on the R3D/100 chipset described above.  No other information
available. 

CONTACT INFORMATION:
email:    real3d@mmc.com
voice:    800-393-7730
fax: 407-826-3358

COMMENTS:
From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz):

"Contact these people and ask for the glossy brochure - WOW!!!!  (ok,
 so I'm not being objective...I like poring over glossy brochures as
 much as the next person...*grin*)

 Their staff were also really helpful and responsive.

 Apparently, application notes will be available in August of this
 year, with sample chipsets and reference boards available in November.
 Production quantities will be available in the first quarter of 1996.
 Price for the reference board is in the US$2,800 area."


====================================================================
Section V: Other boards
====================================================================
B01) AccelGraphics AG300



ACCELGRAPHICS AG300
===================

Accelgraphics is a spinoff of Kubota Graphics, which was Kubota
Pacific before that.  They made the Denali graphics subsystem for
DEC's Alpha-based workstation (they were a partner with DEC).

Features
--------

          * PCI option card (short form factor)

          * Accelerates OpenGL under Windows NT

          * 24-bit true color and 16-bit Z buffering

          * 32 color planes with 16-bit double buffering

          * 1280 x 1024 @ 60-74 Hz, non-interlaced

Performance
-----------

          * 1 Million 2D vectors per second (10 pixel, 24-bit)

          * 1 Million  3D vectors  per second  (10  x  1  pixels,
            smooth shaded, Z buffered)

          * 205k 3D triangles/sec (50 pixels, smooth shaded mesh,
            lit, Z buffered)

Benefits
--------

          * Performance of  a $25k+  Unix workstation  for  under
            $10,000.

          * Standard  applications  with  Windows  NT  (including
            Windows 3.1 applications compiled for Intel cpu).

          * Scalable architecture  delivers  increased  graphics
            performance with higher performance host cpu.


Price
-----

          *  PowerGL XL3 graphics accelerator:  $2,195

          *  Complete PCI-based systems:  CALL 1-800-839-4721

    Don't get  left behind.  Join the  3D desktop revolution with
the PowerGL XL3 on your PCI-based systems. You won't find better
price/performance!

                     PowerGL specifications
                     ----------------------

Graphics performance
 --------------------

* 2D vectors   (10 pixel, 24-bit)                             1M/sec

* 3D vectors   (10 pixel, smooth shaded, unlit, Z buffered)   1M/sec

* 3D triangles (50 pixels, smooth shaded mesh,                205K/sec
               lit, Z buffered)

* Frame buffer-to-frame buffer copy                   30/15 Mpixels/sec
  (8/16-bit images and 32-bit images respectively)

* Non-Z  buffered clears  and  solid fills            320 Mpixels/sec

* Bitmap writes and unaligned fills                   80 Mpixels/sec


Hardware Features
-----------------
* Scalable architecture  efficiently leverages the system CPU; a
  faster CPU yields faster graphics

* 7.5 MB of total RAM

  - 5 MB VRAM used as a 32 plane frame buffer, supporting:
    * resolutions up  to 1280  x 1024  pixels  with  up  to  16.7
      million colors (24 bit true color)
    * 16 bit double buffering
    * 8 bit color index

  - 2.5 MB DRAM used as a 16 bit Z-buffer

* Rectangle clipping, Alpha blending and Dithering

Graphics application programming interfaces
-------------------------------------------

* Open GL
* HOOPS and 3DR planned for early 1995

Supported Operating System Environments
---------------------------------------

* DOS 6.0  or later,  Windows 3.1 or later, Windows 95 (Chicago),
Windows NT 3.5 with Open GL (Daytona)

Supported Applications
----------------------

* Pro/ENGINEER and Pro/JR. from Parametric Technology Corporation
* AutoCAD Release 11, 12, and 13 from Autodesk
* MicroStation version  4 and  5 from  Bentley Systems (including
  MOGLE)
* Any OpenGL application

Platforms supported: Intel, Alpha, MIPS, &#38; PowerPC platforms

System requirements:
--------------------

* One free PCI slot
* VGA or SVGA compatible graphics adapter

Contact Information:

Corporate Headquarters:
AccelGraphics, Inc.
1942 Zanker Road
San Jose, CA 95112
408-441-1556
408-441-1599 fax

Western Region:
Kim Rawlings
714-589-2453
714-589-2483 fax
Kim_Rawlings@ag3d.com

Central Region:
Dan Vitale
513-858-1400
513-858-2905 fax
Dan_Vitale@ag3d.com

Southern Region:
John Caravello
407-834-7275
407-834-9052 fax
John_Caravello@ag3d.com

Europe:
David Holman
011-44-1635-40122
011-44-1635-551-147 fax
davidh@perform.hiway.co.uk

====================================================================
B02) ISC PowerGL

The PowerGL card is the Accelgraphics AG300 being sold OEM by ISC,
which is described above.  Since the AG300 and the PowerGL are the
exact same card, I won't repeat the specs here.  Talk to both
companies, see which one better suits your needs.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

International Software Corporation (ISC)
Suite 275
433 Park Point Drive
Golden, CO  80401

Orders: 1-800-488-4721
Fax: 303-526-0581
E-mail: 76516.2544@compuserve.com
====================================================================
B03) Evans &#38; Sutherland Freedom

PRESS RELEASE:

"EVANS &#38; SUTHERLAND BRINGS 3D GRAPHICS EXPERTISE
 TO THE PERSONAL COMPUTER

SALT LAKE CITY, March 2, 1995
Evans &#38; Sutherland Computer Corporation (NASDAQ: ESCC) today announced
Freedom Graphics(tm) for the Personal Computer.  Freedom Graphics is
the first product to bring the 3D graphics technology of E&#38;S to the
personal computing environment.

Freedom Graphics is an implementation of the specialized features that
3D graphics applications require for smooth, fast execution.  Users
can produce impressive realistic images with the product's rich
feature set and high-performance graphics for Windows/NT(r)
applications.

The graphics card supports the OpenGL(r) software application
programming interface and is designed to accelerate OpenGL in the PC
environment.  Freedom Graphics is a PCI bus-based card that
incorporates the same technology as the Freedom Series graphics
accelerators which supply high-end graphics for the world's largest
workstation vendors.  Ideal markets to take advantage of the extensive
feature set of Freedom Graphics are CAD, Industrial Design,
Simulation, Visualization, Animation, Entertainment and Game
Development.  Supported PC processors include MIPS(tm), Pentium(r) and
Power PC(tm).

"The interest being generated by Freedom Graphics is extraordinary,"
said Jim Oyler, President and CEO of Evans &#38; Sutherland.  "Freedom
Graphics allows a low-cost PC-based system to achieve the performance
of a much more expensive workstation.  This is going to be an
explosive market in the very near future."

Evans &#38; Sutherland is the only 3D graphics vendor with a product line
that spans the entire computing industry from the personal computer up
to multi-million dollar flight simulators and location-based
entertainment systems.

"We are pleased that Evans &#38; Sutherland has applied their knowledge
and experience in high-performance real-time 3D graphics to the PC
marketplace," said Tom Coull, President of Sense8 Corporation.
"WorldToolKit and Freedom Graphics will offer a definitive
hardware-accelerated solution for texture-mapped virtual reality
applications."

Freedom Graphics' feature set includes real-time 3D graphics rendering
and animation, hardware based 24-bit texture acceleration, scalable
texture memory up to 16 MBytes, bi-linear and tri-linear MIP-mapping,
specular highlights, fast set-up calculations, full scene
antialiasing, transparency and depth cueing.  The additional
experience of E&#38;S with OpenGL will also result in significant
performance advantages for applications using the OpenGL library from
E&#38;S.

According to Ian Reid, Vice-President of Marketing at Advanced Visual
Systems, "Freedom Graphics offers a new level of capability for the PC
user and AVS/Express allows any PC developer to take immediate
advantage of features such as hardware texture-mapping and
transparency.  It's the ideal combination."

Freedom Graphics performance under Windows/NT and OpenGL is 300,000
triangles/second.  The card will list price at $2450 with second
quarter availability through OEMs and VARs.  Freedom Graphics was
first shown at Fall Comdex '94 in Las Vegas.

The significance of Freedom Graphics lies in its delivery of a
graphics feature set at unsurpassed performance levels.  Advanced
features such as texture mapping are still unavailable from any other
vendor for under $10,000.  Freedom Graphics also provides performance
not yet seen in the 3D PC graphics market.  Nearest competitors for
performance provide minimal feature sets and are only available at
much higher prices.

Evans &#38; Sutherland is a leader in advanced 3D graphics and
visualization systems for science, industry, education, and
entertainment.  The Graphics Systems Division provides graphics
hardware and software solutions that are sold and supported by DEC,
HP, IBM, and Sun Microsystems.  Evans &#38; Sutherland was founded in 1968
and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Freedom Graphics, and Freedom Series are trademarks of Evans &#38;
Sutherland.  OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics,
Inc.  All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective holders.

 -------------------------------------

Freedom Graphics(tm) for the Personal Computer

High-Speed Realism from Evans &#38; Sutherland

Evans &#38; Sutherland pioneered the computer graphics industry over 25
years ago. Since then our graphics know-how has been engineered into
everything from multi-million dollar flight simulators to high-end
graphics accelerators for workstations.  Now, the same technology used
in those high-end workstations is available for the personal computer
with Freedom Graphics.  Freedom Graphics is a 3D graphics card that
delivers high-performance, workstation-class 3D graphics for your
Windows NT applications. Freedom Graphics is a masterful
implementation of the specialized features that 3D graphics
applications require for smooth, fast execution.  Users will be
impressed by the realistic images they can produce with the
well-crafted feature set.

Freedom Graphic Advantages

o Real time 3D graphics rendering and animation
o 24 bit texture acceleration
o Perspective acceleration of colors &#38; textures
o Bi-linear &#38; tri-linear MIP-mapping
o Color modulation
o Fast set-up calculations
o Antialiased vectors and polygons
o High resolution support
o Programmable antialiasing filter
o Hardware window clipping
o Transparency &#38; Depth cueing
o Hardware cursor support
o Line-slope intensity correction

Software Programming Environment

Freedom Graphics supports the OpenGL(tm) software application
programming interface and was designed to accelerate OpenGL in the
personal computing environment."

FROM THE SPEC SHEET:

Technical Specifications

3D Graphics Engine by Evans &#38; Sutherland

Display Memory - 4MByte of VRAM

Z buffer Memory - 4MByte of DRAM
Texture Memory (optional)
1, 4 or 16 MByte user installable SIMM 3D Resolutions
(1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480)

Display Colors - 8, 12, 24 bit color support

Maximum Vertical Refresh Rates
72Hz non-interlaced at all supported resolutions

Software Support - 2D/3D Drivers
Windows NT 3.5, OpenGL, DDI (Windows95/OpenGL when available)

PCI local bus

Physical dimensions 12.28" Length x 4.2" Height  (PCI Full Length Compliant)

CPU Support:  Power PC, MIPS, Pentium

Monitor
Video timing supports any monitor capable of displaying the listed
resolutions in non-interlaced mode.  15 pin D-shell VGA connector

Availability

The Freedom Graphics product will be initially sold through OEM's and
Value-Added Resellers, who will be announced along with the product.
The product will be available on the product announcement date.

Freedom Graphics is a trademark of Evans &#38; Sutherland Computer
Corporation.  OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics
Inc.  All other products are trademarks of their respective
companies."

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Jennifer Hughes
Evans &#38; Sutherland
jhughes@dsd.es.com

Phone:    1-800-367-7460
Facsimile:     (801) 582-0524

====================================================================
B04) Matrox Impression Plus

FROM THE SPEC SHEET:

Windows Features:   

     - 40 million Winmarks
     - 175 MHz DAC or optional 220 MHz DAC
     - 1600 x 1200 in 256 and 65K colors
     - 1280 x 1024 in 16.7m colors
     - 110 Hz refresh at 1280 x 1024 resolution
     - 120 Hz refresh at 1024 x 768 resolution

     Windows resolution and colours: (* requires 4Mb VRAM)

     - 1600 x 1200  256, 65k*
     - 1280 x 1024  256, 65k*, 16.7m*
     - 1152 x 882   256, 65k, 16.7m*
     - 1024 x 768   256, 65k, 16.7m*
     - 800 x 600    256, 65k, 16.7m     
     - 640 x 480    256, 65k, 16.7m

Multimedia Features:     

     - Microsoft DCI software video acceleration (Indeo, Cinepak, Video for  
       Windows)
     - 24 frames per second playback

MGA Video XL Upgrade Module: (Q1 95)

     - Support for VESA Media Channel (VM Channel) video expansion standard 
       and PowerPlay64
     - 32 bit connector for increased video datapath (100 Mb/second)
     - Accepts up to 15 video peripherals    
     - Support for multiple live video windows
     - VideoLogic PowerPlay64 add-on module for smooth, video playback at 
       1280 x 1024 at 30 frames/second
     - resolution scaling using Pixel Interpolation
     - color space conversion from YUV to RGB

Real-Time 2D and 3D Features:

     - Accelerated 3D Gouraud shaed displays at 1152 x 882 in 65K colors, 
       and 800x600 in 16.7 m colors
     - 150,000 Gouraud shaded polygons per second
     - Accelerated double buffering and z-buffering
     - Support for industry standard 3D API's : 3DR, OpenGL, HOOP's and VAGI
     - DynaView 2D and 3D Drivers for AutoCAD and Microstation under Windows 
       and DOS

     Realtime 3D Wireframe Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires 4Mb 
     VRAM)

     - 1600 x 1200  256*
     - 1280 x 1024  256*
     - 1152 x 882   256, 65k*
     - 1024 x 768   256, 65k*
     - 800 x 600    256, 65k, 16.7m*    
     - 640 x 480    256, 65k, 16.7m*

     Realtime 3D Gouraud Shaded Resolutions and Color Depths: (*requires 4Mb 
     VRAM)

     - 1600 x 1200
     - 1280 x 1024
     - 1152 x 882   256*
     - 1024 x 768   256*
     - 800 x 600    256, 65k* 
     - 640 x 480    256, 65k*

Models Available:

MGA-IMP+/P:    PCI Bus
          2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb
          1600 x 1200 in 256 colors
          800 x 600  in 16.7m colors
          VM Channel upgradable

MGA-IMP+/V:    VL Bus
          2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb
          1600 x 1200 in 256 colors
          800 x 600  in 16.7m colors
          VM Channel upgradable
	  (may not actually exist!  If you can confirm or deny this, tell me!)

MGA-IMP+/A:    AT Bus
          2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb
          1600 x 1200 in 256 colors
          800 x 600  in 16.7m colors
          VM Channel upgradable

MGA-IMP+/P/220:     PCI Bus
          2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb
          220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200
          Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/P

MGA-IMP+/V/220:     VL Bus
          2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb
          220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200
          Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/V
	  (may not actually exist!  If you can confirm or deny this, tell me!)

MGA-IMP+/A/220:     AT Bus
          2 Mb VRAM upgradable to 4 Mb
          220 MHz DAC for 85Hz @1600x1200
          Other specifications same as MGA-IMP+/A

MGA-MOD/2Mb/1  2Mb upgrade for MGA Impression Plus
          1600x1200 in 256 and 65K colors
          1280x1024 in 16.7m colors

MGA-MOD/VMC    VideoLogic PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip
          1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second
          
MGA-MOD/VMC/2MB     2 Mb upgrade for MGA Impression Plus and VideoLogic
PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip for 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second.


CONTACT INFORMATION:

Telephone 1-800-361-1408

Matrox Graphics Inc.
1055 St Regis Blvd
Dorval
Quebec
Canada H9P 2T4

Telephone:     514.685.2630
Facsimile:     514.685.2853


COMMENT:
From Chris Hinch (chris@dcc.govt.nz):

"I heard comments on comp.sys.opengl that, at the moment, the
Impression Plus doesn't have "true" OpenGL support under Windows NT.
I don't know if this is correct or not."

From Blair MacIntyre:

This is partially true.  Someone from Microsoft posted saying that NT
3.51 will include the appropriate driver for OpenGL for this card.

====================================================================
B05) Oki TrianGL

More information on Oki and their products can be found on their web
page (www.oki.com) or by sending email to triangl@oki.com.

The information here was extracted from the page
	<A NAME=id HREF="http://www.oki.com/products/TrianGL.html">http://www.oki.com/products/TrianGL.html</A>

Oki's TrianGL is aimed at 3D applications using the OpenGL graphics API. 

At the heart of the TrianGL is a custom, high-performance rendering
ASIC--a drawing engine which provides both 2D and 3D acceleration. The
chip interfaces directly to multiple banks of video RAM via a
80-bit data bus, boosting overall drawing performance.

The four banks of VRAM, 10 MBytes in all, each operate independently
to maximize the performance efficiency of the rendering ASIC. For many
drawing primitives, all the banks can operate in parallel.  However,
for certain primitives, such as vector drawing or triangle drawing,
address and color values are sent from the ASIC to the appropriate
memory banks in a pipelined, serial fashion. TrianGL's use of triangle
drawing primitives gives the board a major performance advantage over
other products which use simpler span primitives.

Two separate RGB buffers allow true hardware double buffering for
smooth, artifact-free animation. An independent 24-bit Z buffer is
dedicated for hidden surface removal during 3D object rendering. And
finally, eight utility planes support board-specific video options
such as overlays, window types and RGB double buffering. In order to
support VGA compatibility, a VESA standard VGA passthrough interface
is included on the board.

Accelerated Drawing Operations

        Solid Rectangle Fill - 266 M pixels/second 
        Pattern Rectangle Fill - 66 M pixels/second (8-bit), 
		33 M pixels/second (24-bit)  
        Screen to Screen Copy - 33 M pixels/second (8-bit), 
		16 M pixels/second (24-bit) 
        Raster Operations - 33 M pixels/second 
        Line (2D) - 33 M pixels/second, 1.4 M 10-pixel lines/ second, 
		random orientation 
        Triangles (3D Gouraud shaded) - 22 M pixels/second, 
		250K 50-pixel triangles/second, random orientation 

TrianGL Features

        Enables Workstation-class 3D performance on PCs 
        Accelerates OpenGL API compatible graphics under Windows NT
		for 2-D and 3D applications 
        Allows fully configured 3D systems for under $10,000
		(TrianGL pricing has not been set, but it should be
		 around $2500) 
        True 24-bit graphics 
        Fully double-buffered 24-bit VRAM buffers 
        24-bit hardware Z-buffer 
        8 bits of hardware utility planes 
        Large 8 kbyte FIFO allows independent host operation 
        Fast internal RAM for storing patterns,line styles, 
		and intermediate data 
        64 x 64 hardware cursor 
        Host to Screen Copy 
        Screen to Host Copy 
        Color Expansion 
        Color Interpolation 
        Linear Frame Buffer Support 

Specifications

        Dimensions - Full-length VLbus/ISA board 13.5" length x 5" height 
        Power Dissipation - 15 Watts typical (20 Watts maximum) 
        Bus Interface - VESA VLbus Local Bus Standard, 
		Rev. 1.1 Local Bus Target, 32-bit data path 
        VGA Support - VESA Standard VGA passthrough 
        Monitor Support - Software-programmable 1024 x 768, 
		non-interlaced, vertical refresh rates from 60 to 76 Hz 
        Frame Buffers - Two 24-bit, 1024 x 768 RGB 
        ZBuffer - 24-bit, 1024 x 768 
        Memory - 10 Mbytes VRAM, 512 bytes internal RAM 
        FIFO - 8k x 32-bit for graphics commands and data 

Software Support

Oki supports TrianGL on PC and RISC PC platforms with host software
drivers for Windows NT 3.5.  OpenGL and DDI support are available for
Intel and Mips platforms. Other popular APIs, including AutoCAD, will
be supported in future software releases.

Look for future TrianGL versions with higher resolution, and a PCI bus
interface.

====================================================================
B06) Intergraph GLZ Series 

The GLZ series accelerates OpenGL[tm] graphics on Intergraph Computer
Systems' TDZ workstations. GLZs let you manipulate Gouraud-shaded 3D
models by adding realistic effects such as lighting, translucency, and
textured surfaces; and performing spectacular flythroughs,
walkthroughs, and animations -- all in real time, at high resolutions,
and in true color.

By performing shading and geometry operations in dedicated hardware,
GLZs ease the load on the TDZ's Pentium[tm] processor(s) and cut down
traffic on the PCI bus, which results in dramatic improvements in
graphics performance.

The GLZ family supports Intergraph's 17- and 21-inch multi-sync
monitors and 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors at resolutions up to
1,600 x 1,280 pixels. The GLZs support dual screens and are ready for
stereoscopic display on any stereo-ready monitor. (LCD shutter glasses
and emitter modules are required and are available from Intergraph
Computer Systems.)

The GLZ family offers a selection of 34, 24, or 12 megabytes of
VRAM. 24 megabytes of VRAM supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280
with 16.8 million colors (true color).  12 megabytes of VRAM suppots
true color at a maximum resolution of 1,152 x 854.  34 megabytes of
VRAM supports a 32-bit Z buffer, double-buffered true color, and
display capabilities such as translucency and overlay at resolutions
up to 1,600 x 1,280.

Intergraph Computer Systems offers six different GLZ
configurations. 

GLZ6 -- photorealism in real time
---------------------------------

The top of our 3D graphics accelerator line -- offers shading
acceleration, geometry acceleration, and texture-processing for fast,
real-time rendering of complex and detailed designs.

Product highlights

	o 34 MB of high-speed VRAM for 126 bit planes of video memory at 
	  all display resolutions, providing: 
	  - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes 
	  - 32-bit Z buffer
	  - 8-bit, double-buffered overlay 
	  - 8-bit alpha buffer
	  - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration 
	o Texture processing fully supported in hardware with 8
	  megatextels of texture memory (32 MB of DRAM) for full
	  trilinear interpolation of mip-mapped images
	o Geometry acceleration to speed up lighting and transforms 
	o Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library 
	o Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D
	  triangle meshes  
	o Anti-aliased vector support to eliminate anomalies of
	  standard raster displays  
	o Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine 
	o Genlock support for dual screens, eliminating the visual
	  beat frequency effect that can occur when two monitors are
	  placed close together  
	o Support for Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch
	  InterVue monitors and 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors 
	o Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing, which enhances
	  cartographic applications and design visualization 
	o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging
	  from 640 x 480 pixels to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels 
	o Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to
	  simultaneously display using independent color palettes
	o 10-bit gamma correction using state-of-the-art, 10-bit
	  digital-to-analog converters, enabling user control of gamma
	  values with no loss of color resolution  

GLZ5 -- cost-effective photorealism
-----------------------------------

Our GLZ5 offers the same high-performance shading and geometry
acceleration as does GLZ6. With 12 MB of VRAM, GLZ5 supports
resolutions up to 1,152 x 864. Two megatexels (8 megabytes of texture
memory) provide more than enough texture storage for adding patterns
to furniture, waves to water, or trees to parks and forests.

GLZ5's low price may even tempt you to invest in dual screens and LCD
shutter glasses for a stereoscopic adventure into virtual reality!

Product highlights (same as the GLZ6, except where noted)

	o 12 MB of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video memory at  
	  resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: 
	  - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes 
	  - 24-bit Z buffer
	  - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay 
	  - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration 
	o Texture processing fully supported in hardware with 2
	  megatextels of texture memory (8 MB of DRAM) for full
	  trilinear interpolation of mip-mapped images
	o Support for Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch
	  multi-sync monitors  
	o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging
	  from 640 x 480 pixels to 1,152 x 864

GLZ4 and GLZ3 -- accelerated geometry and shading
-------------------------------------------------

GLZ4 and GLZ3 support both shading and geometry acceleration.  If you
need fast, accurate rendering of complex solid models but don't
normally require realtime texture processing for photorealism, GLZ4
(24 MB of VRAM) or GLZ3 (12 MB of VRAM) will give you performance that
more than meets your expectations. Don't worry if you occasionally
need to render a textured image. Thanks to OpenGL, texture processing
is fully supported in software.

Product highlights

	o 24 MB (GLZ4) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video
	  memory at all display resolutions, providing: 
	  - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes 
	  - 24-bit Z buffer
	  - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay 
	  - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration 
	o 12 MB (GLZ3) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video
	  memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: 
	  - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes 
	  - 24-bit Z buffer
	  - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay 
	  - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration 
	o Geometry acceleration to speed up lighting and transforms 
	o Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library 
	o Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D
	  triangle meshes  
	o Anti-aliased vector support 
	o Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine 
	o Genlock support for dual screens
	o Support for the following Intergraph Computer Systems' monitors: 
              17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ3 and GLZ4) 
              21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors (GLZ4) 
	o Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing
	o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging
	  from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels (GLZ4) 
	o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging
	  from 640 x 480 to 1,152 x 864 pixels (GLZ3) 
	o Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to
	  simultaneously display using independent color palettes 
	o 10-bit gamma correction

GLZ2 and GLZ1 -- cost-effective 3D rendering
--------------------------------------------

Product highlights

	o 24 MB (GLZ2) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video
	  memory at all display resolutions, providing: 
	  - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes 
	  - 24-bit Z buffer
	  - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay 
	  - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration 
	o 12 MB (GLZ1) of high-speed VRAM for 92 bit planes of video
	  memory at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864, providing: 
	  - 24-bit, double-buffered image planes 
	  - 24-bit Z buffer
	  - 1-bit, double-buffered overlay 
	  - Other planes for additional features and further acceleration 
	o Support for the OpenGL industry-standard graphics library 
	o Full hardware support for Gouraud and flat shading of 3D
	  triangle meshes  
	o Anti-aliased vector support 
	o Industry-standard PCI bus interface with high-speed DMA engine 
	o Genlock support for dual screens
	o Support for the following Intergraph Computer Systems' monitors: 
              17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors (GLZ1 and GLZ2) 
              21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors (GLZ2) 
	o Stereo-ready display for 3D viewing
	o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging
	  from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels (GLZ2) 
	o Multiple video resolution support for resolutions ranging
	  from 640 x 480 to 1,152 x 864 pixels (GLZ1) 
	o Eight hardware color tables, allowing multiple windows to
	  simultaneously display using independent color palettes 
	o 10-bit gamma correction

GLZ configurations at a glance
------------------------------


GLZ     Hardware    Hardware    Hardware     Texture    Frame   Max
model   rendering   geometry    texture      DRAM       buffer  resolution
        accel       accel       processing              VRAM    (in pixels)
                                                
GLZ6    Yes         Yes         Yes          32 MB      34 MB   1,600 x 1,280
                                         (8 megatexels)
GLZ5    Yes         Yes         Yes           8 MB      12 MB   1,152 x 864
                                         (2 megatexels)
GLZ4    Yes         Yes         No              No      24 MB   1,600 x 1,280
GLZ3    Yes         Yes         No              No      12 MB   1,152 x 864
GLZ2    Yes         No          No              No      24 MB   1,600 x 1,280
GLZ1    Yes         No          No              No      12 MB   1,152 x 864


Performance specifications for GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6
---------------------------------------------------

The following table summarizes hardware performance for GLZs
supporting resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 (GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6) on
Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and 27-inch InterVue monitors and 17-
and 21-inch multi-sync monitors.

3D graphics performance*

    3D requests (with Z buffering)            Performance                    

    Triangle, 50-pixel, Gouraud shaded         450,000 triangles/second
    Triangle, 25-pixel, Gouraud shaded         515,000 triangles/second
    Vector, 10-pixel, solid color            1,150,000   vectors/second
    Vector, 10-pixel, Gouraud shaded         1,000,000   vectors/second
    Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased              550,000   vectors/second

Texturing performance (GLZ6)*

 Textured areas, 512 x 512  (trilinear      15 megatexels/second
	interpolated, mip-mapped)

2D graphics performance*

    2D requests                             Performance
    
    Vector, 10-pixel, solid color           1,450,000 vectors/second    
    Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased             550,000 vectors/second    
    Blit: screen to screen, 64 Bit              26 megapixels/second
  	(R,G,B,A,Z)
    Fills                                      400 megapixels/second    
    Text, 9 x 13                           240,000 characters/second

 *These performance numbers are the maximum hardware rate. Actual
  system performance depends on host processor speed and application. 

Performance specifications for GLZ1, GLZ3, and GLZ5
---------------------------------------------------

The following table summarizes hardware performance for GLZs
supporting resolutions up to 1,152 x 864 (GLZ1, GLZ3, and GLZ5) on
Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors.

3D graphics performance*

    3D requests (with Z buffering)                 Performance

    Triangle, 50-pixel, Gouraud shaded      230,000 triangles/second
    Triangle, 25-pixel, Gouraud shaded      425,000 triangles/second
    Vector, 10-pixel, solid color             800,000 vectors/second
    Vector, 10-pixel, Gouraud shaded          800,000 vectors/second
    Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased             285,000 vectors/second

Texturing performance (GLZ5)*

Textured areas, 512 x 512 (trilinear        15 megatexels/second
	interpolated,  mip-mapped)

2D graphics performance*

    2D requests                             Performance
    
    Vector, 10-pixel, solid color           1,150,000 vectors/second    
    Vector, 10-pixel, antialiased             285,000 vectors/second
    Blit: screen to screen, 64 Bit              13 megapixels/second
	(R,G,B,A,Z)    
    Fills                                      200 megapixels/second    
    Text, 9 x 13                           190,000 characters/second

 * These performance numbers are the maximum hardware rate. Actual
   system performance depends on host processor speed and application. 

Display support
---------------

GLZ2, GLZ4, and GLZ6 support Intergraph Computer Systems' 21- and
27-inch InterVue monitors and our 17- and 21-inch multi-sync monitors
at resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280 pixels. The following table
indicates the currently supported screen resolutions in full 24-bit,
true-color, double-buffered mode.

    Resolutions          Colors            Maximum    
     supported          supported          refresh    
			 16.8 M             rates     
    
    1,600 x 1,280           X               76 Hz
    1,600 x  1,200          X               81 Hz     
    1,280 x 1,024           X               94 Hz    
    1,280 x 960             X               100 Hz    
    1,152 x 864             X               85 Hz    
    1,024 x 768             X               122 Hz    
    800 x 600               X               153 Hz    
    640 x 480               X               186 Hz

GLZ1, GLZ3, and GLZ5 support Intergraph Computer Systems' 17- and
21-inch multi-sync monitors at resolutions up to 1,152 x 864. The
following table indicates the currently supported screen resolutions
in full 24-bit, true-color, double-buffered mode.

    Resolutions             Colors          Maximum     
    supported               supported       refresh     
			    6.8 M           rates     
    
    1,152 x 864              X              72 Hz     
    1,024 x 768              X              85 Hz     
     800 x 600               X              85 Hz     
     640 x 480               X              85 Hz     

For more information or the number of a sales representative or
Intergraph Computer Center near you, call:

U.S. and Canada : 800-763-0242
Asia-Pacific : 852-2893-3621
Europe : 31-2503-66576
Middle East : 971-4-367555
Other areas : 1-205-730-5441
Or reach us on the Internet at <A NAME=id1 HREF="http://www.intergraph.com">http://www.intergraph.com</A>. 

====================================================================
B07) Division's VPX Image Generator and ProVision Systems

Division's VPX image generator board in an extended EISA board which offers
up to 300,000 fully texture-mapped, z-buffered polygons per second, with
screen-fill performance of more than 997 megapixels per second. The VPX
board can render a single image (or a stereo image on the VPX-Stereo version
only) in NTSC composite or Y/C video, or field-sequential RGB formats.

The VPX is available as an OEM PC card, for integration into the OEM's own
PC platforms, or as a fully-configured development platform.

The ProVision Merlin development platform for the VPX card includes a
high-performance Pentium(R) processor, one, two, or three VPX graphics
cards, standard MS-DOS PC I/O, and software development tools. The ProVision
Merlin is a complete solution for manufacturers who want to immediately
start development.

The VPX board is also available in Division's ProVision 10 immersive virtual
reality accelerator for the HP 700 range of UNIX workstations, or in
Division's ProVision 100 fully-integrated virtual reality workstation, which
includes an HMD, tracker, 3D audio, and all software required to create
complex virtual environments without programming.

A key feature of the VPX board is the outstanding pixel fill-rate needed to
fill the large numbers of textured polygons required for visually-realistic,
real-time applications. The VPX board has been developed from the outset for
high-end simulation and entertainment applications, and is capable of a
sustained 20-30Hz frame-rate with very rich visual content and 3D depth. The
VPX is based on the University of North Carolina's patented Pixel-Planes
(tm) massively parallel image generator technology.

PRICING
=======
ProVision Merlin - PC/DOS based graphics System, Pentium Option
 	PVMVPX1-PM      $19,400 

The ProVision Merlin is an advanced virtual reality, simulation, or
entertainment computer system with the VPX Pixel-Planes(tm)
graphics. This 66 MHz Intel(R) Pentium(R) PC includes a compact,
rugged, industrial-class chassis, 300 watt power supply, 4 available
EISA slots, a keyboard, mouse, 16Mbytes RAM, 500Mbyte Disk, 14" color
monitor, MS DOS, MS Windows, and a VPX-Mono image generator board. The
ProVision Merlin supports mono head mounted displays and NTSC video
monitors. The graphics system includes Division's dPL graphics runtime
library for the VPX. One VPX-Mono image generator is included in this
system.

VPX-Mono image generator board DBE0150-M        $14,900
(For OEM sales only. Requires upgraded power supply and cooling in host PC.)

VPX-Stereo image generator board DBE0150-S      $21,450
(For OEM sales only. Requires upgraded power supply and cooling in host PC.)

The ProVision Merlin is also available in configurations with two or three
VPX image generator boards, thus achieving up to six simultaneous
out-the-window displays and 900,000 fully photo-textured, z-buffered
polygons per second.

For more information, contact:

Pierre duPont &#60;dupontp@division.co.uk&#62;
Marketing Director, Division Limited
19 Apex Court, Woodlands, Bristol UK BS12 4JT
phone: +44 1454 615554 fax: +44 1454 615532

====================================================================
B08) Reality Simulation Systems Little Squirt

They had an experimental WWW server running last week,
but it has been down the past 4 days.
The URL is <A NAME=id2 HREF="http://www.simsys.com/">http://www.simsys.com/</A>

You can get more info about the company by
1)  finger @simsys.com
2)  mail info@simsys.com

====================================================================

-- 
Blair MacIntyre (bm@cs.columbia.edu), Graduate Student (Graphics and UI Lab)

smail: Dept. of Computer Science, 450 Computer Science Building, 500 W 120 St.
       Columbia University, New York, NY 10027

