Apple Expo 2000 - 3dfx Broadens Support For The Mac With New AGP Version Of Voodoo 5500

by , 2:00 PM EDT, September 13th, 2000

After releasing their Voodoo5 5500 PCI card for the Macintosh to mixed reviews, 3dfx has announced that an AGP version of the high-end graphics card is in the works. Expected to hit shelves in October, the Voodoo5 5500 AGP will sport 64MB of RAM, two VSA-100 chips, and will support the same line of advanced 3D features as its PCI cousin. According to 3dfx:

3dfx Interactive today announced that Voodoo5(TM) 5500 AGP 64MB graphics card for Macintosh will be available for purchase sometime in October. This decision was made in direct response to strong demand for an AGP version of 3dfx's award-winning Voodoo5(TM) 5500 PCI product for Macintosh. Like every 3dfx Macintosh Voodoo product, Voodoo5 5500 AGP will once again reset the level of performance for gamers and graphic design professionals alike.

Voodoo5 5500 AGP is the first consumer graphics board to offer application-independent, 3D API compatible, real-time, hardware full-scene anti-aliasing (FSAA). Anti-aliasing is a 3D-graphics rendering technique that eliminates visual artifacts such as jagged edges, moire patterns and pixel popping, rendering problems commonly seen on competitive products. The result of utilizing the Voodoo5 anti-aliasing technology is a much more realistic 3D rendered image. MacWEEK.com crowned Voodoo5 5500 PCI with the coveted ``Best of Show'' award during Macworld Expo New York 2000.

``Voodoo delivers better visual quality, across more titles, at the highest possible frame rates,'' said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3dfx Interactive. ``Macintosh end users have made it quite clear they are interested in high performance graphics options for their machines and the Voodoo architecture is the sole provider of FSAA on the Mac platform today.''

This new product also means Mac users are the latest beneficiaries of the Voodoo scalable architecture (VSA-100). Voodoo5 5500 AGP for Macintosh exploits the power of two VSA-100 graphics processing chips running in parallel by coupling them in a Scan Line Interleave (SLI(TM)) mode configuration and performing 3D acceleration from both chips simultaneously. The result is a doubling of overall 3D performance. Voodoo5 5500 also features the company's proprietary T-Buffer(TM) digital cinematic effects engine as well as 64mb of video memory to facilitate rapid loading of textures and high resolution gaming. The 350 MHz RAMDAC supports resolutions of up to 2048x1536. In addition, it features full support for every major Macintosh API and outstanding QuickDraw® acceleration.

While the PR states that the Voodoo5 5500 AGP is the first to offer these features, the PCI version released earlier this summer actually paved the way for FSAA.

Pricing information is not yet available, but you can find more product information at the 3dfx web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

As we noted in our Spin on the new Radeon BTO option for the Cube and the PowerMac G4 at the Apple Store, Apple now has another option that they could add as well. The AGP version of this card offers superior performance to the PCI version and this is because the AGP slot offers faster throughput to more data. For Mac gamers, the Voodoo 5500 AGP card is simply the best solution on the market, period.

We are hoping that by making the Radeon a BTO option instead of simply replacing the vastly inferior ATI Rage 128 Pro with the Radeon as the only card to ship is actually the first move to offering other BTO options as well. It is high time that Apple did so, especially if they want to continue to offer lip service to supporting Mac gaming. Mac users clearly want to have options for their graphic cards, and they don't want to have to throw away an ATI card they never wanted in the first place in order to replace it with a 3dfx card.

With NVIDIA in the wings also wanting a piece of the BTO pie with their GeForce 2 MX, there has never been an opportunity like this for Apple to show the market that they provide the best solutions available. In the meanwhile, we welcome 3dfx's decision to bring the AGP version of this card to market despite the uphill battle they face in the Mac upgrade market.

3dfx Interactive