3dfx Next Generation

Delays, delays

There really isn't much to say on it except that we can assume that it will have the T-Buffer (more on that later), and FXT1, 3dfx's open standard on texture compression. 3dfx has promised 60fps at 1024x768 WITH full screen anti-aliasing, which is a very, very big deal. This implies an insanely high fill rate, we're talking Glaze 3D levels maybe (over 1 billion texels per second.) Of course, 60fps staring at a plain black wall and 60fps in Quake3 with tonnes of effects is something else. We shall see ... not so soon.

Since it seems that Voodoo4 has been delayed. Nothing guaranteed, but it looks like it will miss the planned 4th quarter release date. This will push it into early 2000, about 4-6 months after the first GeForce 256 cards are expected to reach store shelves. NVIDIA will have enough time to refine the GeForce256 by switching to .18 production and increasing clock speed.

Got Texture Compression?

The other big thing about the Voodoo4 is FXT1, the texture compression algorithms that 3dfx has released as an open standard. Now, as stated before, we at FiringSquad have been huge fans of texture compression since all the way back to when S3 first demonstrated Unreal levels using S3TC. The utter lack of a wall consisting of one or two repeated textures is such an amazing sight, going back to the regular stuff is one of the more unpleasant things you can experience. You can find out more on texture compression in our FXT1 article with some examples illustrating its effects.

OK, now to the T-Buffer, or at least the one part of it that I'm really really excited about - full scene anti-aliasing. It's rather odd that 3dfx is pushing this and not NVIDIA, since with the supposed high fill rate of the Voodoo4, it shouldn't have too much trouble with higher resolutions and thus eliminating or at least seriously damping the quality loss caused by the aforementioned 'jaggies.' The GeForce 256 seems like it could benefit from full scene AA a great deal more than the V4, but ... if it comes down to it, it's really hard to say no to the GPU in favor of anti-aliasing. Still, with all the curves provided by GF256 thanks to its 15 million triangles, jaggies will throw themselves in your face. :(

Back to the Voodoo4

For an example of AA, look at CalBear's preview with a screenshot of Need For Speed with AA and without. Remember, this is a still, not in motion, so the effect isn't quite at its fullest. (It's very easy to get anti-aliasing in a still shot, just load up a decent image editing proggie and look for anti-alias in the menu.)