More 3D, Faster

It's sequel madness!

Why can't games (and movies while we're at it) be more like hardware when it comes to sequels? While it's a given that game and movie sequels are rarely as good as the original, you always know you're getting some kind of improvement with hardware. Intel's Pentium III? Faster than the Pentium II, or at the very least available in higher clock speeds. Likewise, AMD's K6-3 is faster than the K6-2, and will be available in higher speeds as well. For the most part, you know what you're going to get.

Nowhere is this more true that in today's 3D graphics card technology. With 3D games at the forefront of PC entertainment, 3D accelerators are currently experiencing their Indian Summer. New generations of products add linearly to the power afforded by cards considered state of the art only 6 months ago, and even newer products are scheduled for the next half-year.

Changing times

Less than a year ago, 3D talk focused around buzzwords like "multitexture," alpha blending," and "trilinear filtering." Nowadays, even though you may not be familiar with what they exactly do, it's more or less common knowledge that such features should be included in any of today's self-respecting cards.

While the Voodoo3s and TNT2s we're drooling over now are blazing fast, this phase of 3D accelerator evolution is merely the intermediate step, heralding the next great coming. While all 3D chipset and board manufacturers are remaining tight-lipped about their upcoming blockbusters, we do know a little about the 3D industry as a whole in order to determine what may be coming up in this winter's newest 3D offerings.