Voodoo 3 2000

A closer look

The Voodoo 3 2000 is the baby bear of the Voodoo 3 line. It only has a 143/143 core/memory clock, but it's not much slower than the 166/166 Voodoo 3 3000, and the 183/183 Voodoo 3 3500.
Here are the specs:

Integrated 2D/3D video solution
AGP form factor (2X, no AGP texturing)
Also available in PCI
16MB 7ns SDRAM
143MHz graphics core/memory speed
6-million tri/sec triangle setup engine
2D resolution to 2046x1536
300MHz RAMDAC
Supports Glide, D3D, OpenGL
Emboss Mapping
Point-sampled, bilinear, trilinear filtering
Perspective correct
16-bit color in 3D
16-bit Z buffer
256 x 256 texture size limit

Comments

The V3 2000 has speed, and it's one of the few cards still available in the PCI format. The 143MHz core/memory speed puts the V3 2000 near the top of all our regular video cards. Like all other current generation video cards, the V3 2000 is a complete 2D/3D solution offering a speedy 300MHz RAMDAC (random access memory digital-to-analog converter), and high 2D resolutions. The card also supports 3dfx's proprietary Glide API. Glide support alone may make this card your best choice.

Things aren't as rosy as it seems

Unfortunately, despite the V3's high speed, you can't deny that the chip uses dated technology. We all know the V3's shortcomings, but let's go over them again in case you've forgotten. The card only supports 16-bit color. Most games now only support 16-bit color, but upcoming games, however, are starting to support 32-bit rendering. Most will still have 16-bit settings, but we've seen demos for new games that will throw you into software mode if you don't have 32-bit color.

The V3 2000 only has 16MB of RAM, and has a 256 x 256 texture size limit. You can see the texture size limitation at work with the Q3test main menu. Compared to the TNT2, the Q3test main menu looks blurry on the V3. The options graphics are all 512 x 32 .tga flies, and the big Quake III Arena Test .tga file is 512 x 128.

Voodoo3 Start

TNT2

Cost

You don't have to worry about choosing between a dozen different manufacturers if you want a Voodoo 3 2000. You can only get a 3dfx/STB Voodoo 3 card. The OEM version is available for around $82, and the retail version sells for $105. Currently, 3dfx is offering a $30 rebate on any retail V3 2000 or 3000 purchased between July 18, 1999 and Sepember 18, 1999.