Introduction

Introducing the Voodoo3 3000 PCI

With product announcements for the GeForce 256 and Savage 2000 recently released, gamers (hardware reviewers included) tend to forget about technology released just a few short months ago, namely 3dfx's Voodoo3.

Despite the strong sales history the Voodoo3 2000 PCI has established, 3dfx's announcement of the availability of the Voodoo3 3000 PCI sparked little interest from the hardware community in general. After all, who would be interested in picking up a PCI video card when cards like the GeForce 256 and Savage 2000 are beginning to hit store shelves?

Unlike the typical FiringSquad reader, there are many consumers interested in boosting their Q3test framerates without swapping out their motherboard and CPU. Many of these users also lack a motherboard with an available AGP slot. Rather than buy a new system or replace their motherboard, many of these users would rather upgrade their aging video card to something with a bit more horsepower. Last spring 3dfx released the Voodoo3 2000 PCI to meet the demand of this market. However, some among this group of PCI-based gamers wanted a card with a little more fill-rate than the 2000 offered.

Why The World Needs Another PCI Video Card

Fast-Forward to October 1999. 3dfx's next-generation product (Napalm) isn't going to make the all-important Christmas buying season leaving 3dfx with a sizable gap in sales to the high-end market. Sales on the low-end Voodoo3 2000 PCI and AGP are still going strong despite their aging design. Why not release another low-end product to appeal even more to this market and ease the sales gap from the Napalm delay? This is the decision 3dfx directors chose to make and the result is the Voodoo3 3000 PCI.

Recently FiringSquad received a Voodoo3 3000 PCI for evaluation. Does the Voodoo3 3000 PCI deliver enough goods to justify its higher price over the 2000? How does it stack up against its predecessors, the Voodoo2 and RIVA TNT?