3Dfx now has a model 3000 in PCI form. Up until now, it was AGP only. You know I'm always up to no good. Last week, I realized I had the ROM code for the 3000. So I loaded it into the 2000, effectively overclocking it to 166MHz (up from 143MHz).

Now that I have the 3000 PCI model to test, let's see how it does in 3D tests against its cousin, the 2000, with and without overclocking:

 

Now some 2D tests...

 

Conclusion: The 3Dfx Voodoo3 2000 (with the ROM tweak) is as fast as the model 3000. I guess if you can't afford a 3000 or already bought the 2000 during the recent rebate offer, you can take comfort in knowing that you can speed it up... if you want to.

Even in the "un-tweaked" condition, the 2000 beats the RAGE 128.

The RAGE 128 results came from the ATI board that is installed as standard equipment with the G4 Yikes. Maybe Apple made the wrong choice for a default graphics board... or maybe they should give us a choice at the factory when we "build to order."

FLASH: Visit the 3Dfx Gamers site to read about Unreal Tournament and download a copy of the DEMO!

 

* READ THIS STATEMENT FROM 3DFX INTERACTIVE BEFORE YOU LOAD THE 166MHZ ROM: "The company position is to never advocate overclocking, however we do understand that some people may want to do this. It voids the warranty, but If people still choose to overclock their card, we would definitely recommend adding additional heat sinks or a dedicated fan to maximize performance."

Here's some links to sources of fans and heat sinks for your Voodoo card:
3Dfx Cool kit is a dual fan kit designed for the Voodoo cards, costs $24, and guaranteed to keep it below 40 degrees C.
PC Cooling's PCI card with dual fans but it eats up a slot.

• The test computer was a G4/400 "Yikes!" with 256MB of PC-100 memory and MacOS 9.0.
• I ran Quake II in 1024 x 768 mode because it shows the real power of the 3Dfx boards. The RAGE 128 falls to its knees when running at 800 x 600 or higher. For Voodoo3 to work in OpenGL mode, it requires a special version of the "ref_gl.lib" from Mesa3DGraphics in the Quake II folder. It also requires a document called "Mesa3DGraphicsLibQuake2" (version 3.1b8 or later) to be placed in the System extensions folder.
• Unreal 3D tests were run with the viewport set to 1024 x 768. (Edit the unreal.ini document). The test used was the Castle Flyby that comes up at startup. To get the average and minimum frames per second with version 2.x.x of Unreal, you press "~" and enter "TIMEDEMO 1." Then press "~" to open up the full screen again. It begins the fly sequence at the castle entrance. (Get the latest latest UNREAL Beta from Westlake's Site.) Note the minimum frame rate is listed. Any minimum rate below 16 frames per second will appear jerky to the eye.
• Photoshop 5.5 was given 120MB of application size. The test file was a 16.9 MB Photoshop document. The SCROLL test was performed at 400% zoom. Scroll arrow held down while the document was scrolled from top to bottom.
• For the WordPerfect 3.5.3 scrolling test, I use a 120 page document containing the sentence "The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy Dogs" repeated over and over in paragraphs of 8 sentences each in 14 point Times font. Using a stopwatch, I time how long it takes to scroll from the beginning to the end of the document while holding the mouse button down with cursor over the scrolling arrow. (Font smoothing is turned off. If it's on, it will take you as much 50% longer to scroll through a document!)

A big MAHALO to...

...3Dfx for the use of the use of the Voodoo3 2000, 3000, and the new beta 5 drivers.

SAN JOSE, Calif., October 21, 1999 3dfx Interactive® Inc. today announced that it has released Beta version 5.0 of its Macintosh developer drivers, with support for the recently announced Voodoo3(tm) 3000 PCI board. The drivers include two selectable ROMs for the 143MHz and 166MHz clock speeds, featured on the Voodoo3 2000 PCI and Voodoo3 3000 PCI respectively. The release of the drivers shows a continued commitment to the Apple® Macintosh® market, by enabling developers to utilize the Company's fastest PCI board, on the Mac.