Tweet
Okay, some thoughts in defense of 3D Labs (and I know I won't be popular here):
1. Until the introduction of the most recent crop of cards, the Matrox cards are the only ones that could beat the 3D Labs cards in 2D. The Permedia2 was perhaps the fastest 2D card I've owned, except for my Mill2 and my G400.
2. 3D Labs has always led the pack, far and away, no contest, in OpenGL. Don't mock them on that count. Fire up NT and an old Permedia2, and you'll see that you pull down obscene framerates with ALL OpenGL features either implemented in hardware or emulated.
3. Their "no OpenGL ICD" thing can be interpreted multiple ways - what we refer to as MiniGL or TurboGL is NOT an "MCD". An MCD is a driver which uses Microsoft's code as a fallback. MANY OpenGL drivers fall into this category. Just not 3D Labs.
4. Is there an ICD for NT now? Last time I checked, OpenGL under NT was iffy at best.
So what they are saying is that for mission-critical, professional OpenGL applications, there is no contest - and they're right. If I had to do 3D modeling all day, my choices of video card would be:
- Something professional (way out of reach)
- Permedia3 / Oxygen (same chipset)
- Permedia2 / Glint
*shrug*
I think it's a dumb comparison, but they're really not talking about games here.
- Gurm
------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.
This signature is not Copyright by anyone. Especially not some guy named Steve. Yeah. That's it. Please don't kill me, Holly.
1. Until the introduction of the most recent crop of cards, the Matrox cards are the only ones that could beat the 3D Labs cards in 2D. The Permedia2 was perhaps the fastest 2D card I've owned, except for my Mill2 and my G400.
2. 3D Labs has always led the pack, far and away, no contest, in OpenGL. Don't mock them on that count. Fire up NT and an old Permedia2, and you'll see that you pull down obscene framerates with ALL OpenGL features either implemented in hardware or emulated.
3. Their "no OpenGL ICD" thing can be interpreted multiple ways - what we refer to as MiniGL or TurboGL is NOT an "MCD". An MCD is a driver which uses Microsoft's code as a fallback. MANY OpenGL drivers fall into this category. Just not 3D Labs.
4. Is there an ICD for NT now? Last time I checked, OpenGL under NT was iffy at best.
So what they are saying is that for mission-critical, professional OpenGL applications, there is no contest - and they're right. If I had to do 3D modeling all day, my choices of video card would be:
- Something professional (way out of reach)
- Permedia3 / Oxygen (same chipset)
- Permedia2 / Glint
*shrug*
I think it's a dumb comparison, but they're really not talking about games here.
- Gurm
------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.
This signature is not Copyright by anyone. Especially not some guy named Steve. Yeah. That's it. Please don't kill me, Holly.
At least Permedia are smart emough to include EBM and embossing so its not so lopsided that your average punter smells the proverbial rodent.
Comment