Here is a brief list of the 3D video cards you will find on the market when you start shopping for a new accelerator. More can be found on from the 3D chipsets link to the left. My description of these cards is based on what I have gleaned from talking with users of these cards. While I have tried to be unbiased, you will find that many users have very different opinions, some better, some worse. In the end it is only your opinion that counts. This means, and I want to make this clear, that the perfect 3D video card for you may not be perfect for the next guy, and you will have to do some research to find the card the best suits your needs and budget. Also, use the charts at the bottom of this page to select the card that supports the greatest number of games you like to play.

Before we discuss the particulars of each 3D chipset, we should discuss for a moment the more general aspect of the three ways 3D accelerators work in your system. There are three forms of 3D hardware: 2D/3D cards, 3D-only add-on cards, and 2D/3D add-on cards.

The Voodoo2 is the most recent chipset form 3Dfx. It is a 3D-only add-on card, and it is very fast under Glide and the partial OpenGL miniport, but it’s performance under Direct3D is equal to other available cards. This may change as the drivers are tweaked for performance. This chipset consists of four chips: one triangle engine/pixel chip, two texture engines, and the display/RAMDAC chip. The Voodoo2 has the unique ability to run in a special two-board mode called SLI (Scan-Line Interface). With SLI mode you can put two Voodoo2 boards in your system, and each board will draw every other line. This means (1) it can go twice as fast as a single board (but users of FS98 will probably not see this advantage), and (2) can use the combined frame buffer of both cards to run FS98 at 1600x1200 resolution. The FS98 Benchmark database does not have many entries for this chipset, but it looks at the moment to be about as fast as the Voodoo. Prices for the 8 MB cards are around $200, and the 12 MB boards sell for between $220 and $300. Available now, but in high demand, so you may have to shop around and pay top dollar for this card.

Cards that use the Voodoo2 chipset: Anubis Typhoon 3D Max II, Biostar Venus 3D II, California Graphics 3D Wizard, Canopus Pure3D II, Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo², Diamond Monster 3D II, Guillemot MAXI Gamer 3D², Jazz Multimedia Renegade 3D, Miro HISCORE², Orchid Righteous 3D II, Quantum 3D Obsidian II series, STB Blackmagic 3D.

The Voodoo Graphics chipset, or Voodoo for short, was for 1996 and 1997 the 3D accelerator. It wasn’t until early 1998 that another 3D accelerator (the Riva128) beat it in raw 3D performance. This is an 3D-only add-on card, and thus it runs only in the full-screen mode. Full-screen only is considered by most FS98 users a disadvantage because there are many add-ons that use a separate window. All other sims run best full-screen, obviating the disadvantage. It is good to get the latest drivers for this card for best performance. This card is overclockable for better performance (visit www.op3dfx.com or www.voodooextreme.com for more info).

Cards that use the Voodoo Graphics chipset: A-Trend Helios 3D, Canopus Pure 3D, Colormaster Voodoomania, Deltron Flash 3D, Diamond Monster 3D, Guillemot MAXI Gamer 3Dfx, MiroHISCORE 3Dfx, Orchid Righteous 3D, Quantum 3D Obsidian series, Skywell Magic 3D.

The Voodoo Rush is 3Dfx’s attempt to get Voodoo quality and speed in a 2D/3D card. While the Rush is slightly slower than the Voodoo, it performs well in a window. The Rush is actually three chips: one Texture effects unit, one pixel effects unit, and the Alliance AT3D chip that handles all the 2D functions. In FS98 this chipset has the disadvantage of being the very susceptible to sound stutter. There are many driver combinations available for this chipset, and improvements are still being made with approximately monthly releases. Comes in 6 MB (4 MB frame buffer, 2 MB texture memory) and 8 MB (4/4) versions.

Cards that use the Voodoo Rush chipset: A-trend 3D Voodoo Rush, Apollo 3Dfx, California Graphics Emotion 3D, Deltron Flash AT3D Rush, DFI WG-8200 / 3DX, Hercules Stingray 128/3D, Intergraph Intense 3D, Jazz Multimedia Adrenaline Rush, Skywell Magic 3D Rush, Viewtop Rush 3D.

A card renown for its OpenGL drivers, works to keep up with other similarly priced cards when running games. Runs best in FS98 with MIP-mapping disabled. $160 for an 8MB card is as cheap as I’ve seen it.

Cards that use the Permedia2 chip: AccelGraphics Accelstar II, Creative Graphics Blaster Exxtreme, Deltron RV Power 3DGL-II, Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro, Elsa Winner 2000/Office, Elsa Gloria Synergy, Elsa Gloria XXL, Hercules Dynamite 3D/GL, LeadTek WinFast 3D L2300, STB Twister 240, STB Twister 280.

An older card, has much trouble keeping up with more recently-released accelerators. If your Pentium system came with one of these, look to upgrade.

Another card often found in complete systems, isn’t as fast as the Riva or Vérité 2x00 systems.

Cards that use the Rage Pro chip: ATi Xpert@Work, ATi Xpert@Play.

Intel i740.

This chip is aimed at the mid-level 3D market, between the gaming and the budget markets. You’ll see it built in to lots of Pentium II boards. It will sell for less than the Riva128 chips, and will likely be slightly slower. It does, however, support all the features of the Voodoo and Riva128 chipsets. Like the Riva, this chip runs best using AGP, with all textures stored in system RAM. It currently sells as a 4 MB board for $190, and 8 MB for $230, in PCI and AGP versions.

Cards that use the i740 chip: ASUS (motherboard mounted), Diamond Stealth II G460, Real 3D Starfighter, STB Lightspeed 740.

Once the king of 2D performance, these chips have some 3D features, but lack several important ones like fog/haze and MIP-mapping, making them effectively a 2˝D chip.

Cards that use the MGA chip: all Matrox boards: Millenium, Millenium II and Mystique.

The NEX PowerVR PCX2 chip is a 3D-only chip. But unlike the Voodoo 3D-only chipset, this chip depends on the system 2D card: it uses the memory of the 2D card for the frame buffer. So a 4 MB m3D card next to an 8 MB Millenium card would have 4 MB texture memory, and would have 8 MB available for frame buffer. Will render 3D in a window.

Cards that use the PowerVR chip: Matrox m3D, VideoLogic 3Dx, VideoLogic 5D (2D/3D), VideoLogic 5D Sonic (2D/3D).

This was the first (and so far only) chip to beat the Voodoo. A very impressive chip, and relatively inexpensive. The memory on the card is used exclusively for frame buffer; it has no texture memory. Instead it uses the computer RAM for texture storage, and retrieves them every time it needs them. For this reason it runs best (by about 30%) in an AGP configuration. The best frame rate reported using the FS98 Benchmarks is a 4 MB Riva128 in the AGP slot of a Pentium II 300 MHz. This chip runs best in fast systems (above 200 MHz). Sells in a 4 MB version for about $160 (PCI) and $170 (AGP).

Cards using the Riva128 chip: ASUS 3D Explorer, Canopus Total 3D 128V, Diamond Viper330, E4 CoolView 3D, Elsa Erazor Victory, MiroMagic Premium, STB Velocity 128.

The first chip with triangle setup in hardware. It is a little slow in today’s market.

Cards based on the V1000 chip: Creative Blaster 3D, Sierra Screamin' 3D, Intergraph Reactor.

A chip that impressed everyone because it was supposed to be the runt kid brother of the V2200, but wasn’t. Has good hardware triangle setup, so this chipset runs as well on slower systems as it does on Pentium II’s. Good for Pentium 133 or lower. Sells for about $100 in the 4 MB form.

Cards based on the V2100 chip: Diamond Stealth II S220

This chip was released late, and the V2100 got all the press, but it’s faster than the V2100. 8 MB cards sell for about $200.

Cards based on the V2200 chip: DSystems Gladiator, Genoa V-raptor 3D, Hercules Thriller 3D, Jazz Multimedia Outlaw 3D.

The ViRGE chip was the first 3D hardware chip sold for the consumer market. It was also the slowest. The images from this chip look good, but because the rendering engine is slower than the other chipsets, it is difficult to recommend this for any 3D application. Unfortunately, these cards are very inexpensive, and many buy them from ignorance. Cards based on the Vérité2100 are a much better value. It has good 2D performance, however. The ViRGE/DX and /GX are available now, but the performance of these new chips isn’t much better than the original ViRGE.

Cards based on the ViRGE chip: Diamond Stealth 3D 2000/3000, many others.

The Future. So what does the future hold? For readers who aren’t ready to buy a 3D accelerator right now but want one in the next year or so, there is very good news. The next crop of 3D hardware accelerators are very exciting because of the amazing features and performance we can expect, and because they are expected to sell for no more than current 3D cards. Here is a run-down of the announced hardware. Keep in mind that these chips do not exist in final form, and performance data is not based on independent testing. Most of the data listed below is based on press releases and on demonstrations of very early versions of the chips, and is just as likely to change as not.

nVidia Riva128ZX.