Categories
Archive

Update to Mac 3D Cards


NoBeige Reader Trevor Covert (And MacLedge Editor) wrote:

I found your editorial on Mac 3D graphics cards very interesting. First, Iwonder why you didn’t mention that Voodoo3 cards are available to Mac usersthat currently offer the best performance at the lowest price of any cardavailable. Also, the Mac NVIDIA drivers are still in the works. There weretwo programmers (Jose Commins and Malcolm Sharman) working independently ofeach other on the project, and Malcolm actually had Quake III: Arena runningon TNT PCI, TNT2 PCI and TNT2 AGP cards. Unfortunately, Malcolm discontinued his involvement with the project. However, he handed over his code minus portions used from the OpenGL DDK to Jose who is now diligently working to release a first public beta. An engineer at NVIDIA is assisting in development.

FWIW, there are at least 30-40 Mac users out there playing Quake III: Arenaon TNT PCI cards as this was the majority of Malcolm’s beta team.

Hear that? More options for Mac Gamers! There are also other fast 3D cards, according to NoBeige Reader Doug

In your list of available mac 3d cars you mention only the ATI and IXMicrocards. There is also Formac and their Proformance line running the Permedia3 chipset. infact, I believe xlr8yourmac, or somebody else, recently didcomparisons and the formac card came out ahead of the ATI.

So I guess it’s not so bad for Mac Gamers after all, but hey, things can always get better right? Keep petitioning those video card manufacturers for better cards for Macs and maybe someday the Macintosh will become a formidable gaming platform.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.