Now with improved image quality and even faster 3D, Apocalypse 3Dx brings arcade-level 3D games to your Pentium PC.

As from the 1st of April this year, the Apocalypse 3Dx ( the faster second generation of Apocalypse 3D chips) is now available in the shops for just �55.00 and comes with two fantastic games - FIFA 98 (shown below) and Nightmare Creatures. The Apocalypse 3Dx PowerVR 3D Graphics Card has been developed jointly by Videologic and NEC. It has been designed to run the latest 3D games and , luckily for Videologic and NEC, has been endorsed by a wide range of game developers. Since it's consumer debut in July 1996, PowerVR technology has built tremendous momentum - and the great success of the it's latest chip is due to:-

• it's power to deliver complex effects at very high frame rates
• it's simplicity and cheapness *

* A PowerVR card just has one large chip and some memory. The PCX2 chip ( which will be described later ) that is used within the Apocalypse 3Dx only costs around �15.00 to produce. This is why Videologic are still making money, even when they sell a basic board for only �55.00.

Dedicated to high-performance 3D, Apocalypse 3Dx is a single-slot PCI card that works with the Windows 95 graphics card or graphics controller.

3D Features

The Apocalypse 3Dx supports all of the features listed below which are needed to deliver 3D realism:-

• bilinear texture filtering - this is a smoothing effect that makes images look real by eliminating blocky pixels and makes curves look round, even at the edges.
• perspective-correct anti-aliased texture mapping
• pixel-perfect hidden surface removal
• light volumes
• real time shadows
• true logarthmic colored fog
• translucency
• smooth shading

However, the 3Dx chip is a 3D-only card, meaning that you need to put it in alongside your existing 2D card, which should be reasonably fast and must be supported by DirectX version 3 (or above). If you don't reckon your 2D card can take the pace, 3D/2D graphics cards are also available such as the Apocalypse 5D.

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Technical Stuff

Bus Architecture - 32-bit PCI local bus, PCI 2.1 interface, Plug & Play compliant

Driver Support - Power SGL, Microsoft Direct3D

Memory Configuration - 4 MB high-performance SDRAM texture memory

Chip Set - PowerVR NEC PCX2

Number of colours - True Colour ( 16 million )

- PowerVR NEC PCX2 high performance 3D accelorator. 66 MHz processor incorporating Image Synthesis Processor (ISP) and Texture and Shading Processor (TSP) functions. 32 processing elements in ISP module. On chip 12K ISP and 4K TSP parameter caches. Single SDRAM external interface ( for texture and parameter caching).

Minimum system requirements:

PC with Pentium P133 processor (P166 recommended), 32 MB RAM, 2 MB DirectDraw-compliant graphics controller.

As mentioned above, the 3Dx uses the new NEC PCX2 processor chip based on the revolutionary PowerVR technology and 4 MB of SDRAM on-board texture memory to produce stunning 3D realism. This PCX2 chip provides better image quality and higher display resolutions at a lower cost. It enhances PC-based 3D graphics software, especially 3D games software such as ULTIM@TE RACE, Wipeout 2097 (screenshot on the left), Mechwarrior 2, Tomb Raider and Terracide which come with the card in the �99 package.

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With enhanced geometry setup on chip , PCX2 is rated at 9 billion operations/sec, processing up to 1.2 million polygons/sec, with pixel fill rates of up to 66 million pixels/sec (dependent on processor performance). This increased performance allows higher frame rates and resolutions, such as 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 in 16-bit and 24-bit color.

Performance

Dr. Johnannes Baston of NEC recently said

�PCX2 opens a huge performance gap between PowerVR and most of our competitors. We�re giving gamers a 3D chip that is going to create a revolt against most of the 3D chips offered on PCs today. PowerVR is leading the 3D revolution.�

And according to independent tests done by the analyst firm Jon Peddie Associates he's not wrong. According to the firm the NEC�s PCX2 graphics accelerator running the Microsoft Direct3D benchmark tests delivers sustained fill rates of 32.8 million pixels per second on a Pentium&trade 166 MHz system PC. On the same system, PCX2 runs the Direct3D tunnel benchmark at 75 frames per second at all resolutions which is pretty impressive for a 3D graphics card only costing �55. Direct3D testing, also done at the analyst firm, confirmed that the Apocalypse 3Dx card has the power to become a leading contender when it comes down to price/performance. On Direct3D benchmarks alone, PCX2 generally sets, and certainly keeps the pace. PowerVR�s special effects and the second-generation chip�s bilinear filtering results in better-looking images without any performance penalty.

The games support for PowerVR chips like Apocalypse 3Dx is a little light at the moment but as more games like ULTIM@TE RACE (shown on the right) appear with PowerSGL support, the Apocalypse 3Dx looks set for a bright future.

Conclusion

Gamers will go for this new PowerVR chip ! - With it's stupendously low price there aren't many other cards on the market that can compete with such good 3D performance at such a price. To progress to 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 resolution in games, the Apocalypse 3Dx is a cost effective add-on solution. For only �55.00 you can't go far wrong.