Pure3d Specifications
3Dfx Voodoo Graphics chipset

• Pixelfx graphics controller
• Texelfx texture processing unit
• GENDAC 135 Mhz RAMDAC
• PCI 2.1 compliant/3.3-5V slot

6 MB Memory

• 40ns EDO DRAM
• 2 MB frame buffer
• 4 MB dedicated texture memory

TV-Out Features

• High quality TV encoder
• Automatic detection of TV presence
• NTSC and PAL support
• Simultaneous TV/monitor display
• Composite and S-Video output
• Pass-through for displaying DOS/Windows VGA on the TV (at 640x480 60 Hz)

Connectors

• DB-15 monitor connector (VESA DDC2B)
• Mini Din 9-pin shielded for VGA pass-through
• Composite
• S-Video

Included Cables

• VGA pass-through (Pure3D to VGA card)
• Composite (Pure3D to TV)
• S-Video (Pure3D to TV)
• Audio Cable (sound card to TV)

Warranty

• 3 years parts and labor

Standard 3D Features

• Perspective correct texture mapping
• Local Texture Cache
• Level of detail (LOD) MIP mapping
• Sub-pixel correction
• Polygonal-based Gouraud shading and texture modulation
• Multiple format texture buffer (8-bit and 16-bit)

Additional 3D Features

• Anti-aliasing
• Z-buffering (16 bit)
• Alpha blending
• Per-pixel special effects: fog, transparency, translucency
• Linear frame buffer access

Software Features

• Windows 95 based installation program
• Windows 95 Control Panel utility
• DOS display utility

API Support

• Direct3D
• Glide
• OpenGL
• RenderWare

System Requirements

• Pentium-class PCI 2.1-based system
• 16 MB system memory
• VGA display adapter
• Available PCI slot
• Microsoft Windows 95
• CD-ROM drive

Card Rating 95%

What was in the box
Well when I opened up the box I really saw nothing suprising. The card was under some foam wrapped in a static bag . Sounds like every other video card I have bought :) When you take everything out you end up with a few things laying around.

• Manual - 20 page manual for the card. With instructions in plain english on installing everything properly

• Pure3D drivers and utilities cd-rom - In my case a gold cd-r with a canopus label. Included on the cd-rom were Directx 5.0 (139 meg all languages) drivers for the card, dosglide and some pure3d utility thingy. As promised there is no bundled software with the card.

• The Pure3D itself - do I need to explain ? look at the picture again :)

• Composite TV cable - for hooking the card to your tv

• S-video TV cable - for hooking the card up to your parents tv ( now admit they never give you the good set :)

• Audio cable - This one was a good idea to stick in the package. I have been playing Little big adventure for a while on my tv with my ATI video card. But it did not come with a audio output card so it gets kind of strange having all the sound effects come from a different place then the picture.

Well that was all that was in the box :) You thrilled now or what ?

Installation
Well Installation could have not been any easier. I had to take out the old Monster that I had in the computer and then undo the existing cables that I had in the computer.I did have some problems getting the monster out of my computer. I thought maybe the heat of the card soldered it to the motherboard :) ok so that was a pretty stupid idea. Actually I ended up screwing the card under it onto the top of the Monster's slot which kept me from pulling the monster out. The pure3d slid right in there with no trouble. Now the only problem that I had with the pure 3d comes out. Instead of the standard vga cable for a passthrough they have a vga connector on one end (for connection to your 2d card) and a "PS2 mouse" size connector on the end that goes into your Pure3D card. The problem that I had was that the connector would not lock in right and kept falling out. The reason that they chose to put this connector on the back of the card is because of lack of space of the back of the card. There is already monitor out, video out, passthrough in, and svga video out. Which would not have left any space for a full size vga input for the passthrough cable.

Software Installation
When the computer booted up and Windows 95 started there was no prompts that windows had found a new card. I am sure that if you do not already have a Monster installed that it would ask for a disk with the new drivers on it. But it was easy enough just to run setup from the Pure3D installation disk. After inserting the disk and installing the software manually everything installed fine. Then you install DirectX 5.0 which is also included on the disk.

The Canopus control panel is really straightforward. In fact they added some things that were available on only the tweek.exe we all like so much. You can set the overclocking speed and also you can choose to make it the only direct3d device in your system. Which will disable the direct3d from any other 3d card you might have in your system. As far as other software on the disk - there is none. Maybe the final version of the disk will include demos and shareware or something. I am not really sure at this point.

TV Output and 4 meg of texture ram
Well now to the meat and the bones of this card. I hooked up the card to my tv through the svga output connector. I have been playing computer games on the TV for a while with my ati pro graphics turbo pc2tv. But I was always hurt deep down inside because I could not play 3dfx games on tv. Well those days are over! Quake looked excellent... motoracer had me turning through the turns and we are not even going to talk about extreme assault, because I might have to get out the barf bag again :) Anyway you look at it playing games on a 35" TV is a lot different then playing them on a 17" monitor. Considering that a 19" monitor costs $1700.00 this $179.00 card is worth it's weight in gold. The benefits that the 4 meg of texture ram bring are excellent. I saw no popup at all when playing motoracer. It used to be that the distant graphics would just kind of popup into the picture. But evidently with the extra texture memory it did not have that problem anymore. Right now only Direct 3d programs can take advantage of the extra texture ram. But in the future all programs will be able to use it. Evidentially the conversion process is not very hard so expect to be using the extra ram in the next version of glquake which is released.

Overclocking
Well there was some big todo on the voodoo web pages about overclocking problems with the Pure3d. Be assured that the card is very overclockable. And any version that you purchase will not have the same problems that the earlier cards had. I ran the card I received as high as 60mhz with no problems. Just remember that with any high end peripheral that ventillation is a must. Which means do not get mad when you stick the card in a case with one fan, 5 drives and 9 misc cards and it starts overheating when you overclock it.

Benchmarks

Tested on 166 mhz mmx system with 32 meg of ram

Bottom Line
Should I buy this card ? I would say yes. Other then the passthrough connector and lack of bundled software there is nothing wrong with this card. And as far as I am concerned the TV-Out and 4 meg of texture ram more then make up for those faults. Once you see your favorite 3dfx games on your tv you will never be able to play on your computer monitor again. I invested some money in a wireless keyboard a while ago. Joystick port and built in trackball pointer on the keyboard. Once you play for a while lounging back in the lazyboy you will thank me :) If you do not have a voodoo based card get this, If you have one but want the added benefit of more ram and tv output get this. If you have a powervr get this because I told you to :)

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