3Dlabs Extends Market Lead with Second-Generation GLINT 500TX 3D Graphics Processor; Scalable performance for professional 3D on the PC up to one million polygons/second.

NEW ORLEANS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 1996--3Dlabs(R) Inc. today announced immediate availability of its second-generation GLINT(R) 3D processor -- the GLINT 500TX.

Pin-compatible with the first-generation GLINT 300SX, the GLINT 500TX can be used singly or in parallel to increase 3D performance up to 1 million Gouraud shaded, Z buffered, 32 bit color, 25 pixel polygons-per-second. The GLINT 500TX implements full OpenGL-compliant texture-mapping in hardware, including high-quality filtering, blending and support for real-time video textures. The GLINT 500TX complements the existing GLINT 300SX which will continue to be supplied by 3Dlabs for use in cost-effective MCAD accelerators that do not need texture acceleration, thus enabling GLINT OEMs to offer a wide range of price/performance options.

The GLINT family of 3D processors is used in virtually all professional 3D accelerators available on the PC. 3Dlabs provides the most cost-effective acceleration for OpenGL-based applications requiring robust functionality, deep buffer depths and high screen resolutions. Boards implemented with the GLINT Delta geometry pipeline processor and one or more GLINT 500TXs provide integral OpenGL texture-mapping and geometry acceleration without the need for expensive texturing upgrades or geometry cards.

GLINT 500TX's unified graphics pipeline also provides unsurpassed 2D windows acceleration and full support for video texture-mapping, including digital video effects. When used in an Intel Pentium(R) Pro processor-based system, the GLINT 500TX delivers OpenGL-based application performance to rival Silicon Graphics' high-end desktop workstations.

The GLINT 500TX is both hardware- and software-compatible with the GLINT 300SX, allowing hardware vendors to painlessly upgrade GLINT 300SX-based designs and to use the extensive range of highly optimized GLINT software drivers. Multiple GLINT 500TXs can be used to scale back-end pixel processing performance to over 100 million shaded, z-buffered pixels per second, and over 50 million texture-mapped, z-buffered pixels/second with full perspective correction. Two GLINT 500TXs can be used gluelessly with a GLINT Delta geometry pipeline processor to deliver over one million fully OpenGL compliant polygons-per-second on Intel Pentium Pro processor-based systems.

The advanced rendering features of the GLINT 500TX -- such as anti-aliasing, fogging, retained alpha blending, overlays and multi-plane stenciling -- are fully-functional regardless of the number of GLINT 500TXs. Multi-TX systems employ scan-line interleaving to ensure near-linear increases in pixel performance as additional GLINT 500TXs are used in a board design.

Companies Supporting GLINT 500TX

A wide range of 3Dlabs' customers are shipping, or will soon be shipping, the GLINT 500TX in board and system products, including: -0-

    AccelGraphics -- the AccelPro TX;
    Datapath -- the Merlin II;
    Diamond Multimedia -- the FireGL 3000;
    ELSA -- the GLoria-L;
    Force -- 3DE-TurboTX;
    NeTpower -- the TrueFX Pro graphics subsystem in the Calisto
                workstation;
    MaxVision -- the GLmax 88T;
    Newer Technology -- the RenderPix card, containing dual GLINT
                        500TXs;
    Omnicomp -- the 3Demon DTX88;
    Radius -- the Thunder 3D accelerator;
    Symmetric -- the GLyder/TX and the GLyder/MP which contains dual
                 GLINT 500TXs and 40MBytes of on-board memory.-0- Quotes

"GLINT 500TX builds on our success with the GLINT 300SX by substantially extending the envelope of affordable professional 3D performance, while preserving the investment of both 3Dlabs and our customers in board design and software drivers," said Neil Trevett, vice president of marketing at 3Dlabs. "The increased performance of the GLINT 500TX pushes the capabilities of the Intel architecture-based systems deep into the heartland of Silicon Graphics' desktop machines, and the hardware OpenGL texture-mapping lets GLINT accelerate texture-rich multimedia authoring tools just as effectively as CAD."

"3Dlabs continues to be a key technology provider as the Pentium Pro processor has emerged as the product of choice for 3D graphics-intensive applications such as Pro/ENGINEER, Softimage 3D and 3D Studio MAX," said Andre Wolper, director of workstation marketing at Intel Corporation. "Many professional graphics boards in the market today are using GLINT silicon. A card based on either one or two GLINT 500TX graphics processors extends the performance and functionality of OpenGL accelerators -- making the Pentium Pro processor-based platform even more attractive to 3D graphics professionals."

"We're really excited about the GLINT 500TX -- it provides Softimage 3D for Windows NT the features and performance that our high-end film, video and game customers have come to expect," said Daniel Small, product manager for Softimage 3D at Microsoft. "Importantly, working directly with 3Dlabs ensures that Softimage customers can benefit from the rich variety of available GLINT-based OpenGL accelerators to meet their specific price and performance requirements."

"We thought the GLINT 300SX was good -- and now the GLINT 500TX aggressively extends our options for more 3D performance and functionality," said Linda Hargrove, vice president of marketing at NeTpower, Inc. "The great thing is that we can use our existing board designs and drivers -- 3Dlabs has worked hard to protect our investment in their products -- while keeping us on the cutting edge of 3D. We look forward to continuing to work closely with 3Dlabs and together setting new benchmarks for graphics workstation price/performance."

"The 3D horsepower of the GLINT 500TX, combined with the RISC-based architecture of Power Macintosh and world-class software from vendors such as Electric Image, NewTek, Vertigo, Strata, Specular and Macromedia is an ideal solution for 3D pros," said John Alfano, program manager for VR technologies at Apple Computer, Inc. "3Dlabs' aggressive support for our QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE APIs and the performance/feature set of the GLINT 500TX enable users to crank out 3D animations and effects equal to high-end graphics workstations at a fraction of the price."

GLINT 300SX, GLINT 500TX and GLINT Delta -- a Complete Family

GLINT is the market-leading family of productivity-class 3D processor chips, and integrates high-performance, professional graphics sub-systems onto silicon devices that radically lower the cost of OpenGL-based 3D acceleration. GLINT 500TX supports high-resolution displays and deep 32 bit color and Z buffers, and accelerates 100% of OpenGL rendering operations in silicon -- including advanced texture-mapping, anti-aliasing and alpha blending.

The GLINT chip family is currently the only silicon shipping with an OpenGL Installable Client Driver, providing highly-optimized and fully-compliant OpenGL performance, integrated seamlessly with Microsoft(R) Windows(R) NT. OpenGL is fully-supported and endorsed by Microsoft as the high-end 3D API for CAD, imaging and multimedia authoring. Either the GLINT 300SX or GLINT 500TX can be gluelessly used in conjunction with the GLINT Delta geometry pipeline processor chip.

GLINT 500TX is software-compatible with the GLINT 300SX and Permedia families, and 3Dlabs' extensive range of software drivers is already available for GLINT 500TX-based boards. These drivers include: Windows(R) NT, Windows 95, OpenGL on Windows NT, OpenGL on Windows 95, Heidi(TM) from Autodesk, Direct3D(TM) from Microsoft and QuickDraw(TM) 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE from Apple. The drivers for Windows NT and OpenGL are available on Intel, Alpha(R), MIPS(R) and PowerPC(R) processors. All 3Dlabs' drivers automatically detect and take full advantage of GLINT 300SX, GLINT 500TX and the optional GLINT Delta.

Applications supported by the GLINT 500TX include Pro/ENGINEER from Parametric Technology, SolidWorks 96 from SolidWorks, MicroStation by Bentley Systems, I-DEAS from SDRC, Softimage 3D from Microsoft, 3D Studio MAX from Kinetix, Lightwave from Newtek, Lightscape Visualization System from Lightscape Inc., AVS/Express from Advanced Visual Systems, Open Inventor from Template, OpenGVS from Gemini and GameGen II from Multigen Inc.

GLINT 500TX is fully-compatible with the Apple(R) Power Macintosh(R), with full byte-swapping implemented in silicon. The GLINT 500TX's texture-mapping performance is well-suited to the many multimedia authoring titles on the Macintosh, including products from Electric Image, Fractal Design, Macromedia, NewTek, Strata and Vertigo. GLINT 500TX includes 100% silicon acceleration for QuickDraw 3D -- including advanced lighting modes not found in OpenGL.

Pricing and Availability

GLINT 500TX is shipping in volume immediately and is priced at $275 in quantities of 10K/annum. GLINT 300SX is also shipping today and costs $150 in quantities of 10K/annum.

Company Information

3Dlabs is a worldwide supplier of merchant chips, software and core technology for 3D graphics. With over 10 years experience in 3D graphics, the company's products enable chip, board and system manufacturers to integrate advanced 3D capabilities into their products for such applications as multimedia authoring, CAD, simulation, virtual reality, interactive TV and video games. 3Dlabs has consistently led the industry in being first to deliver successive generations of 3D devices that precisely meet the emerging needs of the 3D market.

In a recent article the company was positioned as the "First member of the next generation of chip companies," by the influential Red Herring magazine. In January 1996, 3Dlabs' GLINT and Permedia silicon were honored with a "First Place Computer Graphics World Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Innovation." 3Dlabs Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., was founded in April 1994, and is privately owned. -0-

Note to Editors: 3Dlabs and GLINT are registered trademarks and Delta and Permedia are trademarks of 3Dlabs Inc. Ltd. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks and QuickDraw is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. All other trademarks are acknowledged and recognized.

CONTACT: 3Dlabs Inc.

Neil Trevett, 408/436-3456

[e-mail]

http://www.3dlabs.com

or

Horizon Public Relations

Jonathan Hirshon, 408/982-2555

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