Mitsubishi's 3DPro/2mp Chipset Sets New Records for Fastest 3D Graphics Accelerator for Windows NT Systems; 3DPro/2mp grabs Viewperf performance lead; other high-end benchmark tests clearly show that 3DPro's performance outdistances all Windows NT competitors.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 1997--Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., today announced that its driver-enhanced 3DPro(tm)/2mp chipset has achieved the fastest OpenGL(r) performance of all current single-board 3D graphics accelerators in production for Windows NT(r) workstations, according to key industry benchmark testing results. Mitsubishi's driver-enhanced 3DPro/2mp chipset improved performance by as much as 34 percent, according to the Viewperf benchmark tests developed by the OpenGL Performance Characterization (OPC) organization. However, the 3DPro/2mp chipset achieved even more dramatic results on other benchmarks that place greater emphasis on sophisticated "real world" 3D graphics rendering.

The test results were obtained by using a 3DPro/2mp reference board containing Mitsubishi's 3DPro/2mp chipset, running on a Gateway 2000 200-MHz Pentium(r) Pro workstation with 128 Mbytes of DRAM and using the Windows NT 4.0 operating system. Competing products tested include those from 3Dlabs Inc. Ltd., Intergraph Corporation, and Dynamic Pictures, Inc.

"We are pleased that the 3DPro/2mp chipset offers 3D professionals clearly superior performance and the features necessary for them to be most creative and productive in their work," said Joe Eschbach, assistant vice president for new computing markets at VSIS, Inc., and Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. "Our development of superior 3D products demonstrates our commitment to be on the leading-edge of the professional 3D graphics market."

3DPro/2mp outperforms Windows NT competitors in key Viewperf tests

The Mitsubishi 3DPro/2mp reference board delivered a CDRS-03 Viewperf benchmark score of 26.7, surpassing the performance of other single-board graphics accelerator solutions for Windows NT systems. Other components of the Viewperf test that further illustrate the 3DPro/2mp chipset's superior performance include DRV-04, AWadvs and Light-01 scores of 2.96, 7.21 and 0.69, respectively. These additional Viewperf tests are significant because they more closely represent how end-users exercise 3D graphics applications than CDRS-03 alone. For complete details of benchmark test results, please visit the VSIS, Inc., World Wide Web site (http://www.vsisinc.com).

3DPro/2mp is also superior in other key 3D benchmark tests

While the Viewperf benchmark gives useful test data on the simpler aspects of 3D graphics performance, other high-end benchmarks -- such as the GVF and GVR benchmarks from Gemini Technology Corporation (http://www.gemtech.com); and the Terrain Test (Test no. 8) from SENSE8 Corporation (http://www.sense8.com) -- test more sophisticated aspects of 3D graphics that animators, designers and engineers will encounter in "real world" applications. Examples of these aspects include running complex geometric databases with rich texture mapping, more complicated lighting and shading, as well as real-time viewing of intricate, fast moving, lifelike scenes at high pixel resolutions.

It is in these high-end benchmark tests that the driver-enhanced 3DPro/2mp chipset reveals its superior performance. In Gemini Technology's GVF and GVR tests, the score is compared to the performance of Silicon Graphics' RealityEngine2(tm) graphics subsystem, with an re2stone(tm) score of "1" equaling the RealityEngine2 subsystem's performance.

The GVF benchmark test consists of a flight-simulation-oriented visual environment of a terrain database with the purpose of measuring the relative "real world" graphics performance. Various pitch-up and drive maneuvers put the graphics systems through a wide range of transformation load as one might expect in a piloted plane. The 3DPro/2mp chipset's GVF score is 0.58 re2stones; the nearest competitor's score is in the range of 0.17 re2stones.

The GVR benchmark is a race car simulation. The viewer sees several race cars race around a track in which objects such as billboards, vegetation and grandstands pass by. This test includes many state changes within the graphics system because of the number of textures and materials present in the outside-world scene. The 3DPro/2mp chipset's GVR score is 0.71 re2stones; the nearest competitor's score is 0.27 re2stones.

SENSE8 Corporation's Terrain Test (Test no. 8) benchmark is a drive-through test of a lunar landscape, using a dataset that is feature-rich with extensive texturing. At a pixel resolution of 320 x 240 and true color, the 3DPro/2mp chipset's score is 31.3 frames per second (fps); the nearest competitor's score is 22.6 fps. At maximum resolution for true color -- 1280 x 1024 for the 3DPro/2mp -- the 3DPro/2mp chipset's score is 20.5 fps; the nearest competitor is 7.5 fps.

These tests, which are more like real-world 3D use, demonstrate the 3DPro/2mp chipset's superior performance.

About the 3DPro/2mp chipset

The 3DPro/2mp chipset delivers 32-bit color, double-buffered 3D graphics at pixel resolutions of up to 1280 x 1024 and processing of up to 2 million lit and shaded polygons per second with a fill rate of up to 60 million pixels per second (perspective-corrected, blended and clipped, bilinear MIP mapped).

The chipset is available for end users in the AccelECLIPSE(r) professional graphics accelerator from AccelGraphics, Inc. (http://www.accelgraphics.com), and the Fire GL 4000 professional graphics accelerator from Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (http://www.diamondmm.com).

The 3DPro/2mp chipset achieves its stellar performance by eliminating key bottlenecks commonly found in the pipelines of competing 3D graphics accelerator solutions. Key components of the 3DPro/2mp chipset include the REALimage(r) graphics accelerator technology developed by Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation (http://www.es.com) and Mitsubishi Electric  Corporation's 3D-RAM frame buffer memory and Cached DRAM texture memory technologies.

Evans & Sutherland's REALimage technology integrates the key 3D graphics rendering pipeline processes -- such as setup, scanning, shading and hardware texturing -- on a single chip, unlike competing architectures that require separate setup geometry and/or texture engines. Mitsubishi's 3D-RAM frame buffer memory eliminates read-modify-write bottlenecks and is constrained only by the system and PCI bus performance limits. Mitsubishi's Cached DRAM texture memory enables fast texel access and maintains low latency even under the demanding requirements of trilinear MIP mapping.

The 3DPro/2mp chipset supports numerous 3D features: Gourad shading, fog, transparency, antialiasing, perspective-correct bilinear and trilinear MIP mapping, overlay planes, alphablending, depth cueing, lighting, stenciling, scissoring and window clipping. The chipset also supports video features: 30 fps hardware and software MPEG support, YUV/RGB color space conversion, scaling and perspective calculations. In addition, the chipset supports hardware and software, including Windows NT and Windows(r) 95 operating systems, and OpenGL, Heidi(tm) and Direct3D(tm) application programming interfaces.

About Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Mitsubishi Electric is a transnational corporation that focuses on developing technology-based products for industries ranging from communications to consumer to industrial markets. Mitsubishi combines its systems level expertise and high-level silicon process technology to provide chip, chipset and system-on-a-chip solutions. Mitsubishi Electric groups responsible for the 3DPro/2mp chipset include its Japan-based IC design and wafer fabrication entities, and VSIS, Inc., its Sunnyvale, California-based systems design and engineering company. VSIS, Inc. (pronounced "Vee-sis") is a Silicon Valley start-up company incorporated in Delaware on April 1996 with 100 percent venture capital funding provided by Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. VSIS's mission is to develop new systems-level technologies in new markets.

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Note to Editors:

VSIS and the VSIS logo are trademarks, and "The System Is The Chip" is a service mark of VSIS, Inc., a Mitsubishi Electric America, Inc., group company. Mitsubishi and the Mitsubishi logo are registered trademarks of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in the U.S.A., Japan and other countries.

REALimage is a registered trademark of Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation. OpenGL is a registered trademark and RealityEngine2 is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Re2stone is a trademark of Gemini Technology Corporation. Windows NT and Windows are registered trademarks and Direct3D is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. AccelECLIPSE is a trademark of AccelGraphics, Inc. Heidi is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc.

CONTACT: John Garner

Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc.

408/774-3191

[e-mail]