You seen the guys on the CRUS thread lately? Seems they are getting a little ahead of something we probably won't be seeing until long after the new S3 AGP chips are happily playing the Klamath waltz.
techstocks.com
techstocks.com
Now if I recall, this may be a better view of the facts:
(these are all just bits/pieces, see the links underneath for the whole story)
"First, there is the issue of enabling low-cost PCs to handle the enormous amount of processing required by 3-D graphics, says Jim Kajiya, head of the graphics group at MSR, in Redmond, Wash. That challenge has prompted MSR to embark on a project called Talisman, a hardware reference design for producing 3-D-enabled chip sets priced at less than $500. Though the design still exists solely on paper, Kajiya says production on the chips should be ramped up by next summer."
pcweek.com
"Microsoft is working with hardware manufacturers Cirrus Logic Inc., Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc., Philips Electronics North America Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. to bring the product to market by the end of 1997. Microsoft officials estimated that hardware add-in cards that will deliver the technology to PCs will cost between $200 and $300.
Workstation makers, however, were skeptical. "The concern that we have [about Talisman] is that there's starting to be a lot of confusion and misinformation from the start," said Joshua Larson-Mogal, manger of strategy for the advanced systems division of Silicon Graphics Inc., which makes many of the high-end workstations that are used to produce realistic animation, such as those used in the Toy Story motion picture.
In addition to expressing doubt over hardware manufacturers' ability to deliver a circuit board based on Talisman for under $800 or $900, Larson-Mogal said Microsoft's performance claims are theoretical and subject to several mishaps as Talisman moves from the labs to actual production. "[Microsoft's demonstration] is less predictable of how the result will be when you get the thing running," he said."
zdnet.com
01/96
Waiting Game
"The bad news, of course, is that there is no Talisman hardware or software, and there won't be for some time to come. There's also the nontrivial issue of whether or not the industry can embrace the Microsoft initiative, and if so, how soon.
As promising as this sounds, remember: Microsoft is building the board primarily to prove the Talisman concept is effective. One or more of the companies involved may well choose to market a board based on the design. It wouldn't be terribly difficult once two of the primary chips are complete, but such hardware wouldn't reach the shelves until the end of 1997 at the earliest.
It's also likely the price of a board based on Microsoft's high-end reference design would be too high for the great majority of us. The design as Microsoft now describes it requires five separate processors and uses 4MB of Rambus memory, accessed through two 8-bit Rambus channels. According to Microsoft, the bill of materials for the design now totals $200 to $300, which means end-user cost would probably be at least $500.
The end of 1997 is also about when Microsoft predicts it will build the necessary Talisman support into the Direct3D component of DirectX. Given the complexity of the task and Microsoft's less-than-glorious track record when it comes to meeting target ship dates, don't be terribly surprised if Talisman support doesn't surface until at least 1998."
www5.zdnet.com |
