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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chip Anderson who wrote (8114)	10/9/1998 5:08:00 PM
From: Michael Linov	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

I'm sure I posted this before, but there are currently no cards that do "32 bit color". 32 bit color refers to the packed format which is 24 bits, with the other 8 bits either unused (most often the case), or used for Alpha (transparency). Access to the frame buffer is done with 32 bit registers, so 32 bits per pixel is MUCH faster to work with than packed 24 bit. ie: You can write a 32 bit pixel in one cycle, but a 24 bit pixel may take 2-3 cycles because of the need to mask, compute the address (x3 vs x4), etc. Don't confuse 32 bit color on video to Scanners (which have a very wide dynamic range, but still only use 30 bits (last 2 unused)). 24 Bit=3 x 8 bit DACs. 30 bit=3 x 10 bit DACs. All current DACs on the market for PC video are 3x8 devices, with palette support (the palette portion is used for gamma correction during 24 bit mode). Hope I've explained it clearly. Remember, 32 bit is faster than 24.