SCUMbria - Re: " High end graphics cards (and soon midrange cards) perform the geometry calculations much faster in hardware. "
Well, here's one high end 3D GRAPHICS card - from 3DLABS no less ! - that uses the SSE instructions from the Pentium III processor to perform parallel processing - using the Pentium III SSE instructions - as well as the graphics chip - to optimize throughput.
"3Dlabs PowerThreads SSE OpenGL Driver Boosts 3D Geometry Performance With Intel's Pentium III Xeon
Multi-Threaded Dynamic Load-Balancing Distributes 3D Geometry and Lighting Processing in Parallel Between Hardware Processors and Multiple Pentium III CPUs for Highest Performance"
Now why didn't YOU think of this ?
Paul
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Wednesday March 17, 9:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: 3Dlabs, Inc.
3Dlabs PowerThreads SSE OpenGL Driver Boosts 3D Geometry Performance With Intel's Pentium III Xeon
Multi-Threaded Dynamic Load-Balancing Distributes 3D Geometry and Lighting Processing in Parallel Between Hardware Processors and Multiple Pentium III CPUs for Highest Performance
SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- 3Dlabs®, Inc. (Nasdaq: TDDDF - news) today announced PowerThreads(TM) SSE, the next-generation OpenGL driver for the 3Dlabs Oxygen(TM) family of high-performance 3D workstation graphics accelerators. PowerThreads SSE transparently leverages the Streaming SIMD (Single Instructions, Multiple Data) Extensions for single or multiple Intel® Pentium® III and Pentium III Xeon(TM) processors in parallel with geometry hardware to deliver the highest possible 3D geometry and lighting performance on current and future Oxygen cards.
The PowerThreads SSE driver will be demonstrated at the CeBIT trade show from March 18 through March 25, 1999 in Hanover, Germany, and is expected to become available in second quarter of 1999 for the Oxygen GMX and the new Oxygen VX1 board, also announced today. Additionally, the driver will be downloadable from 3Dlabs' web site at www.3dlabs.com upon its release for current users of Oxygen GMX.
''3Dlabs has been a pioneer in developing technologies that accelerate the entire 3D graphics pipeline, from geometry and lighting transformations to rasterization. The outstanding geometry performance of the new PowerThreads SSE driver is made possible with the addition of Streaming SIMD Extensions in the Pentium III and Pentium III Xeon processors,'' said Andre Wolper, director of industry marketing, Intel Workstation Products Group. ''The combination of advanced technologies from Intel and 3Dlabs yields a powerful solution for professional graphics workstation users.''
''With PowerThreads SSE, 3Dlabs offers graphics drivers with the industry's most sophisticated handling of frequently-bottlenecked geometry transformations and lighting calculations,'' said Greg Weiss, research analyst of graphics and workstations at D.H. Brown Associates. ''PowerThreads SSE combines the benefits of Pentium III's Streaming SIMD floating point with the unique ability to load-balance those calculations across geometry hardware and multiple CPUs.''
About the PowerThreads SSE OpenGL Driver
PowerThreads SSE is the only complete geometry and lighting solution for Windows NT workstations, combining 3Dlabs' proven multi-threading OpenGL drivers and hardware geometry processing with new SSE-optimized, load-balancing technology that dynamically distributes the geometry and lighting workload in parallel across multiple Pentium III CPUs and on-board hardware geometry processors.
When driving an entry-level graphics accelerator with no on-board geometry processing, the PowerThreads drivers use Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) to accelerate geometry transform and lighting calculations on Windows workstations equipped with Pentium III processors. Performance benefits from the SSE optimizations for geometry and lighting limited applications range up to 100%. Additionally, 3Dlabs' proven multi-threaded driver technology incorporated into PowerThreads SSE automatically distributes the geometry and lighting calculations across multiple CPUs for even faster OpenGL performance. A second CPU can boost performance by up to an additional 60%.
When driving a graphics accelerator with an on-board GLINT® Gamma(TM) hardware geometry and lighting processor, PowerThreads SSE performs real-time load balancing between the Gamma and the host CPUs for a dynamically balanced workload distribution for optimal application performance. Due to load balancing, the combination of hardware and CPU processing power is additive and always provides superior performance when compared to CPUs alone. In addition, offloading the geometry load to a hardware processor frees CPU cycles -- resulting in faster application performance.
''3Dlabs has a dedicated software team to leverage the Pentium III so that our existing and future end-users gain maximum benefit from their investment in Intel CPUs and 3Dlabs graphics hardware. Our PowerThreads SSE driver ensures that Oxygen boards continue to provide the highest levels of performance today -- and in the future as CPU speeds increase,'' said Neil Trevett, vice president of workstation products at 3Dlabs. ''3Dlabs is maintaining our aggressive geometry processor roadmap to ensure that on-board geometry processing maintains its performance advantage over the fastest CPUs, and now PowerThreads SSE combines the best of both worlds -- enabling 3Dlabs to be the only vendor to ship a complete, integrated hardware and software geometry processing solution.''
As an example of the power of the PowerThreads SSE drivers, the new $299 Oxygen VX1 card delivers a Viewperf Light-02 score of 1.49 (1280x1024 True-color 60Hz) -- equaling the performance of many boards three times the price. For detailed information on the Oxygen line of graphics accelerators and PowerThreads SSE driver technology, including complete up to date benchmark figures, please visit our Web site at 3dlabs.com or call 3Dlabs directly at (800) 464-3348 or (408) 530-4700.
About 3Dlabs
Founded in 1994, 3Dlabs is a leading innovator and a fabless supplier of high-performance graphics accelerator boards, processors, and software designed to bring cost-effective 3D and 2D graphics to the personal computer. The Company offers a wide range of graphics accelerator boards and processors for desktop PC and high-end workstation markets with price, performance and functionality designed to meet the demand for 3D on the PC. 3Dlabs markets and sells its award-winning products to PC and graphics OEM customers, as well as reseller channel partners.
Forward Looking Statements
Various matters set forth in this press release, such as statements relating to the expected performance, specifications, availability, market acceptance and market position of PowerThreads SSE and the Oxygen line of graphics accelerators, are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the Company's ability to manufacture and produce Oxygen cards and PowerThreads drivers in a timely and commercially viable manner; the ability and the willingness of the Company's manufacturing partners to produce Oxygen cards in a timely and cost-effective manner an in sufficient quantities; the ability of the Company to obtain and keep design wins for these products; the ability of the Company's products to adequately meet the price/performance requirements of its customers; the success of the Company's customers in achieving sustained demand for systems incorporating the Company's current and future products; the ability of competitor to develop products and software drivers that meet or exceed the performance of the Company's Oxygen products and PowerThreads SSE drivers; the impact and pricing of competitive products; the introduction of alternative technological advances that exceed the performance of PowerThreads SSE and other risks detailed from time-to-time in 3Dlabs' SEC reports.
3Dlabs, Gamma, GLINT, Oxygen and PowerThreads are either registered trademarks or trademarks of 3Dlabs Inc. Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. Intel, Pentium and Xeon are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Intel Corporation. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. All other trademarks are acknowledged and recognized.
SOURCE: 3Dlabs, Inc.
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