3dfx Velocity 100

Notice that with its second TMU enabled, the Velocity 100 performs virtually identically to the Voodoo3 2000 under both Quake3 and Expendable. This similarity is despite the fact that the Velocity 100 only has 8MB of RAM and, like the rest of the Voodoo3 series, does not support AGP texturing.

Without the second TMU enabled for OpenGL and Glide apps, which is the default setting for the Velocity 100, Quake3 takes a major performance hit at all resolutions. This is not unexpected, as it is the same result we observed over a year ago when 3dfx introduced the single TMU Banshee.

Although 3dfx claims they have implemented all Windows GDI calls in hardware for all chips since the Banshee, which should give extremely fast 2D performance, the NVIDIA chips manage to come out ahead in Graphics Winbench 99. Further, the Velocity 100 has appeared to match the Voodoo3 2000 in every benchmark so far, but falls about 33% behind in Graphics Winbench 99, despite the fact that the Velocity features SGRAM memory, which is theoretically faster. The only plausible explanation is that the Velocity is limited by its 8MB of RAM. Note that in normal use, it would be nearly impossible to differentiate between the cards based on 2D performance differences. We have reached a level now where 2D performance is not a bottleneck in the system at all.

We weren’t sure what to expect with the Velocity 100 as its specifications and press release from 3dfx were somewhat vague. What we found was essentially a Voodoo3 2000 with only 8MB of RAM. The second TMU has been disabled by 3dfx under OpenGL/Glide for "memory management purposes," but we saw no disadvantage to enabling it via the registry key mentioned earlier.

With both TMU’s pumping out pixels, the Velocity 100 also performs identically to the Voodoo3 2000 in nearly all situations. Further, with a bit more cooling, our sample card would have overclocked to 166/166, putting it right in the Voodoo3 3000 range.

With its lack of AGP texturing support, the Velocity may fall behind as future games begin using more textures. Then again, we’ve been saying that since the dawn of AGP.

With all this in mind, the Velocity 100 makes an excellent budget alternative to the Voodoo3 2000. The performance is virtually identical, but the Velocity is about 1/3rd cheaper, currently hovering around $50. It has all the advantages, and shortcomings, of the Voodoo3 line. If you’ve wanted a Voodoo3, but couldn’t afford it, the Velocity is your answer.