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3dfx Unveils New Velocity Brand

The company that forged new ground for hard-core gamers goes after the corporate sector.

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Ever since the Voodoo Graphics chipset debuted back in 1996, 3dfx's products have always been aimed at gamers. From the ill-fated Voodoo Rush to the immensely popular Voodoo2, every 3dfx video chipset and video card has been designed squarely for the gaming community - be it for hard-core audiences or for the more casual types. All that changed earlier this morning when 3dfx unveiled two boards based on the company's new Velocity brand.

3dfx's Velocity line of boards is more suited toward corporate computing, and thus won't fall into favor with too many hard-core gamers. "The corporate desktop market represents a vast, untapped opportunity for 3dfx," says 3dfx CEO and president Greg Ballard. "Since our merger with STB Systems, we have been poised to leverage our patented technology, world-class manufacturing and distribution facilities, and after-sales support to deliver reliable, high-quality graphics products for this demanding market. Velocity will extend 3dfx's reach beyond the consumer space."

The Velocity 100 and 200 are the first boards to fall under 3dfx's new brand name. At the heart of each board is an "underclocked" Voodoo3 2000 chipset. While 3dfx couldn't comment on the clock speed of the chipset, we'll take an educated guess and estimate a 125MHz figure for both the Velocity 100 and 200 (standard Voodoo3 2000s zip along at 143MHz). Both are AGP 2X capable and support desktop resolutions as high 2046x1536. The primary difference between the two boards is their memory configurations - the Velocity 100 only has 8MB of SDRAM while the 200 boasts 16MB of faster SGRAM. And for software, the 200 will ship with full versions of PowerPlugs: Transitions II and Organic Art Deluxe 2.0, while the 100 will be limited to demos.

The Velocity 100 is available immediately for a list price of US$69. Pricing and availability for the 200 will be available at a later date. Look for announcements of low-end to mid-range business systems carrying 3dfx's Velocity boards sometime in the near future.

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