Putas wrote:NitroX infinity wrote:Midas3 has 3 chips on the board, don't know if they're all part of the same chipset though
PowerVR was scalable, it can be one ISP with two TSPs combined. I was not aware such hardware existed outside of arcades.
Hi all,
Just thought I'd share some details about the Midas3 board.
It was marketed in small number by Compaq as they needed a graphics solution before the one chip design of PCX1 was finished and Voodoo1 was also not widely available.
A few years back I found this board:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51/img3123x.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/img3126u.jpg/
And searched for details about it and this is what I came up with:
"That's a Midas 3 card, which pre-dates PCX1. It was shipped with some Compaq machines. The chip to the top left is the ISP (polygon/hidden surface processor), top right, TSP (texturing and shading), and the bottom is the PCI bridge. The original plan was for an arcade system with multiple ISPs, hence separate chips.
These all got merged (with additional improvements) to become PCX1. "
"PowerVR has been adopted as the advanced 3D graphics accelerator by some of the world's leading PC suppliers, including Compaq Computers, the largest PC manufacturer worldwide, with the Presario 8000 range"
"NEC's ISP and TSP for arcade systems are fully scalable. Designers can boost systems performance using multiple ISP chips, multiple CPUs and/or higher performance CPUs.
The TSP and ISP are packaged in plastic 352-pin perimeter ball grid array “BGA” redirects here
NEC's single-chip PCX1 is slated for sampling in Q2 `96 and volume in Q3 `96.The devices are packaged in 208-pin, plastic quad flat packs (PQFPs). "
Here are some links explaining things in more detail:
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=11170
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/3d-graphics-cards … ic_PowerVR.html
240111-001 ASSY POWER VR 3D 3 CHIP
240113-001 SPS-BD GRHCS 3D V1 NOT AVAIL FOR REPLMNT
The description for the replacement card makes me think these got replaced in the Compaq portfolio by the Diamond Monster3D Voodoo Graphics card and the fact that I have Compaq badged V1 in my collection.
Cheers,
G1nX