wireframe with AA 

OpenGL Driver	Special Driver

Speaking generally about the 3ds max, I must say that 3Dlabs' solutions are not a good choice for this packet. We do not recommend using the special driver for the fifth version of the packet because of too many bugs. Also, it doesn't make any sense to use the standard OpenGL driver because the operation is quite slow. We hope 3Dlabs will soon develop a high-quality driver for the 3ds max 5/6. At the moment the Wildcat VP990 Pro is not the best choice for the latest versions of 3ds max. The most optimal pick are NVIDIA's and ATI's products. Although their special drivers are not ideal, they are faster and deliver better quality. 

Now we have the CAD applications, and the first one is SolidWorks2001.

3Dlabs' products are matchless here.

The FireGL has a problems in this test: it works incorrectly with AA enabled. At a certain moment the test starts drawing such picture:

Now comes the SolidEdge results.

Here the 3Dlabs cards work more or less well again.

The last test is the DCC LightWave 7.

The 3Dlabs Wildcat VP 990 Pro card seems to be the  best choice for the LightWave. It outscores its competitors in most tests. In some tests the influence of the CPUs is well seen. Two Intel Xeon 2.4 GHz CPUs with HyperThreading enabled are not always enough for such powerful cards. The speed in the GoldenGate_Night scene with AA disabled is equal fo all cards including the Wildcat VP990 Pro that works in the geometry optimization mode, and it seems that it's limited by the CPU. But in the texturing optimization mode the Wildcat shows much better scores. First we thought that it was just inaccuracy. We checked it three times and got the same results. Probably, in this mode the unit that controls this process works much faster. Anyway, the changes that take place when we switch these modes are not minor because it's necessary to restart the system when changing the mode.

Look how the FireGL works in Bubbler and MechWalker_wfog scenes with AA enabled:

Such picture can be seen only in static frames. The animation works perfectly, though the speed is a bit lower. 

The other cards don't have any such problems.

Below are the lists of OpenGL extensions for 3Dlabs cards, as well as for NVIDIA's and ATI's ones for comparison. The OpenGL extensions supported are identical for the VP family as the cards are based on the same chip. 

OpenGL information
------------------

Vendor: 3Dlabs
Renderer: Wildcat VP990 Pro - GL2
Version: 1.3.1

Extensions:
GL_ARB_multitexture
GL_ARB_texture_env_add
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
GL_EXT_bgra
GL_EXT_blend_subtract
GL_EXT_blend_minmax
GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array
GL_EXT_polygon_offset
GL_EXT_rescale_normal
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color
GL_EXT_secondary_color
GL_EXT_texture3D
GL_EXT_texture_object
GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp
GL_EXT_texture_env_add
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3
GL_EXT_texture_cube_map
GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
GL_SGIS_multitexture
GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp
GL_SGIS_texture_lod
GL_NV_register_combiners
GL_NV_vertex_program
GL_NV_texgen_reflection
GL_WIN_swap_hint
GL_GL2_geometry_shader
GL_KTX_buffer_region

OpenGL information
------------------

Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Renderer: Quadro FX 1000/AGP/SSE2
Version: 1.4.0

Extensions:
GL_ARB_depth_texture
GL_ARB_fragment_program
GL_ARB_imaging
GL_ARB_multisample
GL_ARB_multitexture
GL_ARB_point_parameters
GL_ARB_shadow
GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
GL_ARB_texture_compression
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
GL_ARB_texture_env_add
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
GL_ARB_vertex_program
GL_ARB_window_pos
GL_S3_s3tc
GL_EXT_abgr
GL_EXT_bgra
GL_EXT_blend_color
GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
GL_EXT_blend_minmax
GL_EXT_blend_subtract
GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array
GL_EXT_draw_range_elements
GL_EXT_fog_coord
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
GL_EXT_packed_pixels
GL_EXT_point_parameters
GL_EXT_rescale_normal
GL_EXT_secondary_color
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color
GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
GL_EXT_stencil_two_side
GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
GL_EXT_texture3D
GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
GL_EXT_texture_cube_map
GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp
GL_EXT_texture_env_add
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3
GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic
GL_EXT_texture_lod
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
GL_EXT_texture_object
GL_EXT_vertex_array
GL_HP_occlusion_test
GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat
GL_KTX_buffer_region
GL_NV_blend_square
GL_NV_copy_depth_to_color
GL_NV_depth_clamp
GL_NV_fence
GL_NVX_flush_hold
GL_NV_float_buffer
GL_NV_fog_distance
GL_NV_fragment_program
GL_NV_half_float
GL_NV_light_max_exponent
GL_NV_multisample_filter_hint
GL_NV_occlusion_query
GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil
GL_NV_pixel_data_range
GL_NV_point_sprite
GL_NV_primitive_restart
GL_NV_register_combiners
GL_NV_register_combiners2
GL_NV_texgen_reflection
GL_NV_texture_compression_vtc
GL_NV_texture_env_combine4
GL_NV_texture_expand_normal
GL_NV_texture_rectangle
GL_NV_texture_shader
GL_NV_texture_shader2
GL_NV_texture_shader3
GL_NV_vertex_array_range
GL_NV_vertex_array_range2
GL_NV_vertex_program
GL_NV_vertex_program1_1
GL_NV_vertex_program2
GL_NVX_ycrcb
GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
GL_SGIS_texture_lod
GL_SGIX_depth_texture
GL_SGIX_shadow
GL_WIN_swap_hint
WGL_EXT_swap_control
GL_Autodesk_valid_back_buffer_hint

OpenGL information
------------------

Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: Fire GL X1 Pentium 4 (SSE2)
Version: 1.3.1028

Extensions:
GL_ARB_multitexture
GL_EXT_texture_env_add
GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array
GL_S3_s3tc
GL_ARB_depth_texture
GL_ARB_fragment_program
GL_ARB_multisample
GL_ARB_point_parameters
GL_ARB_shadow
GL_ARB_shadow_ambient
GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
GL_ARB_texture_compression
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
GL_ARB_texture_env_add
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
GL_ARB_vertex_blend
GL_ARB_vertex_program
GL_ARB_window_pos
GL_ATI_draw_buffers
GL_ATI_element_array
GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap
GL_ATI_fragment_shader
GL_ATI_map_object_buffer
GL_ATI_separate_stencil
GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3
GL_ATI_texture_float
GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once
GL_ATI_vertex_array_object
GL_ATI_vertex_attrib_array_object
GL_ATI_vertex_streams
GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3
GL_ATIX_texture_env_route
GL_ATIX_vertex_shader_output_point_size
GL_EXT_abgr
GL_EXT_bgra
GL_EXT_blend_color
GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
GL_EXT_blend_minmax
GL_EXT_blend_subtract
GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint
GL_EXT_draw_range_elements
GL_EXT_fog_coord
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
GL_EXT_packed_pixels
GL_EXT_point_parameters
GL_EXT_rescale_normal
GL_EXT_polygon_offset
GL_EXT_secondary_color
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color
GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
GL_EXT_texgen_reflection
GL_EXT_texture3D
GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
GL_EXT_texture_cube_map
GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3
GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
GL_EXT_texture_object
GL_EXT_texture_rectangle
GL_EXT_vertex_array
GL_EXT_vertex_shader
GL_HP_occlusion_test
GL_KTX_buffer_region
GL_NV_texgen_reflection
GL_NV_blend_square
GL_NV_occlusion_query
GL_SGI_color_matrix
GL_SGI_texture_edge_clamp
GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp
GL_SGIS_texture_lod
GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
GL_SGIS_multitexture
GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays
GL_WIN_swap_hint
WGL_EXT_extensions_string
WGL_EXT_swap_control

Conclusion

The 3Dlabs Wildcat VP990 Pro is a good choice for professional DCC and CAD applications. The card works perfectly in the LightWave 7, but looks pale in 3ds. However powerful a VPU can be, it doesn't help much without respective optimization of the drivers. And 3Dlabs have quite big problems with the driver optimization for 3ds max 5. We hope the developers will take it into account. In all other respects, we have no more complaints about performance of the cards and drivers. 

Highs:

• Excellent build quality;
• High performance of the drivers in most applications;
• Reliable operation of the cards in most applications. 

Lows:

• No special driver for 3ds max 5/6, low quality and performance in this application;
• Conservative accessory pack - only the necessities are supplied;
• Few OpenGL extensions supported. 

Article navigation: