• Voodoo4/5 now has the same pixel as texel throughput (used to be half).
• A bit of improvement on the DVD side.
• Forward & backward compatible drivers.
• Improved texture combine/texture blend modes (now fully compatible with DX6 & 7 and OpenGL 1.2 texture blend modes).
• Video downscaling problems have been fixed.

Microsoft has agreed to incorporate T-Buffer technology into DirectX at some point so non-Glide games can take advantage of the cinematic effects (Motion Blur, Depth of Field and soft shadows and Anti-aliasing) as well.

We'll have more in-depth coverage of Voodoo4/5 soon, but until we actually have something to test, remember this is all words and paper. We're just glad they choose not to actually call it Napalm.

While 3dfx is prepping us all for their next big thing, NVIDIA has the current big thing. GeForce 256 boards were out in full force at the show. Where there was a high-powered system, there was usually a monitor hat noting GeForce 256 inside. This is a graphic demonstration (no pun intended) of NVIDIA's strength in the OEM sector. Whilst 3dfx touts PC Data retail sales results, NVIDIA points to their exceptional domination of both tier one and tier two OEM systems. (They even had a chart made up, we'll try to get a copy for next time.)

A few of you have asked us about the possibility of there being GeForce 256 PCI versions and/or boards for the Mac. According to NVIDIA, they're both possibilities and on their radar. NVIDIA actually makes reference PCI designs of ALL their boards even though we'd never know it as no OEM has yet picked up on doing a PCI TNT2 or GeForce 256. Thus 3dfx has the PCI-bound world mostly to themselves (if you don't take the Neon 250 PCI into account, which was also just announced).

Also, NVIDIA's meeting rooms had exceptional dynamic lighting! But more importantly they did let us know that they have been working with AMD to combat the current GeForce 256 (and other high end cards) AGP mini-port driver issues with the Athlon. They've promised us the official line soon, hopefully with a patch so you can hold back on those cards and letters while they get it sorted.

Also, the 'M' in TNT2 M64 stands for 'Model' and not Mapalm.