Diamond Monster 3D
The Monster 3D was Diamond's 3DFX Voodoo 3D graphics accelerator card - the first to be released. The 4 MB of onboard memory was split into 2 MB of frame buffer and 2 MB to store textures.
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Released | August 1996 |
| Bus | PCI | |
| Chipset | 3dfx Voodoo | |
| Standards | (none) | |
| Memory | 4 MB | |
| Ports | 15-pin DSUB (video passthrough) 15-pin DSUB (video out) |
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| Part # | ||
| FCC ID | FTUPCI2184M | |
| Price | At launch: $180 | |
| See Also |
The card came with six full-price 3D games:
- MechWarrior 2 (Activision)
- Hyperblade (Activision)
- Descent II: Destination Quartzon (Interplay)
- VR Soccer '96 (Interplay)
- Whiplash (Interplay)
- EF2000 (Ocean)
In addition, trial versions of Criterion Studio's Scorched Planet, Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider, and Microsoft's Game Sampler 2 featuring Hellbender and Monster Truck Madness were also bundled.
Board Revisions
Competition
In the Media
"DIAMOND OFFERS NEW MONSTER 3D GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR TO OEMS FOR THE ULTIMATE 3D ENTERTAINMENT SUBSYSTEM
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- August 6, 1996 -- Underscoring its commitment to delivering advanced computer gaming solutions, Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIMD) today at the Siggraph trade show announced it will begin offering its new Monster 3D™ graphics subsystem to OEMs looking to create high-performance PC gaming machines. Monster 3D, based on the 3Dfx Interactive Voodoo Graphics technology, is an advanced, 3D-only pass-through graphics subsystem that provides consistently high frame rates and high quality for the most demanding new 3D games. The PCI-bus architecture allows Monster 3D to work seamlessly with existing 2D graphics accelerators. With support for Windows® 95, MS-DOS and Windows 3.1x operating systems and acceleration for popular APIs, Monster 3D is ensured compatibility with the latest games on the market. The new subsystem is expected to begin shipping to OEMs this month, a retail version is planned for this Fall.
Diamond's Monster 3D delivers exceptional performance for games running under Microsoft's Direct3D API, the de facto development standard for creating high-end 3D games for the Windows 95 platform. "Broad software developer support for Direct3D, combined with the gaming engine on the Monster 3D, allows Diamond to deliver an extremely powerful OEM solution for advanced gaming performance under Windows 95,” said Kevin Dallas, product manager for DirectX at Microsoft Corp.
"3Dfx Interactive has seen widespread acceptance of Direct3D as a standard for game development," said Andy Keane, vice president of marketing for 3Dfx Interactive. "By combining Diamond's driver expertise with the Voodoo Graphics engine, we believe we have the ultimate Direct3D accelerator."
Monster 3D also supports additional development APIs, including 3DR, Renderware, BRender and others, ensuring compatibility with a large number of current and future entertainment titles. In addition, it supports the Glide API, an interface widely utilized in the creation of coin-op/arcade titles, providing game developers with easy porting capabilities. The new 3D-only accelerator operates transparently with popular VGA and Windows accelerators via an analog pass-through connector on Intel-based platforms.
"We believe this technology will deliver the ultimate gaming experience on the PC today,” said David Watkins, vice president and general manager of Diamond Multimedia's Visual Systems Division. "Diamond Multimedia is able to deliver a full-featured 3D-only solution to OEM and retail customers who want to leverage the growing market of PC gamers looking for the best performance in 3D entertainment.” With dedicated texture memory architecture, Monster 3D allows for advanced 3D rendering without sacrificing system performance. The subsystem provides high-end 3D features including full-speed Z-buffer; perspective corrected texture mapping; bi-linear and advanced composite texture filtering; MIP-mapping; double-buffered Gouraud shading; texture compositing, morphing and animation; and per-pixel special effects for transparent and translucent objects."
Diamond Multimedia, 6th August 1996
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- August 6, 1996 -- Underscoring its commitment to delivering advanced computer gaming solutions, Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIMD) today at the Siggraph trade show announced it will begin offering its new Monster 3D™ graphics subsystem to OEMs looking to create high-performance PC gaming machines. Monster 3D, based on the 3Dfx Interactive Voodoo Graphics technology, is an advanced, 3D-only pass-through graphics subsystem that provides consistently high frame rates and high quality for the most demanding new 3D games. The PCI-bus architecture allows Monster 3D to work seamlessly with existing 2D graphics accelerators. With support for Windows® 95, MS-DOS and Windows 3.1x operating systems and acceleration for popular APIs, Monster 3D is ensured compatibility with the latest games on the market. The new subsystem is expected to begin shipping to OEMs this month, a retail version is planned for this Fall.
Diamond's Monster 3D delivers exceptional performance for games running under Microsoft's Direct3D API, the de facto development standard for creating high-end 3D games for the Windows 95 platform. "Broad software developer support for Direct3D, combined with the gaming engine on the Monster 3D, allows Diamond to deliver an extremely powerful OEM solution for advanced gaming performance under Windows 95,” said Kevin Dallas, product manager for DirectX at Microsoft Corp.
"3Dfx Interactive has seen widespread acceptance of Direct3D as a standard for game development," said Andy Keane, vice president of marketing for 3Dfx Interactive. "By combining Diamond's driver expertise with the Voodoo Graphics engine, we believe we have the ultimate Direct3D accelerator."
Monster 3D also supports additional development APIs, including 3DR, Renderware, BRender and others, ensuring compatibility with a large number of current and future entertainment titles. In addition, it supports the Glide API, an interface widely utilized in the creation of coin-op/arcade titles, providing game developers with easy porting capabilities. The new 3D-only accelerator operates transparently with popular VGA and Windows accelerators via an analog pass-through connector on Intel-based platforms.
"We believe this technology will deliver the ultimate gaming experience on the PC today,” said David Watkins, vice president and general manager of Diamond Multimedia's Visual Systems Division. "Diamond Multimedia is able to deliver a full-featured 3D-only solution to OEM and retail customers who want to leverage the growing market of PC gamers looking for the best performance in 3D entertainment.” With dedicated texture memory architecture, Monster 3D allows for advanced 3D rendering without sacrificing system performance. The subsystem provides high-end 3D features including full-speed Z-buffer; perspective corrected texture mapping; bi-linear and advanced composite texture filtering; MIP-mapping; double-buffered Gouraud shading; texture compositing, morphing and animation; and per-pixel special effects for transparent and translucent objects."
Diamond Multimedia, 6th August 1996
Setting it Up
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Original Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
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More Pictures
The top image and first two images above are courtesy of Leo (aka Lord Quake)