On 24 Jun 98 at 17:47, Edward Tucker wrote:

> Maybe someone can clear up a little confusion here. What is the
> difference between a 3D graphics card, and a 3D accelerator card,
> or are they the same thing with different names.

  There are three sorts of cards which might be referred to by names
like this, and the thing is that each manufacturer might make some
use of each term for any of them.

  At the low end are mid-range 2D cards that include some kind of 3D
support; examples that spring to mind are the Matrox Mystique and the
S3 Virge.  These are not the highest-performing 2D cards around, and
their 3D support is barely adequate.

  Most of the popular 3D cards, using Voodoo or PowerVR or other
chipsets, connect to your existing 2D card; when an application
requests 3D operations, the 2D card shuts off and the 3D card takes
over, using the existing monitor connection.

  At the very high end, there are cards available which provide
on-board hardware implementations of the OpenGL graphics API.  These
start at about $800 and go up from there, so unless you have a
specialized need, you'll probably ignore them.


  So when someone refers to a "3D graphics card", they *probably*
mean one in the mid-range.  And since it only comes into play when
software requests it, "3D accelerator" is also a reasonable
description.

David G