FALL COMDEX–LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 17, 1997 – Quantum3D, Inc. today announced its support for 3Dfx Interactive's revolutionary new graphics chipset, Voodoo². Codenamed “Obsidian2^”, the second generation of Quantum3D's Obsidian family of realtime 3D graphics accelerators will employ advanced configurations of the Voodoo² chipset to achieve new levels of absolute 3D performance as well as maintain the Obsidian family's industry-wide lead in realtime 3D price/performance. Targeted for volume shipment in calendar Q298, the Obsidian2 products are being designed to compliment Quantum3D's current Obsidian product family, which includes the Obsidian 100SB (Quantum3D's current top-of-the-line realtime 3D graphics accelerator)-- that delivers pixel fill rate performance equivalent to the performance announced by 3Dfx for dual texelfx implementations of the Voodoo² graphics chipset.

“Our current 100SB provides a great preview of what Voodoo² portends—which is simply unparalleled realtime 3D performance,” said Ross Smith, Quantum3D vice president of sales and marketing and one of the founders of 3Dfx Interactive. “The 100SB's parallel `Voodoo-1' chipset implementation produces about 2.4 Gigabytes per second of dedicated 3D graphics bandwidth-- which is about the same as the 2.2 Gigabytes per second that a two texelfx Voodoo² implementation will produce. That's why both products deliver approximately the same fill rate performance-- 90 Megapixels per second with all the adjectives. It's this high fill rate that has been the key to the 100SB's success in the vis sim, LBE, and coin-op markets against SGI, E&S, and Real3D. And of course, this performance hasn't been lost on a number of affluent Quake fans who want to dispatch their opponents at frame rates and resolutions that their less fortunate friends will only get to experience in HyperWare's Obsidian-equipped arcade systems or on consumer level graphics boards sometime next summer.”

Voodoo2 Performance Today

The Obsidian 100SB, which is currently shipping in volume, starts at $795 MSRP, and is available directly from Quantum3D, its authorized distributors including Datapath in the UK and Bussan Micro in Japan, and Falcon Northwest-- the leader in consumer PCs specifically crafted for games which recently won the “Ultimate Gamer Rig” award from Computer Gaming World while equipped with an Obsidian 100SB-4400. Demonstrations of the Obsidian 100SB and a technology demonstration of the Obsidian2 will be conducted in the Datapath Booth in the UK Pavillion at Fall Comdex (Sands Pavillion, Booth #3650). Additional demonstrations of the Obsidian 100SB and Quantum3D's Obsidian3DS bundle for digital content visualization applications will be conducted in Quantum3D partner booths including Alliance Semiconductor (Booth #M6358), Intel Corporation (Booth #N109), and NEC USA Inc. (Booth #L2612).

The performance of the Obsidian2, as indicated by the current performance achieved by the 100SB family when coupled with Intel Pentium MMX or Pentium-II processors, should significantly exceed the performance delivered by other commercially available PCI-based graphics accelerators, as well as most graphics workstations and image generators--irrespective of cost. This high level of performance is demonstrable on professional applications such as visual simulation and training as well as on consumer level applications such as 3D games. On GLQuake '97 “timedemo1” at a resolution of 640 x 480, the 100SB-4440, when coupled with an Intel Pentium 233MMX system running Windows95 OSR2.1, achieves an average frame rate of 95.2 frames per second -- comparable to the frame rates achieved on the Voodoo² “4220” reference board as published by 3Dfx Interactive. On Gemini Technology's OpenGVS Real World Benchmark Release 2.0, a popular multi-platform benchmark from the visual simulation community, the Obsidian 100SB-4440, when coupled with a 300 MHz Intel Pentium II PC running WindowsNT 4.0, delivers an average frame rate of 97.1 frames per second on the benchmark when run at 640 x 480 resolution in single buffered mode. Such performance is approximately four times the performance achieved by graphics boards based on the new Evans & Sutherland/Mitsubishi/VSIS 3Dpro/2mp chipset (score of 26.2), five times the performance of the Silicon Graphics O² (score of 15.4), and 1.5 times the performance of the Real3D Pro 1000 model 1400 (score of 59.9). Additional information on the OpenGVS Real World Benchmark Release 2.0 may be found at (.

“Fill rate is crucial to high frame rates—which is why we only use the 100SB family as the standard for our VRSG and ChannelSurfer products and why we're so excited about Quantum3D's upcoming Voodoo² based products,” said W. Garth Smith, co-founder of MetaVR, Inc. “Quantum3D builds the coolest 3Dfx graphics accelerators on the planet. That the 100SB's fill rate matches that of announced Voodoo² boards leads us to believe that Quantum's Obsidian2 products will set the standard for Voodoo² just like they have for Voodoo Graphics. Plus-- with the new trade-in option, we can take advantage of 100SB products today with the knowledge that the Obsidian2 upgrade will be cost-effective in the future. Our customers are shocked when we double their performance every six months with an affordable upgrade.”

Trade-In Program Announced

In a move to protect customers' investments in Obsidian and Voodoo Graphics technology, Quantum3D separately announced that it is implementing a “trade-in” program that will enable customers that have purchased consumer-level Voodoo Graphics based boards or entry-level and/or mid-range Obsidian series products to trade in their current boards on more advanced Obsidian realtime 3D graphics accelerators. As a result of the trade-in program, owners of Obsidian 50-2200, 50-2220, 50-4220, 50-4440, Diamond Multimedia Monster3D, Orchid Righteous3D, or other competitive “3D-only” Voodoo Graphics based products will be eligible to receive as much as a $200 (U.S.) rebate when they trade-in their board(s) towards the purchase of Obsidian3DS or Obsidian 100SB series products. In addition, Quantum3D announced that it would be implementing a similar trade-in option for customers who desire to trade-in their Voodoo Graphics accelerators for Quantum3D's Voodoo² –based Obsidian2 realtime 3D graphics accelerators. Further information on the current trade-in program offer will be posted on the Quantum3D website at . Details of the Obsidian2 trade-in program will be announced in Q198, concurrent with the announcement of commercial availability of the Obsidian2 product family.

About the Obsidian Family

Based on advanced configurations of 3Dfx Interactive's Voodoo Graphics chipset, Quantum3D's Obsidian family of realtime 3D graphics accelerators are tailored to meet the needs of specific professional realtime 3D markets. The Obsidian products enable Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha AXP architecture-based PCs to deliver interactive, visually realistic 3D graphics at performance levels equal to or beyond those of high-end graphics workstations and image generators.

The most recently announced member of the Obsidian family consists of the 100SB series of products. Based on 4- or 6-chip scan-line-interleaved (“SLI”) implementations of 3Dfx Interactive`s award-winning Voodoo Graphics chipset, the Obsidian 100SB maximizes the use of the chipset's patent-pending “texture streaming” architecture to produce up to 2.4 Gigabytes per second of dedicated graphics memory bandwidth. Such a high level of low-latency bandwidth enables the 100SB to deliver filtered texture fill rate performance of 90 Megapixels per second, with trilinear or bilinear texture filtering with per pixel LOD MIP mapping, z-buffering, alpha blending, perspective correction and per pixel fog enabled. Such performance is equivalent to the anticipated performance of dual texture processor chipset implementations of the recently announced Voodoo² chipset by 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.

The Obsidian 50-4440 and 100SB-4440 models have been selected as the reference graphics subsystems for the Open Arcade Architecture Forum (OAAF) specification for PC-based coin-op systems (http://www.openarcade.com) sponsored by Intel Corporation. Obsidian products are currently employed by a number of visual simulation, training, PC-based coin-op/LBE OEMs, and game developers including Advanced Rotorcraft Technology, Argonaut3D, Bentley Systems, Boeing, Criterion Studios, Datapath/RealiMation, Digital Equipment Corporation, Dreamality, Electronic Arts, ECC, Falcon Northwest, FAROS, FASA Interactive, Gemini Technology, HanaHo ArcadePC, HyperWare, Hybrid, Immersive VR, Immersion Australia, Interactive Light, LBE Technologies, LBE Systems, MaK Technology, McFadden Entertainment Systems, MetaVR, Inc., Paragon Systems, QuantumWorks, Reality², Reality by Design, RenderWare, Ritual, Renault, SAIC, Sense8, Streak Technology, Systems Technology, Inc. (STI), TSC, Unreal and others.

About The Company

Quantum3D, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, develops and markets price/performance leading solutions for the advanced visual computing marketplace. Quantum3D focuses on delivering “Affordable Reality” solutions, which include integrated PC-based visualization systems, realtime 3D graphics accelerators for PC-based coin-op/LBE, visual simulation and training, and digital content visualization markets and low-cost, high performance, true color graphics accelerators for volume workstation applications. Quantum3D also markets related systems software including OpenGVS from Gemini Technology and RealiStorm from Datapath Inc., along with tools and subsystems that enable its customers to exploit the full capabilities of the company's systems and graphics hardware products.

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Quantum3D, Obsidian, Obsidian2, the Quantum3D logo, SyncLock, MGV and Affordable Reality are trademarks of Quantum3D, Inc. 3Dfx Interactive, Voodoo Graphics, and Voodoo² are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. OpenGVS is a trademark of Gemini Technology, Inc. Microsoft, DOS, Windows95 and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. MetaVR, VRSG, and ChannelSurfer are trademarks of MetaVR, Inc. GLQuake is a trademark of id Software, Inc. Intel, Pentium, and Pentium-II are trademarks of Intel Corporation. RealiStorm and Datapath are trademarks of Datapath, Ltd. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.