Orchid Technology announced that its Righteous 3D 3Dfx-based graphics accelerator will return as the Righteous 3D II with the new 3Dfx Voodoo2 graphics chipset.

　　Although gamers of all shapes and sizes have been waiting awhile for the "when," Orchid instead announced the "what."

　　The new board would be equipped with 8 megs of EDO DRAM. Earlier rumors had many under the impression that new 3Dfx Voodoo 2- based boards have only 8 meg of memory. We called Orchid's competition, Diamond Multimedia, to see if it planned to use 8 megs as well and a spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the information although we expect that it will match Orchid's setup.

　　The RAM is broken up as 4 megs for texture memory, which allows for smoother transitioning and extra room for larger game textures, and 4 megs for a frame buffer, which will aid in allowing games at higher resolution and better image quality.

　　"With explosive results that rival any arcade-like gaming system, Righteous 3D's next generation, the Righteous 3D II, captivates its participants and propels them into its three-dimensional world of superior visual imagery," says Fred Dietrich, president and COO for Micronics Computers Inc./Orchid Technology.

　　Gamers should start seeing the RII3D on shelves at the start of the second quarter.