You know you could be witnessing the next 3D graphics revolution when you're told by 3Dfx employees that while the Voodoo 2 is amazing, it has one big problem - monitors just can't keep up with it. Computer monitors just aren't fast enough to show off the true power of the board.

　　So after listening to people on the Web who have tweaked their Voodoo boards and bragged about how they can milk 35 frames per second or more out of their PCs, what one reporter saw at 3Dfx's headquarters in San Jose today is sure to send them all salivating like Pavlovian puppies in a hamburger factory.

　　Walking into 3Dfx's demo room with a bunch of motherboards bolted down to blocks, you'd think this was a secret government room from an episode of the X-Files - until you see the familiar screen from Quake light up on a monitor and run the time demo function at 640x480, the result: 96.2. Then they run the time demo again at 800x600: 78.6.

　　The test unit was running some hefty hardware with Windows NT 4.0 and a Pentium II 266 on a 440FX-based motherboard with some pre-alpha drivers that weren't fully optimized, but most gamers would easily be happy with anything over 40 fps. 3Dfx says Voodoo 2 can get up to 140 fps in 640x480.

　　So does Voodoo 2 change games like GL Quake drastically? It looks almost the same right now except that everything feels like it is going ten times faster. The GL Quake2 Compatibility Test, also in its infancy stages, was running a little slower but far faster than on the original Voodoo Graphics chipset.

　　Because Voodoo 2 accelerates current games like GL Quake so much, 3Dfx is asking companies to focus on putting more detail into their games so that they don't run too fast - and take advantage of all the amazing image processing that the Voodoo 2 does.

　　If the graphics in GL-accelerated games like Quake 2 or Half-Life are any indication of what the first generation of titles will look like, imagine what the second ones are going to become.

　　The history of the Voodoo 2 begins with the arcade racer, San Francisco Rush. The same technology in that game's hardware, specifically the secondary texture buffer, is what makes the game really shine. What does it do? One example is that it makes the back window on the Rush autos reflect the sky as the vehicles cruise past. It's a small effect but it definitely brings the game up to a higher level of realism.

　　3Dfx is ramping up support for the new board and has gone ahead and said the board will be fully optimized for Microsoft's upcoming Direct X 6.0 (which focuses a great deal on Direct 3D).

　　Glide support remains the same, which is good for developers and gamers alike. Any game that you can currently run on the original Voodoo chipset will run on the Voodoo 2. 3Dfx also assured me that it's been working with id Software's Brian Hook (an ex-3Dfx employee) in making sure that the shipping version of Quake II will support multitexturing.

　　One of the biggest features has to be Scanline Interleave mode (SLI). This technology allows a gamer to place two Voodoo 2 boards beside one another, attach the Voodoo cable between them and actually get the power of the combined boards. Although this capability was part of the original Voodoo chip, companies building consumer-based Voodoo boards never sought to use it. Only one Voodoo-based card, the Quantum 3D, uses SLI - which to the dismay of many gamers retails for over US$1000.

　　So what do gamers do in the meantime? Sit back and wait a little while - boards won't be hitting stores until sometime in the mid- to late first quarter of 1998. So go get some sleep now, you'll be losing plenty of it when the Voodoo 2 finally goes on sale.