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NEC and VideoLogic announced yesterday that they have delivered production quantities of the PowerVR 2DC graphics chip to Sega for inclusion in its upcoming Dreamcast console system. It was also announced that early evaluation samples of the PC version of this PowerVR Series2 technology will be available in November.
The PowerVR architecture beat out 3Dfx in the battle to be the graphics for Dreamcast, which is expected to begin shipping in Japan on November 20 of this year, with a U.S. version to follow in fall 1999. Like upcoming graphics chips from S3, ATI, and 3Dlabs, the PowerVR 2DC was built with a .25-micron process and will run at 100 MHz. The same 3D core will also be integrated into chips for the PC and arcade markets.
According to NEC product marketing manager Charles Bellfield, PowerVR 2DC--when combined with the very fast floating point performance of the Hitachi RISC processor included in Dreamcast--will be able to deliver 3D performance far exceeding what is available on today's PCs.
The PC version of PowerVR Series2 has been delayed because NEC and VideoLogic reevaluated their timing and strategy. "Back in March, when a lot of competitors announced products, we were able to evaluate the marketplace," explained Bellfield. "We were aware of where we needed to be to be highly competitive, so we are bringing forward a mid-'99 product to 1998 to compete with the performance of products shipping this year."
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