Hercules Leaks Rendition V2200 Details Early

Oops. Hercules announced their new Rendition V2200 video card before Rendition announced V2200. I gues we all knew it was coming, but not to this depth. Rendition will be formally announcing the chip in a few days.

Check out the details:

Hercules Computer Technology has surprised everyone–including Rendition–by announcing the Thriller 3D, a 2D/3D accelerator based on Rendition’s yet-to-be-announced V2200 chip.

Rendition plans to unveil the V2200 officially on August 18. The company had briefed the media, including Gamecenter, about the new chip under the terms of a nondisclosure agreement. However, in its August 11 description of the Thriller 3D, Hercules totally spilled the beans, much to Rendition’s chagrin. The official word from Rendition is that there was a miscommunication between the two companies as to when the V2200 would be announced. The unofficial word is much less polite, because Hercules’ blunder undermines Rendition’s public relations effort. Hercules’ release also confirms details about the V2200 that Gamecenter first reported last June.

On paper, the Thriller 3D looks like an exciting card with an excellent price/performance ratio. Equipped with 4MB of 125-MHz, 8-nanosecond SGRAM, the card will retail for $179; an 8MB version of the card will sell for $249. Hercules will build both PCI and AGP configurations. The V2200’s 230-MHz DAC will deliver resolutions as high as 1,600 by 1,200 with 16-bit color depth and a refresh rate of 85 Hz. With 24-bit color depth, the chip will produce 1,280 by 1,024 resolution at a refresh rate of 90 Hz.

The card will feature NTSC video out for use with a television set, but it will also have a video-in jack, for full-motion video capture, videoconferencing, and similar applications. Also on the mounting bracket: a jack for stereo 3D glasses, although Hercules apparently doesn’t plan to bundle a set of glasses with the card.

Hercules plans to ship the Thriller 3D sometime in September. Gamecenter will post a comprehensive review as soon as we can get our hands on the card.