“Our primary goal at Sierra On-Line is to create the ultiamte gaming experience… and the Screamin’ 3D Graphics Accelerator is another step toward that goal” – Ken Williams.
Released in November 1996 for a suggested retail price of $199.00, Sierra’s Screamin’ 3D graphics card came bundled with Indy Car II, CyberGladiators, Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II, and a demo version of iD Software’s Quake, which was specifically programmed for the card.
Sierra Screamin’ 3D utilized the Verite V1000 chipset, made by Rendition. The V1000 was the first graphics controller to utilize a programmable core to render 3D graphics. The card was equipped with 4 MB of EDO DRAM and supported Microsoft’s Direct 3D.
One of the drawbacks to this chipset was sluggish 2D graphics performance. To keep ahead of the competition, Sierra worked with Canopus Corporation in Japan to optimize the card’s drivers, boosting 2D performance up to 30% comapred to other cards with the same chipset such as the Creative 3D Blaster.
Sierra Screamin’ 3D was the only graphics card the company ever sold.
More details on the Verite V1000 chipset at Wikipedia.
