Sega Model 3

From Sega Retro

Model3 fullboard.jpg
Sega Model 3
Manufacturer: Sega
Release Date RRP Code

The Sega Model 3 is an arcade platform produced by Sega. It is a successor to the Sega Model 2 platform, and was released in 1996.

The Model 3 hardware is very different to the Sega Model 1 and Model 2 boards which preceded it. The Model 3 utilized Real3D Pro-1000 graphics processing units, designed by Real3D in partnership with Mitsubishi. The Model 3 was designed to push as many textured polygons as possible in real-time, along with the most advanced graphical techniques available at the time, such as multisample anti-aliasing, motion blur, facial animation, specular highlighting/reflection/shading, and multiple light sources. Upon release, the Model 3 board was more powerful than any other arcade platform on the market, as well as any home console or computer at the time; it took several years for home systems to catch-up to the Model 3.

The Model 3 was succeeded by the Sega NAOMI in 1998, followed by the Sega Hikaru in 1999 and Sega NAOMI 2 in 2000.

History

The Model 3 board went through a series of delays which frustrated Sega. Following their success with the Model 2's texture-mapping chip, Real3D (a spin-off company from Lockheed Martin) were unable to finalise the specifications of the Model 3's GPU, the Real3D Pro-1000 graphics processors, until late 1995 or early 1996. By this time, Real3D had partnered with Mitsubishi, which provided the ALU and graphics memory for the Pro-1000.[1] Sega had planned to release the Model 3 board in late 1995 along with three games, one of which, Indy 500, was reportedly downgraded to Model 2 hardware thanks to the troubles.[2] In late 1995, Yu Suzuki promised the Model 3 would deliver "the best 3D graphics".[3] When the Model 3 specification was finalized, it used two Real3D Pro-1000 processors, including four Mitsubishi 3D-RAM ALU chips.[4] The Model 3 eventually debuted, with Virtua Fighter 3 as its first game, at the AOU Show 1996 in February 1996, and was followed by Scud Race later that year. The board was officially supported until 1999, to make room for the Sega NAOMI and its successors, the Sega Hikaru and NAOMI 2.

The Model 3 went through a number of revisions (steps) in which improvements were made the system and board architecture was changed. These "steppings" mainly increased the clock speed of the CPU and the speed of the 3D engine, as well as minor changes to the board architecture.[4] Step 1.0 and Step 1.5 released in 1996, Step 2.0 in 1997, and Step 2.1 in 1998. Though there was much talk of Model 3 games being ported to the Sega Saturn, all home ports of Model 3 games were seen on the Sega Dreamcast, including the likes of Sega Rally 2, Virtua Fighter 3tb, Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram and Virtua Striker 2.

It was the most powerful game system in its time, an order of magnitude more powerful than PC graphics cards from 1998, which were still producing Model 2 quality graphics, two years years after the Model 3's release.[5] By 2000, the Sega Model 2 & 3 had sold over 200,000 arcade systems worldwide,[6] making them some of the best-selling arcade game boards of all time. At around $15,000 each (for the Model 2, with the Model 3 costing higher), this amounts to at least over $3 billion revenue from cabinet sales, equivalent to over $4.9 billion in 2014.

From the early 1970s, arcades had been at the forefront of graphical technology in video games. The Model 3 hardware as well as competitors from this era were also leading the industry from a graphical perspective at the time, compared to PCs which were still producing Model 2 quality graphics in 1998,[5] but the gap began to slowly narrow after that, as PCs would begin to benefit from hardware accelerated graphics towards the end of the decade. Beginning with the co-development of the Sega Dreamcast console and Sega NAOMI arcade system, both released in 1998, consoles and later PCs would slowly become the basis for arcade systems, rather than the reverse as it had been up until this point. The last proprietary Sega arcade systems would be the Sega Hikaru and Sega NAOMI 2, after which PCs would overtake arcade systems as the forefront of graphical technology. Today, arcade games are built primarily around controls and the experience one gets from a game as opposed to graphical potential. Complex motion cabinets, and large, unique forms of control unsuitable for households is what drives the arcade industry in the present day.

Technical Specifications

Step 1.0 Specifications

Technical specifications for the Sega Model 3 Step 1.0: [4]

Sound

Graphics

Memory

  • Memory: Up to 243 MB (136 MB main, 89.157226 MB video, 17.570312 MB sound, 320 KB other) [9]
  • RAM: 35,369 KB (34.540039 MB)
  • ROM: Up to 208.5 MB (128 MB CROM, 64 MB VROM, 16.5 MB SROM)
    • ROM access time: 100 nanoseconds [10]
    • High-speed access allows ROM to effectively be used as RAM, and polygon/texture data streamed directly from VROM to the GPU.

Step 1.5 Specifications

The Sega Model 3 Step 1.5, released in late 1996, had a higher CPU clock rate and faster 3D engine: [4]

  • Board Composition: CPU + VIDEO + ROM boards
  • Main CPU: IBM-Motorola PowerPC 603e @ 100 MHz (300 MIPS, 200 MFLOPS)

Graphics

  • Video board: Sega 837-12875 MODEL3 STEP 1.5
  • GPU: 2× Sega 315-5830-B (Real3D Pro‑1000) @ 66 MHz
    • ALU: 4× Mitsubishi 3D‑RAM (33 MHz)
      • Performance: 528 million operations/sec, 7 million vectors/sec, 4 million tiles/sec
    • Geometrizers: 2× Geometry Engine ASIC (66 MHz, 2× 32-bit floating-point units)
    • Renderers: 2× Pixel Processors (66 MHz)
    • Texture units: 2 Texture Processors (66 MHz)
  • Geometric performance:
    • Raw polygons: 4 million triangles/sec
    • Textured polygons: 2.64 million triangles/sec (1.32 million quads/sec), with shading, translucency, anti-aliasing, fog, lighting and Z-buffering
  • 3D-RAM fillrate:
    • Framebuffers: 528 million pixels/sec (write), 2.112 billion pixels/sec (erase)
    • Polygons: 300 million pixels/sec (3 million triangles/sec), 200 million pixels/sec (4 million triangles/sec)
  • Renderer fillrate: 356 million pixels/sec (framebuffers), 132 million pixels/sec (polygons)
  • Texture fillrate: 132 million texels/sec

Step 2.0 Specifications

The Sega Model 3 Step 2.0, released in 1997, was a substantial upgrade, with a higher CPU clock rate, significantly faster 3D engine (with an increased number of graphics chips), and more memory: [4]

  • Board Composition: CPU + VIDEO + ROM boards
  • CPU: IBM-Motorola PowerPC 603ev @ 166 MHz (498 MIPS, 332 MFLOPS)

Graphics

  • Video board: Sega 837-12716 MODEL3 STEP2
  • GPU: 6× Sega 315-6060 (Real3D Pro‑1000) @ 50 MHz [11][12]
    • ALU: 15× Mitsubishi 3D‑RAM (33 MHz, 2-3 ALU per GPU) [13][15]
      • Render output units: 48× 8-bit ROP/blend units (33 MHz), 24× 32-bit Z‑compare units (33 MHz)
      • Framebuffer bandwidth: 6.6 GB/sec (1.1 GB/sec per GPU, 546 MB/sec per ALU)
      • Performance: 1.584 billion operations/sec, 21 million vectors/sec, 12 million tiles/sec
    • Geometrizers: 6× Geometry Engine ASIC (50 MHz, 6× 32-bit floating-point units)
      • Lighting: 12 light spots, 12 spot lights
    • Renderers: 6× Pixel Processors (50 MHz)
    • Texture units: 6× Texture Processors (50 MHz)
      • Texture RAM: 21 MB (42× 512 KB) on-board Mitsubishi CDRAM (33 MHz), 6.187 GB/sec (24× 264 MB/sec) texture RAM bandwidth [20]
    • Other features: 6 DMA devices, 6 tile generators, 6 Fragment Processors
  • Geometric performance:
    • Raw polygons: 12 million triangles/sec
    • Textured polygons: 6 million triangles/sec (3 million quads/sec), with shading, translucency, anti-aliasing, fog, lighting and Z-buffering
  • 3D-RAM fillrate:
    • Framebuffers: 1.584 billion pixels/sec (write), 6.336 billion pixels/sec (erase)
    • Polygons: 900 million pixels/sec (9 million triangles/sec), 600 million pixels/sec (12 million triangles/sec)
  • Renderer fillrate: 810 million pixels/sec (framebuffers), 300 million pixels/sec (polygons)
  • Texture fillrate: 300 million texels/sec

Memory

  • Memory: Up to 317 MB (136 MB main, 146.835693 MB video, 33.695312 MB sound)
  • RAM: 57,567.75 KB (56.218505 MB)
    • Main RAM: 8 MB SDRAM @ 83 MHz (64-bit,[28] 666 MB/sec bandwidth)
    • VRAM: 47,959.75 KB (46.835693 MB)
      • Framebuffer RAM: 19,203.75 KB (18.75 MB Mitsubishi 3D-RAM, 3.75 KB pixel buffer SRAM cache) [14]
      • Texture RAM: 21,588 KB (21 MB Mitsubishi CDRAM, 84 KB SRAM cache,[19] 1 MB FIFO)
      • SGRAM: 7 MB [29][24]
      • Sound RAM: 1096 KB (1 MB DRAM)
      • Other RAM: 320 KB
  • ROM: Up to 260.625 MB (128 MB CROM, 100 MB VROM,[10] 32.625 MB SROM) [30]

Step 2.1 Specifications

The Sega Model 3 Step 2.1, released in 1998, is largely identical to Step 2.0, but with the following update: [4]

  • Board Composition: CPU + VIDEO + ROM boards
    • Video board: Step 2.1: Sega 837-13368 MODEL3 STEP2.1

Hardware Images

  • Main Board

  • Main Board 2

  • Sound board

  • Complete Board

List of Games

Step 1.0

Step 1.5

Step 2.0

Step 2.1


Sega arcade boards
Originating in arcades








  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mitsubishi's+Graphics+Memory+Products+Power+REAL+3D's+R3D%2FPRO-1000...-a018554504
  2. ↑ File:NextGeneration US 11.pdf, page 16
  3. ↑ File:SSM_UK_02.pdf, page 21
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/model3.cpp
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.thg.ru/smoke/19991022/print.html
  6. ↑ http://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/TimLenoir/MilitaryEntertainmentComplex.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.segatech.com/archives/january1998.html
  8. ↑ File:TSPC603R datasheet.pdf
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://github.com/mirror/model3emu/blob/master/Src/Model3/Model3.cpp
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/12172411045_18bfc5912f_c.jpg
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 File:Real3DPro1000ProductDescription.pdf
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 File:Real3D100ArchitectureOverview.pdf
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 File:M5M410092B datasheet.pdf
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 File:M5M410092FP datasheet.pdf
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 htt (Wayback Machine: 1998-01-22 14:39)
  16. ↑ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel1/4/10262/00482207.pdf
  17. ↑ htt (Wayback Machine: 2014-03-29 07:45)
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/video/model3.cpp
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 File:M5M4V4169TP datasheet.pdf
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/ice/cd/MEMORY97/SEC07.PDF
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 https://github.com/mirror/model3emu/blob/master/Src/Model3/Real3D.h
  22. ↑ https://github.com/mirror/model3emu/blob/master/Src/Model3/Real3D.cpp
  23. ↑ https://github.com/mirror/model3emu/blob/master/Src/Model3/TileGen.cpp
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 File:KM4132G271A datasheet.pdf
  25. ↑ File:HM5241605 datasheet.pdf
  26. ↑ File:HM514270 datasheet.pdf
  27. ↑ File:LH52B256 datasheet.pdf
  28. ↑ File:TC59S1616AFT datasheet.pdf
  29. ↑ File:UPD4811650 datasheet.pdf
  30. ↑ http://mamedb.com/game/spikeofe


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