Bahamas 64
The Bahamas 64 was the middle offering of new Paradise graphics cards released by Western Digital in 1994, and was based on the S3 Trio64 graphics accelerator chipset.
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Released | August 1994 |
| Bus | VESA Local Bus or PCI | |
| Chipset | S3 Trio64 (86C764) | |
| Standards | MDA, Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA | |
| Memory | 1 or 2 MB DRAM | |
| Ports | 15-pin DSUB (RGB analogue out) | |
| RAMDAC | Integrated (135 MHz) | |
| FCC ID | JDF-764VL-001 | |
| Price | At launch: $199 (1 MB), $299 (2 MB) | |
| See Also |
It was a 64-bit DRAM-based accelerator card for Windows. Based around the S3 Trio64 graphics chipset, it featured hardware cursor, BitBLT, pattern fills, short stroke vector and line draws in hardware. A PCI-based version was released first called the Bahamas 64, and went on sale in August 1994, one month before the VESA Local Bus version which was called Bahamas 64VL.
The 1 MB variant could reach resolutions of up to 1,280 by 1,024 in 256 colours and at a refresh rate of 60 Hz. The 2 MB one could attain 1,600 by 1,200.
It was sold alongside the lower end Bali 32 graphics card (also available in VLB and PCI) which had just 1 MB of DRAM video memory (upgradable to 2 MB) and retailed for $99. Meanwhile at the top end was the Barbados 64, which was only available in PCI form, but came with 2 MB of VRAM and retailed for $299. Western Digital called this trio their new "island line", and they all came with Oasis software utilities that enabled picture-in-picture capabilities as well as switching resolutions and refresh rates on the fly.
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In the Media
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Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Original Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
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All images shown for this card are courtesy of Andrew Welburn from Andy's Arcade.
