ATI Rage 128: history, specs and gaming performance

History

Introduced in late 1998, the ATI Rage 128 evolved from the Rage family and competed with NVIDIA’s RIVA TNT and 3dfx Voodoo products. It was among ATI’s early cards offering full 32-bit rendering and an integrated MPEG-2 decoder. Key variants included Rage 128 GL, Rage 128 VR, and the later Rage 128 Pro.

Key specifications (summary)

  • GPU: Rage 128 (Rage R6)
  • Process: ~250 nm
  • Core clock: ~100–125 MHz (varies by model)
  • Memory: 16–32 MB SDRAM/SGRAM
  • Memory bus: 128-bit
  • Interfaces: AGP 2x/4x and some PCI variants
  • APIs: DirectX 6.0, OpenGL 1.2
  • Features: 32-bit color, hardware MPEG-2 decoder

Platforms

The card was used in mainstream PCs (Pentium II/III, AMD K6/Athlon) and was also integrated into several Apple machines (iMac G3 DV, some Power Mac models). OEM vendors like Dell and Compaq offered it as a midrange option.

Gaming performance (overview)

Rage 128 provided solid performance in late-90s titles but was limited by less advanced T&L and driver maturity. Typical results:
  • Quake II — very good (60–80 FPS at 800×600 on capable systems)
  • Unreal / Unreal Tournament — comfortable 40–60 FPS
  • Half-Life — smooth on typical systems
  • Quake III Arena — around 30–40 FPS at 800×600 depending on drivers

Pros & Cons

Pros: 32-bit rendering, decent memory bus, hardware MPEG-2. Cons: driver issues (especially OpenGL), limited T&L performance, quickly surpassed by next-gen GPUs.

Conclusion

Rage 128 is historically significant as a transitional GPU: good image quality and multimedia support for its era, but limited in raw 3D throughput compared to later competitors. It remains an interesting piece of late-90s PC hardware history.
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