FuryGPU is a custom graphics card built around a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA, and Hackaday reported it running Quake at more than 30 frames per second, with a demo label showing a 44-fps timedemo. The result is a striking proof that a custom hardware-and-driver stack can run a classic 3D game—not a controlled comparison with modern graphics cards.
What is FuryGPU?
FuryGPU is a homebuilt graphics card implemented on a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA. Its creator mounted the design on a custom PCB and connected it to a host computer over PCIe. The FuryGPU project site describes its capabilities as equivalent to those of a high-end graphics card from the mid-1990s and says it has a modern Windows driver stack.
An FPGA is configurable hardware: designers can implement digital circuits inside it rather than relying on a conventional graphics processor with a fixed, factory-designed architecture. In FuryGPU, that hardware is a purpose-built graphics design, not a software emulator running on the host CPU.
How does this homebuilt GPU run Quake?
Dedicated graphics hardware
Hackaday describes FuryGPU as a traditional, fixed-function GPU. Its graphics tasks are handled by dedicated hardware, rather than by programmable shader code of the kind used by contemporary AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. The project site’s mid-1990s comparison is a useful guide to its broad feature era; it does not establish compatibility with modern graphics APIs.
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A custom Windows driver
Hardware alone is not enough to run a game: the operating system and software must be able to communicate with the card. Hackaday reports that the creator wrote Windows drivers and characterizes that work as the hardest part of the project. The project site says a modern Windows driver stack exists, but the available descriptions do not identify supported Windows releases or provide a detailed compatibility list.
What does the 44-fps Quake result show?
In a March 28, 2024 report, Hackaday said FuryGPU could play Quake at over 30 frames per second and displayed a result labeled “Quake Timedemo – 44fps!” That is a reported demonstration result. The available account does not specify the resolution, game build, host computer, benchmark settings, or a repeatable testing procedure, so the number should not be treated as a standardized benchmark or a direct speed comparison with another GPU.
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The meaningful achievement is that the custom card, its driver stack, and the game workload worked together well enough to produce the demonstrated Quake run. The reported FPS figure does not, by itself, establish how the card would perform in other games or workloads.
How does FuryGPU differ from a modern graphics card?
| Aspect | FuryGPU | Modern graphics card context |
|---|---|---|
| Implementation | Custom PCB built around a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA, connected to a host over PCIe, according to the project site. | Commercial graphics products; no specific card is benchmarked in the available reporting. |
| Graphics model | Fixed-function design with dedicated graphics hardware, as described by Hackaday. | Modern GPUs commonly use programmable shaders; FuryGPU is not described as supporting shader code like contemporary AMD and NVIDIA GPUs. |
| Feature era | The project site says its features are equivalent to a high-end mid-1990s graphics card. | No feature-by-feature comparison is provided. |
| Software evidence | The project site describes a Windows driver stack; Hackaday reports that writing the drivers was a major challenge. | No detailed API or compatibility comparison is provided. |
| Performance evidence | Hackaday’s 2024 report gives a Quake timedemo label of 44 fps, without the settings needed to reproduce it. | No controlled comparison results are provided. |
What technical details are not established?
The project description and Hackaday report do not specify the exact FPGA part number, a board-level bill of materials, memory configuration, power consumption, or a detailed GPU pipeline. They also do not establish a commercial sales channel. Those omissions make it impossible to infer the card’s cost, power requirements, or suitability as a product from the reported Quake demo.
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For readers interested in learning FPGA design or prototyping graphics hardware, a generic FPGA development board may be a starting point for learning. FuryGPU itself uses a custom PCB around a Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA, and the available sources do not identify a retail board that runs FuryGPU as sold.
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