Any future for3dFX cards?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
  • Start date Start date
ELVIS2000 said:
They sell the guts, not the commoditized end product. Like 3DFX prior
to the STB acquisition.
Click to expand...

Intel and Microsoft both sell consumer products... I'm still not sure what
you mean.

Both Intel and Microsoft rely heavily on OEM deals, but thats not quite the
same thing, is it?

Ben
 
Hey JC... time to set your clock man :-)

You're set to GMT currently.

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/blah/de/blah /etc/localtime

(maybe)

Ben
 
Intel and Microsoft both sell consumer products... I'm still not sure what
you mean.

Both Intel and Microsoft rely heavily on OEM deals, but thats not quite the
same thing, is it?
Click to expand...

Intellectual property vs. non-differentiated goods. Nobody but
Microsoft can sell Windows. Nobody but Intel can sell a Pentium.
 
At the time 32bit in games was not really feasable so 3DFX was right.
Sure Nvidia and ATI could do 32bit but most games did not run at a
decent frame rate with 32bit on. And 3DFX had a 22bit filter when
playing in 16bit which was way superrior to a Nvidia or ATI card in
16bit. And then of course we get to the V5 which has still not been
matched for it's FSAA, and that card did do 32bit in games. Technology
is not what killed 3DFX, it was poor management and the dweebs buying
into the Nvidia hype machine.
Click to expand...

What killed 3dfx was:

1) the STB merger. That was utterly rediculous... Nvidia came up and
gobbled what 3dfx left behind.

2) releasing the voodoo3 instead of rampage. Rampage was delayed
purposefully so the V3 would be released; and all the voodoo3 was was
a 2D core + two Voodoo2's in SLI (without being " SLI "), slightly
higher clock, and newer drivers, with the 22 bit post filter.
Basically, technology a year old.

When the TNT (1) was released, 3dfx was right, at the time, 32 bit was
a joke; no card was fast enough to get playable framerates in 32
bit...remember, we were having enough trouble getting 60 FPS in games,
at *16 bit*....not enough CPU, not enough video card, but the TNT1 was
released in the V2's cycle, which was 3dfx's best card, bar none.

But then the TNT2 arrived, and instead of 3dfx pushing the envelope,
as they did with V2, they put rampage on the side burner, lost their
manufacturer partnerships, and then started bleeding cash due to the
high overhead of the STB plant (they were profitable during the V2
days, though not _greatly_ so), oh ,and not to mention, releasing the
poor V3, instead of releasing at *LEAST* the V5 1 and a half years
earlier.

The STB merger is what knocked 3dfx down. Releasing the voodoo3 put
the nail in the coffin. 3dfx _would_ have stood a chance if the
Voodoo5 had been released in spring '99, and thus named the voodoo3
instead of the actual V3, to compete with the TNT2 (the V5 would have
spit all over the TNT2U, and despite lack of AGP features, would have
been the most powerful solution, with FSAA 1 year in advance).

But we know what happened there.
A sad story indeed. but this is what happens when you get suits
running things, who are out of touch with what is needed to survive.


<Gibs> When you kill 6 people in Unreal Tournament
it is "MonsterKill", In Quake3 it is "Excellent",
in Counter-Strike it is "Kicked by console"
 
They sell the guts, not the commoditized end product. Like 3DFX prior
to the STB acquisition.


Their management were morons.

jw
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd have to agree.

The driver guys were pretty damn good. Anyone remembers during the V2
days, you actually had members of the 3dfx team posting in the
newsgroups. You NEVER, EVER saw this in an Nvidia newsgroup (and ATI?
*cough*, Rage Pro *cough*).

But back then, a LOT of developers and programmers posted in
newsgroups. Unlike the few that remain (like Steve Fawkner -
Warlords??), George Rolf (Heroes of M&M?), you had flight sim people
posting in the flightsim group, action game programmers posting,
etc....

What drove most of them away was the teenage level abuse they received
from idiotic people who only wanted what they wanted and didnt
appreciate the hard work the dev teams had to go through. Just look
to what happened to the flight sim industry---the "fans" killed it due
to the abuse the developers received in newsgroups and email. (it was
never mainstream anyway).

Now all we have are the moderated forums...and people bitch about that
too....


<Gibs> When you kill 6 people in Unreal Tournament
it is "MonsterKill", In Quake3 it is "Excellent",
in Counter-Strike it is "Kicked by console"
 
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