On Mon, 28 Jan 2002 15:13:00 GMT, "Mark Nusbaum"
>> Never did nVidia at all until TNT2 dropped below Banshee pricing and
>> appeared to give better performance.
>I think you're mixing your cards here. I doubt that the TNT2 ever got
>cheaper than the Banshee, which was of the generation that included the TNT.
It did, eventually. Banshee wasn't spotless in use, given that a lot
of games saw "V2!" and then tried things Banshee couldn't do (much as
games see Vanta and go "TNT2!", etc.)
At the time, Banshee dropped to R 850 or so, then as choice of vendors
dried up, climbed to R 950 at a time that TNT2 dropped to R 850 and
then R 800. The Vanta was a kind of halfway between the R 450 or so
for an S3 Savage and R 800 for TNT2; could often do a Vanta for R 575
or so. At the time, it was often "get 64M instead of 32M RAM and let
the Vanta use AGP" for ocasional gamers who might have more benefit
from more RAM in terms of non-***, etc.
Currently, TNT2 can dip as low as R 650 while GeForce still looks too
costly as a no-brainer at around R 1 100 or so. But with decent 3D
bundled "free" as part of the i815e, it's seldom that anyone needs an
add-on card, and when they do, I sometimes prefer GeForce in that TNT2
may be close enough to i815e for client to say "I don't see the
difference" if I sell that as an i815e upgrade.
Until Intel add 3D to i845xx, P4 systems based on Intel chipsets need
additional SVGA, and as ppl buying up to P4 aren't likely to want
worse graphics a la Trio3D or Rage II, TNT2 becomes the default.
When these chipsets first come out, they are usually too expensive to
bother with for most of my clients, so Vanta may have came out when
GeForce was still in the who-cares range. Initially, Vanta was 8M and
reliant on AGP to get by, using a similar chipset as the TNT2
internally but probably with a shrunken bus or other lamerization.
The 16M Vanta came later and was often so close to bottom-end TNT2
(there being so many vendors by now) that I never bothered with it.
Banshee was the last 3DFX that looked relevanyt here - after that,
3DFX and nVidia had swapped price positions so that if you saw them as
equivalent but bought on price, it wasn't 3DFX anymore. My impression
was that the TNT2 was a bit prettier in 3D appearance than Banshee,
and less likely to quibble with games in terms of stabiliity.
Right now there are about 5 OEM brands building with TNT2, and that's
how it's been since the Banshee faded out. There were never more than
about 1-2 brands of V3 etc. on the same list at the time. What we are
expecting to see is the number of nVidia dropping to about 3 lines,
with ATi Raedon going up to 3-4 alternate OEM brands. The more
competing OEM brands, the cheaper they get, the more sellable etc.
Question is, ATi never really delivered competitive 3D at any given
price point until now, compared to Banshee and TNT2. What I'd like to
know is whether that has changed, or whether they are gaining OEM
market share from nVidia for some other reason (i740-style low pricing
that simply can't be ignored, etc.).
In the near future, I expect to have to make a decision on this...
Our senses are our UI to reality
