Nvidia beats 3dfx to the punch

http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-3115,00.html?st.gc.fd.bb1 The GeForce is here and supposed to ship in Sept. 3dfx's "Voodoo4" isn't out til Xmas.

The "chip" is shipping to card makers in September. So you will see cards themselves ship much closer to Xmas. The only punch Nvidia has beat 3dfx to so far is the press release punch. Kyle

The GeForce chips, what a lame name, are shipping in September, not video cards. You won't see video cards using the chips until much closer to Xmas. The press release is the only punch Nvidia has beaten 3dfx to so far. Kyle

I highly doubt it. Manufacturers will already have had reference boards, "beta" chips, etc just like they did when TNT2 and TNT were released. It should be a relatively short turn around for boards to appear. IF you read the article, it says "The company expects the boards to be on retail shelves by the end of September. " meaning that the company already has chips being sent to manufacturers if its going to see boards on RETAIL shelves. But nonetheless, its a really really dumb sounding name. > The GeForce chips, what a lame name, are shipping in September, not video > cards. You won't see video cards using the chips until much closer to Xmas.

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> The press release is the only punch Nvidia has beaten 3dfx to so far. > Kyle > > http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-3115,00.html?st.gc.fd.bb1 > > The GeForce is here and supposed to ship in Sept. 3dfx's "Voodoo4"

isn't > > out til Xmas.

Let me know when they've fixed their OpenGL driver to work with the mirrors in GPL..... / / Rolf

> http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-3115,00.html?st.gc.fd.bb1 > The GeForce is here and supposed to ship in Sept. 3dfx's "Voodoo4" isn't > out til Xmas. I'm able to wait for the better product... ;^) l8er ronny -- "I heard if you play the NT-4.0-CD backwards, you get a satanic message." "That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs NT-4.0"

Well unless 3Dfx pull their fingers out of their arses and provide good image quality and 32-bit colour then you don't have to, GeForce256 is the better one. 3Dfx need to stop resting on their laurels and make a good card that offers tomorrows tech because all the current ones do is offer the same old same old but faster M

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>> http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-3115,00.html?st.gc.fd.bb1 >> The GeForce is here and supposed to ship in Sept. 3dfx's "Voodoo4" >> isn't out til Xmas. >I'm able to wait for the better product... ;^) >l8er >ronny

Don't put the cart before the horse, my friend. =) You don't even *know* what specs are for the Voodoo4 card(besides T-buffering). But from the looks of it, right now, 3dfx is out for *** this time. I've got a hunch that *that* is why they are waiting until after nVidia has released it's "Gefarce" card. =) Dan > Well unless 3Dfx pull their fingers out of their arses and provide good > image quality and 32-bit colour then you don't have to, GeForce256 is the > better one. 3Dfx need to stop resting on their laurels and make a good > card that offers tomorrows tech because all the current ones do is offer

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> the same old same old but faster > M > >> http://www.gamecenter.com/,3,0-3115,00.html?st.gc.fd.bb1 > >> The GeForce is here and supposed to ship in Sept. 3dfx's "Voodoo4" > >> isn't out til Xmas. > >I'm able to wait for the better product... ;^) > >l8er > >ronny

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

Well I'm going on the last 2 generations of 3Dfx hardware. If you can spot anything other than increased performance of essentially the same old piece of kit then I'll be surprised. nVidia on the other hand have continually raised the bar with each card they release. As you rightly say, we know nothing about the Voodoo 4 yet but what we do know about the GeForce256 makes it sound like an excellent card. Incidentally, here's what Carmack had to say about it: "Nvidia's new geometry accelerated card with the funny name. It is fast. Very, very fast. It has the highest fill rate of any card we have ever tested, has improved image quality over TNT2, and it gives timedemo scores 40% faster than the next closest score with extremely raw beta drivers. The throughput will definately improve even more as their drivers mature.For max framerates in OpenGL games, this card is going to be very hard to beat. " I suspect he knows what he's talking about. Anyway, my point was unless 3Dfx change their previous gameplan of "same deal but faster" they're going to start losing out. M

> Well unless 3Dfx pull their fingers out of their arses and provide good > image quality and 32-bit colour then you don't have to, GeForce256 is the > better one. 3Dfx need to stop resting on their laurels and make a good > card that offers tomorrows tech because all the current ones do is offer > the same old same old but faster I don't need tomorrows tech, I prefer today's tech that runs my current AND older software the best. This was true with three generations of 3dfx cards now, and I'm quite sure, the fourth will do the same for me... l8er ronny -- "I heard if you play the NT-4.0-CD backwards, you get a satanic message." "That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs NT-4.0"

Typical head in the sand attitude. The games that make use of Voodoo 3 and provide a noticable improvement over Voodoo 2 SLI setup (which is now much cheaper than the upper end of the V3 range) generally all also support D3D and OpenGL and thus the next generation chipsets from nVidia, PCLabs etc. If 3Dfx make a good bit of kit that will keep people going for the future then great, but without at least 32-bit colour AND better image quality, they're going to be left on the shelf. M

The ability to push pretty pixels alone a hot seller does not make. However, these video card wars sure keep those hostile ***agers inside posting imflammatory messages about video cards that they only know about through press releases and hype. I'm telling you, whoever came up with the idea of harnessing the vast hordes of the internet as a PR device had better be making a fat sum... Did 3dfx start this? Nvidia? Rendition? Who? -- Gamer / Programmer But not a Game Programmer

You have a point there. =) But in Scott Seller's(of 3dfx, but you prolly already know that ;) interview yesterday, it sure sounded like the Voodoo4--or whatever they're gonna call it--will be much, much more than just a "juiced up Voodoo3". He hinted texture compression, along with the already announced T- buffering, and whole slew of features that he "can't talk about until next week". And yes, it *will* finally support 32-bit rendering!!! He also sounds extremely confident that 3dfx's upcoming product will "blow away" the GeeWhiz--or Gefarce, or whatever that nVidia card is called-- and shock the world. ;) Should be exiting!! regards, Dan > Well I'm going on the last 2 generations of 3Dfx hardware. If you can spot > anything other than increased performance of essentially the same old piece > of kit then I'll be surprised. nVidia on the other hand have continually > raised the bar with each card they release. As you rightly say, we know > nothing about the Voodoo 4 yet but what we do know about the GeForce256 > makes it sound like an excellent card. > Incidentally, here's what Carmack had to say about it: > "Nvidia's new geometry accelerated card with the funny name. > It is fast. Very, very fast. It has the highest fill rate of any card we > have ever tested, has improved image quality over TNT2, and it gives > timedemo scores 40% faster than the next closest score with extremely raw > beta drivers. The throughput will definately improve even more as their > drivers mature.For max framerates in OpenGL games, this card is going to be > very hard to beat. " > I suspect he knows what he's talking about. > Anyway, my point was unless 3Dfx change their previous gameplan of "same

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> deal but faster" they're going to start losing out. > M > >Don't put the cart before the horse, my friend. =) You don't even > >*know* what specs are for the Voodoo4 card(besides T-buffering). > >But from the looks of it, right now, 3dfx is out for *** this time. > >I've got a hunch that *that* is why they are waiting until after

nVidia > >has released it's "Gefarce" card. =) > >Dan Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

And I can usually wait 2-3 months, until I can buy the better product for a lot cheaper. -- Gamer / Programmer But not a Game Programmer