Timbur,
Interesting link, but does not really say much that we don't already know. This speaks of the problem that faces 3dfx, OEM penetration. In comparison to ATI & nVidia 3dfx's OEM penetration is limited. Considering this fact, and also that the penetration for Banshee was actually more than expected, I would much rather have seen an OEM sales & retail sales breakdown. Also keep in mind that when you are looking at these numbers the type of chipsets presented (1 3d only chipsets, 1 abortion (rush) and 1 2d/3d, vs pure 2d/3d chipsets). Now what I would have liked to see is a Banshee vs Rage vs TNT/zx128 comparison at the retail level. We know ATI blows everyone away at OEM, and we know that nVidia won several OEM's with their TNT/zx128 chipset, but what we do not know is across the board, what the retail upgraders were buying. I would propose that Banshee and TNT were leading and pretty close together at that.
Furthermore, keep in mind the volume of V2 sold in the first half on 98, as well as the life cycle of all parts which the numbers above were developed on (LOL! if RUSH sold ANY parts in 1998 i would count that as PURE gravy and worth at LEAST 10 ATI cards :) ).
Has 3dfx been crushed in the OEM arena? Yes. Should they have taken on or solicited more OEM's? Probably not at this stage. Will V3 have broader OEM penetration? I think so. Will the ATI & nVidia parts be successful? I think so.
Just my $.02.
Jeff P.
P.S. Take a look over at pcdata.com to see what i'm talking about. |
