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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JR who wrote (4521)	6/22/1998 1:00:00 AM
From: Chip Anderson	Respond to of 16960

The term OEM is thrown around a lot (by me and others) so let me try and clarify it some. OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturers." In the context of personal computers, it usually (but not always) refers to the companies that make and sell computers, i.e., Dell, Gateway, Compaq, IBM, etc. These companies are also called "Boxmakers." Up until now, TDFX has not sold _directly_ to these folks. Instead, TDFX markets its chips directly to the Video Card makers such as Diamond and Creative Labs (a company BTW which has n-e-v-e-r had _any_ insider selling! ;-). The Video Card companies are the ones that have traditionally marketed cards based on TDFX chips to the Boxmakers as well as to Retailers such as CompUSA. Sometimes, in the context of TDFX, you will see people refer to OEMs and mean the Video Card companies not the Boxmakers - but it is rare. I always use OEMs to refer to the Boxmakers. "Banshee" is another term that we throw around a little losely these days. Sometimes we mean the Banshee chip itself, but many times we are technically referring to a Banshee-based video card (made by DIMD, CREAF, etc.). Hope this helps, Chip coolhistory.com