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

To: Matt Webster who wrote (4620)	6/23/1998 4:00:00 PM
From: Frank Sheridan	Respond to of 16960

As a twenty year veteran of the chip industry let me try to answer your question as best as I can. Simply put, the design decisions that decide what features or modules are incorporated onto a given piece of silicon involve a long list of criteria, including (but not limited to) 1. Impact on die size. 2. Impact on time to market. 3. Impact on device driver development. 4. Perceived added value to final silicon vs. market demands. 5. Impact on future design decisions. 6. Perceived willingness of developers to utilize additional features. Any one of these issues could make the difference between deciding to include or not include a feature to a given chip design. It is certain that the management of TDFX reviewed all of these criteria and many others before deciding on the architecture of the Banshee. Hope this helps.

To: Matt Webster who wrote (4620)	6/23/1998 4:33:00 PM
From: VincentTH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Matt, Re: Why doesn't/didn't TDFX take Voodoo2 as is and add the new 128-bit core, thus making Super Banshee? I see 2 reasons for that: 1. TDFX wants to keep V2 as the ONLY platform with unmatched 3D performance (that is under SLI of course). 2. OEM are more interested in 2D than 3D. In addition, OEM are interested in low cost 2D with superior 2D performance. 3D is like "good-to-have, but not important" to OEM prospective customers. A Super Banshee would kill the V2 sales and scare off OEM, since it would put the Banshee cost out of OEM reach. That said, I believe going for AGP-1x was a mistake. When people go out and buy a new PC, they would want state-of-the-art features. I understand that AGP2x cannot satisfy the bandwidth required by 3D, but it almost requires an advanced customer to understand the rationale behind that. I think Mike (Got2muchTime) hit it in the nail in his writeup on Banshee.