Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Gary Korn who wrote (7257)	9/15/1998 11:04:00 PM
From: Tunica Albuginea	Respond to of 16960

This is Simply Amazing? how could they make such an egregious error? Take a look at this editorial from gamecenter headline news. gamecenter.com The graphics chip market is tough enough; throw in concerns from nervous investors, and things can get downright brutal. Case in point: S3 and 3Dfx, both desperately trying to bolster their depressed stock prices, have waged a public relations war in the past couple weeks over some disputed benchmark results. On August 10, Mercury Research, a consulting firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona, put out a press release announcing performance rankings for the latest graphics chips, just like it does every quarter. According to the results, 3Dfx's Voodoo Banshee was the fastest on the synthetic benchmark 3D WinBench 98, while S3's Savage3D earned top score using the benchmark modes of the games Turok and Incoming. Ignoring the 3D WinBench 98 scores, S3 followed on August 11 with a press release announcing that Savage3D bested Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo 2 in real-world applications. On August 19, 3Dfx countered with a press release challenging Mercury Research's testing methodology. Apparently, Mercury Research did the game benchmarking at each card's default refresh rate, which in the case of Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo 2 was 60 Hz, or 60 screen redraws per second. Testing at this low refresh rate limited performance to 60 frames per second. Savage3D, on the other hand, defaulted to 85 Hz, allowing faster results. Nonetheless, S3 refuses to back down. "Mercury Research is an independent third-party testing lab; they're the guys you go to for independent, objective results," explained Paul Crossley, S3's public relations manager. "We believe the Mercury Research results are valid." "Our position is that the testing was fair," said Dean McCarron, principal of Mercury Research. "Ultimately, this is sour grapes; 3Dfx won [the 3D WinBench test with Voodoo Banshee]. In this other area, they didn't have the maximum performance, so they found the results unacceptable." Obviously 60 hz would limit the banshee to a max of 60 fps, when on turok, it could hit at least 120 at 120 hz with a voodoo2 core. Although this may be true, it doesnt seem that way when Consumer X reads these garbage. IT gives them the {false} impression that Savage 3D is even remotely comparable to banshee.