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

To: Eric Howard who wrote (7313)	9/16/1998 8:13:00 PM
From: Michael Linov	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

I agree that, PR aside, the TNT is a worthy competitor. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little longer for the next generation of product. Switching to .25 micron involves more than just "ordering" a new part. You have to recompile, and re-verify all your chip designs, and this would take many weeks. Switching to 32 bit color (in 3d) would take time too. Banshee is really a first generation 2d/3d product for 3dfx. They have to get it right, that's all. There's no real way to speed this process up, but, once done, the groundwork is set for a much faster evolutionary cycle. The TNT is a good card (again, initial quality problems aside), and you can bet the next generation of 3dfx products will exceed it in every possible way. Writing optimal DirectX drivers, full OpenGL, Windows 98/NT drivers, these are all new things to 3dfx. This is something that really can't be sped up, and 3dfx is moving as fast (and arguably faster) than could be expected. As for leadership, it's a chicken and egg thing. TNT was allways ahead in DirectX (3dfx never cared for it before, since they had glide), and 2d/3d support (this is their 2nd generation product). When all is said and done though, the TNT is only slightly better than the V2 or Banshee. After this year, 3dfx will take the lead, and never look back.