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

To: Michael Linov who wrote (7962)	10/7/1998 2:07:00 PM
From: Michael Linov	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Read toms little article. While his argument for a TNT (cheaper, almost as fast, higher resolution support, single card) vs. V2 SLI may hold water, I think his review of the Banshee was, perhaps, less than it should have been. The Banshee actually beat the TNT on several benchmarks (despite early drivers), and scored well across the board. Tom's favorite part (the Quake 2 benchmark) had the Banshee running 1024x768 max (Not true, have mine running at 1600x1200). His driver also didn't use 3dnow for the AMD benchmark. When testing the TNT, he went out of his way to tweak the game (he did no such thing for the Banshee test). I admire Tom's guide a fair bit, and I don't consider the review unfair. I do however feel that there's a certain bias in his comparison. I'm not claiming the Banshee is better than the TNT (which, based on specs, it should not be, despite being faster on many benchmarks). I'm merely saying that tom didn't give the Banshee a fair evaluation.

To: Michael Linov who wrote (7962)	10/7/1998 2:08:00 PM
From: David R. Parker	Respond to of 16960

Ouch.... I skipped ahead and read Tom's intros and his Q2 and overall summaries...and ouch! He concludes that TNT is the best. He says that he no longer runs 3DFX in his system at all. <sigh> David

To: Michael Linov who wrote (7962)	10/7/1998 2:17:00 PM
From: Chip Anderson	Respond to of 16960

Just finished reading Tom's diatribe. Wow, how biased can one guy be? First off - the charts and graphs are _WONDERFUL_!!! Especially the ones that show the change in framerate over time. HOWEVER... His commentary/summaries are extremely biased. The man is obviously a resolution junkie. Time and time again, instead of objectively summarizing the results, he concludes "Voodoo2 SLI is faster, but it can't go above 1024x768" DUH! Why do the benchmarks at all if extreme resolution is the only deciding factor? You can come to the same conclusion from the marketing material. Ignoring the commentary and focusing on the charts, there is lots of evidence that V2 SLI is still king of the hill performance-wise. It is also clear that Banshee is behind the times (for the most part). Finally, did you see the evidence that Glide is still _incredibly_ important!?! Things Tom conviently "forgot" to mention: 1.) Voodoo2 prices are plummeting and SLI upgrade bundles are on the way. 2.) TNT was _supposed_ to kick Voodoo2's ass from here to Saturday, but doesn't because of yield and heat problems. 3.) Glide will continue to be a significant factor for at least another year. 4.) The difference in 1152x864 and 1024x768 is not important for people who don't have a monitor bigger than 17 inches (i.e., the majority). Upgrading monitors is a _significant_ expense. 5.) Banshee is targetted at the OEM market. etc., etc., etc. Chip Anderson "Trying desperately to un-freakout the SI Server!"