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

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12402)	5/10/1999 7:38:00 PM
From: Patrick Grinsell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16960

No set-top box but... members.tripod.com Looks like 3dfx is doing some sort of gaming PC thing. I wonder what the "guts" means. Pat's SWAG of the Day: Since Falcon is getting these things pre-built and 3dfx is doing the guts I'm guessing 3dfx's new market is... High-performance low-cost gaming PC's built by STB! Falcon is just the reseller. Look out Dell, here we come. Pat

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12402)	5/10/1999 9:05:00 PM
From: Joe C.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Pat, you make a valid point about the change in direction. I for one am glad that they "cut their losses" and opted to go for the right board. I suspect that they got nil response from the OEM's on the LCDfx and their market research on the retail side was something like "yeah its' faster but I'm not buying a flat panel so I think I might just settle on the 3000 and o/c that puppy for $70 less". Another observation on the 3500 is that I saw no mention of the type of memory to be used. I wonder if their still gonna go with the SGRAM? Joe C.

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12402)	5/10/1999 10:51:00 PM
From: Jeffrey P	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Pat, I know you are one of those "NDA" guys privy to all that fun non-public stuff (heh :p ), but I don't think that 3dfx is trying to recover from a huge marketing mistake or a yield problem. I would agree with you that those explanations are distinct possibilities but I would rather think of a possible "miss execution" as a complete homerun in regards to execution. Take a look at the current market: it looks like the TNT2 is not going to ship with DFP so either all other TNT2 oem's are having yield problems or the market is being read properly. I for one would definitely purchase a card more for the TV goodies rather than the DFP support. Second, I believe the entire LCD market itself is undergoing a change. I have a friend in the plasma/lcd distribution scene that told me in no uncertain terms that the lcd/plasma manufacturers have a glut of inventory due to demand lower than anticipated hence an upcoming price war. LCD is a nice gadget but when you can buy a very high quality monitor with larger viewing area for less or equal price than DFP's, the sharpness, desk real estate, and energy/emission benefits of DFP's don't compete. My opinion: 3dfx management has taken a close look at the status of the DFP market and will break open a niche market with the 3500 entry. They have adapted very quickly to the demands of the market so I feel this is a homerun in regards to execution. V3 is flying out the door, and this will definitely ice the cake. TNT2 has 32 bit rendering, equal performance at similar price points (for argument sake I'll give TNT2 performance the benefit of the doubt), no DFP, and several manufacturers that will not only be in a price war similar to what we experienced with the V2, but differentiation between products will be difficult. In contrast, the V3 also does not have DFP, lacks 32bit rendering (22bit blah blah), equal performance (faster) but now has a serious goodie package of cutting edge tv tuner solution, super-video in and out, digital vcr capability, and mpeg 2 capture at an equal price. Would you say that the goodie package outweighs 32bit rendering and agp 4x? To the average joe, I say a resounding absolutely. To an informed customer, I think it definitely adds an interesting twist in 3dfx's favor. I can understand where you could make an argument that this is a failed execution by 3dfx management, but I prefer to see this as (pardon the sappy expression) the dawn of their finest hour. Jeff “nowhere but up unless you are seeing something I am not” P.