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

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (12436)	5/11/1999 1:32:00 PM
From: Chip Anderson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 16960

Q3Test Impressions: Bad News: ---------- The TNT card with 32-bit rendering looks noticably better. They are using very detailed textures so it is no longer a "only-the-sky-looks-better" issue. There are lots of smoke trails during a firefight and on the V2s, the smoke trails have visible banding and that infamous "Voodoo grid" effect is very noticable. No problems of any sort on the TNT. When a rocket hits a curved surface, on the V2s the explosion has polygonal edges to it. Not on the TNT. Good News: ---------- The TNT's framerate still sucks. Barely playable at 640x480 in a firefight. V2s are very playable at 800x600. Bottomline: Still the same old same old - do you want to stare at the pretty walls or PLAY THE GAME?!?! BTW: I'll be installing a V3 3000 later today. Stay tuned. IF YOU KNOW ME and you still can't get the download, send me private email and I'll send it to you. Q3 Server: 209.20.177.59 Slicer stockcharts.com

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (12436)	5/11/1999 2:00:00 PM
From: Casey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Response to Sun Tzu's mistake list. As far as the PR and some financial issues as far as the merger goes I can't argue with you. However, looking at the big picture (as far as running the company goes) these are short term issues that will be irrelavent in the not too distant future. As long as it didn't affect demand for the actual product or affect future products I'm not to worried about it. I know as a pure investor these things are important though. Underestimating demand for Banshee was probably a reaction to over supply of V2's. They were learning and still didn't have complete control. They went and bought STB to resolve the control issues. Banshee may have been late but that really isn't a management mistake. Hopefully with more control over the entire process they will be able to control these things better. (People are probably going to yell over this one:) About this OEM check list thing I disagree. Yes, they don't have 32-bit or full AGP support. However, if the product still flys off the shelf and the lower price (because of the lack of features) gets them OEM wins (ATI anybody) then they made the right decision. As far as announcing the merger too early and STB getting stuck with TNT's. Well that is a very short term problem. If it helps them clear the slate and allows them to get into their long term game plan that much earlier (which it did) then it is a very small price to pay. One more thing, some don't think the $20 miilion Ad campaign is worth it. IMHO, breaking down the cost per possible extra cards sold in the next year or two is short sighted. First of all, they were always going to spend some money advertising the new company so its really not a $20 million decision. Also, if they can successfully build a "3dfx inside" (like intel inside) following, long term $20 million will seem like play money. Think big. Casey "just trying to ride the wave" K

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (12436)	5/11/1999 2:12:00 PM
From: benwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

- Did not put a collar on stock price for the merger Disagree; this is a bargaining item and how do you know that they didn't try? I would suspect that the STBI board would have stood up for it's shareholders and insisted that they reap an equal percentage of the benefits of a merged company. - Announced the merger with STB without considering the TNT inventory at STB or their existing contracts with CREAF and DIMD How do you know how they did or did not consider this? Were you at the internal meetings at TDFX where they presumably kicked around their ideas and thoughts, or at meetings between TDFX and STBI where they discussed the merger and gameplan? I also don't agree with the frequent requests that they divulge their roadmap for competitors to view. If you are king of the mountain like Intel, you basically have nothing to lose since the competitors can't expect to catch up based on R&D expenditures etc., and they everything to gain by thrilling the investment community. TDFX, on the other hand, cannot enjoy that luxury yet since they actually still can be overtaken by their competitors and likely want to keep them guessing. I suspect the V3-3500TV caught nVidia and ATI off guard, and I like that.