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

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12800)	5/20/1999 8:53:00 AM
From: JAG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16960

Patrick and others. Patrick about a month or so ago I read an article that you had written about the graphics industry (I thing it was on the Tiger web site, correct me if it was elsewhere). Then I discovered that you were posting on the TDFX thread. Do you own stock in TDFX? Did you disclose that in the article? That has been my hidden agenda.

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12800)	5/20/1999 9:33:00 AM
From: Scott Garee	Respond to of 16960

Pat, What you have to remember is that V3 has the features that count. I want to see a TNT2 so I know for sure what the difference is, but I can't imagine it being so much better that it would make a difference to me. My V3 runs everything I have and runs it fast. It also looks damn good. I already had 24 bit color with my Rendition card. Quake2 looked great. It looks just as good on my V3. I don't miss anything about my V2100 card. I have one problem with Glide only games (like Tribes.) When you play them you know you are up against all Voodoo owners. There isn't anyone playing with a biscuit card who you can beezatch at will. You have to survive on your own skills (and overclocking success. :)

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12800)	5/20/1999 10:20:00 AM
From: Jeffrey P	Respond to of 16960

Voodoo3 feature set.... As a next gen chipset, I would agree with pat that V3 is nothing new. In terms of raw performance, it leads or shares the lead with the current generation products (TNT2). It's a good chipset, but unlike the V2 where the only real negative was higher video resolution support, there are the host of problems you (Pat) described " 256x256 texture restrictions, 16 MB memory max, 16 bit output max, no hardware bumpmapping.....DX6 texture compression (S3TC) " then add to that hardware DVD support and true agp support and the V3 all of a sudden has viable purchasing objections from a hardcore gamer standpoint. Now look at it from a marketing and resource perspective. You have a product which if 3dfx and Stb had not merged would have probably been called Banshee2 and the cost of development is probably very low and it could almost be argued that V3 was/is a freebie. From a merged company standpoint, they capitalized on the success of the V2 and used that momentum to sell through a product that while may have blistering speed (on par or slightly above the pack) does not have the feature set of other cards on the market. But you know what, they are selling them. It is a good performing card and I feel / hope that the next card re-establishes 3dfx original market lead (6 month lead). Sure I want 3dfx to pump out the ultimate card all the time, but I think this is more of a smart business move rather than a next-gen chipset. It has taken at least one full month of sales out of it's closest competition (TNT2), funded what would have been (and was) a week quarter, eased the merger transition, and was/is a showing of excellent execution and branding. The big question in my book is: once we see sales drop off with TNT2 in marketplace (hope not but think it will) what is next and how long until it hits the market? We have heard that 3dfx will have a part prepared for the release of intel's 4x agp chipset, if it is a product announcement of agp 4x card only with ramp up time 3 months later, I think we have a problem. If it is a true next-gen card with a 3 month ramp, i'm pacified but not thrilled. If the 4x intel chipset has the nextgen 3dfx part ready to rock at launch.... i'll be ecstatic. Jeff P.

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12800)	5/20/1999 12:06:00 PM
From: Chip Anderson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 16960

Re: V3 Feature Set (Pat, I suspect you know the answer to your post and just wanted to start more good conversations. What the heck...) V3 was never meant for the feature-oriented bleeding edge people. It is the ultimate expression of the Voodoo2 architecture and so, feature-wise, is not tops. But, it is the tops in the two features that hard core gamers really want: speed and high-resolution. Again, the question is: Do you want to play the game or look at a spectacularly rendered 32-bit large texture stencil buffered image of your kidneys (that I just handed to you on a 40fps plate ;-)? The more-is-better-at-the-expense-of-framerate crowd is always lying on the ground wondering what hit them. And, they will be FIRST in line to get a "Rampage"-based card when it appears and people see that 3dfx hasn't been sitting on its hands, but has been adding features the right way - without scarificing speed! Final thought: If 3dfx can keep the Voodoo2 architecture viable for this long, how long will the Rampage architecture be king-of-the-hill? BTW: Anyone else see the blurbs from the nVIDIA guy saying that they aren't interested in gaming any more? (Should I post this on the nVIDIA thread? ;-) Nah...) Chip stockchart.com

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12800)	5/20/1999 2:19:00 PM
From: Philip J. Davis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Patrick, >>Voodoo3 feature-set sucks...<< Don't forget that feature sets don't entirely dictate sales success. Marketing has a lot to do with it, as well as lead time to market versus competitors - both areas where 3dfx has an advantage versus NVIDIA. One other thing...Matrox G400 is the only card to have true environmental hardware bumpmapping - ditto for 3dfx, S3, ATI, and yes, NVIDIA. But....who cares. All I care about, given my interest in 3dfx as an investment is that 3dfx makes money. Pure and simple. That's the bottom line - not feature sets. Lipo

To: Patrick Grinsell who wrote (12800)	5/20/1999 4:33:00 PM
From: Peter Kerling	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 16960

Pat, I think TDFX is well positioned for the next months with V3. What should strike us more is the question of its product pipline and it's compatibility with today's Voodoo-chipsets. Will TDFX carry over clients and game-producers to a not compatible "V4"-chipset? What is going on with "geometric"-3D-calculation (who will be the "leader of the pack" in that technology?), 32Bit-colors, etc. Ballard's "vision" of an "entertainment company" (that's exactly what he described TDFX to be!) does not look very viable to me. What does he mean whith that? What is the company's future strategy? Will TDFX enter back into the console-market? Will they develop or collaborate in development of 3D-glasses that recognize head-movements and coordinate it with graphic-output in real-time? Will TDFX support other OS such as LINUX, Apple, BE-OS aggressively enough? Is it possible to produce a gaming platform independent of the installed operating system? Will TDFX offer services to the movie-industrie? Will TDFX and AMD develop a counterpart to Intel's AGP4x with embarrassing advantages over AGP? - Just some ideas! Hey guys help me! What does Ballard mean when calling TDFX an "entertainment company"? Any ideas, what's the heading? Thanks Peter