The deal is done, Nvidia and 3dfx announce merger...

[Xayd]

Nvidia and 3dfx both confirmed that Nvidia will purchase 3dfx for around 70 million in cash and about 1 million shares of Nvidia stock. The words "dissolve the company" were used in the 3dfx press release, so it looks like this is it.

http://www.nvidia.com/Home.nsf/nvidianews1.html
http://www.3dfx.com/comp/news/rel-15dec_2.htm

So, what's next? As far as technical advancement in video cards, 3dfx has given us most if not all new ideas in the last three years. Nvidia has been a long time supporter of the idea that "speed is everything, screw the details". Which road will Nvidia take us down in the future, since they now hold all of the cards?

As a long time supporter and user of 3dfx products, this is a big shock to me. Any and all gamers during the 1997-1999 period used 3dfx products at some point in time. 3dfx has been the ONLY company to release a "retail grade" video card for the inexperienced to novice gamer, cards that are 100% stable in all applications, if not always faster in raw speed than the competition.

I sincerely hope that this situation didn't simply come about due to the possibility of Nvidia losing the 3dfx lawsuits. Lets hope that Nvidia improves their compatibility and stability, rather than just snatch up 3dfx patents and copyrights to "throw away" the competition.

Perhaps another 3dfx will stem from the "brains" of the former company to compete in the future.

Either way, "ATI or Nvidia" sounds very BAD at this point to me as a consumer...

Xayd

[Tiretool]

3dfx has given us most if not all new ideas in the last three years. Nvidia has been a long time supporter of the idea that "speed is everything, screw the details".

I would have to strongly disagree with this statement! Did you mix up the names? For as long back as I can remember, 3DFX was always concerned with nothing but raw frame rate (speed) and NVidia was concerned with video appeal and eye candy (technical details... ex. Transform and Lighting on the GPU). NVidia have been the pioneers of new ideas while 3DFX have stuck to their failing philosophy of "speed is king".



Please rebut. If this was a typo, then disreguard.

[Skinny Boy]

Just joking, different view's alway's add good subject matter to a discussion, as well as other way's of looking at thing's. Just had to rip though, this being one of the first post's I think both of you have made at the same time, in this forum.

All I can say is, it's too bad. 3dfx must have been in some serious trouble though for them to do this. I really liked 3dfx in the past, and thought they still had a good product, although pricey, still good. But I don't think they were able to keep their edge, like they had in the past.

It was past time for them to move ahead with technology, and they dropped the ball. And you know how mfg's are today about copyright, and patents. If your product even resemble's our's in anyway, were going to sue, and 3dfx felt they really couldn't out do Nvidia w/out probably licensing their tech, in order to stay mainstream, even if some of Nvidia's tech came from 3dfx.



If they were concerned that they would lose the lawsuit's, then they apparently didn't have proof enough, or they knew, even if they won, the company would still be in the same position, and only be dragging out the inevitable.If projections, and forcast's say your going to lose, maybe you will, maybe you won't, but if you don't do anything to change your course, then you will lose, and I think that was what 3dfx was looking at. The "where do we go from here" syndrome, and they couldn't see where they were going anymore.

It really is too bad, because it cut's out the competition, as I don't see ATI really giving Nvidia a run for their money. Maybe they will, maybe they won't, we'll see. Who know's we may see some new company's move in to fill in the gap's, but they better have some good plan's in order to take a market share from Nvidia.

Oh well, such is the big world of computer electronic's, IMHO.

[Xayd]

Bleh, 6am posts. Typo Tiretool, thanks for the correction, should have been the other way around.

Xayd

[Xayd]

I think their problem was twofold.

One, the purchase of STB was a bad idea in hindsight. There's no way the leading retail card maker should be actually manufacturing its own cards. Better to let OEM's deal with demand and facitilies, it's cheaper and safer.

Two, don't fight with nVidia, let them do whatever they do, and if you lose, don't continue to lose, do something about it. I don't know what all of the business problems were that occurred behind closed doors, but if they saw defeat on the horizon, don't pull a Rambus and try to salvage yourselves by suing everything in sight. They would have been better served to make an offer to become a subsidiary to ATI. ATI has the OEM market, and will have it for some time to come from the looks of things. ATI would have paid 3dfx well for their gaming related copyrights and ideas, and 3dfx could have at least salvaged SOMETHING.

They gambled the whole company away with a deck that they stacked against themselves.

Too bad.

Xayd

[hackercarlos]

Now the question is will NVIDIA put the API Glide with their 3D Cards along with D3D ?

[Panacea]

An ATi-Matrox merger might make things interesting. And
the inside account of 3dfx's downfall would make a good
read. RIP 3dfx and GLide.

[Xayd]

Or better yet Carlos, if they do incorporate Glide, will Glide make a comeback? nVidia has been touting T&L for well over a year now, but we've seen what Glide can produce in image quality in games like Unreal Tournament and Rune.

Maybe nVidia will open up Glide to the public, and save it from it's immpending doom.

Xayd

[kraken]

Hmmmm

Maybe that Nvidfx vooforce 6000 card might just become a reality.

[hackercarlos]

Yeah kraken : ) lol

[Floppyman]

This has me somewhat concerned. I don't want to see and Nvidia now along with 3dfx become a videocard monopoly. You got good 'ol ATI and Matrox as the major competitors left. ATI is on the right track with its Radeon and I think they will continue to do well....it's just that nvidia pumps out new chipsets faster than ATI does. So unless ATI and Matrox can provide us with competive cards faster...Nvidia is going to stay at the leading edge..and 3dfx's help should make it easier. An ATI-Matrox merger would be a cool thing though...and I'd support it all the way. If this happened it could make things interesing in the graphics industry.

[padawan]

NVIDIA won't be a monopoly. They sell the chips, the OEMs build them, and they compete among themselves, prices stay low. I remember when I used to worry about 3dfx being the monopoly. NVIDIA simply pushed ahead from defeat, and successfully launched one awesome product after another. The downfall of 3dfx can be traced to the failure of the VSA-100 chip to hit the market in time and the STB deals. Had the Voodoo5 5500 hit the market when 3dfx had planned, the GeForce would have had some serious competition. By the time the VSA-100 chip was ready, NVIDIA was on the GeForce2. And, if 3dfx had let companies like Hercules and Creative make Voodoo cards, the market share would have beenmuch greater.

Glide is dead. It will not come back. Many programmers have expressed joy at its demise. Direct3D will be the thing to have for the forseeable future.

Maybe NVIDIA will use the SLI technology, and strap a couple of GF2 GPUs on a board. Who knows. I doubt they will build and market a new card to compete with their own GeForce cards.

[mosquito]

I wonder if they will have 2 separate product lines (ex 3dfx products and the nvidia products) or will merge the technologies. Or maybe they will discontinue everything from 3dfx (kill the competitor)

Will the Rampage chipset ever be released, or are they going to make a Geforce / Rampage chip? I would hate that because I'm not an Nvidia fan (not that they are not making good products, but I just don't like their cards)

[Xayd]

I'm not a programmer Padawan, so correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the "dancing on the grave of Glide" just the dislike of Glide being proprietary?

I still say that the Unreal Engine is a wonderful example of what can be accomplished in both speed and visual quality on less than optimal hardware (I could get 50+ frames per second in UT, with 16 bit color and medium detail along with 3d sound on a K6-2+ @ 600 on a Voodoo3 slightly overclocked).

I like the results that have come from Glide games, the dislike of it being kept proprietary by 3dfx is a disagreement in the business practices of 3dfx, not the potential of the API, right?

Xayd