No one can argue about the power of 2
Dec 27 '00
3dfx vs. nVidia: no longer an issue?
Most of you graphics freaks have long awaited the geForce2 and the voodoo5. You all heard the hype, and you heard the arguments going in both directions. Well, argue no more. If you haven't heard already, 3dfx and nVidia are now an item. 3dfx is being bought out by nVidia in an effort to rid themselves of one of their main competitors and to edge them over the top to be the ultimate graphics card manufacturer. 3dfx was the predominant star of the past. They were the ones who brought you glide and the were one of the first to bring graphics processing to the next level. I'm sure all of you remmember the Monster 3d. 4 megabytes of graphics processing power. Back then, it was enough to let any user scream out in glee as they watched 3d polygon figures lumber across the screen in a 3d rendered envoronment. I remember myself, digging through software titles looking for the 3dfx logo on the back so that I could experience 3d gaming at its best.
Before long, a challenger came along; a small startup company called nVidia. It's executive being a hardworking and ambitious asian immigrant to the united states, bent on the task of overtaking the ever popular 3dfx. The RivaTNT was soon released offering competition to 3dfx. The VooDoo line of graphics cards were challenged in a race for processing power. By then, s3 was well out of the picture with its hardly advertised name and rather slow core processor. nVidia and 3dfx soon found themselves in a battle, each comming out with a chipset better than the others'. Now, we find ourselves today weighing the worthiness of two of the most powerful graphics cards on the market: the Voodoo5 and the GeForce2. Each so powerful that they retain over a Gigatexel/sec processing capabilities. I remember sitting in an IRC channel watching a group of zealous computer geeks argue over which the better graphics card was. "The GeForce2 is definately the best and the fastest!" one of the persons exclaimed. "You're just going with the hype!" another retaliated. Before long, I found myself actually paying close attention to the arguments for both sides. I, myself, was looking to buy one of the much exalted cards. The problem was, that on either side there was a group of people to advocate their choice. There were great arguments for both sides, and all backed up with technical specifications. Having owned both, I knew that they were both worthwhile companies and I couldnt decide which one was better than the other. I agonized over the decision as I went from webpage to webpage, and from forum to forum trying to choose a winner. After all, $300 is a really large amount of money to spend, especially for a thrifty college student. From what I've learned, (and you could possibly, and will probably, disagree) it seems to me that the VooDoo5 is the card with all the texture, shadow, light, and shading effects, while the GeForce2 is, while not by much, the one with the speed. Both cards have support for anti-aliasing which means that no matter which one is purchased, you will find yourself with your mouth agape and drooling all over your keyboard at the graphics. I guess you can call me a sucker for speed, but somehow I saw more overclocking capabilities in the GeForce2, so I decided to go with the ever expensive Annihilator 2 Ultra. Not the smartest choice for me, but I'm quite content with it. Right now, I've got a large home-made copper heatsink and two 90mm fans strapped to it. I've rendered the adjacent pci slot useless, but I have it running at insane speeds. (you have got to see quake3 at 1280x1024 with anti-aliasing on) Just because I purchased a GeForce doesn't mean that I feel that the nVidia is the better of the two. Actually, I've decided that both cards are equal, and that each has its own advantages in its own way. I'll let the rest of you guys argue out the details. If you are in the market for a graphics card, I suggest a GeForce MX merely because of the price. It is still incredibly fast, and offers all the good features, but at a more than reasonable price.
Just a note to all of you graphics freaks out there. Argue while you can, because soon there will be nothing left to argue about. There will clearly be only one winner, and that is the power of the two wonderful companies combined. Only in my wildest dreams have I imagined something like this happening, and i'm quite happy to say that everyone can expect only the best from this company. I've heard rumors of an insane chipset in production currently. I can hardly wait. Can you?
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Epinions.com ID:
_fate_
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Reviews written: 24
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About Me:
A student studying Computer Science, and obsessed with computers.
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