nVidia... but perhaps not for long
Apr 08 '00 (Updated Aug 21 '00)
(Updated 8/21) What ever happened to 3dfx? For years they were THE dominant player in the 3D accelerator industry, with technology (Voodoo 1) that was literally orders of magnitude more powerful than competing products (ex. S3 Virge) and set the standard for all 3D cards to follow. Since then, not only have they lost the lead to nVidia in terms of both market share and innovation, but their dated Voodoo 3 cards are hardly more than budget solutions in comparison to the current state-of-the-art GeForce.
To make matters worse, 3dfx recently had their first "missed product cycle"; their Voodoo 4/5 cards, released in June, were overdue by about four months--an eternity in the 3D accelerator industry where each card's lifespan is only about six months. In fact, the 3D card market has been the most rapidly changing segment of the PC industry for the last two years, which makes it almost impossible for laggards to play catch-up successfully.
However "catch up" is exactly what 3dfx may be poised to do--and if recent developments (rumors about "Rampage", the 3dfx acquisition of Gigapixel, etc) play out as they very well might, 3dfx has the potential to regain the market-leader position within the next few product cycles. Here's a rundown of current and future products from 3dfx and nVidia.
3dfx Voodoo 3
The V3 is available in three standard models--2000, 3000, and 3500TV. The differences are primarily in speed (143 mhz, 166, mhz, and 183 mhz), while the 3500TV has an integrated TV tuner and has video in/out capabilities. They are available in both PCI and AGP, with the AGP versions being slightly faster (1-2%). Quick note: using a program such as Voodoo 3 Overclocker, most V3's can be overclocked by at least one speed grade, ex. 143-->166.
As stated earlier, the Voodoo 3 is no longer a viable solution for the true hard-core gamer and is really more of a "budget" 3D card. It really lacks any advanced features (32 bit color, bump mapping, T&L, texture compression, etc) and is designed primarily for speed. Of course, calling the V3 a "budget" card is a slight misnomer--to the average person the performance is incredible, and is more than adequate for the latest games (ex. Unreal Tournament, Quake 3). It is simply no longer state-of-the-art and cannot provide an optimal gaming experience, especially for future 3D games.
nVidia TNT2 Ultra
The TNT2 is available in the standard TNT2 and the faster TNT2 Ultra configurations. Consider the TNT2 Ultra a more fully-featured, faster (and more expensive) version of the Voodoo 3. Its additional features include true 32-bit color, true AGP support, and support for higher texture sizes. For most users, a card based on the TNT2 Ultra should be more than enough for any current game. Just don't expect to run it at insanely high-resolutions (ex. 1600x1200) with insane frame-rates.
nVidia GeForce
The GeForce's main advantages over the TNT2 are higher fill-rate speed and support for "hardware T&L", which accelerates the transform and lighting stages of the 3D graphics "pipeline" (which were previously handled by the CPU). As for the much-hyped hardware T&L, the net effect is approximately a 20% increase in frame-rate while playing games that support T&L--so far only OpenGL games such as Quake 3 Arena and a few other games such as Shadowman. In all other games, hardware T&L is completely unused. In fact, much to the chagrin of nVidia, no current games use the "L" (lighting) portion of T&L, instead using the T&L engine for transform only, when it's used at all. And unfortunately, by the time hardware T&L is common in games, far more powerful 3D cards will be available. For that reason I wouldn't recommend buying GeForce cards just for their T&L capabilities, but simply because they offer the best overall performance currently available.
Most current GeForce cards are NV10 models; NV15 models (Geforce 2 GTS) have been recently released with a huge bump in performance, making them the fastest cards on the market by a respectable margin. The Geforce 2's also incorporate some additional features like per-pixel shading (a way to reproduce textures in a more realistic way), but as of yet those features have not been supported in any games. Geforce 2's also have better support for full-scene anti-aliasing, since they now have enough horsepower to really handle it properly (see below for more on FSAA). Unfortunately the Geforce architecture was not originally designed for FSAA, and it's more like a software implementation that was "tacked on" as a reaction to the Voodoo 5's FSAA. As a result, it still faces stability and compatability problems with some games.
A low-budget "value" version called the Geforce 2 MX has also been released recently, which in some ways has the best price/performance ratio of any card on the market. They are essentially identical to Geforce 2's except they have only two "rendering pipelines" instead of four (which means they don't perform as well at VERY high resolutions, such as 1600x1200) and they slower run at a slower clockspeed with slower RAM. With those drawbacks, the MX models may sound like something to be avoided, but that is definitely not the case for one reason: overclocking. Although some MX models don't come with a heatsink+fan like GTS models do, if you buy one that does (or add one after buying it), most cards can be overclocked to the 190-200 mhz range. That basically means you can achieve Geforce 1 DDR levels of performance at 50-60% of the price (MX's can be found for as low as $120 shipped, compared to $200+ for most Geforce 1 DDR's).
3dfx Voodoo 4/5 (VSA-100)
The Voodoo 4 and 5, to be released simultaneously in May, will not have hardware T&L (which 3dfx claims is still ahead of its time) but will instead opt for MASSIVE fill rates--over a billion pixels per second in their Voodoo 5 6000 card. The Voodoo 4/5's will use the new VSA-100 chip (Voodoo Scalable Architecture), which allows for multiple VSA's on the same card to increase fill rates (and performance) accordingly. While the base-line Voodoo 4 with one VSA will have fill rate comparable to the GeForce, the higher end V5's will have up to four VSA-100 chips running in parallel for up to 1.2 gigapixels of fill rate. And with CPU speeds reaching astronomical levels, hardware T&L may be a relative non-issue for the near future, since there will be even less need for dedicated T&L engines when CPU's are more than powerful enough handle it themselves. In other words, what use is a T&L engine on the video card when your CPU is an even more powerful T&L engine? In that sense, the AMD vs Intel CPU speed race has been playing right into 3dfx's plans, and further diminishing the current benefits of hardware T&L.
Besides the massive fill-rates, the VSA-100's main selling point is the 3dfx "T-Buffer" technology, which will allow for full-screen quad-sampled anti-aliasing, eliminating all the "jaggies" and pixelization that plague current cards--as well as numerous "cinematic" effects like depth of field, motion blur, and realistic shadows. While the cinematic effects will be only in games that specifically support them, full-screen anti-aliasing (FSAA)--in many ways the "holy grail" of image quality--will be enabled in ALL 3D accelerated games both old and new. While I was initially skeptical about how much impact FSAA would make, firsthand accounts from virtually everyone who has witnessed it agree: FSAA is a true revolution in image quality and will change the standards of what "acceptable" image quality really is.
3dfx Voodoo 6/Rampage
Very little is known about 3dfx's next-in-line, the "Rampage", but the preliminary buzz suggests it could be nothing short of revolutionary. The chip has been in development for almost two years now, with FAR more R&D resources devoted to it than any product 3dfx has ever released. And while they have been reluctant to discuss specifics, 3dfx has gone on record to say it will be the most impressive 3dfx product ever. In addition to the T-Buffer features that were in the Voodoo 4/5 series, 3dfx is rumored to be using a scalable T&L technology, allowing for multiple low-cost but high-performance T&L engines to be incorporated into (possibly added-on to?) a single Rampage card. In other words, a scalable technology like VSA, but with regard to hardware T&L. Since such an approach will allow for the easy mass-production of these T&L engines with high yields, it could be a big advantage when nVidia moves towards massive, on-die T&L engines that could be problematic to produce cheaply and reliably.
Future 3dfx Technology
This is where 3dfx's recent acquisition of Gigapixel will begin to make an impact--possibly a HUGE impact. Gigapixel's primary technology is a "tile-based" rendering technology, similar but far superior to the PowerVR technology used in the Sega Dreamcast. Through the use of this technology, bandwidth and memory requirements will be reduced by a factor of ten, allowing for completely unprecedented rendering speeds at relatively low cost. Gigapixel's staff of 40+ highly talented engineers should also benefit 3dfx greatly as a result of the Gigapixel acquisition. Word has it that the upcoming 3dfx product incorporating Gigapixel technology is internally code-named "Fear". See www.penstarsys.com for more details.
Conclusion
Certainly the future is never certain in the PC hardware industry, and in no segment is that more true than with 3D accelerators. Who could have foreseen 3dfx's problems over the past year, back when Voodoo 2 was far and away the most dominant technology on the market? And who would have thought nVidia, makers of budget 3dfx-alternatives like the Riva 128, would take over 3dfx's place at the top? So if anything is certain, it is that no amount of planned products or exclusive technologies can make up for on-time releases, proper execution, and the right OEM deals. And that is exactly where nVidia has been dominating for ovdr the last year, with flawless on-time execution with every product they've released. But if the rumors of what 3dfx has to offer are true, nVidia has reason to be worried, and their current market dominance might be over sooner than they expect.
By the way: you may have noticed the retaliatory NR rating to the left, posted by member "calyces". In case anyone is curious, I caught him plagiarizing a review on this very subject. Check out the comments on his two most recent reviews and you'll see what I mean.
Thanks to Penstar Systems, Firing Squad, Anandtech, Voodoo Extreme, and several other sites for the information.
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vicwang
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Member: Vic Wang
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 216 members
About Me:
Systems Analyst and all-around computer guru who's always keeping up with the latest technology.
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