DescentBB

So, what was the story behind the Voodoo 5 and 3Dfx? I think the V5 has something to do with the downfall of 3Dfx, but I'm not sure.

^_^

what lead to the downfall of 3DFX was their own pig headishness of what they thought gamers needed.

3DFX bought STB shortly after the release of the Voodoo Banshee, and underestimated the cost of being suppling product to consumers directly. They were partnered with the likes of Creative and Hercules, and then dumped them like bad apples. Both went to nvidia in droves. Before Creative and Hercules were competing with each other and themselves, and not 3DFX, With STB's purchase, 3DFX made its partners into competition and in the end failed to provide an innovative enough product to grab the attention of non-3dfx fanboys.

Another way to view it: They ignored John Carmack, and stabbed themselves in the heart.

I think part of the problem where the cores they had. Back in the day before I gave a damn, there was the almighty Voodoo 2. Then came the Voodoo 3, which was also rockin. But after that the Voodoo 4 and Voodoo 5(both launched at the same time IIRC) where just a pair of older(V3?) cores jimmied together. At the time Nvidia had the GeForce 2, which not only was a new, single core card, but matched or outperformed the Voodoos.

I myself have a dead V5 hanging on my wall. Damn thing was DOA, but at that point 3DFX was a burnt out shell and replacement imposible. So I hang it up be cause it looks kinda cool, and it reminds me how evil brand loyalty is.

And when that didn't work, they decided to double the chips again, a la the Voodoo 5 6000, 4x single card SLI. This one never saw the light of day, never making an official release before 3dfx the shutdown.

Voodoo 4 came out atfer the V5. And the V5 performed just as good using GLIDE as the G2 using openGL. Problem was, no one was making GLIDE compatible games and 3dfx sucked when it came to openGL or Direct3D.

The games just weren't there. The market was drifting towards OpenGL and DirectX. This, plus the fact that trying to put more than one GPU core on a card is very pricey indeed. Then getting the drivers right...

In business this is what happens, if you don't stay sharp, and make the right decisions, then you can go belly up. When you keep making the wrong decisions, you go belly up quick.

in addition the the purchase of STB and the dumping affliate companies. the true reason 3dfx died was microsoft muscelled in with DirectX and 3dfx thought Glide would dominate. This was mentioned a few years back when DirectX 5 was released.

This was the first nail in the coffin for 3Dfx, and were warned they needed to change their ways. Not to mention the deal M$ had with Nvidia on DirectX. nvidia api's and XBOX beginnings..

Now the 3dfx experience as far as games it dominated the market in glide and opengl (it was compatible with both) some companies would write a 3dfx mini driver that would enhance some opengl commands specically for Glide for better features. Where 3dfx lacked in open GL was the fact ...3dfx could only do openGL in FULL SCREEN mode..

Direct X 6 was the official MS slap in the Face for 3dfx, with the guise of being one api for everyone...hahah

IOW they said NO to a licensing aggreement for GLIDE.

So basically 3dfx stumbled to the edge of the cliff and M$/Nvidia assisted 3dfx take the plunge, 3dfx was to snobish to invest in a parachute (anaology for mobius to understand)

BUBBALOU wrote: So basically 3dfx stumbled to the edge of the cliff and M$/Nvidia assisted 3dfx take the plunge, 3dfx was to snobish to invest in a parachute (anaology for mobius to understand)

Ouch. Nothing like putting their best foot forward.