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oldsk00l
04-30-03, 01:19 AM
I have been perusing various sites, er actually graves it seems like, when I figured, why not come to an nVidia site and ask how far back do you go in the "nVidiot" scene?

The reason I am asking this is because I'm hoping to run into people I use to associate with from back in "the day" who may be using a different alias now.

Namely, I'll start off:
I opened my first nVidia product in the form of the STB Velocity 128 back in 1997. I then proceeded to search for drivers for this card back when nVidia's site looked much like a small tiny video vendor. In fact, they only had an Alpha OpenGL driver that only managed to scrap along at 25 fps in Quake2 at 640x480.

I then moved onto some yahoo searches and stumbled onto RivaZone. Formerly the RUG. I believe a unique gentleman named Felby started RUG which merged into RivaZone later, which was also associated with (and is still running) d128.com

It's interesting to see, see tweak3d.com's founder I remember watching as a young man with some neat autoexec.cfg's that helped Riva128's look morelike Voodoo's in Quake2, and he started a site called tweak3d, which was at d128.com/tweak3d or /dantech

I have seen Brian Hook while at id announce new OGL drivers on the RZ, and watched nVidia fly up all the webmaster's for Riva sites to their HQ to show them the GeForce256 before it was announced.

I found myself when GeForceFX get announced asking "Where is nVidia of past? What have they turned into? Where is the vigor they had during the TNT days and TNT2 Ultra days?"

They turned into a company just like Intel, driven now by margins simply because they got so huge. But I can see why. The massive base they use to have is now gone. The communities of users they had are now scattered from dozens into hundreds into thousands. Reason being? These early sites splintered and the webmasters all got pissed at each other and starting their own sites.

What I'd love to see is the response we'd get from nVidia by pooling back together.

This "core group" of users that nVidia will never forget has to be out there somewhere, but what happened to them all???

They use to be so easy to find.


[edit]
Also it was interesting that nVidia's core driver programmers use to visit these bbz all the time. Someone would break down and bitch about an OGL problem and Dwight Diercks, Nick Triantos, and David Kirk would all be in threads consoling users. nVidia use to be really in touch with the public. Now they're in touch with Tomshardware and anandtech

LORD-eX-Bu
04-30-03, 01:27 AM
my first nVIDIA product was a GF2:lol:

not goin' too far back here, always did fine with S3 until I discovered n64 emulation:D

meh, I like ATi better:firedevil

Darth Rancid
04-30-03, 02:27 AM
I only come here because it is the best Computer/GPU/VPU site I know of, I don't own anything nVidia, and used to hang out on Savage Daily News and 3dfxGamers before since I have a history of using 3dfx and S3 devices...

Seems like it will be Radeon9500Pro in my next box, but I still like nVnews better than Rage3d...

Kruno
04-30-03, 02:30 AM
I was here from 1998
I was also at 3dfxgamers during 1999
Beyond 3d from 2000
Rage3d since this year

:)

TNT AGP
Voodoo 3 3K AGP
Geforce 3
9700 Pro

vampireuk
04-30-03, 02:45 AM
March 2001 for me:cool: with a Geforce 256, ah it was a great card:afro:

sbp
04-30-03, 03:56 AM
I remember when Dan Kennedy {tweak3d.net fa**** used to be at VoodooExtreme. :o

I've been checking out nVNews.net news for years now. Only started posting when the forums became vBulletin.

Yep, unlike ATI which does have one big fansite, nVidiots are splintered over various sites.

I hear what you say oldsk00l about nVidia's attitude changing over the years.

Diamond Viper V330 in September '97.
Creative Labs TNT in Oct. '98
Creative DDR GeForce Dec. '99 {sold a few months later to brother-in-law}
Creative GeForce 2 GTS. May '00; croaked Dec.01
Gainward GeForce 3 Ti500 Dec. 01
Abit GeForce 4 Ti4600 bought used (http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50377) for a sweet price in Sept. '02

The future: leaning towards the Radeon 9800 Pro.

In spite of all the nVidia cards bought over the years, I'm not a fanboy and will play it straight down the line. I'm throughly unimpressed with the GeForceFX line {as most people are} and haven't recommended one yet.

Smokey
04-30-03, 05:05 AM
I bought my first computer in 98 or 99 cant remember, it had a TNT1, Celeron 433, 64mb SDR ram and a 7GB HDD :afro: Bought a GerforceDDR when it first came out and didnt work properly with my damn motherbord :mad: So I ended up buying another pc with a GeforceDDR in it :p Been coming here for 3+ years, but only active in the forums for about 2.

digitalwanderer
04-30-03, 08:26 AM
I don't keep track, but I was pretty much exclusively ATi back then. I started hanging at RageUnderground ("spit-spit, Andre SUCKS! spit-spit!") where I worked for a few years 'til I got a GF2 MX400, then me life changed.... ;)

saturnotaku
04-30-03, 09:12 AM
I used to be a regular in the 3dfxgamers forum (under the handle chevcav92). 'Bout November/December '00 I started to visit here for news. I was still a 3dfx user when I registered for these forums in January '01. My friends had been using NVIDIA cards for a while before then (TNT/TNT2). I picked up a used PCI TNT that is still in my parents' computer to this day. My first NV card that I put to hard use was a GeForce2 MX. Subsequent to that I've owned a GF2 Ultra, GF3, GF4 Ti4600 and now my current FX 5800 Ultra. Intermixed in there were a Radeon 8500 (yuck) and a modded Radeon 9500 (which I just sold this week, an excellent video card).

volt
04-30-03, 09:25 AM
Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
I was here from 1998

Enlighten me ? I can't recall your name here before 2001/2002 :)

Joined in 1999. It would be really helpful to see more NVIDIA employees on our board. Currently the only NVIDIA guy is Andy Mecham (Linux community) and he's doing an awsome job here.

I'd love to see someone from the win32 driver department register and post on regular basis. Hardware rep. would be even nicer but that's just asking too much I think.

Kain
04-30-03, 09:35 AM
I've never owned a NVIDIA product.

digitalwanderer
04-30-03, 10:26 AM
Originally posted by Kain
I've never owned a NVIDIA product.

Dude!

You really owe it to yourself to pick up a GF3 or GF4 for cheap to give the nVidia world a try, it is a REAL eye-opener!

I'm not saying their BETTER, but they are different..and in a good way.

I used to have the card you have now, and I picked up the GF2 MX400 to 'check out the other half' and it really opened me eyes to what I was missing....a GF3 would be a HUGE jump from that radeon. :)

Kain
04-30-03, 10:56 AM
Originally posted by digitalwanderer
Dude!

You really owe it to yourself to pick up a GF3 or GF4 for cheap to give the nVidia world a try, it is a REAL eye-opener!

I'm not saying their BETTER, but they are different..and in a good way.

I used to have the card you have now, and I picked up the GF2 MX400 to 'check out the other half' and it really opened me eyes to what I was missing....a GF3 would be a HUGE jump from that radeon. :) The thing is that we are currently putting together a very expensive home theater. We want to get that out of the way before we upgrade the computer.

Kain
04-30-03, 10:57 AM
By the way, when I do upgrade, I'll probably be getting the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.

digitalwanderer
04-30-03, 11:52 AM
Originally posted by Kain
By the way, when I do upgrade, I'll probably be getting the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.

A much better upgrade than my suggestions, I was just thinking that if you got $50-60us laying around you could probably double your current performance pretty easy with a GF3. ;)

Kain
04-30-03, 11:55 AM
Originally posted by digitalwanderer
A much better upgrade than my suggestions, I was just thinking that if you got $50-60us laying around you could probably double your current performance pretty easy with a GF3. ;) Really? I would see that big of a difference by upgrading to a NVIDIA GeForce3? I might think about it then. :)

Kain
04-30-03, 11:58 AM
By the way, what is ATI's equivilent of the NVIDIA GeForce3?

oldsk00l
04-30-03, 01:13 PM
Radeon 8500

Kain
04-30-03, 02:26 PM
Thanks.

Do you think I'll gain more gaming performance by getting an ATI Radeon 8500 128MB or a NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500?

Smokey
04-30-03, 02:33 PM
Originally posted by Kain
Thanks.

Do you think I'll gain more gaming performance by getting an ATI Radeon 8500 128MB or a NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500?

Check this (http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030120/index.html)

According to that link, you would be better off with a GF3Ti500 ;)

Kain
04-30-03, 02:38 PM
Thanks.

So, which is the best performing NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500 card? :D

volt
04-30-03, 02:48 PM
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/gainward_gf3_ti550/1.shtml

Kain
04-30-03, 02:51 PM
Originally posted by volt
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/gainward_gf3_ti550/1.shtml Thanks, but isn't that a 64MB card?

ricercar
04-30-03, 04:27 PM
When I worked for Alliance Semiconductor in '94-5, we were the first company to sign up an unknown company called 3dFX. They added 3D accelerator daughercards to our Windows 3.x VGA controllers.

Back in 1995
- there were over 30 players fighting for PC video marketshare.
- the best video cards were VL-Bus or PCI.
- an AMD 486-DX100 was a fast CPU.
- 4MB was a big video card.
- 2D motion video was the target everyone shot for. Movies on your PC...
- Doom didn't have a number after it.
- nVidia wasn't even a candy bar in Jen Hsun's back pocket.

oldsk00l
04-30-03, 04:53 PM
man that's oldsk000000000l

everything on from what you said is history :)