Is 3DFX killing Nvidia?

[serialdave]

Remember how poorly 3dfx started to execute at the end? Remember how ell Nvidia used to execute?

Nvidia had a new part every year with a refresh six months larter. Suddenly after the buy out of 3dfx Nvidia is having trouble getting the products out of the door. For the first time in ages a competitor is getting the lead. If ATI continues to execute on time and Nvidia keeps sloowwing down ATI will gain quite a lead in just a years time.

No one would have thought that 3dfx would be gone today. could the same thing be in Nvidias future?

[sytaylor]

some good points but lets not forget the size of nVidia, they hit it big when the market REALLY boomed and grew exponentially so to kill them off would take a mighty push

[Leer]

nVidia had a good bit of luck as well. They hit their stride on the tech up swing and were alble to sell massive amounts of product and only sold GPUs.

Now with the market down and nVidia branching out (cbox, nForce, etc) they are spread out a little more.

Every time they bring something to market it dominates so they are hitting target and this is the first delay I'm aware of... hmm didn't that happen to 3Dfx (notice the "D" not "d") Note: the day they changed the "D" is the day their world changed.


Anyway the new Gforce will dominate when it comes out and R400 will dominate when it comes out. I just wish I had the cash to bandwagon jump.

cheers

[styles-T]

not to mention the new moves in technology.. .13 micron

It doesnt get faster it gets more complex hence the longer periods in between..

[-=DVS=-]

LMAO

NVIDIA is LIKE BORG and 3Dfx developed a virus and by letting themselfs to be bought they infected Nvidia and its life is nearing end :D :D

Soon there will be only 1 company A T I Muhahahah :eek:

[Gehenna_CA]

That would be a horrible development for everyone. Can you say monopoly?

[vampireuk]

even worse, can you say ragenv :eek: :eek:

[DaveW]

Remember how nVidia works. They release a new product every six months (sic), but only a really significant change (e.g. TNT -> GeForce) every couple of years. Every part inbetween is just a speed increase with a few extra features which are easier to get out on time than the major products.

The GeForce fx has major differences between earlier products and it took longer to impliment. I won't be suprised to see the GeForce fx 2 or GeForce fx ultra or pro or whatever out towards the end of Q2 2003.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by serialdave
Nvidia had a new part every year with a refresh six months larter. Suddenly after the buy out of 3dfx Nvidia is having trouble getting the products out of the door. For the first time in ages a competitor is getting the lead. If ATI continues to execute on time and Nvidia keeps sloowwing down ATI will gain quite a lead in just a years time.

No one would have thought that 3dfx would be gone today. could the same thing be in Nvidias future?

actually nvidia started slowing down after they started work on the Xbox.

and 3dfx make many poor market decisions as well as having delayed products which didn't compete well after they came out. not a good sign by any means.

the R300 was the first time ATI dominated nvidia for any good length of time, and it looks like times might be changing. ATI is accelerating their market schdules. obviously nvidia will have to do the same to stay competitive if they want the peformance crown.

[marqmajere]

*cough* Rampage *cough*

If anything, 3Dfx made them stronger. I, for one, cannot wait till I pop in my new GeforceFX and watch my proc cry because it can't keep up. :D

[Kruno]

Don't forget Nvidia have a lot of fanboys as well. :p

[ALobpreis]

Originally posted by DaveW
but only a really significant change (e.g. TNT -> GeForce) every couple of years

What was the last big change?
GF2->GF3 was teorically a big improvement, 7x perormance and so, but in the end it just was a faster card, cinematic effects (remember the Mac presentation?) and with some nicer features. GF4 the same, realtime cinematic effects... In the end all we got are higher 3D Marks and more frames in demo four! :(

[sytaylor]

yeah but this truley is a leap.. geforce 3 was some effects and a bit faster, geforce fx is acompletley different methodology for creating graphical environments

[Kruno]

In the future. What can the Nv30 deliver today other than faster framerates and FSAA at resolutions I have never heard of?

GF2 -> GF3 = New method of FSAA, higher AF filtering. Both AF and FSAA have new algorithms over the GF2.

GF3 -> GF4 = Faster, some new filter for FSAA and take less performance hit which just comes back to being faster. QAA is clearer if that is an awesome change for some people. It's a step back for me. Also DXT1 TC is dithered.

GF4 -> Nv30 = We will see!

[Uttar]

If nVidia dies, it won't be 3Dfx way. It'll be in a more horrible, painful way. Let me explain...
How did 3Dfx die? They missed cycles and couldn't deliver anymore. Their products, when shipped, were always inferior to nVidia's ones.
But that won't happen to nVidia.
Why? Diversification. They got so darn many teams. They got about 3 teams *only* for GPUs ( the first work for a product which will release in 6 months, the second in 12 months and the third for a product which will release in 18 months ) and probably one team for the nForce and another, smaller one, which might begin XBox 2 design.
At the same time, they also got a LOT of old products such a TNT2s, GeForce 2 MX, ... which continue to sell to OEMs, unabling them to die any time soon.

So... How could nVidia die?
Conflicting opinions between the teams.
If one team wanted a deferred rendering architecture, for example, and the two other said "Go away! We don't want that!", then that team would be required to continue IMR.
And that team thus wouldn't be as motivated, and a lot less efficient.

After a while, the other teams would also be discouraged because of that team failures. So, employees might switch teams. It would be chaos. They'd lose months of productive work!
And at the same time, all they'd still have are low-end products and the nForce... And they'd rapidly lose their brand recognition, finally killing them.

My point, really, is that nVidia's "3 teams" strategy might become an apocalypse. If one team disagrees, it's Doom Day Forever.
nVidia can't die by missing cycles. They can only die from an internal crisis, from... deffered loyalists :D

Hey, that would be a good subject for a book! :p


Uttar

[saturnotaku]

Originally posted by Uttar
Hey, that would be a good subject for a book!

And here's the title:

Deferred Loyalists: The Rise and Fall of the NVIDIA Graphics Empire.

:D

[Uttar]

Originally posted by saturnotaku
And here's the title:

Deferred Loyalists: The Rise and Fall of the NVIDIA Graphics Empire.

:D

Eh, not bad. But you could also take a book about the fall of the roman empire. You'd only have to change "the romans" to "nVidia" and you'd also have to change "Caesar" into "Jen Hsun Huang"
Oh, and you'd put Cicero as "David Kirk"

Tadam! Talk about being too lazy to write a new book ;)
I'd buy this :D

Uttar