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3Dfx History: The GPU’s Great Turning Point?

posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 19 2018, @03:22PM   
from the history-repeats-itself dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Today's startup companies seem to have a certain arc to them—they get some seed funding, they launch, they draw some interest for their good idea, they keep growing, and maybe they become a part of the fabric of our lives ... or a part of the fabric of a significantly larger company. Strangely, 3Dfx didn't so much draw interest as blow the lid off of a trend that redefined how we think of video games. Its graphics processing units were just the right technology for their time. And, for that reason, the company was everywhere for a few years ... until it wasn't. So, what happened—why did 3Dfx turn into a cautionary tale? Today's Tedium sifts through all the polygons and the shaded textures. — Ernie @ Tedium

Source: https://tedium.co/2018/02/14/3dfx-history-failure/

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Original Submission

• still won't buy nVidia cards still won't buy nVidia cards (Score: 2) by dltaylor on Monday February 19 2018, @11:21PM (1 child)

  by dltaylor (4693) on Monday February 19 2018, @11:21PM (#640329)

  They destroyed 3dfx by, IMO, patent-trolling over an inherent feature of PCI, "block moves".

  Voodoo 3 still runs in my SAM 440 (AmigaDOS, Debian PPC).

  I kept a couple of 3s when I parted ways with the 5s, because I thought the legacy support for the 3s was likely to last.

  Starting Score:	1		point
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• Re:still won't buy nVidia cards (Score: 2) by chewbacon on Tuesday February 20 2018, @04:59AM

  by chewbacon (1032) on Tuesday February 20 2018, @04:59AM (#640467)

  I get so nostalgic thinking back to building my first computer and opening the box of the Voodoo3 3500. That thing was a beast... at the time. Loved watching TV on it, too.

  Parent