1998 3dfx merges with Videologic

I loved my 3dFX cards. Incoming was awesome as was Quake 2 iirc. Motorhead is another that comes to mind.

Some of the demos were pretty snazzy - there was some streetfighter type thing with shiny figures.
 
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This is unforunately only available as an archive now, but several years ago the defunct ******* tech website wrote some articles on 3dfx leading up to a retrospective review of the Voodoo 6000. It's very interesting reading and explains a lot around the STB merger and delayed product refreshes.

Edit: Removed the Wayback Machine link, had not realised that the original tech site was considred dodgy by OCUK's filters.
 
My voodoo 3 2000 didn't even have active cooling, just a dinky metal heatsink on it. Voodoo 5 5500 was the first 3dfx card with active cooling and even then the cooling was bare bones basic as the cards didn't put out too much heat. Funny when you compare it to cards of today where 3 slots of cooling thickness isn't all that unusual.
 
Had the Voodoo 3, and then picked up a v5 5000 for £90 the same time they went under.

Both were such awesome cards... Such a shame they went under.
 
paradigm said:
They did the opposite. AIB partners were building 3Dfx Voodoo, Voodoo II and Voodoo Banshee cards (technically RUSH as well, but RUSH was pants), then 3Dfx bought out STB for the sole purpose of building and controlling the quality of their product. Voodoo 3 onward were in-house built cards only, and in all honesty the quality of the Mexican build STB boards were inferior to some of the big players building the older Voodoo II cards (Creative, Guillemot, Diamond, etc).
Click to expand...

Jeez, I remember being stunned the first time I ran Unreal on my Voodoo Banshee. I really thought graphics couldn't get any better.
 
Wow this has been a trip down memory lane! I remember being devastated when 3dfx went under.
Wonder if having another player in the market now would have done anything to improve the supply situation we have at the moment
 
The last card I had was the good old Voodoo 2 before I moved onto the Riva TNT 2.

No more 3DFX logo
No more "click" on game boot up.
No more UltraHLE. :(

I remember reading an .nfo from a cracked game. Saying "Who are these new players NVIDIA?!?! They will never compete with 3DFX!"

Then a year later 3DFX went under and the rest is history
 
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Loved a 3DFX card. I first got into PCs in 1996, just before the 3DFX cards hit the market. Already, my machine was an upgrade on the Amiga I'd come from, especially with games like Quake (original) which I couldn't get enough of. Then I slotted one of these bad boys in, and patched Quake, and the difference was just staggering. Game changing at the time. I had all the early 3DFX cards. Happy days! :)
 
Since this is now Nostalgia Corner (nostalgia ain't what it used to be though...):

My first proper 3D card was Voodoo 2. I don't remember the make, but it was first added to an ATI 2D card so half the time it didn't work. I got it working with Quake II. The difference between a stuttering 480x360 in 2D and 800x600 in 3D was just mind-blowing. I should point out that this was in about 2000. Later I bought a Voodoo 3, and later still a Voodoo5 5500. That broke and I persuaded 3dfx that I should get a warranty replacement. In retrospect it was clear that they knew the end was near and thought that sending a free card to a willing punter was better than having it sold to pay off debtors. The second blew up because I took off the original GPU coolers to replace them with better ones, and one wasn't attached properly. By then 3dfx was dead. I set fire to it - Viking funerals are the best funerals.

v5_carbon.jpg


But...

My understanding is that the thing that killed 3dfx was the decision to make their own cards. They used to be like ARM: just a designer, with anyone able to licence their designs. But they bought a fab in (IIRC) Mexico, and that became a massive money sink. All the money that should have gone into R&D went to trying to get the fab going. Rampage would not have saved them even if it had arrived at the end, because it was already a cycle old and still hadn't appeared. Everything that happened followed on from that single mistake.

Also, do any of the old-timers remember Sharkfood from the 3dfxgamers BBS?
 
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Meridian said:
Since this is now Nostalgia Corner (nostalgia ain't what it used to be though...):

My first proper 3D card was Voodoo 2. I don't remember the make, but it was first added to an ATI 2D card so half the time it didn't work. I got it working with Quake II. The difference between a stuttering 480x360 in 2D and 800x600 in 3D was just mind-blowing. I should point out that this was in about 2000. Later I bought a Voodoo 3, and later still a Voodoo5 5500. That broke and I persuaded 3dfx that I should get a warranty replacement. In retrospect it was clear that they knew the end was near and thought that sending a free card to a willing punter was better than having it sold to pay off debtors. The second blew up because I took off the original GPU coolers to replace them with better ones, and one wasn't attached properly. By then 3dfx was dead. I set fire to it - Viking funerals are the best funerals.

v5_carbon.jpg


But...

My understanding is that the thing that killed 3dfx was the decision to make their own cards. They used to be like ARM: just a designer, with anyone able to licence their designs. But they bought a fab in (IIRC) Mexico, and that became a massive money sink. All the money that should have gone into R&D went to trying to get the fab going. Rampage would not have saved them even if it had arrived at the end, because it was already a cycle old and still hadn't appeared. Everything that happened followed on from that single mistake.

Also, do any of the old-timers remember Sharkfood from the 3dfxgamers BBS?
Click to expand...
I remember that name :D
 
I had a Voodoo 3 3000 and remember the first game it played was my first play through of Half-Life. All thanks to reading a fantastic review on Digitiser (Teletext).

Loved the Voodoo box art too.
 
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