Most spectacular failure in video card history

[glugglug]

Originally posted by: busmaster11
I don't recall Voodoo1 being much of a D3D accelerator...

My 4MB Voodoo1 is completely smooth in Unreal at 800x600, playable at 1024x768.
I don't think you could say that about any other card from that era, or any other 4MB card, ever.

Ever play the arcade game San Fransisco Rush? That's using the Voodoo chip also, from way before the Voodoo2 was out, and still looks great by today's standards.

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: glugglug

Originally posted by: busmaster11
I don't recall Voodoo1 being much of a D3D accelerator...

My 4MB Voodoo1 is completely smooth in Unreal at 800x600, playable at 1024x768.
I don't think you could say that about any other card from that era, or any other 4MB card, ever.

Ever play the arcade game San Fransisco Rush? That's using the Voodoo chip also, from way before the Voodoo2 was out, and still looks great by today's standards.

Interesting since I'm pretty sure the original Voodoo1 was limited to 640x480 resolution due to frame buffer size...

 

[glugglug]

Originally posted by: Boogak
Interesting since I'm pretty sure the original Voodoo1 was limited to 640x480 resolution due to frame buffer size...

A lot of sites say this, and a few games did limit it to that, but most did not, and it never made sense to me because even with a 2MB framebuffer you have to consider the Voodoo is only 16-bit color, and 800x600x16bit is less than 1MB to hold the image. In fact 1024x768x16-bit is 1.5MB.
Even if it were 24-bit color, an 800x600 frame would only be 1.44 MB.

 

[Steelski]

I couldent be asked to wade through all the answers in here but crossfire wont seem that bad in a few days. the problem that will plague the X8x0 series of cards will not be bothering the new gen cards.
This is according to the enquirer though

 

[Steelski]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: dug777
meh, x-fire; a) is a chipset not a video card, b) has only just been launched so unless Rollo has a crystal ball it's far to early to tell & c) is actually a whole platfrom that will extend to future r5xx cards THAT won't be res limited as i understand it...

Au contraire mon frere.

With SLI you could accurately say the video cards are out of the loop, but Crossfire has the technology bolted on to the side of a Crossfire "Master" card.

So I feel correct listing Crossfire as a video card debacle, the cheesy 16X12 limiting chip resides on a video card.

LOL Crossfire for X800s may as well be a high school science project. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger turd actually brought to market.

According to you when we were arguing in another thread. you praised the 5800U.......i could not understand it. And guess what is ahead in the poll. Your great big 5800U Turd.

Its blocking the pipe and stinking out the place.

 

[Hacp]

SLI sucks. Nvidia sucks. Your beans suck.

God I hope I don't get banned because I said the exact same thing about SLI that rollo did about Crossfire, except less fancier.

Heck, even if Crossfire was awesome I bet row low would come up with an excuse to bash it. Just because its subpar, Rollo nominates it for the worst failure in video card history.

 

[nealh]

I would vote Voodoo 5...I owned a PCI version 5500...loved the card, awesome performance but it killed 3DFx....they were late with inferrior technology to Nvidia at the time,...they bought STB to sell the cards and lost there OEM line...

alot of bad decisions were the result of the Voodoo5 cards...very sad...as some the technology they had in the pipeline looked great

I miss 3dfx....

 

[Frodolives]

I'm voting the Voodoo owing mostly to how quickly it was orphaned and the relative expense of it. I still cringe when I see people trying to resell them for high dollar as if they were collectible or something.

 

[shortylickens]

I cant believe no one in this whole thread has said sh[/i]it about Glide!

Glide was the reason 3DFX bit the dust. If they had let it go public like OpenGL or Direct3D they might have survived. Instead they kept it to themselves, which insured few software developers wanted to use it, and they slit their own throats.

The VooDoo 5 was an awesome card. But a proprietary API is the key to death.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I cant believe no one in this whole thread has said sh[/i]it about Glide!

Glide was the reason 3DFX bit the dust. If they had let it go public like OpenGL or Direct3D they might have survived. Instead they kept it to themselves, which insured few software developers wanted to use it, and they slit their own throats.

The VooDoo 5 was an awesome card. But a proprietary API is the key to death.

umm.. aside from the fact that overall your conclusion is flawed, d3d is actually only the graphics component of directX api, and is proprietary....

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Steelski

According to you when we were arguing in another thread. you praised the 5800U.......i could not understand it. And guess what is ahead in the poll. Your great big 5800U Turd.

Its blocking the pipe and stinking out the place.

Why couldn't you understand it Steelski? There are several posts in this thread of others who think the 5800U is not so bad, and the only thing I've ever said about it is that it wasn't as bad as people say. It performed pretty close to the 9700Pro at a lot of situations, and that's all it had to do.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Hacp
SLI sucks. Nvidia sucks. Your beans suck.

God I hope I don't get banned because I said the exact same thing about SLI that rollo did about Crossfire, except less fancier.

Heck, even if Crossfire was awesome I bet row low would come up with an excuse to bash it. Just because its subpar, Rollo nominates it for the worst failure in video card history.

The press is thrashing it HACP. Multiple paper launches, built in crippling chip, strage cumbersome hardware?

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: Hacp
SLI sucks. Nvidia sucks. Your beans suck.

God I hope I don't get banned because I said the exact same thing about SLI that rollo did about Crossfire, except less fancier.

Heck, even if Crossfire was awesome I bet row low would come up with an excuse to bash it. Just because its subpar, Rollo nominates it for the worst failure in video card history.

The press is thrashing it HACP. Multiple paper launches, built in crippling chip, strage cumbersome hardware?

and the press sucks too!

 

[MegaWorks]

You know what Rollo do what ever you want I don't care anymore. :roll:

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: MegaWorks
You know what Rollo do what ever you want I don't care anymore. :roll:

Break out the Wine (in my case root beer )

-Kevin

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: MegaWorks
You know what Rollo do what ever you want I don't care anymore. :roll:

Break out the Wine (in my case root beer )

-Kevin

too much Whine

like the dustBuster

 

[lithium726]

i dont think the 5800U was that bad of a card. my buddy got one recently for sh!ts and giggles, scored 5400 in 3dm03! :Q

we were expecting MUCH worse from that thing. the memory also overclocked to 1.3ghz without breaking a sweat, i dont think we know what it maxes out at yet.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I cant believe no one in this whole thread has said sh[/i]it about Glide!

Glide was the reason 3DFX bit the dust. If they had let it go public like OpenGL or Direct3D they might have survived. Instead they kept it to themselves, which insured few software developers wanted to use it, and they slit their own throats.

The VooDoo 5 was an awesome card. But a proprietary API is the key to death.

umm.. aside from the fact that overall your conclusion is flawed, d3d is actually only the graphics component of directX api, and is proprietary....

UMMMMMMM, at no point did I say anything about DirectX as a whole. I was talking only about the three 3D graphics API's common at the time. Glide, OpenGL and Direct3D. And when I referred to Direct3D not being proprietary I mean: You could NOT build a graphics processesor that used Glide because 3DFX wanted to keep it to themselves. If you made a chip that could run the code for Glide they would sue you for patent and/or copyright violations.
If you make a chip that supports D3D, you dont need special permission from Microsoft and you dont need to pay them anything. The only stipulation that if you claim it to be DirectX 9.0c compatible, it had darn well better be compatible. Thats why I consider it to be open. Maybe not as much as OpenGL, but its enough to make graphics hardware manufacturers wanna build chips around it.

That was what killed Glide. 3DFX wanted to have all the riches for themselves. ATI and Nvidia had to keep making OpenGL and D3D compliant processors. In the end, game designers decided it was more profitable to use the common API's and appeal to a wider gaming audience.
Remember all the games in the late 90's and early 2000's that had 2 or 3 modes to pick from? That was a byproduct of the graphics wars, when designers werent sure what would be the king. So they just covered their bases.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I cant believe no one in this whole thread has said sh[/i]it about Glide!

Glide was the reason 3DFX bit the dust. If they had let it go public like OpenGL or Direct3D they might have survived. Instead they kept it to themselves, which insured few software developers wanted to use it, and they slit their own throats.

The VooDoo 5 was an awesome card. But a proprietary API is the key to death.

umm.. aside from the fact that overall your conclusion is flawed, d3d is actually only the graphics component of directX api, and is proprietary....

UMMMMMMM, at no point did I say anything about DirectX as a whole. I was talking only about the three 3D graphics API's common at the time. Glide, OpenGL and Direct3D. And when I referred to Direct3D not being proprietary I mean: You could NOT build a graphics processesor that used Glide because 3DFX wanted to keep it to themselves. If you made a chip that could run the code for Glide they would sue you for patent and/or copyright violations.
If you make a chip that supports D3D, you dont need special permission from Microsoft and you dont need to pay them anything. The only stipulation that if you claim it to be DirectX 9.0c compatible, it had darn well better be compatible. Thats why I consider it to be open. Maybe not as much as OpenGL, but its enough to make graphics hardware manufacturers wanna build chips around it.

That was what killed Glide. 3DFX wanted to have all the riches for themselves. ATI and Nvidia had to keep making OpenGL and D3D compliant processors. In the end, game designers decided it was more profitable to use the common API's and appeal to a wider gaming audience.
Remember all the games in the late 90's and early 2000's that had 2 or 3 modes to pick from? That was a byproduct of the graphics wars, when designers werent sure what would be the king. So they just covered their bases.

Wow that almost sounds like the Shader Models nVidia is using to scam people. With that, I'm out.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Pr0d1gy

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I cant believe no one in this whole thread has said sh[/i]it about Glide!

Glide was the reason 3DFX bit the dust. If they had let it go public like OpenGL or Direct3D they might have survived. Instead they kept it to themselves, which insured few software developers wanted to use it, and they slit their own throats.

The VooDoo 5 was an awesome card. But a proprietary API is the key to death.

umm.. aside from the fact that overall your conclusion is flawed, d3d is actually only the graphics component of directX api, and is proprietary....

UMMMMMMM, at no point did I say anything about DirectX as a whole. I was talking only about the three 3D graphics API's common at the time. Glide, OpenGL and Direct3D. And when I referred to Direct3D not being proprietary I mean: You could NOT build a graphics processesor that used Glide because 3DFX wanted to keep it to themselves. If you made a chip that could run the code for Glide they would sue you for patent and/or copyright violations.
If you make a chip that supports D3D, you dont need special permission from Microsoft and you dont need to pay them anything. The only stipulation that if you claim it to be DirectX 9.0c compatible, it had darn well better be compatible. Thats why I consider it to be open. Maybe not as much as OpenGL, but its enough to make graphics hardware manufacturers wanna build chips around it.

That was what killed Glide. 3DFX wanted to have all the riches for themselves. ATI and Nvidia had to keep making OpenGL and D3D compliant processors. In the end, game designers decided it was more profitable to use the common API's and appeal to a wider gaming audience.
Remember all the games in the late 90's and early 2000's that had 2 or 3 modes to pick from? That was a byproduct of the graphics wars, when designers werent sure what would be the king. So they just covered their bases.

Wow that almost sounds like the Shader Models nVidia is using to scam people. With that, I'm out.

Sarcasm meter is exploding:

SM is not an Nvidia standard...they merely comply with its rules. Also, a scam...how? Examples?

-Kevin

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I cant believe no one in this whole thread has said sh[/i]it about Glide!

Glide was the reason 3DFX bit the dust. If they had let it go public like OpenGL or Direct3D they might have survived. Instead they kept it to themselves, which insured few software developers wanted to use it, and they slit their own throats.

The VooDoo 5 was an awesome card. But a proprietary API is the key to death.

umm.. aside from the fact that overall your conclusion is flawed, d3d is actually only the graphics component of directX api, and is proprietary....

UMMMMMMM, at no point did I say anything about DirectX as a whole. I was talking only about the three 3D graphics API's common at the time. Glide, OpenGL and Direct3D.

again, as dirctx is proprietary, and along with it d3d, the rest of your point is moot.

And when I referred to Direct3D not being proprietary I mean: You could NOT build a graphics processesor that used Glide because 3DFX wanted to keep it to themselves. If you made a chip that could run the code for Glide they would sue you for patent and/or copyright violations.

you're correct to some extent. but your statement is oversimplified.

essetianlly glide was based on open gl, however a very limited subset. it was small enough to run in hardware (as such, it wan't a "software api which other developers could use, tho a glide "wrapper" was used by some to overcome this), however due to that had some quirks (such as only supporting 16-bit color); the upside was that it was small, tightly integrated into 3dfx hardware, however it allowed 3dfx to be somewhat "lazy" regarding their hardware (part of the reason 3dfx didn't support 32-bit color in hardware and their insistance it wasn't really important).

3dfx even went so far as to releasing glide to an open api, and while some contend it by the time they did this it was too late, imo it wasn't so much the timeline as the limitations of glide.

If you make a chip that supports D3D, you dont need special permission from Microsoft and you dont need to pay them anything. The only stipulation that if you claim it to be DirectX 9.0c compatible, it had darn well better be compatible. Thats why I consider it to be open. Maybe not as much as OpenGL, but its enough to make graphics hardware manufacturers wanna build chips around it.

while i understand your point, it's not "open". it's proprietary and wholly owned by ms. the api itself is not open source, cannot be modifed by anyone. frankly, imo the fact it's so closely tied to the dominant operating system is the key to it's success. after all, it's not like open gl (which of course is open source) cannot be used by devs...

That was what killed Glide. 3DFX wanted to have all the riches for themselves. ATI and Nvidia had to keep making OpenGL and D3D compliant processors. In the end, game designers decided it was more profitable to use the common API's and appeal to a wider gaming audience.

again, an oversimplification which really doesn't tell the story. essentially, 3d games outgrew glide, and further, 3dfx hardware.

Remember all the games in the late 90's and early 2000's that had 2 or 3 modes to pick from? That was a byproduct of the graphics wars, when designers werent sure what would be the king. So they just covered their bases.

many actually used the glide "wrapper"... but again, by that time glide was outdated...

anyway one could delve into this more, but unfortunately i'm a bit limited by time atm... =/

 

[Jeff7181]

I vote for the Matrox Parhelia.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

cross fire at the moment seems to be the biggest impending failure. hopefully with R520 Ati can make something worthy of it

but for me X800 series and its crossfire have been pretty lack luster.

the 5800U, a quirky piece of hardware, and an interesting piece for sure. no where near as good as the competition but i kinda liked its brute strength macho image.

x800 crossfire is probably the biggest failure right now, it doesnt really do much, most of the rendering modes have some kind of hideous draw back (ie super tiling only works in D3d and with 16pipe cards) and early tests show the claimed performance just isnt there.

i think firing squad summed up crossfire pretty well.......the best thing about crossfire is that its made SLI better. (nv brought out SLI AA, and new drivers where by you dont need to have same vendor cards, or even a SLI bridge)

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Pr0d1gy
Wow that almost sounds like the Shader Models nVidia is using to scam people. With that, I'm out.

How is nVidia's pointing out that "having SM3 is better a "scam" when there are a handful of SM3 games available, and ATIs touting of SM2 when there was only TR:AOD any different?

SM3 is not a "scam". it's a MS standard that ATI has refused to comply with for the last year+.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I vote for the Matrox Parhelia.

Exactly.