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Why did 3DFX Fail?

I

imported_goku

Diamond Member
Why is it that their first cards were fantastic but as times went on, they started to produce shittier cards as times progressed. Did they really need SLI to survive and because AGP doesn't support SLI, this wasn't possible? Did some engineers leave 3DFX for ATI or Nvidia or something?
 
They got in the business of manufacturing, marketing and distributing their own cards. 3dfx overestimates their capabilities in those depts. and underestimates the costs. All the 3rd party manufacturers/distributors that supported 3dfx ran to their competition, nVidia. Lack of focus on technology that really mattered to the consumer (trumping superior AA instead of pushing T&L, 32-bit graphics, etc.) really might have done them in even before the other horrible business move. 3dfx becomes shell of former self and its carcass is purchased by nVidia. End of story.
 
Originally posted by: Windogg
Because the Voodoo4 sucked and the Voodoo5 was vaporware.
Click to expand...

One of my friends has a Voodoo 5

ATi and nVidia's products were blowing them out of the water by '98-'99 if I remember correctly.

Also, OpenGL/DirectX were way easier to support and had a broader hardware base than Glide.
 

Originally posted by: Windogg
Because the Voodoo4 sucked and the Voodoo5 was vaporware.
Click to expand...

The Voodoo 5 was not vaporware. I have a PCI 5500 version. It was the V5 6000 that was vaporware.
 
Oh darn, I'm getting old. Forgot the 5500 made it to market. I do remember a 5000 which along with th 6000, never saw commerical distribution.

Might not post much but I do lurk around.
 
Originally posted by: mcvickj
A pretty good write up on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DFX
Click to expand...

Intriguingly, the Voodoo 5 10000 is MIA from that. IIRC, it made it to market, had 128mb of memory, and 4 of the friggin' chips. They didn't sell very many, though (I encountered one once, I think it's still in the "Full length AGP cards" drawer with the ridiculous Matrox-based behemoths and the FireGL 9800's. I'll take a look on Monday.
 
Originally posted by: LordUnum
They got in the business of manufacturing, marketing and distributing their own cards. 3dfx overestimates their capabilities in those depts. and underestimates the costs. All the 3rd party manufacturers/distributors that supported 3dfx ran to their competition, nVidia. Lack of focus on technology that really mattered to the consumer (trumping superior AA instead of pushing T&L, 32-bit graphics, etc.) really might have done them in even before the other horrible business move. 3dfx becomes shell of former self and its carcass is purchased by nVidia. End of story.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. They insisted on making their own cards while ATI and Nvidia outsourced the actual manufacturing to other companies...
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: mcvickj
A pretty good write up on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DFX
Click to expand...

Intriguingly, the Voodoo 5 10000 is MIA from that. IIRC, it made it to market, had 128mb of memory, and 4 of the friggin' chips. They didn't sell very many, though (I encountered one once, I think it's still in the "Full length AGP cards" drawer with the ridiculous Matrox-based behemoths and the FireGL 9800's. I'll take a look on Monday.
Click to expand...

huh... I believe you're refering to the 6000; that collector's item that goes for a ton on ebay...



And SLI came out before they were even in trouble.
 
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