Why was the 3dfx rasterizer so much better looking than nv/ati?

[Anarchist420]

I was just playing MDK2 on a Voodoo5 with 2x AA, LOD bias of 0, 1024x768, normal z precision, mipmap dithering, 32 bit color, and all of the boxes checked in MDK 2 Launcher (except T&L) and it just looked so much better than it does on nvidia and ati. The texture quality just seemed so much better.

I was playing on a CRT, since I couldn't get DVI to work.

When I had a voodoo2, I remember that 3dfx's reference rasterization was better on that than the GPUs of today.

I really wish 3dfx was still around, but unfortunately, they're not.

 

[Lorne]

Funny you should mention that, I just pulled a STB 1000 out of a friends old case.

True 3DFX glide was great but after Nvidia bought them up it was decided that Glide was to propriatary along with MS pushing DirectX to new hights something had to go.
Even with all the improvements in resolution, D3D and stuff like Physics there seems to be something missing (Im sure users of dem olden dayz can remeber).

I was even wondering to myself if it would be of any use to come out with a PCIe monster card that supported HD resolution Glide and still SLI (Even have Physics onboard or such)

 

[HumblePie]

My Savage 3D card back in the day also had superior IQ for what it was and compared to anything else. But it was slower. Much slower. Which was why back in the day everyone was jumping on board the TNT's back then and then the Ti4x00 cards.

 

[Arkadrel]

When I had a voodoo2, I remember that 3dfx's reference rasterization was better on that than the GPUs of today.

Even with all the improvements in resolution, D3D and stuff like Physics there seems to be something missing (Im sure users of dem olden dayz can remeber).

Its called being nostalgic....

People have a habit of remembering things the way they want to, not really the way they where.

I was just playing MDK2 on a Voodoo5 with 2x AA, LOD bias of 0, 1024x768, normal z precision, mipmap dithering, 32 bit color, and all of the boxes checked in MDK 2 Launcher (except T&L) and it just looked so much better than it does on nvidia and ati. The texture quality just seemed so much better.

Probably because of how MDK2 was optimised, old tech does old tech best? my guess probably.

 

[Idontcare]

Probably because of how MDK2 was optimised, old tech does old tech best? my guess probably.

Yeah I doubt MDK2 gets too much attention from the driver teams these days.

 

[SolMiester]

Glide was beautiful, I remember a demo of some racer and the light reflections were just outstanding, sort of like the HD Bloom we had a couple of years ago!

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Looks like you've been hitting that 420 a bit too hard.

When I was a young teen I thought Mario Kart 64 had much better graphics than that of any Playstation 1 games.

Look at them both now? They both look like crap.

 

[MrRamon]

Yup, glide was the bomb. I noticed the difference back when I had a 3dfx setup(voodoo 3 3000) and my friends had nvidia or w/e. Unreal Tournament, Half-life, Diablo2 looked so much better on my comp... almost as if the textures had a glossy or liquid type finish to them.. so smooth. I remember when I got rid of my comp and went nvidia and how crappy Diablo2 ran and looked liked pile of poo on it. Made me stop playing it altogether. Should have kept my 3dfx box around

 

[SirPauly]

Probably, their alpha blending. With older titles like Interstate 76, it was like the cars had wax and more of a shine with their alpha blending and were dull with out it.

 

[SolMiester]

Yup, glide was the bomb. I noticed the difference back when I had a 3dfx setup(voodoo 3 3000) and my friends had nvidia or w/e. Unreal Tournament, Half-life, Diablo2 looked so much better on my comp... almost as if the textures had a glossy or liquid type finish to them.. so smooth. I remember when I got rid of my comp and went nvidia and how crappy Diablo2 ran and looked liked pile of poo on it. Made me stop playing it altogether. Should have kept my 3dfx box around

That's it right there, the almost liquid effect!

 

[Lorne]

I still see users with monster cards in there signatures, I wonder if they actually use them for DOSbox, VM or just another peace of hardware to claim about.
I still have my Monster 1 and the patch cable.
3 days ago I just tossed my Asus TNT2 Ultra after yanking the HSF off of it.