Slashdot Mirror

Phantom69 writes "Ixbt Labs have spent a month testing 101 graphics cards in 14 different games. They used one reference system, and tested at two different resolutions (800x600 and 1024x768). The cards cover virtually all the major manufacturers ATi, nVidia, 3dfx, Matrox, PowerVR and S3 from 1999-2004."

EyesWideOpen writes "There is an excellent (and lengthy) two part article (part 1, part 2) at Salon detailing the rise, and... rise, of Nvidia and how the company came to rest atop the 3-D graphics chip industry with a little help from Microsoft. The article discusses how Nvidia was able to persevere in the multi-billion dollar industry while other graphics chip companies, such as 3Dfx which was bought by Nvidia, did not fare as well."

rask22 writes "FiringSquad has a interesting new article up discussing the changes at Quantum3D since the demise of 3dfx along with the current military applications of NVidia chipsets. Interesting to see how the US Gov is using all this technology coming out of the gaming sector."

zonker asks: "Now that nVidia has picked up 3dfx is there still want or need for glide on other cards? I have a TNT2 card and have some old games that require glide. I can't run them natively, so I either have to use software rendering mode or a wrapper (they all kinda suck, though). With the new 3dfx purchase, and the current state of affairs with DirectX, etc., is there any warrant for asking nVidia to release Glide drivers for their nVidia chips? Or is this something that will forever be relegated to Glide wrappers? I know Creative was working on one. I personally would like native drivers, but..."

Julius X writes: "This just came out, from Yahoo, 3dfx has announced that they will be sold to NVidia as soon as the deal is approved by its shareholders. From the release, "After aggressively pursuing a wide range of options that take into consideration the interests of our creditors, our shareholders, our employees and our customers," said Alex Leupp, president and CEO, 3dfx Interactive Inc., "we strongly believe that to reduce expenses, sell our assets and dissolve the company provides the highest return to our creditors, shareholders, and employees." I think we all saw this one coming. For more details, go to the press release." Actually, tossing in some details early is [hk]doogie, who writes: "Nvidia bought the patents, pending patent applications, trademarks, brand names, and chip inventory related to the graphics business of 3dfx. Get the full scoop [here]."

Way back in October we solicited ideas for Christmas presents for geeks. This was done with Wired, and the results appear in the current issue (the lime-green colored one: unless you're blind, you can't miss it. You'll only be able to find the first copy, tho). The authors' money will be a nice Christmas present to the EFF. Thanks go to Paul, who did all the really hard work compiling the final list from all your ideas. Now read on to see the list.

1. PlayStation2 - Sony list price $299.99; winning bids on eBay $550-1,375. Supplies are extremely limited. CowboyNeal has been waiting for his for months.
2. Beowulf parallel computing cluster; 3 nodes for $1,305.95. A build-your-own supercomputer: three bargain PCs with Ethernet cards ($415 each), one four-port network hub ($16), and one Building Linux Clusters book from O'Reilly and Associates ($44.95), which includes Red Hat Linux and cluster software on CD. Perfect for trolls who lack a single iota of creativity, or that guy you know who always wants to simulate weather patterns.
3. Car MP3 player - empeg $1,199 (and it even runs Linux, if you're into that sort of thing).
4. IC-R3 handheld wideband radio/TV receiver - Icom America $599. 500-kHz to 2.4-GHz spybox tunes in to everything but cell phones. Voyeurism isn't just for breakfast anymore.
5. iPAQ H3600 Linux-compatible handheld - Compaq $499, but good luck finding one. Apparently there is quite the shortage.
6. Nomad Jukebox - Creative Labs $499. Give this, instead of a CD player, to your loved one in the Napster T-shirt ...
7. Matrix- and Blade Runner-styled trench coats - TrenchCo. $375-482.
8. CD-RW drive, $150-350. No drive fits all machines, so verify compatibility before you buy. Many popular drives have to be back-ordered, but others are always in stock.
9. Voodoo5 5500 AGP or PCI graphics card - 3dfx Interactive $299.99. Better graphics than PlayStation2, on your computer instead of your TV.
10. Klein Bottle - Acme $25-250. Designed by astronomer-author Cliff Stoll.
11. MindStorms - Lego MindStorms $50-200. Classic Lego building blocks, updated with motors and microchips.
12. GlobalMap 100 GPS - Lowrance Electronics $199.95. I get lost in my backyard. I wonder if this thing has a map of my back yard.
13. TiNi Pocket PowerPlier - SOG Specialty Knives and Tools $84.95. Just keep those fingers free of extra holes.
14. Broadband Internet access $39-50 per month (plus installation charges). Check for availability in your area. Consider moving. I know I do almost every day.
15. Interactive Yoda - Tiger $39.99. A Jedi craves not these things. But if he gets one for Christmas, that's different.
16. Non-computer games - Looney Labs $5-35. Card games that modify their own rules, and board games for the brainy.
17. EverQuest - Sony $29.95 (plus $9.89 monthly service fee). Addictive multiplayer game lets you collaborate with others on the Net. Suitable even for a 200-MHz PC with a 28K connection. And the graphics look like ass. But I have many friends who've lost countless productive hours all for the lucrative reward of being able to take a bear by yourself in a virtual world.
18. Tech-book gift certificate - Fatbrain.com $10-25. Let her choose her own robot-building manual.
19. Klein Bottle knit cap or Mobius ear band - Math Hatter $12-22.
20. Penguin Caffeinated Peppermints - ifive brands $12 (four-pack). Essential fuel for all-night hacking: sugar and caffeine wrapped in a handy breath mint. I'll never forget the time Trae ate a whole tin at ALS and traveled forward through time.

bwoodring writes "Yahoo! Business News is reporting that 3dfx has been admitted to the OpenGL Architectural Review Board. This could be an indication that 3dfx plans to retire their proprietary 3D API Glide soon in favor of the more ubiquitous (and Linux friendly) OpenGL."

bwoodring writes "Yahoo! Business News is reporting that 3dfx has been admitted to the OpenGL Architectural Review Board. This could be an indication that 3dfx plans to retire their proprietary 3D API Glide soon in favor of the more ubiquitous (and Linux friendly) OpenGL."

mr.blobby writes "3dfx' long awaited "big-daddy" version of the Voodoo5, the Voodoo5 6000 has been delayed almost as long as Daikatana but according to this news story, the card (with all of its four TMUs - texture memory units) and its external power supply has been sighted at a gaming trade show in London (ECTS) and is still slated for a release. There are a few benchmarks showing it beating NVIDIA's GeForce 2 which can't be bad. The author said this "the card was hitting around 50-60 FPS at 1600x1400", which seems most impressive."

David D writes: "Apparently NVIDIA has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against 3dfx. The CEO of NVIDIA commented, ``We have always been on the forefront of innovation in 3D graphics technology and visual computing...''. The competition has been pretty even, with 3dfx having no apparent advantage over NVIDIA. Where will this lead?"

snack writes "FINALLY! ATI has released info on their new graphics chip, built to take on both the 3dfx and nVIDIA. Reading through the press release it says that it has Windows, Linux and Mac suport. There are no benchmarks yet on the Web site, but reading through the tech specs it seems that this chip will blow everything else away. It also says that over the summer, this will implement the MAXX technology. Two of these chips working in parallel... Oh, my God!"

Magorak asks: "Ok. We all know there's all kinds of video cards out there on the market. Well, I've been trying like mad to find a video card that will give me everything. Literally. I want to have awesome 3D graphics, but I'm also big on multimedia so I want something that does video capture, has a TV tuner, and does DVD. Voodoo's got the V3-3500 but I've heard bad things about the tuner/capture; ATI's got their All In Wonder series but I can't find actual pictures of the 3D graphics and the AIW I have now sucks when it comes to 3D. Is there a real combo card that will give me all of the wicked 3D, plus awesome multimedia options? Ideally, something like a hybrid between Voodoo3 & ATI. Is there a real solution? "

Apparently quite a number of people missed it the first time around, three weeks ago, but everyone and their brother has been submitting the fact that 3dfx is open sourcing its Glide API. As well as opening the Glide API, they will also be releasing the specs for all of their currently shipping products. Update: 12/06 04:34 by CT : check out linux.3dfx.com for FAQs, specs, drivers, XF86 Server Source and more.

Steve Gibson sent us to the first of many stories that proclaim that 3dfx will be supporting Linux. Specs and links are available now from 3dfx.com.

Several folks wrote in to tell us that 3dfx has announced the Voodoo3 boards. The 2D/3D combo card can do 8 million triangles per second but has no 32-bit rendering. To bad 3d support under Linux still sucks. Quake would be smooth. I figure between Mesa and xig that should change this year. Standard 3d will make modern games much easier on Linux. I think Diablo 2 is coming soon... that would be a swell port.

So many people wrote about this that I have taken it for my own. Tough. nVidia has been sued yet again, this time by 3dfx. 3dfx is alleging that nVidia is using 3dfx's multi-textured in the new Riva TNT chip. nVidia has already been sued by S3 for similar reasons. nVidia has been getting bigger lately, and were hoping to have an IPO soon, so this suit comes at a bad time.