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GeForce 3 Review on Adrenaline Vault
JWhiton writes: "The lucky folks at the Adrenaline Vault have managed to get their hands on a reference GeForce 3 board and have run it through the standard gamut of tests. Looks like it really performs well at very high res with 32-bit color due to its efficient new rendering techinques. However, it lags behind the GeForce2 in a few areas. You can find the article here." We've already run a few things about the GeForce 3, but the more the merrier.
Troll? Probably, but I wouldn't want anyone to be mislead by your words, so...
1) removing all content relating to linux.3dfx.com and 3dfxgamers.com
That was 3dfx that did that, NOT NVidia. NVidia is NOT responsible for supporting 3dfx's current product line. NVidia gave 3dfx a fat wad of cash which 3dfx is *supposed* to be spending on supporting their users. Hmm...
2) not updating either of the Linux, Mac, or MS Windows codebase for the 3dfx Voodoo products.
Again, that is not NVidia's responsibility. NVidia did NOT buy 3dfx's current product line. If you go out and buy a Voodoo card right now, the money goes to 3dfx, NOT NVidia. Thus, NVidia has no reason to be supporting Voodoo cards.
3) releasing closed-source drivers for their video cards that prevent accurate security audits
I think this has been argued enough, but just in case, here is the primary argument: NVidia's GL drivers contains MUCH MUCH more than just a hardware interface. OpenGL drivers are required to implement all of OpenGL's functionality, even if the hardware doesn't support it. Thus, NVidia's GL drivers contain software implementations of anything that isn't supported in all of their cards. This includes an extremely good T&L implementation, which every one of NVidia's competitors would probably love to have. It would not be legal for them to release that open source -- their shareholders would sue them!
4) conspiring with the enemy ala Microsoft
NVidia does not suck up to Microsoft. Microsoft sucks up to NVidia. Has NVidia ever done anything purely for Microsoft's sake? No. They are providing hardware for the X-Box, but at a price, and at the same time they are providing hardware for the Indrema, a fact which I'm sure Microsoft is not happy about. Furthermore, NVidia has the best 3D hardware drivers available on Linux (closed source or not). Microsoft has acknoledged Linux to be their primary competitor, so I'm sure they'd prefer than NVidia not support Linux. Last, but not least, NVidia has the best GL implementation of any consumer 3D hardware vendor. There is no advantage whatsoever to using Direct3D rather than OpenGL on NVidia hardware. As a matter of fact, the GL implementation is often said to be *better* than the D3D implementation. I don't think Microsoft likes that, either.
In summary, NVidia makes a point of not being manipulated by Microsoft, and they are damned proud of it.
5) not boosting and advertizing for the widespread software development on the indrema console; which has incorporated their hardware.
What the hell are you talking about!? NVidia doesn't advertise for the X-Box either. They also don't advertise for any of the graphics card manufacturers that use NVidia's chipset. As a matter of fact, NVidia does not (for the most part) advertise *any* individual product which uses their hardware. They only advertise their chipset itself.
It is Indrema's responsibility to advertise their own hardware. I want Indrema to succeed too, but NVidia is the last place I'd blame if they fail.
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I own a GeForce2 GTSII with 64 MB of DDR RAM. What is the incentive of my going out and buying at $500+ video card?...None. The current one is just fine and will be just fine for a while. The price of video cards is insane, for $500 you could get AMD 1 Ghz, MB, 256 MB RAM, Case and HD plus some other stuff easy. This card shouldnt catch on quick becuase there isnt any software to take full advantage of it. I think the only people that will buy this card are those that want to stay "cutting-edge" and have too much money. I think ill wait till the GeForce4 comes out becuase it looks as though the software section has a while to catch up.
Arathres
I love my iBook. I use it to run Linux!
stainless steel