Rather than using this as an opportunity to bag on one company or another, I was thinking in terms of the graphics cards that have been released that changed the paradigm in 3D Graphics...whether it was simply a revolutionary product, or a product that ushered in a new performance champion. Rather than talk about crappy products, I think it's more interesting to talk about the winners. Here's my list...
1. Voodoo 2: Awesome. Especially the 12MB version, and even better if you could afford SLI. The first no-doubt 3D graphics Champ.
2. TNT2-Ultra 32 Meg: The second no-doubt champion. The start of 3DFX's downfall. This card was SO much better than a Voodoo 3 in practically every way.
3. GeForce: The first GPU. It was the first card that really utilized the benefits of the AGP port, and took a large load off the CPU. The GeForce 256 DDR was better, but also kicked off a new ERA of nVidia market dominance and the six month product cycle with the three month product refresh. Maybe not such a great thing in the final analysis. Still, it was a great card for its time.
4. Radeon 8500: I include this card for one reason: nVidia had been on top for a LONG time, and the 8500 was the first card that was arguably better than nVidia's reigning champ (the Ti500.) Now, the 8500 had driver issues, but the R200 showed that ATI could build a technologically superior product, and paved the way for:
5. Radeon 9700 PRO: The current reigning champ and all-time most powerful graphics card. This card firmly established ATI as the new performance champion, and nVidia is still stuggling to find itself in the wake of the damage done by the R300.
That's my short-list of champions in the short history of 3D Graphics. Agree? Disagree?
<-----Insert witty sig line here.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Twitch on 03/04/03 05:45 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
1. Voodoo 2: Awesome. Especially the 12MB version, and even better if you could afford SLI. The first no-doubt 3D graphics Champ.
2. TNT2-Ultra 32 Meg: The second no-doubt champion. The start of 3DFX's downfall. This card was SO much better than a Voodoo 3 in practically every way.
3. GeForce: The first GPU. It was the first card that really utilized the benefits of the AGP port, and took a large load off the CPU. The GeForce 256 DDR was better, but also kicked off a new ERA of nVidia market dominance and the six month product cycle with the three month product refresh. Maybe not such a great thing in the final analysis. Still, it was a great card for its time.
4. Radeon 8500: I include this card for one reason: nVidia had been on top for a LONG time, and the 8500 was the first card that was arguably better than nVidia's reigning champ (the Ti500.) Now, the 8500 had driver issues, but the R200 showed that ATI could build a technologically superior product, and paved the way for:
5. Radeon 9700 PRO: The current reigning champ and all-time most powerful graphics card. This card firmly established ATI as the new performance champion, and nVidia is still stuggling to find itself in the wake of the damage done by the R300.
That's my short-list of champions in the short history of 3D Graphics. Agree? Disagree?
<-----Insert witty sig line here.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Twitch on 03/04/03 05:45 PM.</EM></FONT></P>