From what I remember their cards were just superior in both graphics power and power usage. 3dfx kind of dropped the ball and went a bad direction (ala, Intel w

From what I remember their cards were just superior in both graphics power and power usage. 3dfx kind of dropped the ball and went a bad direction (ala, Intel with the Itanium) and Nvidia capitalized on it. ATI couldn't quite keep up and I believe they still can't to this day.