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I agree except for Nvidia not having better tech. Riva TNT was not on 3dfx level, but GeForce was groundbreaking. 3dfx managed to match it with Voodoo 4/5 altho

I agree except for Nvidia not having better tech. Riva TNT was not on 3dfx level, but GeForce was groundbreaking. 3dfx managed to match it with Voodoo 4/5 although it didn't get great press after all the delays, but then GeForce 2 came out and 3dfx was toast. At the time, a big angle was also that 3dfx made its own cards and Nvidia just did the chips for dozens of manufacturers, so it had the advantage there. But that's a bit of survivorship bias IMHO because e.g. Apple also does everything today and vertical integration is touted as their advantage. In the end either your tech works and has a market fit or it doesn't. Pretty crazy how Nvidia grew from that to a top 5 company in the world in 25 years.

whaleofatw2022 2y ago
Let's also note that Before Voodoo3, 3dfx had other board partners. Also should note that back then, AFAIR ATI and Matrox only sold full cards. Nvidia also allowed, relatively, a lot of customization of their boards back then. My first GF2 had VIVO and even LCD shutter 3d glasses for a CRT.
- burnte 2y ago
  > Let's also note that Before Voodoo3, 3dfx had other board partners. This is what killed them, they bought STB and couldn't actually afford to keep it all running.
ZFH 2y ago
Got to agree here, in fact what I remember is that the Riva TNT 2 already was the smart pick vs. what 3Dfx had out at the same time, even though Voodoo was the cooler brand and had all that previous goodwill.
- bloatfish 2y ago
  I had a Voodoo 3 3000, friend had a TNT2. If the game supported Glide and/or had a minigl driver available it blew the TNT out of the water. Direct3D-games however the reverse was true.
nottorp 2y ago
Riva TNT was affordable. And since back then any hardware accelerated solution that was supported by games was millions of miles ahead of software rendering... that was enough.
pjmlp 2y ago
I was so pissed off, after managing to buy a Voodoo, having to come back to the shop and replace it with a Riva TNT, because for some odd reason it wouldn't work on my PCI bus.
adastra22 2y ago
I mentioned the GeForce 2 in my comment :) Apple was also on its dying legs at the time, and their stellar rise was even faster.

whaleofatw2022 2y ago

Let's also note that Before Voodoo3, 3dfx had other board partners. Also should note that back then, AFAIR ATI and Matrox only sold full cards. Nvidia also allowed, relatively, a lot of customization of their boards back then. My first GF2 had VIVO and even LCD shutter 3d glasses for a CRT.

burnte 2y ago
> Let's also note that Before Voodoo3, 3dfx had other board partners. This is what killed them, they bought STB and couldn't actually afford to keep it all running.

ZFH 2y ago

Got to agree here, in fact what I remember is that the Riva TNT 2 already was the smart pick vs. what 3Dfx had out at the same time, even though Voodoo was the cooler brand and had all that previous goodwill.

bloatfish 2y ago
I had a Voodoo 3 3000, friend had a TNT2. If the game supported Glide and/or had a minigl driver available it blew the TNT out of the water. Direct3D-games however the reverse was true.

nottorp 2y ago

Riva TNT was affordable. And since back then any hardware accelerated solution that was supported by games was millions of miles ahead of software rendering... that was enough.

pjmlp 2y ago

I was so pissed off, after managing to buy a Voodoo, having to come back to the shop and replace it with a Riva TNT, because for some odd reason it wouldn't work on my PCI bus.

adastra22 2y ago

I mentioned the GeForce 2 in my comment :) Apple was also on its dying legs at the time, and their stellar rise was even faster.