| Product: |
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 |
| Date: |
04/01/01 (147 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good card but not the best
Disadvantages: Very pricey
If your considering purchasing a 3D graphics card for you PC in the near future then it may be wise to think again. One of the main players in the Graphics card market 3DFX seems to have run into financial difficulties, after over expanding it’s range of high-powered graphics cards.
The 3DFX Voodoo 3, 4 and 5 graphics cards seem to have under preferred and not does as well as the company had expected. There was an initial high demand for the cards after the massive success of the Original Voodoo 1 card which revolutionised PC gaming and the astonishing power of the Voodoo2 (At the time) which for the first time could be connected in SLI mode for double the power.
Recently other competitors have caught up with nVida’s range of 3D cards, as they have for some time seemed the far superior cards. This was mainly due to an extra GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), which was separate from the PC fast processor, which was solely used for processing the main code and physics of the game/programme. This lifted a massive amount of processing work off the main CPU of the PC, making the card both abnormally fast, but essential for both a ageing PC, as the PC’s processor was now not such a necessity, and the modern gamer.
The recently released nVida GeForce 2 MX finally put the last nail in the coffin for 3DFX interactive. This card provided a very fast 32 Mega Byte (RAM) graphics card for only £100, £200 less than its bigger brothers the Nvida GeForce 2 GTS and the Nvida GeForce 2 Ultra. These are cards that are the top of the range/fastest available and provide the fastest frame rate and further graphical features.
3DFX’s current range of Voodoo cards, the Voodoo 3, 4 and 5 yes are good with some new and unique feature like “Motion Blur”, adding a sense of speed to games, but couldn’t mach the processing speeds of the GeForce, and their high price meant that many didn’t buy them.
So, ma
ny of 3DFX brands have now been sold the graphics card giant nVida, as 3DFX just couldn’t go on loosing profits, in the way that they have recently been doing.
Under this agreement, nVida will acquire certain, specific assets from 3dfx including technology, company and product brands and other assets. In addition, the 3dfx board of directors has recommended to the shareholders the dissolution of the company over the next few months. Until that time, however, 3dfx products will remain available at various retail and online locations, and we they continue to support any current and future customers of the brand.
So, it may be wise to wait a few months, and then see how the market looks before buying any new 3D-card products, which will probably cost you an arm and a leg but may no get future support.
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