{"id":1815,"date":"2013-04-19T13:12:32","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T17:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2013-04-19T13:12:32","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T17:12:32","slug":"history-of-the-modern-graphics-processor-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/04\/19\/history-of-the-modern-graphics-processor-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the Modern Graphics Processor, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fall of 3Dfx and The Rise of Two Giants
\nWith the turn of the century the graphics industry bore witness to further consolidation.
\nThe pro market saw iXMICRO leave graphics entirely, while NEC and Hewlett-Packard both produced their last products, the TE5 and VISUALIZE FX10 series respectively. Evans & Sutherland also parted ways with the sale of its RealVision line to focus on the planetaria and fulldome projection systems.
\nIn the consumer graphics market, ATI announced the acquisition of ArtX Inc. in February 2000, for around $400 million in stock. ArtX was developing the GPU codenamed Project Dolphin (eventually named \u201cFlipper\u201d) for the Nintendo GameCube, which added significantly to ATI\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ATI GameCube GPU
\nAlso in February, 3dfx announced a 20% workforce cut, then promptly moved to acquire Gigapixel for $186 million and gained the company\u2019s tile-based rendering IP.
\nMeanwhile, S3 and Nvidia settled their outstanding patent suits and signed a seven-year cross-license agreement.
\nVIA assumed control of S3 around April-May which itself was just finishing a restructuring process from the acquisition of Number Nine. As part of S3\u2019s restructuring, the company merged with Diamond Multimedia in a stock swap valued at $165 million. Diamond\u2019s high-end professional graphics division, FireGL, was spun off as SONICblue and later sold to ATI in March 2001 for $10 million.
\n3DLabs acquired Intergraph\u2019s Intense3D in April, while the final acts of 3dfx played out towards the end of the year, despite 2000 kicking off with the promise of a better future as the long-awaited Voodoo 5 5500 neared its debut in July. The latter ended up trading blows with the GeForce 256 DDR and won the high-resolution battle.
\nWhere 3dfx was once a byword for raw performance, its strengths around this time laid in its full screen antialiasing image quality.
\nBut where 3dfx was once a byword for raw performance, its strengths around this time laid in its full screen antialiasing image quality. The Voodoo 5 introduced T-buffer technology as an alternative to transformation and lighting, by basically taking a few rendered frames and aggregating them into one image. This produced a slightly blurred picture that, when run in frame sequence, smoothed out the motion of the animation.
\n3dfx\u2019s technology became the forerunner of many image quality enhancements seen today, like soft shadows and reflections, motion blur, as well as depth of field blurring.
\n3dfx\u2019s swan song, the Voodoo 4 4500, arrived October 19 after several delays \u2013 unlike the 4200 and 4800 that were never released. The card was originally scheduled for spring as a competitor to Nvidia\u2019s TNT2, but ended up going against the company\u2019s iconic GeForce 256 DDR instead, as well as the much better performing GeForce 2 GTS and ATI Radeon DDR.
\nOn November 14, 3dfx announced they were belatedly ceasing production and sale of their own-branded graphics cards, something that had been rumoured for some time but largely discounted. Adding fuel to the fire, news got out that upcoming Pentium 4 motherboards would not support the 3.3V AGP signalling required Voodoo 5 series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Voodoo5 5500 AGP box art
\nThe death knell sounded a month later for 3dfx when Nvidia purchased its IP portfolio for $70 million plus one million shares of common stock. A few internet wits later noted that the 3dfx design team which had moved to Nvidia eventually got both their revenge and lived up to their potential, by delivering the underperforming NV30 graphics chip powering the FX 5700 and FX 5800 cards behind schedule.
\nFull Story: History of the Modern Graphics Processor, Part 3 – TechSpot<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fall of 3Dfx and The Rise of Two Giants With the turn of the century the graphics industry bore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[105,437,440,529,760,854,1155],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology","tag-ati","tag-gpu","tag-graphics-card","tag-intel","tag-nvidia","tag-processor","tag-video-card"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-th","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9818,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2024\/11\/11\/intel-is-cooked\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":0},"title":"Intel is cooked.","author":"NCCT","date":"November 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ub27Ol4igwY 0:00 Welcome to Paul\u2019s Tech News - Nov 10, 2024 1:33 AMD Ryzen 9800X3D Post Launch Diagnosis - sold out in minutes 3:18 AMD May Add 3D V-cache to Mobile APUs, Threadripper 4:15 Nvidia ousts Intel from Dow Jones Index after 25-year run 5:43 For the first time ever,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ub27Ol4igwY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9934,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/05\/16\/8000-disaster-prebuilt-pc-corsair-origin-fail-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":1},"title":"$8000* Disaster Prebuilt PC – Corsair & Origin Fail Again","author":"NCCT","date":"May 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mW5WQY7Ym0I In this review of the Corsair \/ Origin Genesis Pre-Built Gaming PC with an RTX 5090, we're tearing down the computer, running a cost comparison, benchmarking thermals, acoustics, power, and frequency, and looking at the overall build quality. Unfortunately for Origin and Corsair (which owns Origin), this build is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mW5WQY7Ym0I\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9450,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/11\/20\/are-passwords-immortal-security-now-690\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":2},"title":"Are Passwords Immortal? – Security Now 690","author":"NCCT","date":"November 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mOSTtkK7vy0 Pwn2Own, the Future of Passwords. -- All the action at last week's Pwn2Own Mobile hacking contest -- The final word on processor mis-design in the Meltdown\/Spectre era -- A workable solution for unsupported Intel firmware upgrades for hostile environments -- A forthcoming Firefox breach alert feature -- The expected\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mOSTtkK7vy0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9812,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2024\/11\/08\/slow-and-steady-m4-macbook-pro-apple-q424-pixelmator\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":3},"title":"Slow and Steady – M4 MacBook Pro, Apple Q424, Pixelmator","author":"NCCT","date":"November 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/etW5-oInyGA As expected following the end of last week's MacBreak Weekly, Apple announced the new M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max MacBook Pros. Jason recaps the results of Apple's Q424. And Apple acquires Pixelmator. \u2022 Early Apple M4 Pro and M4 Max benchmarks hint at a massive performance boost. \u2022\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/etW5-oInyGA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9908,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/02\/11\/fake-frames-tested-dlss-4-0-mfg-4x-nvidias-misleading-review-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":4},"title":"“Fake Frames” Tested | DLSS 4.0, MFG 4X, & NVIDIA’s Misleading Review Guide","author":"NCCT","date":"February 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Nh1FHR9fkJk We talk about NVIDIA's DLSS 4.0 multi-frame generation (MFG), NVIDIA's weird decisions on testing tools, differences in transformer vs. CNN (convolutional neural network) models, benchmark performance, and generated frames. Frame generation commonly gets referred to as \"artificial\" frames, \"generated\" frames, or commonly online, \"fake frames.\" This video delves into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Nh1FHR9fkJk\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9936,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/05\/16\/nvidia-is-at-it-again-more-crumbs-for-gamers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":5},"title":"NVIDIA is at it again… More “crumbs” for gamers…","author":"NCCT","date":"May 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cBeQWEtBB0k 5060 and 5060Ti Rumors seem to be very plausible... and if these rumors are true then you should avoid them at all costs...","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/cBeQWEtBB0k\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}