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View Full Version : Which 3rd videocard manufacturer is coming back?



sbp
04-21-2002, 10:01 AM
April 16th: Anandtech Sub-$200 Video Card Roundup (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1608&p=17) {last paragraph}
April 16th: Anandtech Sub-$200 Video Card Roundup (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1608&p=17) {last paragraph}
"This is the perfect example of where competition truly brings us better choices in a market, it'll be interesting to see what happens if a capable third manufacturer returns to the scene. With DirectX 9 on the horizon the major hardware firms are diligently at work on their next-generation GPUs, from R300 to NV30 to something else being shown now behind closed doors - as usual, the graphics market always keeps us busy. Stay tuned."

April 18th: http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.html?i=3410&t=sn
"Admittedly this week didn't go as planned with the GeForce4 Ti roundup still unfinished. Today I'll be hopping on a plane to head off to San Francisco to meet with a company we haven't heard much from in a while. Hopefully I'll see something that makes my 7 awake hours in San Francisco well worth it and exactly 24 hours from now I'll be standing in an airport waiting to head back. The short trip caused me to finish up a lot of things that I would normally have Thursday/Friday to do but because of that I've had to put a lot of testing on hold. Needless to say, as soon as I land I'll start testing again.

There's not much I can say about what I'll be seeing out West but I've been told it should be well worth my time. If it turns out to be extremely impressive I'll do something special with my next post to let you know ;)"

April 20th: http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.html?i=3411&t=sn
"I just landed and felt the need to provide some closure (at least temporarily) to my last post. There are a handful of times where you see a product/technology that reminds you exactly why you are so interested in this industry. Product's like AMD's upcoming Hammer and others are perfect reminders to me of why I care so much about this industry and what fuels my passion. In spite of all of the tasteless politics that seem to plague our industry there are a few times when you really get a chance to see something that makes you smile. With that said I'll be quiet for a few more weeks and then there will be a lot to talk about."

HardOCP's Kyle: "After being in San Francisco this week on a 36 hour quick turn around trip, we did find the excursion to be well worth our while. If this company, that we have not heard anything exciting from in a while, can "put their money where their mouth is" there are going to be quite a few folks out there in for a surprise."
------

Its not ATI, nVidia, SiS and Trident since their products are known about. Its certainly not Bitboys and their vaporware-they've never been a capable third party manufacturer!

That leaves 3DLabs, Matrox, PowerVR or S3.
afaik S3 has been gutted and is just used by Via for integrated video. And would Via want to go into the tough video chip market?

3DLabs has been producing high end workstation videocards. But maybe this is why Creative wanted to acquire them?

PowerVR has been dealing with the loss of STMicroelectronics (http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38999) as its partner. That would push PowerVR plans back a few months at the least.

The timing would suggest Matrox. Its about time for them to unleash a new product and they are definitely a capable third party manufacturer {see G400 days). Except they are based in Canada-the meetings were in San Francisco. Unless that was misinformation. :hmm:

coleslaw
04-21-2002, 02:55 PM
How new is the Matrox Millennium G550 Dual-DVI (http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/g550_dualdvi/home.cfm)? This is the first that I have heard of it... Looks very cool! Too bad its 3D acceleration is probably lackluster. Although, maybe Matrox has something more up its sleeve. Heck, maybe Creative is coming out with something new... :hmm:

sbp
04-22-2002, 12:49 AM
The Matrox G450 chip was basically a .18 micron shrink of the .25 micron G400 chip.
Matrox Millennium G450 review (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1315&p=2)

The G550 chip is basically a G450 chip with this lame headcasting conferencing application and came out in the middle of last year. http://www.matrox.com/mga/media_center/press_rel/2001/g550_dualdvi.cfm

Matrox Millennium G550 review (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1492)

attgig
04-22-2002, 11:53 AM
any non-gaming - matrox rules. I don't think ati touches matrox with the usability of dual monitors for a workstation. I use the matrox g400 at work and the ati radeon dual head at home..
matrox is far better in terms of clarity, as well as just basic integration of dual monitors into the usability on windows.

Ladogaboy
04-22-2002, 05:12 PM
I wouldn't be surprised if it is Matrox. If they can break out of their "niche", I wouldn't be surprised if the could open a few people's eyes.

Who knows, but another capable VideoCard manufacturer would spice up the game a little. :P

Speedfreak
04-22-2002, 06:35 PM
GO TRIDENT!!! Pushing a mobile chipset that fully uses DX8. Those sneaky bastards. ;)

Ladogaboy
04-24-2002, 07:05 AM
So, was the SiS card from the News page the one these guys were talking about? :confused:

sbp
04-24-2002, 07:48 AM
I don't think so. The new SiS cards are more for the value market. They smack around the GeForce 4 MX cards price/performance wise.

DREDD
04-27-2002, 01:52 PM
maybe nvidia will develop a new 3dfx chip in order to rovide competition for themselves?

HAHA! Yes...3dfx will develop a chipset as an arm of nvidia and rival the mother company and Nvidia will have to speed up product cycles thus killing ATI paving the way for Nvidia to buy out ATI ;-)

Or maybe not...

redly1
04-27-2002, 07:35 PM
SiS is one to watch out for. They probably won't be putting out any impressive high end products, but watch them improve the onboard graphic market and bring performance to the low end (price wise) market

Gxp
04-27-2002, 11:32 PM
OOO! OOO!
It's VOODOO isn't it!?!?

^_^ *drool*


:heh:

Ladogaboy
04-28-2002, 08:47 AM
Originally posted by DREDD
HAHA! Yes...3dfx will develop a chipset as an arm of nvidia and rival the mother company and Nvidia will have to speed up product cycles thus killing ATI paving the way for Nvidia to buy out ATI ;-)


thus making $500 a "good deal" on a new videocard... :dodgy:

Hoser
04-28-2002, 05:06 PM
According to the May issue of MaximumPC, Creative has bought 3Dlabs. The editor says that nVidia and ATI ought to begin sweating in his editorial. I'll believe it when I see it.

sbp
04-28-2002, 05:53 PM
The smart money is on Nvidia and ATI continuing to dominate by offering the highest performing mainstream videocards as usual.

As for SiS its okay to have value oriented, good performing videocards. A lot of money is be made in that market segment. And I like SiS for motherboard chipsets-certainly more than Via.

DREDD
04-28-2002, 06:30 PM
I'd really like to see Nvidia leave the graphics market and allow the 3dfx team which has been rumord to be working within Nvidia develop a new Video chipset. Nvidia should stick to their Motherboards more and they'll have something good going. They recently showed a demo of DDR400 memory technology on their motherboards which looks promising. If they get more involved in driver development etc they may challenge VIA soon for the AMD market.

Windsor
04-28-2002, 08:18 PM
Originally posted by DREDD
I'd really like to see Nvidia leave the graphics market and allow the 3dfx team which has been rumord to be working within Nvidia develop a new Video chipset. Nvidia should stick to their Motherboards more and they'll have something good going. They recently showed a demo of DDR400 memory technology on their motherboards which looks promising. If they get more involved in driver development etc they may challenge VIA soon for the AMD market.

Stick to motherboards more? Didn't nVidia start OUT as a graphics company??:confused:

Cantacuzene
04-28-2002, 08:43 PM
The Nvidia mobos suck. On board video = Good idea :rolleyes:

GraingerGuy
04-28-2002, 09:38 PM
Why? It's a good idea for those who don't have the money for the vid card and everything else. That's why that particular mobo was targeted at the value community.

sbp
04-29-2002, 12:58 AM
Originally posted by DREDD
I'd really like to see Nvidia leave the graphics market and allow the 3dfx team which has been rumord to be working within Nvidia develop a new Video chipset. Nvidia should stick to their Motherboards more and they'll have something good going. They recently showed a demo of DDR400 memory technology on their motherboards which looks promising. If they get more involved in driver development etc they may challenge VIA soon for the AMD market. Yes, Nvidia's main bread and butter is the graphics market and thats where they've been the market leader for the last few years. In the motherboard chipset market they are just another player.

As for the 3dfx people Nvidia hired after buying 3dfx in a firesale, they've already been mixed in with the other development teams Nvidia (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-893116.html) has. Even if the 3dfx team were intacted, why turn over creating and making Nvidia videocard chips to them? Nvidia's last products were faster and more feature rich than 3dfx's. With Nvidia already having its own tech map laid out, putting 3dfx people unfamiliar with Nvidia tech would be a disaster. Integrating 3dfx people into the other teams and getting them up to speed on the Nvidia way of doing things makes sense. I believe Nvidia has 3 development teams working on video chipsets so one team wouldn't cut it anyways.

sbp
04-29-2002, 01:40 AM
For some folks, an integrated mobo can save money and satisfy their needs so it'll be fine. Not everyone builds their own computers.

Ladogaboy
05-15-2002, 08:29 AM
Hahaha, well, I knew it was Matrox! :cool:


Nvidia better watch out... da bandit is comin ta gettem! :bandit:

:P

Showtime
05-15-2002, 10:09 AM
the thing that could make the sis card really fun is the 8x's agp. it opens up bandwidth in a big way. if a mobo supported that feature(exp sis 645) than that card should be able to run with the ti500+ cards. the big x factor is it ocable (250/500) and how will the driver support be.
i really like the sis 645 mobo. hopefully the card will be the same low frills high potential performance as their mobo. and hopefully the price is right
-jel:halo:
ps:www.xabre.com

Showtime
05-15-2002, 10:41 AM
oh ya forgot about this matrix Parhelia check the new thread.
jel:halo:

coleslaw
05-16-2002, 12:58 PM
Matrox. It's MatrOx, not Matrix. :)