The Voodoo1 and Voodoo Rush

October, 1996: 3dfx releases the Voodoo 1

The impact of the Voodoo 1 cards cannot be understated. In an industry where product lifecycles are measured in months, it's incredible that a 3D card could have a commanding performance lead for over a year and a half after its introduction-and that's just what 3dfx did with the Voodoo 1. As a first product from a new company, you couldn't ask for more: this is the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb.

After watching the introduction of the Playstation in 1995, and the N64 in 1996, PC gamers certainly must have felt as if they were being left on the sidelines. But with the then-powerful Voodoo 1 fill rate of 50mpix, and the super-thin GLIDE API that made the most of a lowly Pentium 133, the PC gaming world changed. Gamers and developers alike couldn't ignore the dramatic difference in quality and performance between software rendering and 3D hardware acceleration.

Every gamer owes 3dfx a measure of respect, because the Voodoo is almost single-handedly responsible for kickstarting 3D acceleration on the PC. There's no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't be as far along as we are today without 3dfx.

April, 1997: 3dfx releases the Voodoo RUSH

The Voodoo RUSH card was a token gesture at an all-in-one 2D/3D solution, but by any measure, this card fell flat on its face. A half-hearted attempt at integration, the Voodoo RUSH was a no-name 2D chipset with a slightly modified Voodoo chipset tacked on, either as a daughtercard or on one huge PCI card. Unfortunately for 3dfx, the 3D performance of the RUSH was about 20% lower than the Voodoo, and the 2D performance was mediocre at best. Adding insult to injury, the card was plagued with incompatibilies and downright unstable.

After establishing what a dog this card was, everyone pretty much shrugged it off and stuck with their trusty Voodoo 1 cards. If you were one of the unfortunate souls who got stuck with a RUSH card, I feel your pain.