Personal attention

Speaking of Dennis, I just learned from his recent visit to 3dfx that Scott Sellers is personally involved in the design and engineering of 3dfx's newest project, and speaking with our source, it's implied that this IS the Voodoo3 4000. For those not quite familiar with Scott, he hasn't been directly involved with development or engineering since the original Voodoo and Voodoo2, and he's been at least partially credited for the incredible design and performance of both architectures.

3dfx and STB

One of the things that hasn't tripped up 3dfx product deployment is the recent acquisition of STB. In most cases, the amount of overhead bureaucracy would pin a company down for several months in reorganization. 3dfx/STB however, has been able to move with little or no delay, and Voodoo3 is right on track from its initial unveiling at Comdex.

One of the new goals 3dfx is pursuing with branded products is a penetration into the OEM market. With help from STB, they've been able to make considerable headroom into this market, and while it's still a far cry to putting a dent in ATI's 20 million Rage Pro chipsets, OEMs are planned to become a big part of 3dfx's business. Every other graphics manufacturer we've talked to enjoys placing a big emphasis on this "weakness" in 3dfx's strategy. They claim that no matter how fast 3dfx chipsets are, if the OEM spec calls for 32-bit rendering, they're out of the race, simple as that.

While 3dfx claims no impedance in OEM deals pertaining to this fault (they maintain that 32-bit color in 2D is more important for business/workstation OEMs), it's doubtless that they're looking to move fast to curb any potential shortcoming in the OEM strategy. The faster a 32-bit part is released, the less the opposition has to argue against. We've heard rumors that Dell has already signed on to include this new 3dfx card in their system.

Show me the conspiracy

There's more than just PCB/OEM expertise to this deal however. Some of our tipsters feel that 3dfx's acquisition of STB may also span the strategic scope more widely than anticipated. Consider the fact that STB was one of the largest distributors of nVidia's TNT product line. Being this close to nVidia probably gave STB more than a fair idea of what was down the road, and 3dfx now potentially has access to nVidia's internal road-maps, alpha boards, and what not.

It will be interesting to see how nVidia responds to this, assuming it's true. We contacted Derek Perez at nVidia, who stated that there was nothing that anyone could have gained about nVidia's plans from STB, as TNT2 was still germinating in their engineering labs. In regards to roadmaps, it's pretty difficult for anyone from the "outside" to understand where they're headed, and a roadmap doesn't do anything to bridge any kind of engineering gap that may exists.

Derek also mentioned that Nvidia will also have a new product available for the holiday season (Fall through Winter). I think we can safely assume this will be NV10, but at this point neither 3dfx nor Nvidia want to scare off potential customers by announcing chipsets that are vastly superior to their yet-released new products.