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A comment on 3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023). Parent comment

Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by paulryanrogers on Monday March 10, 2025 @05:28PM (#43326323)
Like Cyrix and AMD? I don't recall any other mainstream x86 alternatives.
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Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by sgerenser on Monday March 10, 2025 @05:52PM (#43326512)
Chipset, not CPU. For example, Nvidia was a well known chipset manufacturer around this time, shortly before memory controllers went on package and 3rd party chipsets died off.
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Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by timschmidt on Monday March 10, 2025 @07:07PM (#43327196)
Don't forget the venerable Via, SiS, Chips and Technologies, OPTi, ALi, ULi, etc.
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Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by Veliladon on Tuesday March 11, 2025 @08:11AM (#43331645)
They weren't venerable. They were anything but. They were designed to be a lower BOM on the motherboard and 90% of them were buggy garbage.
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Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by ahartmetz on Tuesday March 11, 2025 @02:00PM (#43335291)
Yes, yes indeed. The nVidia nForce chipset (for AMD) was such a leap ahead because it was fast, flexible and reliable.

For Intel, you just picked an Intel chipset and that was that.

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Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by timschmidt on Tuesday March 11, 2025 @02:58PM (#43335858)
Speak for yourself, mate! Many fun times were had with machines built by each. I have particularly fond memories of the SiS 630 / 730, Via's KT133A, and lots of old ALi, OPTi and ULi gear from the 286, 386, and 486 era.
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Re:3dfx, So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) by deaddodo on Wednesday March 12, 2025 @06:55AM (#43341879)
There was a period with quite a few:

* Rise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_Technology

* NexGen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NexGen

* NatSemi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geode_(processor)

* WinChip/Centaur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur_Technology

* NEC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_V20

And other more obscure options. Most were gobbled up by the other giants (AMD/ATI, Nvidia, Intel, etc).

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