Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/07/27/3dfx_revives_velocity_brand/

3dfx revives Velocity brand for corporate push

But do corporates really want it?

By Tony Smith

Posted in On-Prem, 27th July 1999 10:34 GMT

3dfx yesterday relaunched the Velocity brand name once favoured by the company's wholly-owned motherboard manufacturer STB Microelectronics. Originally based on nVidia 3D accelerator chips, the new Velocity range will be powered by 3dfx's Voodoo 3 and be aimed at the emerging business and corporate markets. Two boards make up the line: the Velocity 100 and the Velocity 200. The cards offer 8MB and 16MB of video RAM, respectively. Both support the AGP 2x bus. Company president Greg Ballard claimed "the corporate desktop market represents a vast, untapped opportunity for 3dfx". Possibly, but only because OEMs, system integrators and VARs are so desperate to differentiate their products they're even looking to games-oriented consumer technologies to make their business PCs stand out. How many business users really want to create "beautiful, real-time 3D images and screensavers for the desktop", courtesy of the Organic Art Deluxe 2.0 software bundled with the Velocity boards, or use PowerPlugs: Transitions II from developer CrystalGraphics (also bundled by 3dfx) to "energise PowerPoint presentations with TV-style 3D transition effects" remains to be seen. Not very many we suspect. ®