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  • Kings Of Vapourware

    Bitboys' 3D superchip schedule slips again?
    From the Registry

    Finnish 3D graphics company Bitboys appears to have shuffled back its release schedule - again.

    Details of its wonderchip - originally called Glaze3D, though that name was later dropped for trademark infringement reasons, even though the company's still using it on its Web site - were due to be unveiled last March. The deadline came and went, but the technology didn't show.

    When we asked the company what was up, we were told that it had been decided that features planned for later generations of the chip, such as an on-board geometry processing engine - something ATI has now already built into its Radeon chip - should be added to the first product instead.

    Fair enough, though it does mean, said Bitboys CEO Shane Long, that "together with the use of 0.17 micron manufacturing technology, [this] will extend the start of our commercial production to 2001".

    But what's this we see in a release announcing new funding for the Finns? "The processors will be in volume production in the second half of 2001."

    Of course, that's not entirely inconsistent with Long's previous statement. However, the tone of the earlier comment suggested an early 2001 date for volume production rather than at least six months into the year.

    We also note that the release states: "This new architecture [Bitboys' Extreme Bandwidth Architecture (XBA)] may in the future be used in the graphics solutions of the Internet appliance, game console and mobile computing markets." [our italics]

    And: "Bitboys 3D graphics processors are planned to be incorporated on graphics accelerator add-in boards for upgrading existing PC's and be integrated in fully configured systems from various PC manufacturers." [again, our italics]

    All in all, a cautious message, suggesting Bitboys has yet to sign any supporters, which in turn suggests it's still a long way from demonstrating - let alone selling - its 3D technology.

    The latest investment in Bitboys amounts to some E3.7 million ($3.34 million) from Finnish investment banker Conventum, made in exchange for "no less" than an 8.3 per cent stake in the graphics company. Bitboys said it will use the funding for its ongoing XBA development work. ®
    Chief Lemon Buyer no more Linux sucks but not as much
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  • #2
    I don't know if they can officially be called the Kings of vapourware. They've got 90% of the makers of MP3-CD players to live up to

    --
    Andrew
    Lady, people aren't chocolates. Do you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. But I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive, bubble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine. -- Dr. Perry Cox

    Comment


    • #3
      LOL

      Dunno ... I sort of expected something like this ...

      The only feature they did not yet write on their spec sheets is DualHead, I wonder how long that will take.

      Thanx for digging, The PIT !

      Cheers,
      Maggi
      Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...

      ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional
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      • #4
        Jeez, $3.34 million for only an 8.3% share, sounds like someones being ripped off big time! I wish someone would give me that much money for a small percentage of my company, I could retire then
        When you own your own business you only have to work half a day. You can do anything you want with the other twelve hours.

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        • #5
          One wonders how long this can go on?

          Paul
          paulcs@flashcom.net

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          • #6
            Gee, Bitboys didn´t deliver? How sad.

            Yes, they´re kings of vapourware. But 3dfx is learning fast

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            • #7
              Who even has a 0.17 micron fab?
              Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Wombat:
                Who even has a 0.17 micron fab?
                By the time that you'd need to find one, they'll shrink the die to .13 micron ...
                Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...

                ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional
                Intel Core i7-3930K@4.3GHz
                be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2
                4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX PC3-19200U@CR1
                2x MSI N670GTX PE OC (SLI)
                OCZ Vertex 4 256GB
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                Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
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                • #9
                  Please Remember that you have here Finns too. I am still believing that they can make it.

                  I have also remember that BitBoys and Matrox have made kinda cooperate. BitBoys Developped Environment BumpMapping for their first Graphic chip 'Pyramid 3D' which was absolutely Best chip on it's time. (Voodoo 1 was market leader back then.) Sadly, only Prototype boards were manufactured, because chip manufacturer (some taiwanese company) got economical difficulties.

                  BUT, BitBoys (hopefully I remember right... ) lisenced Env. BumpMapping for Matrox.

                  All newspapers here in finland have recently started to wrote about BitBoys again. They mention competitors like NVidia, 3Dfx, and ATi, but NO Matrox! so in some rumors Matrox and BitBoys have already co-operation contract.

                  Actually, if you look "Matrox Powered Super Console" graph specs and Glaze3D 2400 (or whatever it is...) specs, There is A LOT of similiarities (Glaze 2400 has only smaller numbers). And that makes me believe that Glaze 4800 (High end model. not officially released yet) and that Matrox GPUN chip are one and same. But these are only rumors. Nothing is official.

                  Who lives, will see...
                  "Dippadai"

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Nappe1:
                    Please Remember that you have here Finns too. I am still believing that they can make it.
                    Please don't take it personal !

                    The problem with BitBoys is that the update their spec sheet on a regular basis, promising to have all the best things under their hood, but they do that for about 5 years now without being able to provide one single piece of silicon ...

                    So theoretically, they have the best gfx card, but sadly enough, only within their software simulation ...

                    I just stopped listening to their promises until the can deliver a chip.

                    Cheers,
                    Maggi
                    Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...

                    ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional
                    Intel Core i7-3930K@4.3GHz
                    be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2
                    4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX PC3-19200U@CR1
                    2x MSI N670GTX PE OC (SLI)
                    OCZ Vertex 4 256GB
                    4x2TB Seagate Barracuda Green 5900.3 (2x4TB RAID0)
                    Super Flower Golden Green Modular 800W
                    Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
                    LG BH10LS38
                    LG DM2752D 27" 3D

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                    • #11
                      And some of us are of Finnish extraction. However, the last time BitBoys released anything was in 1992, and that was a demo for a game that never got released.

                      Yes, they theoretically thought up EMBM. However, they have promised a 3D chip for years and years now, ever since the first Voodoo chip hit the stores, and still we see NOTHING. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad.

                      The WORST part is that they are trashing their own reputations so hard that if they DO release a chip at any point nobody will take it (or them) seriously anyway!

                      - Gurm

                      ------------------
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                      • #12
                        "So theoretically, they have the best gfx card, but sadly enough, only within their software simulation "

                        No way Maggie I have the best gfx card but its in my head!

                        "so in some rumors Matrox and BitBoys have already co-operation contract."

                        So that's why theres no G800 !!!

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                        • #13
                          It's hard to believe that they'll ever be able to be competitive. Small companies find obtaining the state of the art a quickly moving target with the speed the larger ones are improving their graphics cards. It takes alot of manpower, imagination, and talent to make anything more than incremental improvements to existing designs.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by LAMFDTK:
                            "so in some rumors Matrox and BitBoys have already co-operation contract."

                            So that's why theres no G800 !!!
                            ROTFL ;-)))

                            Good one, indeed.

                            Maybe the as well not avaiable G450 equals to their lower end chip then....

                            But stop: The Bitboys guys are coming from the Amiga, right?
                            Well, for Amiga related things their development-cycles seem totally normal...
                            But we named the *dog* Indiana...
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                            • #15
                              Remember, "Vapour" can form a very strong "fusion" if you use your "dual" head
                              jim
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