3dfx Interactive was founded in 1994 as an OEM supplier of video graphics manufacturers and for a time was THE graphics company of the 90s. In 1996, the famous Voodoo card was introduced, putting 3dfx at the top of the video card heap with it’s then cutting edge video acceleration. It notably lacked an onboard VGA controller, but that didn’t stop gamers from using the card to get the latest and greatest video performance. The video game Quake by id Software helped propel the Voodoo cards into popularity which was designed with the card in mind.
Other 3dfx cards included the Voodoo Rush in 1997, Voodoo 2 and Voodoo Banshee in 1998, and subsequently, Voodoo 3, 4, and 5. In 1997, 3dfx was involved in a very public battle with Sega over the development of the next gen Dreamcast console. The company declined in the late 90s due to many debatable reasons, and was acquired by it’s rival NVIDIA in early 2000.