The Story of Rendition: A Pioneer in 3D Graphics

Rendition shaped 3D gaming with innovative graphics cards like the Vérité V1000 but faded quickly amid stiff competition.

: Rendition was a pioneer in 3D gaming graphics, creating notable products like the Vérité V1000. Their first product was groundbreaking but subsequent products failed to outperform competitors such as 3Dfx. Despite improved technology in their second-generation chips, they fell behind and were ultimately acquired by Micron Technology. The project for their third-generation chipset was abandoned, leading to their eventual decline.

Rendition entered the 3D graphics market in 1993, co-founded by Jay Eisenlohr and Mike Boich. Their first product, the Vérité V1000, launched in 1995, was notable for handling both 2D and 3D graphics and providing performance enhancements for games like Quake through the VQuake port.

However, competition from companies like 3Dfx with their Voodoo Graphics was intense. Although Rendition's successor chips, the V2100 and V2200, showed improvements, they were plagued by delays and were not sufficiently advanced compared to what ATI, Nvidia, and other competitors were offering.

In 1998, Rendition was acquired by Micron Technology, but the planned V3000 and V4000 projects were abandoned, leading to their quiet exit from the graphics card market. Ultimately, the company could not stay competitive and faded from prominence, remembered as an early innovator in the 3D graphics field.

RenditionVérité V10003D graphics