The Volari Case – The Rise and Fall of XGI (PCGH-Retro 15 Sep)

…2003: The young company XGI starts with big words: By the year 2007 they want to be the world market leader in the field of graphics chips and thus leave behind Nvidia and Ati. The company had only developed a few months ago from the former graphics division of the chip manufacturer SiS and shortly afterwards took over the traditional graphics chip manufacturer Trident, which had sunk into insignificance in the 3D age. The company’s first products are announced on September 15, 2003, the XGI Volari series graphics cards. Several models are ready to start: The DX9-capable Volari V8, which is also available as a V8 Duo with two GPUs and is based on the SiS design Xabre II, is available for the high-end segment related Volari V5; the entry-level market is served by the V3, which only supports Direct X 8.1 and comes from the old Trident team. But they are not all convincing: the performance is mediocre, the drivers are immature and in many places the cards are not even available for purchase. The Volari series is a flop, planned successors are no longer released; in March 2006, Ati takes over part of XGI, the rest of the company focuses on the embedded market. The goal of market leadership has long since been abandoned.