The third and last 'silicon award' is for the best 3D or graphics chip. This one is a bit difficult, since things are changing so fast in this area. Still, we have to admit that the 3D-arena has lately been dominated by one company, nowadays based in the neighborhood of Intel in Santa Clara, California. Even though this company has released a brand new 3D chip only a couple of weeks ago, the readers' choice award goes to NVIDIA's previous top-product, the GeForce 3 Titanium series of chips.

The GeForce 3 Ti series was introduced in fall 2001, providing a tuned version of the original GeForce 3 chip, launched in February 2001. This chip was the first of its kind, sporting the first programmable vertex and pixel shader in the PC graphics business. ATi is the only company that was able to keep up with NVIDIA's pace, but the Californian company always pulled away, just as recently with the release of GeForce 4 Ti. Again, NVIDIA's win in this category did not come as a big surprise to us.

All the best wishes to Jen-Hsun, Dan, Derek, Dwight, Tony and all others at NVIDIA, you certainly deserve the first THG Readers' Choice Award for 'Best Graphics Chip 2001'! Jen-Hsun, I hope your birthday was as enjoyable and relaxed as mine last Sunday!

The Winners Speak

"This award from Tom's Hardware Guide truly stands out among the hunderds of other awards the GeForce3 series has won, " said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO at NVIDIA. "Tom's Hardware and the millions of users who read this site recognizes the dedication of our people who design and deliver great products and it exemplifies our commitment to providing a great experience to users everywhere. "