Review Feast of the first generation GPU

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Feast of the first generation GPU
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nVIDIA First to Integrate Hardware T & L (Transform and Lighting)into Geforce 256 Graphics Core，Geforce 256 was marketed as “The world's first GPU”, or “Graphics Processing Unit".Announced on August 31, 1999 and released on October 11, 1999.This is the original origin of the GPU name, but now the Graphics chip is collectively called GPU.

In fact, Geforce 256 won the title of "The world's first GPU" is very difficult, because there are two opponents in front of it.

May 11, 1999 ,3Dlabs announced the Oxygen GVX1, workstation graphics card.The GVX1 does not take nVIDIA's more cost-effective route of integrating hardware T&L support into the core.this using GLINT R3(Permedia 3) and one external chip ,this chip is GLINT Gamma G1, Geometry Processor.The GLINT Gamma G1 is capable of processing 4.75 million triangles per second,Geforce 256 is capable of up to 15 million triangles per second.

Although Oxygen GVX1 is a hardware T & L graphics card before Geforce 256, but they were not integrated into the graphics core.

Oxygen GVX1 Engineering sample
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2.4 RADEON VE
On February 19, 2001, ATI released the low-end version of Radeon256 RADEON VE, but T & L is not supported. RADEON VE corresponds to nVIDIA's first-generation GPU high-frequency version of the low-end Geforce2 MX, which cannot be compared. Later RADEON VE changed its name to Radeon 7000.

The PCB date of this RADEON VE is 0047 weeks, and the chip date is 0050 weeks, which are earlier than the release date.

RADEON VE Reference board

 

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2.5 FireGL 8800
On Aug 14, 2001, ATI released Radeon 8500, Radeon 7500 and Radeon 8800. Radeon 7500 is a high-frequency version of Radeon 256. The first-generation Workstation GPU FireGL 8800/8700 is based on the second-generation GPU Radeon 8500 core.

This is the official leaked image of the earliest version of FireGL 8800.

FireGL 8800 Evaluation board

 

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2.6 Mobility Radeon 7500
As mentioned earlier, RADEON VE (Radeon 7000) is not a GPU, so Mobility Radeon 7000 is not the first generation mobile GPU, Mobility Radeon 7500 is the first generation mobile GPU. The announcement date of the Mobility Radeon 7500 is 27 August 2001 (0135 weeks), and the release date is December 1, 2001 (0148 weeks).

The following Mobility Radeon 7500 chip evaluation board has a chip date of 0204 weeks and a PCB date of 0216 weeks later than the release date. It seems that the Mobility Radeon 7500 chip is still being revised after its release.

Mobility Radeon 7500 Evaluation board

The first generation of mobile Workstation GPU Mobility FireGL 7800 is based on the Radeon 7500 core. Release Date Sep 29th, 2001, earlier than Mobility Radeon 7500.

 

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3. SiS
SiS315 was released on December 11, 2000. The SiS315 has a 256-bit 2D / 3D graphics engine that supports Hardware Transform & Lightning (T&L), and is primarily intended for the mainstream desktop PC.

SIS315 uses the second-generation mapping technology, which can generate a fill rate of 4 million triangles and 100 million drawing points per second, an engine built by triangle graphics, and its 100% hardware acceleration function. When processing 3D images, the effect Not bad. Because it provides good 3D acceleration performance at a relatively low price and has better video playback effects, it has also achieved a small amount of market sales.

The SiS315 has a 256-bit 2D / 3D graphics engine that supports Hardware Transform & Lightning (T&L), and is primarily intended for the mainstream desktop PC.

Technical details:
Chip clock: 166 MHz
Structure width: 150nm, 365pin PBGA
Reenderpiplines: 2 Pixel/4 TMU
RAMDAC: 375 MHz, up to 2048x1536
Memory：250/275 MHz
Memory: 16/32/64/128MB SDRAM/DDR
Memory interface: 128 bit
Pixel Fillrate (MPixel/s):300
Texel Fillrate (MTexel/s):600
DirectX 7.0

SiS 315 reference board



（www.hwsw.hu）​

 

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4. Trident
In April 2000, Trident announced the development of Blade XP, but the progress was not smooth. It was not until Computex 2001 on June 18, 2001 that the first generation of GPU was officially released: Blade XP.

Blade XP. possesses dual pixel pipes and a hardware transform and lighting (T&L) unit to provide sufficient rendering power to meet graphics demands.And it appeared a little late, and the performance was weak, and was eventually ignored by the market.

Technical details:
Chip clock: 150/200MHz
Reenderpiplines: 2 Pixel/4 TMU
Structure width: 180nm
RAMDAC: 350 MHz
Memory: 16/32MB SDRAM/SGRAM
Memory interface: 128 bit
DirectX 7.0
Pixel Fillrate (MPixel/s):300
Texel Fillrate (MTexel/s):1500
256 Bit architecturs (4 pixels per clocks)

4.1 Blade XP
Blade XP is the desktop version.

Blade XP Evaluation board



（http://www.thg.ru）​

 

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4.2 Cyberblade XP
Cyberblade XP is the mobile version.

Cyberblade XP Evaluation board

 

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5. MATROX
On May 14, 2002, Matrox released Parhelia 512.The Parhelia series was Matrox's attempt to return to the market after a long hiatus.

It fully supports DirectX 8.1 and some DirectX 9 technologies, including the remarkable DirectX 9 Displacement Mapping. The display core uses the advanced 512bit architecture that year。

Parhelia-512 includes 4 32×4 vertex shaders with dedicated displacement mapping engine, pixel shader array with 4 texturing unit and 5-stage pixel shader per pixel pipeline. It supports 16× fragment anti-aliasing.

Technical details:
Chip clock: 200/220 MHz
Reenderpiplines: 4 Pixel/16 TMU
Structure width: 150 nm
RAMDAC: 400 MHz
Memory：250/275 MHz
Memory: 128 / 256MB
Memory interface: 256 bit
Pixel Fillrate (MPixel/s):1200
Texel Fillrate (MTexel/s):4800
DirectX 8.1
512 bits internal communication

Parhelia 512 Qualification Sample

 

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6. S3
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, S3's Savage 2000 hardware supports S3TL similar to T & L, but the driver is not available. It is an unsuccessful GPU, but it still occupies an important position in the development process of GPU. Later Savage 2000 was revised to Savage XP, finally squeezed into the ranks of the first generation GPU.

6.1 Savage 2000
On June 22, 1999, PC graphics chip maker S3 entered the consumer electronics market through the acquisition of Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. This big gamble is for Savage 2000.

Technical details:
Chip clock: 125 MHz
Structure width: 180nm
RAMDAC: 350 MHz
Memory：155 MHz
Reenderpiplines: 2 Pixel/2 TMU
Memory: 32MB SDR SDRAM
Memory interface: 128 bit
Pixel Fillrate (MPixel/s):250
Texel Fillrate (MTexel/s):500
DirectX 6.0

6.1.1 Viper II Z200 Engineering sample
On November 11, 1999, nVIDIA released Geforce 256. Subsequently, Diamond also released the Viper II Z200 based on the Savage 2000 chip in November.

Viper II Z200 Engineering sample



（From anandtech.com）​

 

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6.1.2 Viper II Z200 Qualification Sample
The Rev 1A version of the Viper II Z200 is Qualification Sample, and the PCB date is 9944 weeks. It is the first batch of products after the Viper II Z200 is finalized. Although this was already in late October 1999, it may be because of the driver that the Viper II Z200 failed to be released the day before the Geforce 256 like the Savage 2000.

Viper II Z200 Qualification Sample

 

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6.1.3 Viper II Z200 review sample
The 9945 week version of Viper II Z200 is also "Made in USA". This version was distributed to distributors in early December for test promotion.

Viper II Z200 review sample

 

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6.1.4 Viper II Z200
The retail version is "Made in TAIWAN" and the earliest PCB version seen was 9948 weeks.

Viper II Z200

 

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6.1.5 Other
As S3 acquired DINAMOND, DINAMOND's Viper II became synonymous with Savage 2000, which made it difficult for S3's original large customers to accept. And the Savage 2000 chip is expensive, but the performance is average. As a result, there are very few manufacturers of Savage 2000 graphics cards.

I-O DATA GA-S2K32/PCI

The unsuccess of Savage 2000 "S3TL" directly led S3 to successfully take the road of death like 3Dfx. And it took only 8 months to fall in front of 3Dfx. S3 was acquired by VIA in April 2000.

 

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6.2 Savage XP
VIA / S3 only released the first-generation GPU: Savage XP on COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2002 on June 3, 2002.

Savage XP was fundamentally "only" a revised Savage 2000. It now has a somewhat finer structure width of 150nm instead of the 180nm of the predecessor. However, it did not help him to get the originally targeted 200MHz for the Sabage 2000 core, but only to 166MHz. The repaired T&L unit and the new DDR memory controller have also greatly helped this chip. This chip is now fully DirectX 7.0 compatible. However, this repaired graphics core appears almost 3 YEARS too late and is in terms of performance in the lowest segment.

Technical details:
Chip clock: 166 MHz
Structure width: 150nm
RAMDAC: 350 MHz
Memory：183 MHz
Memory: 32 / 64MB DDR
Memory interface: 128 bit
Reenderpiplines: 2P 4T
resulting in a fill-rate of 667 MTexels/second
DirectX 7.0

6.2.1 S3
The revised version of Savage2000 is named Alpha Chrome. In order to catch up with the popularity of Windows XP, it was renamed Savage XP, intending to enter the desktop computer market.

In fact, because of poor performance, Savage XP graphics cards are not commercialized. The PCB date in the picture below is 0219 weeks. In the Demo Board produced before the release of Savage XP, the core under the golden sticker is Alpha Chrome.

Savage XP Demo Board

 

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6.2.2 VIA
The VIA version of Savage XP is a late version of Savage XP.

Savage XP Evaluation board
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6.2.3 TYAN
TYAN specially designed the Tachyon G3300, but it was not released.

Tachyon G3300 Engineering sample

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6.3 Alpha Chrome
After VIA acquired S3, it began to revise Savage2000 and named it Alpha Chrome. Alpha chrome is a mobile version, which is used in a small number of applications on laptop computers.

As you can see from the picture below, the chip is Alpha Chrome, the chip date is 0229 weeks, and the PCB date is 0228 weeks, both of which are produced after the release date of Savage XP.

Alpha Chrome Evaluation board

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