Originally posted by: Mingon
geforce 3 was the first gpu, as coined by nvdia. The 3dlabs P10 was the first VPU
Actually the original GeForce nvidia called the first GPU (The Geforce 256 they called it). Here is nVidia's information, including their actual
definition of a GPU .
Then they called the GeForce 2 the
"The World's First Per-Pixel Shading GPU" . The GF2 was basically just a speed-bumped and die-shrunk GeForce 1, with some shading effects and a bit better DVD playback added.
The GeForce3 was the
Infinite Effects GPU . It was probably the first "revolutionary" GPU after the GeForce1, as it went from fixed-function TnL to programmable Transform and Lighting (programmable Pixel and Vertex shaders)
The GeForce4 was called the
Infinite Effects II GPU . Again, it was a speed-bumped GeForce 3 with a more powerful (but similar) Pixel and Vertex setup. The GeForce4 was also nVidia's first card with dual view (dual monitors or monitor + tv out). It also had much better 2d filters than any previous GeForce card (and a 400MHz RAMDAC for the first time) so 2d quality was much better.
The GeForceFX is a big step "forward" for nVidia, but it's also a step sideways. It has a bunch of proprietary (non-DirectX9) standards, such as the whole "Cine-FX Architecture". Basically it has most DirectX9 features incorporated into it, but also some 3dfx-style proprietary stuff too.
Essentially in the nVidia camp the Generations of GPU's go, linearly: Geforce 1 (or "Geforce 256"), Geforce 2, Geforce 3, Geforce 4, Geforce FX
ATI's lineup would be: Radeon 7200, Radeon 8500, Radeon 9500, Radeon 9700 (these are the major technological leaps)
Also, essentially the ATI cards matched up with the nVidia cards starting with the Radeon 7200 (or just "Radeon" when it was released) against the GeForce 2 GTS, the Radeon 8500 to the GeForce 3, etc.
