Info History of nVIDIA Graphics cards Vol. 1

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History of nVIDIA Graphics cards Vol. 1
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nVIDIA was founded on April 5, 1993, by Jensen Huang,Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.

1. NV1

May 22, 1995 nVIDIA Corporation and SGS-THOMSON announced the introduction of the NV1 and STG2000X Multimedia Accelerators.

The NV1 and STG2000X are the first complete Multimedia Accelerators to deliver the power of real-time photorealistic 3D graphics, video based special effects, full-motion video acceleration, and concurrent high-fidelity audio, in a single chip.

1.1 nVIDIA
1.1.1 NV1
1.1.1.1 Chip Evaluation board
Chip Evaluation board of NV1 graphics card.

（From EDGE magazine Februay 1996）

 

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1.4.1.2 Late Engineering sample








Generally, it is possible to print the FCCID on the engineering sample card, because you can select the code first, and then register the selected code. There is no need to paste FCCID on engineering samples, unless it is evaluated, displayed, and sold directly, which is very likely. There are often engineering sample graphics cards that are packaged for retail sale, which should be the case for this graphics card.

 

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1.4.1.3 Official product


（From segaretro.org）

This graphics card is Rev 2, which is more like ES than the Rev 0 graphics card above. One is that there are still many flying lines, the other is Full PCI connection finger, and the third is to use more tantalum capacitors. Therefore, JAZZ took out the ES with intact performance for retail, and users could not tell.

1.4.2 3D Magic VRAM （NV1 chip）

The VRAM version of the graphics card is more difficult to design, and the JAZZ R&D capabilities are limited, so this version was finally abandoned.

JAZZ was unsuccessful in NV1 and later switched to 3Dfx.

 

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1.5 YUAN

There are three revised versions of JRS-3DS100, from which we can see the obvious changes, using a more compact package of NVSGP chip; canceling the sound card with poor performance. Almost all manufacturers that produce NV1/STG2000X chip graphics cards later do this.

1.5.1 JRS-3DS100 V3.0



（From enacademic.com）

 

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1.5.2 JRS-3DS100 V6.0

It was planned to be equipped with Wave table.

 

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1.5.3 JRS-3DS100 V6.8



(From vogons.org)

 

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1.6 VIDEOFORTE

VIDEOFORTE's VF64-3DG graphics card appeared late, nearly 1997. It uses NV1 chip, but instead of VRAM, it uses 2/4MB DRAM. There is no difference between the two sub-models.

1.6.1 VF64-3DG-01

 

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1.6.2 VF64-3DG-02







（From ebay.com）

 

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1.7 Generic

Turbo 2000B VER F2 uses NV1 chip, 1/2MB DRAM.



(From taiwan999.pixnet.net)



（FROM eBay.com）

1.8 Other

2/1/96，Genoa Introduces 3D Multimedia Accelerator Card（Stratos 3D） with High End Graphics and SRS 3D Sound based on the NV1/STG2000.This is the information released by nVIDIA that year, and no actual objects and pictures have been seen. Aztech's 3D Galaxy; Kasan Electronics' WinX 3D; Core-Dynamics' DynaGraFx 3-D and Focus TNC also launched NV1/STG2000X chip graphics cards, none of which have seen the actual objects and pictures.

 

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NV2

July 31, 1995 Sega of America, Inc., is setting a new standard in gameplay for personal computers through an exclusive licensing agreement with nVIDIA;

Sega's high-end Sega Saturn and arcade software to CD-ROMs for Pentium-based PCs equipped with single-chip NV1 Multimedia Accelerator.

Sega PC CD-ROM games developed for the nVIDIA architecture deliver the next level of multimedia entertainment under Windows 95 and have the same stunning visuals and gameplay of the Sega Saturn versions.

January 9, 1996 Sega PC's Panzer Dragoon to be bundled with Diamond EDGE 3D Multimedia Accelerators for Personal Computers

Thanks to Sega's strong support, nVIDIA's NV1 chip finally got some applications. But nVIDIA is still in a difficult situation.

Due to nVIDIA's strong desire to stick with their maturing quadratic forward texture mapping technology, but polygon rendering was the way to go for the future.Sega and nVIDIA have conflicts.

Sega ultimately selected NEC/VideoLogic's PowerVR2 to power the 3d-graphics in its Dreamcast console.NV2 was finally cancelled.

 

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3. NV3
3.1 nVIDIA
3.1.1 Riva 128

April 8, 1997- SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc. and nVIDIATM Corporation jointly introduced RIVA 128, the first 128-bit 3D multimedia accelerator.

August 25, 1997- nVIDIA Corporation announced its RIVA 128 3D multimedia accelerator has been selected by five major OEMs including Dell Computer, Gateway 2000, Micron Electronics, and graphics accelerator manufacturers Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. and STB Systems Inc.

0.35 micron
3.5 million transistors
5M triangles/sec, 100M pixels/sec
3.5 million transistors
12 KB on chip memory
20 billion operations per second
128-bit pipeline and memory interface
100 MHz CLK speed
128-bit engine, 128-bit memory interface
100 MHz sgram interface - 1.6 gbytes/sec bandwidth
206 MHz integrated ramdac
NTSC/PAL output

With the popularity of Windows95, nVIDIA will not make mistakes like NV1 and NV2 again this time. Since the strength is not enough to make rules, then follow the trend. NV3 regards Microsoft's Direct3D as the priority API, which is very correct and lays a solid foundation for future development.

3.1.1 nVIDIA

3.1.1.1 Riva 128 Engineering sample

This is the Product Evaluation board, which is also a reference board. Many graphics cards look close to this.

 

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3.1.2 Riva 128ZX




February 23, 1998 nVIDIA Corporation unveiled the RIVA 128ZX processor. Coupled with new enhanced ZX software drivers, the RIVA 128ZX processor offers the industry's fastest 3D processing capability , extended resolution and color depth, AGP 2X support, as well as high-performance 2D, VGA and digital video capabilities.

The PCB date of this Product Evaluation board is 9804 weeks, and the release date is 9809 weeks.

This is the earliest sample of nVIDIA's graphics card in the hands of known collectors.

 

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3.2 Diamond

Diamond was unsuccessful in the NV1 graphics card project, which caused Diamond to lose confidence in nVIDIA and instead supported another new company, 3DFX. As a result, STB took the lead in the NV3 graphics card project.

Although Diamond is half-hearted on the NV3 graphics card, it has launched four board-type Viper V330 graphics cards, which are of decent design and workmanship and have achieved certain success.

3.2.1 Viper V330 VIVO AGP/PCI

3.2.1.1 ES

On August 25, 1997 (9735 week), nVIDIA announced that Diamond and STB had joined the ranks of riva128 graphics cards. At that time, the research and development of STB's VELOCITY 128 graphics card was completed, and it will be used on branded machines in September. What is the progress of Diamond's Viper V330 graphics card? Take a look at the Viper V330 engineering sample graphics card below and maybe give the answer.





The PCB date of the above card is 9736 weeks, which is more than one week later than nVIDIA's announcement date. After all, testing also takes time. The PCB date of the earliest official version of the Viper V330 graphics card is also 9736 weeks, and the 9736 week finalization date has been approved.

The Riva 128 chip date of this engineering sample graphics card is 9731 weeks, which is pretty early, and the graphics card is made in the United States. It can be seen that the positions and quantities of many resistors and capacitors are slightly different from the official version. If you are interested, you can compare them; the ITT video chip is also an ES version. Based on the consideration of manufacturing cost, Diamond first conducted small-batch R&D in the United States and mass-produced in Taiwan.

Viper V330 graphics cards began to advertise in November, and retail time is around October.

I spent $1,000 on this Viper V330 engineering sample graphics card.If you want to collect rare collectibles, if you don't have the luck to buy cheap ones, you have to be willing to spend money.

Most of the engineering samples are kept in small quantities, and many of them are orphans. If they are missed, they will never be met again.

 

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3.2.1.2 QS



(From thg.ru)

This kind of graphics card has been distributed to evaluation agencies, but no retail.

 

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3.2.1.3 Official product

3.2.1.3.1 VIVO

The full version of the VIVO version is very exquisite, and the number is very small. Few people can collect it.

 

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3.2.1.3.2 TV Port

 

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3.2.1.3.3 VGA Port

 

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3.2.2 Viper V330 NLX　AGP

Later RIVA128ZX chips can directly use this version.

 

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3.2.3 Viper V330 ZX　PCI

This version is the VIVO version specially modified for RIVA128ZX, in fact only the VGA Port version is available.

 

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3.3 STB

STB believes that future growth was dependant upon the successful introduction of a new generation of multimedia accelerators.STB is the first to cooperate with nVIDIA, obtain the latest RIVA 128 graphics engine produced, and develop Velocity 128 graphics card.

In June 1997, STB began extensive testing of the Velocity 128. STB results of performance tests conducted on the Velocity 128 which proved that the nVIDIA RIVA128 graphics engine was defective and was causing PC's in which it was installed to crash.

VELOCITY 128

 

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3.4 Leadtek

 

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3.5 YUAN

AGP300S



(From Palcal on vgamuseum.info)

 

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3.6 ELSA

Victory Erazor

 

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3.7 ASUS

3DP-V3000

 

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3.8 Creative

CT6730

 

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3.9 Canopus

TOTAL3D 128

This board is the largest.