Nvidia GeForce 256 is 25 years old(videocardz.com)
videocardz.com
Nvidia GeForce 256 is 25 years old
https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-256-the-worlds-first-gpu-marks-its-25th-anniversary
3 comments
I still have mine, but sadly I don't have any more functioning systems with an AGP slot.
It was the first decent gfx card I ever bought, my little brother and I pooled all our money in order to do it! We picked it up in some little hole in the wall in Fremont I'd found through Pricewatch.com.
Prior to that we'd gotten ripped by Fry's buying garbage PCI Diamond Crystal something or other cards, they didn't even stock recent NVidia cards back then. Then I found HardOCP and learned what to get. Still miss Kyle Bennett's sass.
The late nineties were something else, loved those crazy Athlon and Duron builds that could OC like crazy. It was so much fun! I really don't know of anything comparable these days, because for the past 15 years nearly zero games really required the latest and greatest hardware to be playable at reasonable settings. Homemade QinLED and other home-flashed iOT devices are fun, but not in the same galaxy.
I miss the A-Bit motherboards, they were a cut above. Never had one die on me ever (while under active use*).
* Storing old PC components seems sensitive - tossing them in a box in anti-static bags in a dry garage doesn't seem to do the trick.
P.s. - TFA claims the GeForce 256 was "the world's first GPU", but why not consider the NVidia Riva TNT a real GPU? And what about the They were capable at the time. And c'mon, the 3DFX Voodoo was the real first GPU.
If you want to feel bad, click this SEO stuffed and gamed link for "most beloved GPU of all time" and notice the lack of mention of 3DFX. Gaslighting trash.
https://www.google.com/search?q=most+beloved+GPU+of+all+time
It was the first decent gfx card I ever bought, my little brother and I pooled all our money in order to do it! We picked it up in some little hole in the wall in Fremont I'd found through Pricewatch.com.
Prior to that we'd gotten ripped by Fry's buying garbage PCI Diamond Crystal something or other cards, they didn't even stock recent NVidia cards back then. Then I found HardOCP and learned what to get. Still miss Kyle Bennett's sass.
The late nineties were something else, loved those crazy Athlon and Duron builds that could OC like crazy. It was so much fun! I really don't know of anything comparable these days, because for the past 15 years nearly zero games really required the latest and greatest hardware to be playable at reasonable settings. Homemade QinLED and other home-flashed iOT devices are fun, but not in the same galaxy.
I miss the A-Bit motherboards, they were a cut above. Never had one die on me ever (while under active use*).
* Storing old PC components seems sensitive - tossing them in a box in anti-static bags in a dry garage doesn't seem to do the trick.
P.s. - TFA claims the GeForce 256 was "the world's first GPU", but why not consider the NVidia Riva TNT a real GPU? And what about the They were capable at the time. And c'mon, the 3DFX Voodoo was the real first GPU.
If you want to feel bad, click this SEO stuffed and gamed link for "most beloved GPU of all time" and notice the lack of mention of 3DFX. Gaslighting trash.
https://www.google.com/search?q=most+beloved+GPU+of+all+time
> Storing old PC components seems sensitive - tossing them in a box in anti-static bags in a dry garage doesn't seem to do the trick.
From that era (late 90s-mid 00s) it could be down to capacitors failing - there were a LOT of faulty ones around in that era, vs earlier 80s/90s and later eras.
From that era (late 90s-mid 00s) it could be down to capacitors failing - there were a LOT of faulty ones around in that era, vs earlier 80s/90s and later eras.
> TFA claims the GeForce 256 was "the world's first GPU", but why not consider the NVidia Riva TNT a real GPU?
GeForce 256 integrated hardware vertex processing (transform and lighting), which Riva TNT and others did not - the CPU had to do this part.
The RCP of the Nintendo 64 was probably the first modern GPU integrating RSP for vertex processing and RDP for rasterization into a single chip.
GeForce 256 integrated hardware vertex processing (transform and lighting), which Riva TNT and others did not - the CPU had to do this part.
The RCP of the Nintendo 64 was probably the first modern GPU integrating RSP for vertex processing and RDP for rasterization into a single chip.
>but why not consider the NVidia Riva TNT a real GPU?
Shaders.
Shaders.
Geforce 256 and 2 were fixed-function; I don't believe the first shaders showed up until Geforce 3.
It was T&L that pushed PR to call it a GPU, but afaik both 256 and GF2 had some shader capabilities. Nvidia Shading Rasterizer (NSR)https://www.anandtech.com/show/537/4 https://www.evga.com/articles/archive/91.asp
I remember full page ads for this card featuring deus ex in my gaming magazines. I wanted one so bad. I think I had an ATI card at the time.
I still remember when the budget Radeon 8500's came out. I never got one, but I remember people overclocking them significantly with a high rate of success.
The competition in the market back then between NV and ATI was incredible!
Almost on par with the Subaru Impreza WRX STI vs. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, but IIRC Mitsubishi stopped making those badass cars around 2012 and the party pretty much died with no further major technical advances for a factory made rally whip.
The competition in the market back then between NV and ATI was incredible!
Almost on par with the Subaru Impreza WRX STI vs. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, but IIRC Mitsubishi stopped making those badass cars around 2012 and the party pretty much died with no further major technical advances for a factory made rally whip.
>I remember full page ads for this card featuring deus ex in my gaming magazines
Was it PC Gamer?
I was on 3Dfx camp at the time but was looking at Geforce or the ATI response ( Radeon ) with All in Wonder Series.
Was it PC Gamer?
I was on 3Dfx camp at the time but was looking at Geforce or the ATI response ( Radeon ) with All in Wonder Series.
I think so! That was one of the magazines I was subscribed to. And ohhhhh my god I forgot about All in Wonder. I definitely had one of those at some point.
According to Wiki [1], the Geforce 256 has 17M transistor and not the ~23M they suggest. ~13W Power TDP instead of 50W.
The Geforce only has ~140mm2 Die Size so should take that into account when making comparison to AD102 which has a die size of 609mm2. Or roughly 4.4 times the Die Size with 4400 times the transistor. 1000 times increase in the span of 23 years.
Unfortunately we wont see a 3nm GPU until 2026. Which is sad because with the margin and hype and demand of AI I was hoping we could see 2nm GPU by 2026.
Edit: A sort of stupid idea came into my mind, I wonder if Intel or in this case Nvidia could open source their Geforce 256 hardware design, given this is 25 years old already and bare little significance of the modern GPU.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_proces...