So.... I got a cool 25lb box of random ISA/PCI cards from the 80s-90s from someone in Georgia who was getting rid of them all.

In there was a plethora of cool stuff but one that stuck out for me was the Artist Graphics 2000i PCI.
Never seen a card with 72pin ram modules before.

A quick google netted me nothing all that interesting... but left me wondering more.
I still had SO many questions...

• Is it really a 3D accelerator?
• How did they compare to others like them of the era?
• What was it like to use one?
• Why is there no reviews, details or anything about 3GA based cards online?

It sent me down a rabbit hole I never knew would cost me hours of my life I'll ever get back.

• I learned the creator went to jail for tax evasion.
• I discovered a historic exchange between Artist Graphics and Electronic Arts that led to the 3GA getting Argonaut BRender, Criterion Software RenderWare, Rendermorphics Reality Lab, Intel 3DR, OpenGL and more.
• I found the manual, different versions of the drivers and even early magazine ads and interviews with the company and the history behind why the company started creating graphics cards in the first place.
• I even found a japanese website that listed a ton of Aritst Graphics cards you don't find anywhere else. There were 20+ of them!
  
  Ive created a history video on this, Just because it's so fascinating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmKKyiTCWNc
  
  
  So, it's come time to start playing with this sucker.
  I tried 3 different early socket 5/7 setups but I kept having issues.
  
  Finally got a period-accurate Compaq Deskpro 2000 (Vetz would be proud eh?) w/Pentium 120, 64mb ram and a 512mb CompactFlash going.
  Got a fresh load of W95 installed and got the drivers loaded.
  
  One driver listed on Vogons blue-screened the machine... It's listed as:
  Artist Graphics 2000i Display Drivers & Utilities for Windows™ v1.23 -- But this is clearly the Windows 3.11 driver.
  Ironically it does appear to load fine until you switch resolutions and then the OS hangs/Bluescreen.
  
  The Windows 95 Driver on Vogons doesn't actually contain an INF the card recognized and I tried the manual load methods.
  I was able to use the NetVision driver for W95 and it worked beautifully!
  
  After I got all setup... fought the Compaq proprietary disk-based BIOS, the riser issues and other strange atrocities of vintage Compaq fun...
  Oh boy was I in for a treat!
  
  I worked in computer stores in 96'-98' and ran my own from 99-01 so I've seen countless driver installs.
  Many basic cards don't come with much for settings - some none other than what W9x offers you natively.
  
  This one has it's own branded tab in Display settings. It has greyscale adjustments, the full company info, VRAM recognized, mild overclocking and more.
  It also came with some utilities but they mostly just zoom and magnify things.
  
  I've been testing it's function in the natively supported acceleration types and I gotta say FOR THE PERIOD -- it's pretty impressive.
  Given the fact that the chip itself was originally devised/tested in 1992 (as mentioned in PC World 1992) if they had gotten it to market early enough not much would have competed with it! Sadly since it took till 95-96 by then we were seeing the NV1, Voodoo, and others.
  
  Still I'm having a lot of fun learning about this and I've probably gone a wee bit too far.
  I even reached out to Robert Beale but he hasn't gotten back to me. Be fun to find out if they had any other plans for 3D accelerators before the tax man got him.
  
  I'm on the lookout for any OpenGL or other 3D testing software that works in DOS or W95 if you know of any.
  
  **Update**
  I did a follow up video showing the use of the card but it's been pointed out that it likely didn't fully 3D accelerate. I've read thru the code of all the drivers I could find (4 versions of them) and only the NT drivers mention some acceleration direct to hardware that I could tell. That's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xONCBNipb8k
  
  Robert Beale of Artist Graphics got back to me!!
  I would paste it exactly as sent but since I didn't ask for that sort of permission I feel that could be an invasion of trust... but the gyst of his reply was this:
  
  * The cost of production held them back. It was costing up to $500 per board to produce.
  * The chip company tried to work with them to $100 but the engineers in the USA were too slow to get on that before the money ran out
  * He regrets not working with silicon valley investors to support upgrades/speed
  * The team didn't invest in tools fast enough... but were aiming for 10x the chip density
  * The founder of Nvidia was also located in Minnesota and he'd hired one of their engineers
  * He was in talks with Steve Jobs/NeXT and realized much later that Jobs WOULD have likely worked with him if he had asked.
  
  This part seems harmless enough to share:
  The idea for the 3GA chip was everyone's idea of the next level of graphics and Theo was interested in creating 3D video games. Number Nine Company came out with a 3D product a little after we did. Theo went on to create the first 3D games, such as WAR IN HEAVEN. ~ Bob Beale