VOGONS


Photos of my NVIDIA Riva 128

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First post, by Kahenraz

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I spotted an NVIDIA Riva 128 for $12 with free shipping and couldn't pass it up. I found the epoxied TO-220 heatsink to be particularly charming. I wonder if this is how it came from the factory?

All of the electrolytic capacitors are also floating above the board and all bent at different angles. It looks like the lead spacing on the PCB is wider than the choice of components so they couldn't have been set flush with the board.

This whole card just smacks of laziness. From STB no less!

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Reply 1 of 46, by TrashPanda

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That heat sink sure dont look like factory 🤣.

Looks like a Mosfet heat sink that someone decided would be perfect for the 128, tho I do question just how warm the 128 would get I doubt hot would describe it 😁

Pretty sure it would have great DOS compatibility too, nice little retro card !

Reply 2 of 46, by Kahenraz

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I didn't think I would ever buy one due to a personal lack of interest, but the price was too good to pass up. With the cost of shipping, the guy couldn't have profited more than a few dollars.

Is there any reason to use pre-TNT2 from NVIDIA or pre-Rage 128 from ATI?

Reply 3 of 46, by flupke11

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My Diamond Riva 128 I does not sport a heat sink, so I suppose it's not really necessary and this one is clearly aftermarket 😀. It's still a fairly important card in terms of its position in the market in 1997.

When I upgraded my Riva with a Creative TNT2 M64 (the Ultra far outweighed my budget), that was the first graphics card I owned with a heat sink (which not unlike a spoiler on a Lada, reeked of false promises of performance).

Reply 4 of 46, by TrashPanda

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flupke11 wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:14:

My Diamond Riva 128 I does not sport a heat sink, so I suppose it's not really necessary and this one is clearly aftermarket 😀. It's still a fairly important card in terms of its position in the market in 1997.

When I upgraded my Riva with a Creative TNT2 M64 (the Ultra far outweighed my budget), that was the first graphics card I owned with a heat sink (which not unlike a spoiler on a Lada, reeked of false promises of performance).

Hey at least it wasnt a TnT2 Vanta .. then it would have actually been a Lada!

Reply 5 of 46, by Doornkaat

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The heatsink is most likely factory. I have seen this exact heatsink on NIB Riva 128 cards before.
On vgamuseum.info there's a pic of the same card with the same heatsink.
Certain Asus and Miro Riva 128 came with a more professional looking heatsink as well.

Last edited by Doornkaat on 2022-03-09, 08:28. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 6 of 46, by TrashPanda

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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:23:

The heatsink is most likely factory. I have seen this exact heatsink on NIB Riva128 cards before.

Odd, this makes that card a little more collectable than your normal 128 then.

Reply 7 of 46, by Kahenraz

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TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:16:
flupke11 wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:14:

My Diamond Riva 128 I does not sport a heat sink, so I suppose it's not really necessary and this one is clearly aftermarket 😀. It's still a fairly important card in terms of its position in the market in 1997.

When I upgraded my Riva with a Creative TNT2 M64 (the Ultra far outweighed my budget), that was the first graphics card I owned with a heat sink (which not unlike a spoiler on a Lada, reeked of false promises of performance).

Hey at least it wasnt a TnT2 Vanta .. then it would have actually been a Lada!

I think that the Vanta is actually a very charming and functional card. Like the Rage 128, it's great for most tasks and has passable 3D performance.

I also happen to own a very beautiful specimen in blue by Gigabyte, so I am very biased.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:24:
Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:23:

The heatsink is most likely factory. I have seen this exact heatsink on NIB Riva128 cards before.

Odd, this makes that card a little more collectable than your normal 128 then.

Maybe I shouldn't mention that I was planning to rip it off...

Reply 8 of 46, by TrashPanda

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Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:26:
I think that the Vanta is actually a very charming and functional card. Like the Rage 128, it's great for most tasks and has pas […]
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TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:16:
flupke11 wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:14:

My Diamond Riva 128 I does not sport a heat sink, so I suppose it's not really necessary and this one is clearly aftermarket 😀. It's still a fairly important card in terms of its position in the market in 1997.

When I upgraded my Riva with a Creative TNT2 M64 (the Ultra far outweighed my budget), that was the first graphics card I owned with a heat sink (which not unlike a spoiler on a Lada, reeked of false promises of performance).

Hey at least it wasnt a TnT2 Vanta .. then it would have actually been a Lada!

I think that the Vanta is actually a very charming and functional card. Like the Rage 128, it's great for most tasks and has passable 3D performance.

I also happen to own a very beautiful specimen in blue by Gigabyte, so I am very biased.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:24:
Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:23:

The heatsink is most likely factory. I have seen this exact heatsink on NIB Riva128 cards before.

Odd, this makes that card a little more collectable than your normal 128 then.

Maybe I shouldn't mention that I was planning to rip it off...

Well the Lada has passable performance for a vehicle, as in being passed by every other car on the road.

Reply 9 of 46, by flupke11

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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:23:

The heatsink is most likely factory. I have seen this exact heatsink on NIB Riva 128 cards before.
On vgamuseum.info there's a pic of the same card with the same heatsink.
Certain Asus and Miro Riva 128 came with a more professional looking heatsink as well.

We learn every day, thx!

Reply 11 of 46, by Kahenraz

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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:30:
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:26:

I was planning to rip it off...

Why?

I thought it was an aftermarket addon and a terrible blemish.

Last edited by Kahenraz on 2022-03-09, 08:50. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 12 of 46, by Doornkaat

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flupke11 wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:30:
Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:23:

The heatsink is most likely factory. I have seen this exact heatsink on NIB Riva 128 cards before.
On vgamuseum.info there's a pic of the same card with the same heatsink.
Certain Asus and Miro Riva 128 came with a more professional looking heatsink as well.

We learn every day, thx!

😃👍

Reply 13 of 46, by TrashPanda

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Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:31:
He made two videos on it. […]
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TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:28:
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:26:

I think that the Vanta is actually a very charming and functional card. Like the Rage 128, it's great for most tasks and has passable 3D performance.

I also happen to own a very beautiful specimen in blue by Gigabyte, so I am very biased.

Maybe I shouldn't mention that I was planning to rip it off...

Well the Lada has passable performance for a vehicle, as in being passed by every other car on the road.

He made two videos on it.

One important takeaway is that he mentions that the dual GPU feature does not work on NT-derived operating systems.

https://youtu.be/BJfoyato1Ac
https://youtu.be/4be8HYOGrl4

Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:30:
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:26:

I was planning to rip it off...

Why?

I thought it was an aftermarket addon and a terrible blemish.

Im guessing that rules out XP based systems too since XP uses the NT kernel.

Reply 14 of 46, by Doornkaat

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Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:31:
He made two videos on it. […]
Show full quote
TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:28:
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:26:

I think that the Vanta is actually a very charming and functional card. Like the Rage 128, it's great for most tasks and has passable 3D performance.

I also happen to own a very beautiful specimen in blue by Gigabyte, so I am very biased.

Maybe I shouldn't mention that I was planning to rip it off...

Well the Lada has passable performance for a vehicle, as in being passed by every other car on the road.

He made two videos on it.

One important takeaway is that he mentions that the dual GPU feature does not work on NT-derived operating systems.

https://youtu.be/BJfoyato1Ac
https://youtu.be/4be8HYOGrl4

Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:30:
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:26:

I was planning to rip it off...

Why?

I thought it was an aftermarket addon and a terrible blemish.

Ah, I misread you. I thought you still wanted to remove it now that you know this card is factory blemished.😄

Reply 15 of 46, by Cuttoon

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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:23:

On vgamuseum.info there's a pic of the same card with the same heatsink.

Well, duh, that's even the very first picture that comes on google for me.
Please don't tell me this forum has the "facebook type of user" - those on the web 2.0 to whom the web 1.0 only happens to other people. 😉

That being said...

That heatsink. Just NO.

Don't think those caps are much reason to complain, though. They work, don't touch them. Those cards were not supposed to be stored by the hundreds in old potato bags, as seems to be the preferred method of junk collectors.
Maybe STB had to change their source of components. It happens, as the Malaysia floods or the pandemic have shown.
Think I have an Elsa which is probably made in Taiwan or France and don't think it's much more sophisticated.

But it's a fine card in good condition. Don't think the missing TV out part is much of a loss - that AD TV out chip seems really, really basic.

I like jumpers.

Reply 16 of 46, by appiah4

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The Riva128 does not normally have a heatsink, that is added by some idiot afterwards.

Oh wow I stand corrected. That is some weird shit..

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 17 of 46, by shamino

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For comparison, here's a slightly later Riva128 card also from STB. This one is marked Rev C, yours is Rev B. But I don't know if these are actually revisions of the same series of cards, so don't know if one is actually a successor to the other.
They're laid out totally differently, despite being close in age.

The memory chips on yours appear to be week 52 1997 and week 02 1998. Mine are week 08 1998, so that implies the card is maybe about 2 months newer.

Yours apparently supports some AV features and it's a bigger PCB (more expensive).
My Rev C is downsized, deletes the optional features and instead allows that L-shaped cutout some PCs wanted.

The Rev C doesn't have electrolytic caps at all, doesn't even have places to put them, instead it has a mix of surface mounted ceramics and tantalums.
No heatsink on my Rev C. I'm not the original owner though, so I don't know if there ever was one. When I saw yours I thought it must have been a mod - until I saw the posts above.

Both cards have the same BIOS version, but different dates on the stickers. The date on yours is wildly late - October 1998? Nowhere close to the other dates visible on the card. Somebody might have swapped that chip, or there was a weird time gap in it's construction.

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Reply 18 of 46, by appiah4

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Also for comparison here are my STB Riva128 AGP and ASUS Riva128 PCI cards - the former has no heatsink, the latter does (but not a shitty transistor/vrm heatsink..)

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Reply 19 of 46, by Unknown_K

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TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:05:

That heat sink sure dont look like factory 🤣.

Looks like a Mosfet heat sink that someone decided would be perfect for the 128, tho I do question just how warm the 128 would get I doubt hot would describe it 😁

Pretty sure it would have great DOS compatibility too, nice little retro card !

I have a couple AGP 128 cards with that heatsink. For some reason I think it might have been a Gateway OEM card but have nothing to back it up.

The Riva 128 PCI card rocks in DOS btw.

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