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History of nVIDIA Graphics cards Vol. 1

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Reply 85 of 90, by yjfy

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It can be seen from the previous graphics cards that all manufacturers have not completely copied the original nVIDIA design, at most they only partially borrowed from the original nVIDIA design. Even the public version launched by nVIDIA is not directly used by manufacturers. In addition to the fact that each manufacturer deliberately retains its own unique design concepts and styles, the design and use cycle of graphics cards is long, and everyone still has time to spend on design. But this time that can be consumed is gradually shortening. Big factories like STB and Dimeng were acquired in the TNT era. After entering the GPU era, graphics cards are updated faster, and manufacturers have to accept nVIDIA's public version design. Graphics cards that do not use the public version design are almost all shrunk designs and become synonymous with low-end graphics cards. So far, almost all the graphics cards look exactly the same, the only difference is the fan and heat sink. Therefore, the history of nVIDIA graphics cards introduced in the following chapters will be based on nVIDIA’s evaluation boards and reference versions.

.End.

Reply 86 of 90, by Stiletto

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yjfy wrote on 2020-11-05, 01:59:

1.2.3.5 NEC version

(From CompaqGuy youtube.com )

Assuming you meant RetroCompaqGuy... I believe that's vetz here on VOGONS. 😀

I have been wondering since 2016 who it was who did the Apple QuickDraw 3D Acceleration Card in 1995 and later left to go work for Nvidia: Re: Apple QuickDraw 3D Accelerator Card
Depending on when this happened... it could even have been one or more of Nvidia's founders, I don't think it was tho.

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 87 of 90, by Tetrium

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yjfy wrote on 2020-11-05, 01:35:

History of nVIDIA Graphics cards Vol. 1

Very impressive!

Back then I was quite surprised that Diamond was acquired by someone, they seemed to always make solid cards and had a good name in The Netherlands at the time. My first graphics card was the Viper V550 TNT.

Very nice collection of pics alongside with tidbits of information 😀

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My retro rigs (old topic)
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Reply 88 of 90, by vetz

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yjfy wrote on 2020-11-05, 01:59:

1.2.3.5 NEC version

(From CompaqGuy youtube.com )

Nice list!

I can provide better pictures of that box if needed

I also have some pictures saved from Ebay (non-Diamond NV1 cards) during the years which may have better pictures, I'll find them and upload to this thread

3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
3D Acceleration Comparison Episodes

Reply 89 of 90, by vetz

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VideoForte box (unknown source)

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"3D Multimedia" box (Turbo 2000B VER F2 ebay picture)
It looks like this box were also used for other generic cards, like seen on Batyra's site:
https://collection.batyra.pl/graphics/nvidia/jrs-3ds100

These two came from an Ebay auction. Notice special BIOS sticker and the NV1 CD. I contacted the seller to inquire what was on it, but he had no interest in checking and would not provide info or forward information to the winner of the auction.

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I believe that disc contained the NV1 SDK/press kit as it has many of the same features as seen here:

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3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
3D Acceleration Comparison Episodes