This is the first chip of Imagine series, afaik no 3d whatsoever.
Series 2 not much better:

Even promoted z-buffering is missing, maybe in opengl...

For some reason the card with Imagine 128 GPU has been mentioned on tga3dx.com, this site was also called "The Golden Era of 3D Acceleration". Unfortunately, I've started collecting cards too late 😀 the site has been closed already, so I don't know, if there was any information about 3d-acceleration of Imagine 128 GPU on the site

Its 2D speed was impressive. A friend of mine had a laptop back in 1996/97 that had this chip for graphics and was the fastest 2D acceleration I've ever seen.

Here is the archived tga3dx.com "1994" (first year) page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20101007092802/htt … x.com/1994.html

[name removed by moderator] (the author) has written on the bottom of the article:
"No info found on what exact 3D capabilities the card has, sources needed. Most likely the card was only capable of drawing basic 3D primitives."

The first #9 chip that is usable for D3D is the Revolution 3D / Ticket 2 Ride. 128 SII is seemingly similar to Matrox Millennium in its 3D capabilities.

Thanks for answers! May be there was only demo software, that uses Imagine 128 capabilities for drawing basic 3D primitives, or some sort of CAD software. There is an answer in the FAQ (#9 archived site) about DirectX support.

Question 3: Does the Imagine 128 support Direct X?

The Imagine 128 supports the Direct Draw portion of Direct X 1.0. This card does NOT have the hardware needed to support Direct X 2.0

I'm sorry for unearthing this old topic, but I went down the same rabbit hole yesterday.
When searching for information on the 3D capabilities of the Imagine 128 series, this thread comes up.
So I want to leave the information I was able to find.

For the Imagine 128 there is a Win95 beta driver with DirectX 1.0 support. Here a quote from the index.txt file:

128w9113.exe BETA Direct X supporting driver for the Imagine 128/Win 95

Currently you can find it on this ftp server: https://ftp.infania.net/pub/Windows%20Drivers … /Imagine%20128/

For the Imagine 128 II there is a WinNT4.0 driver with a OpenGL MCD (Mini-Client-Driver) .
Here a screenshot from the old nine.com site:

A Mini-Client-Driver is not a full OpenGL implementation. You will only see the "GDI Generic" of Microsofts OpenGL software renderer and the Imagine only accelerates parts of it.
The concept is well explained here: https://retro.swarm.cz/nt4-opengl-mini-client … ti-rage-ii-pro/

Currently, you can only find it on this old ftp mirror: https://www.mmnt.net/db/0/0/69.43.38.172/mirr … imagine_series2
The driver is version 4.102.36 and the driver file is called "410236.exe".

The driver seems to work.
WinNT4,0 on a 1GHz Pentium III in GLQuake, 320x240x16:
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer: 8,1 FPS
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer with Imagine 128 II OpenGL MCD: 4 FPS

Quake III Arena, 640x480x16
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer: 2,4 FPS
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer with Imagine 128 II OpenGL MCD: 1,3 FPS

Video link: https://youtu.be/kF9lPgDFJUk

So you can call it acceleration if you pair the card with a Pentium 1. 😉

RaVeNsClaw wrote on 2025-04-12, 11:09:

I'm sorry for unearthing this old topic, but I went down the same rabbit hole yesterday. When searching for information on the 3 […]
Show full quote

I'm sorry for unearthing this old topic, but I went down the same rabbit hole yesterday.
When searching for information on the 3D capabilities of the Imagine 128 series, this thread comes up.
So I want to leave the information I was able to find.

For the Imagine 128 there is a Win95 beta driver with DirectX 1.0 support. Here a quote from the index.txt file:

128w9113.exe BETA Direct X supporting driver for the Imagine 128/Win 95

Currently you can find it on this ftp server: https://ftp.infania.net/pub/Windows%20Drivers … /Imagine%20128/

For the Imagine 128 II there is a WinNT4.0 driver with a OpenGL MCD (Mini-Client-Driver) .
Here a screenshot from the old nine.com site:

The attachment OpenGL.jpg is no longer available

A Mini-Client-Driver is not a full OpenGL implementation. You will only see the "GDI Generic" of Microsofts OpenGL software renderer and the Imagine only accelerates parts of it.
The concept is well explained here: https://retro.swarm.cz/nt4-opengl-mini-client … ti-rage-ii-pro/

Currently, you can only find it on this old ftp mirror: https://www.mmnt.net/db/0/0/69.43.38.172/mirr … imagine_series2
The driver is version 4.102.36 and the driver file is called "410236.exe".

The driver seems to work.
WinNT4,0 on a 1GHz Pentium III in GLQuake, 320x240x16:
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer: 8,1 FPS
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer with Imagine 128 II OpenGL MCD: 4 FPS

Quake III Arena, 640x480x16
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer: 2,4 FPS
- Microsoft OpenGL software renderer with Imagine 128 II OpenGL MCD: 1,3 FPS

Video link: https://youtu.be/kF9lPgDFJUk

So you can call it acceleration if you pair the card with a Pentium 1. ;-)

The current version has another zip file that might be helpful? Not sure.

Thanks for the info! 😀
You are right, WinNT4.0 driver Version 4.102.36 is also on there: http://archives.oldskool.org/pub/drivers/Numb … magine_series2/
But I can't find a newer version than this.

RaVeNsClaw wrote on 2025-04-13, 15:18:

Thanks for the info! :-)
You are right, WinNT4.0 driver Version 4.102.36 is also on there: http://archives.oldskool.org/pub/drivers/Numb … magine_series2/
But I can't find a newer version than this.

I was referring to the "imagine 2.zip" file on the live site. Not sure if that was helpful for your search or not. I do not have my Imagine 128 any longer so I wont be very helpful otherwise.

Those are just the same Win95 drivers as in the file "i2w9416p" for the Imagine 128 II as in the other link.
At least according to WinMerge. 😉

RaVeNsClaw wrote on 2025-04-14, 14:10:

Those are just the same Win95 drivers as in the file "i2w9416p" for the Imagine 128 II as in the other link.
At least to WinMerge. ;-)

Ah... got it. I love the look of the Imagine 128 Pro. Gorgeous card.

I also always liked the Number Nine cards!
There is a hidden message in each card in a middle layer of the PCB.
You can only read it if you look through the card into a light.
That's so unique.

Sadly I can't find an Imagine 128 II driver for Win98 that supports Direct3D.