VOGONS


First post, by pRoPh3t

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Hello everyone,

I recently received a really interesting graphics card — an Nvidia NV1 — but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any information about this specific card online.

I’ve attached some photos of the board (front and back) in the hope that someone might recognize it or help identify the manufacturer.

I already own a Diamond Edge graphics card (also NV1-based), which I can use for comparison — but this new card looks noticeably different.

I also checked various websites and databases, but couldn’t find any matching information. There is one model with a somewhat similar PCB layout, but it does not have this 15-pin connector.

www.yjfy.com/collection/collection-0032.htm

What makes this card particularly unusual is that it has a 15-pin connector. Does anyone know what this might be for? Could it be a game port? As far as I know, NV1 cards typically come with connectors for Sega controllers, but this one seems different.

On the slot bracket, there’s also the usual connector — I’d describe it as a “network-style” port — where an adapter would normally plug in. Unfortunately, I don’t have that adapter.

Maybe we can figure out together where this card came from and what it was originally intended for — whether it’s a standard PC card or possibly from some kind of specialized system.

The previous owner labeled the slot bracket by hand with “VGA,” “audio in/out,” and “microphone,” which makes me think it was used in a PC.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Reply 1 of 9, by jmarsh

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Maybe if you showed a picture FEATURING the connector in question... from the PCB connections it just looks like a bog standard VGA port.

Reply 2 of 9, by weedeewee

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It's not this... but it surely looks a lot like it. https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/diam … nd-edge-3d-2200

Seems to have all the same chips and connectors. aside from the different nvSGP i67113 vs i67015

edit: just read your post completely :-p Seems like you already mostly found it.
it's some variant of an nv1 with the RJ50? connector and likely missing an expansion board for joystick connectors as well ?

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Reply 3 of 9, by Ozzuneoj

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pRoPh3t wrote on 2026-05-01, 17:11:
Hello everyone, […]
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Hello everyone,

I recently received a really interesting graphics card — an Nvidia NV1 — but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any information about this specific card online.

I’ve attached some photos of the board (front and back) in the hope that someone might recognize it or help identify the manufacturer.

I already own a Diamond Edge graphics card (also NV1-based), which I can use for comparison — but this new card looks noticeably different.

I also checked various websites and databases, but couldn’t find any matching information. There is one model with a somewhat similar PCB layout, but it does not have this 15-pin connector.

www.yjfy.com/collection/collection-0032.htm

What makes this card particularly unusual is that it has a 15-pin connector. Does anyone know what this might be for? Could it be a game port? As far as I know, NV1 cards typically come with connectors for Sega controllers, but this one seems different.

On the slot bracket, there’s also the usual connector — I’d describe it as a “network-style” port — where an adapter would normally plug in. Unfortunately, I don’t have that adapter.

Maybe we can figure out together where this card came from and what it was originally intended for — whether it’s a standard PC card or possibly from some kind of specialized system.

The previous owner labeled the slot bracket by hand with “VGA,” “audio in/out,” and “microphone,” which makes me think it was used in a PC.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Nice find!

The PCB layout looks very similar to the evaluation board listed on this page, as you had mentioned. And that is also somewhat similar to some variants of the Yuan 3DS-100 listed on that page.

I would guess that Nvidia or ST used the evaluation board as an early reference design, which was supplied to prospective board partners very early in the NV1's lifetime. The manufacturer of your card seems to have kept the PCB layout mostly reference, except with different ports. Without seeing a photo of the ports I can't say exactly what they are, but they probably serve the same functions as the ones on the Diamond Edge 3D 2200, even if the rest of the card has a different layout.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 4 of 9, by DrAnthony

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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-05-01, 20:45:
Nice find! […]
Show full quote
pRoPh3t wrote on 2026-05-01, 17:11:
Hello everyone, […]
Show full quote

Hello everyone,

I recently received a really interesting graphics card — an Nvidia NV1 — but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any information about this specific card online.

I’ve attached some photos of the board (front and back) in the hope that someone might recognize it or help identify the manufacturer.

I already own a Diamond Edge graphics card (also NV1-based), which I can use for comparison — but this new card looks noticeably different.

I also checked various websites and databases, but couldn’t find any matching information. There is one model with a somewhat similar PCB layout, but it does not have this 15-pin connector.

www.yjfy.com/collection/collection-0032.htm

What makes this card particularly unusual is that it has a 15-pin connector. Does anyone know what this might be for? Could it be a game port? As far as I know, NV1 cards typically come with connectors for Sega controllers, but this one seems different.

On the slot bracket, there’s also the usual connector — I’d describe it as a “network-style” port — where an adapter would normally plug in. Unfortunately, I don’t have that adapter.

Maybe we can figure out together where this card came from and what it was originally intended for — whether it’s a standard PC card or possibly from some kind of specialized system.

The previous owner labeled the slot bracket by hand with “VGA,” “audio in/out,” and “microphone,” which makes me think it was used in a PC.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Nice find!

The PCB layout looks very similar to the evaluation board listed on this page, as you had mentioned. And that is also somewhat similar to some variants of the Yuan 3DS-100 listed on that page.

I would guess that Nvidia or ST used the evaluation board as an early reference design, which was supplied to prospective board partners very early in the NV1's lifetime. The manufacturer of your card seems to have kept the PCB layout mostly reference, except with different ports. Without seeing a photo of the ports I can't say exactly what they are, but they probably serve the same functions as the ones on the Diamond Edge 3D 2200, even if the rest of the card has a different layout.

I'm glad someone with more specific knowledge said this. I first saw this post the other day and the unusual ports just screamed eval board but the NV1 is just weird enough of a design that I didn't feel comfortable being the first one to say it. I know other early 3d cards used similar ports for breakout boxes, but I don't recall ever hearing about any NV1 variants that went down that particular path.

Reply 5 of 9, by eddman

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It's similar but not the same. There are visible differences in the lower-left part of the board. If I had to guess, they started with the reference board design diagram as the base but made changes to it before the final layout was created.

Reply 6 of 9, by Ozzuneoj

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DrAnthony wrote on 2026-05-04, 12:33:

I'm glad someone with more specific knowledge said this. I first saw this post the other day and the unusual ports just screamed eval board but the NV1 is just weird enough of a design that I didn't feel comfortable being the first one to say it. I know other early 3d cards used similar ports for breakout boxes, but I don't recall ever hearing about any NV1 variants that went down that particular path.

Just to be clear, I am not someone with a deeper knowledge of NV1 cards than anyone else here 🙂. And I wasn't saying that this is one of the eval boards. It is branded as "IP Peripherals Flying Bear", rather than ST (Nvidia's partner in making the NV1), it has totally different ports from the eval board and doesn't have any of the additional headers that the eval board had to facilitate the main chip being connected via a little riser board. So it is likely based on the same reference design as the eval board but it isn't an eval board itself.

The ports on this seem to match the Diamond Edge 3D 2200 which provided an odd RJ50 port intended for use with an adapter for a game\midi port in addition to the standard connections for audio and VGA. I think there just isn't enough room for a full size game\midi port plus VGA and 3x 3.5mm audio jacks, so they used this RJ50. On other NV1 designs they provide fewer audio jacks and put the full size game\midi port on the card. There are many examples of both layouts among the various NV1 cards that exist.

The original post says this is a 15pin port, but we still haven't gotten a picture of the port itself so I can't say with certainty if it is an RJ50 like the Edge 3D or if it something different that just looks similar from one angle.

eddman wrote on 2026-05-04, 15:01:

It's similar but not the same. There are visible differences in the lower-left part of the board. If I had to guess, they started with the reference board design diagram as the base but made changes to it before the final layout was created.

Yeah, most of the differences on that side of the board are probably due to the different port layout.

Last edited by Ozzuneoj on 2026-05-06, 16:24. Edited 1 time in total.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 7 of 9, by weedeewee

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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-05-05, 00:41:

Your original post says this is a 15pin port, but we still haven't gotten a picture of the port itself so I can't say with certainty if it is an RJ50 like the Edge 3D or if it something different that just looks similar from one angle.

Just looking at the photo of the back of the card shows a possible 12 pins on the connector, the layout of which corresponds to an rj50 connector with an integrated led.
the 15 pin reference seems to me to be referring to the vga port.

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Do not ask Why !
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Reply 8 of 9, by Ozzuneoj

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weedeewee wrote on 2026-05-05, 03:03:
Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-05-05, 00:41:

Your original post says this is a 15pin port, but we still haven't gotten a picture of the port itself so I can't say with certainty if it is an RJ50 like the Edge 3D or if it something different that just looks similar from one angle.

Just looking at the photo of the back of the card shows a possible 12 pins on the connector, the layout of which corresponds to an rj50 connector with an integrated led.
the 15 pin reference seems to me to be referring to the vga port.

If the OP finds a VGA port (that he said is labeled as such) to be an unusual feature on a video card from the mid 90s, then I think maybe we're going about this all wrong. 😅

He also said he has Diamond Edge card already, which should have all of the same ports on the back, so I don't know where the confusion is.

Maybe the 15pin connector he's referring to is the one in the picture of the eval card that resembles his? That is a game\midi port.

Either way, I think we've got a miscommunication of some kind here. This card is interesting but it doesn't seem to have any ports that are unusual for an NV1 card.

Maybe he's talking about the header in center of the board, to the left of the NV1 chip?

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 9 of 9, by weedeewee

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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-05-05, 03:09:

Maybe he's talking about the header in center of the board, to the left of the NV1 chip?

That seems to be the only alternative.
Following the traces, it seems to be connected to the nvSGP chip.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port