SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 1999--NVIDIA(TM) Corporation (Nasdaq:NVDA) announced today the availability of a new set of software drivers for the RIVA TNT and TNT2 3D processors that are specifically optimized for AMD's K6(R)-2 and K6-III CPUs. With the new software, NVIDIA's 3D graphics processors deliver up to a 40% increase in performance as measured by leading industry benchmarks and real-world games. The new drivers show a significant performance gain in both Microsoft(R) DirectX(TM) 6.X and SGI OpenGL(R) applications. "We have been working very closely with AMD to extract every possible ounce of performance with 3DNow!," said Dan Vivoli, vice president of marketing at NVIDIA. "Our goal to be the best 3D processor for all PC platforms is supported by our dedication to deliver continuous improvements to both our hardware and software partners. RIVA TNT2, along with these new drivers, now brings unequaled graphics performance and visual quality to AMD users." The new drivers, available for download today, also include enhancements that maximize AGP performance in AMD systems. These improvements increase AGP texturing performance, which allows large textures to be transferred from system memory directly into NVIDIA's graphics pipeline. The new drivers also include a number of quality related enhancements and are designed to be compatible with future NVIDIA graphics processors. "NVIDIA's and AMD's technologies are perfect compliments and provide users with a powerful platform capable of handling the most demanding 3D graphic applications," said Ned Finkle, director of Infrastructure Technology Development for AMD's Advanced Architecture Lab. "Our ongoing relationship with NVIDIA will ensure that our products continue to deliver maximum results."

RIVA 3D made a couple of AMD K6 III benchmarks with the new drivers.

1 - Delete any old registry information.

From the "Start" menu, select the "Run..." menu item.
Type regedit in the dialog box that appears.
When the Registry Editor appears, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation
Delete the folder called "RIVA TNT"

2 - Install the new 1.88 driver.

For several game titles, it is often desired to run them without V-SYNC. To accomplish this, please follow the steps below.

1 - Establish the Direct 3D registry. If you followed the steps above for installing the new 1.88 driver, you will have to create a new Direct 3D registry key. This is
easily done through the "Display Properties" control panel

Bring up "Display Properties" control panel.
(Right mouse click on the desktop - select "properties" from menu) Select the "Settings" tab
Select the "Advanced...." button
Select the "TNT2" tab
Select the "Additional Properties..." button
Select the "Direct3D Settings..." tab
Select the "Restore Defaults" button
Select the "Apply" button
2 - Create a new DWORD in the Registry

From the "Start" menu, select the "Run..." menu item. Type regedit in the dialog box that appears.
When the Registry Editor appears, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation\RIVA TNT\Direct3D Create a new DWORD value called
NOVSYNC Modify the value of NOVSYNC to be 1.

If you want to return to a VSYNCed behavior, you can merely modify the value of NOVSYNC back to 0.

Nothing new at all (05/06).... I think you better should go the way I explained below bcause you also get the possibilty to set V-Sync for OpenGL.

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation\RIVA TNT\OpenGL and create a new DWORD value called ForceMultiTexture (note the capital T). Set its value to 1.

It works for me, let me know if it works for you. You can tell by looking in the Q2 console for "..using GL_SGIS_multitexture" - and likely by the increased framerate too.

I didīnt achive better reults on my systems. I think the driver can allready use both texture units like in D3D (see v1.88 tests below).

Pentium III 500MHz on a Tekram P6BX-A, Diamond Viper V770 ULTRA (TNT2). On the left the results with the latest Diamond drivers (Based on v1.2x) and on the right sides the results of the v1.88 drivers with 3DMARK99 MAX.

Very interresting are the results of the fillrate at 1024x768-16 without Multitexturing. The driver can use both texture units although there is no MT! But you canīt see it anymore at 32Bit. Would be interessting to know if this does also happen in OpenGL! The new drivers are a lot faster at all (not only in 3DMARK!) than drivers based on v1.2x. The performance is on the same level than with v1.81 drivers.

You should care for the correct deinstallation of your previous drivers! If available use the uninstall options of the driver or choose Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA) 'by hand'. Also delete the Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation because there is the possibility that there are old driver settings that do not fit with the new drivers.

You can get more performance by doing the following steps. (Carefully: You can damage your Windows if you do something wrong here!):

• 1. Open Display properties (right mouse click on desktop -> properties)
• 2. Settings -> Advanced -> RIVA TNT(2) -> Aditional Properties -> Direct 3D Settings
• 3. Set the mipmap levels from 0 to 1 and back to 0 again (Apply). The registry folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation si created completly now by NVTweak.
• 4. Click OK until the whole properties menu is closed complete.
• 5. Start -> run: Enter regedit in the field behind open and click OK.
• 6. Find the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation\RIVA TNT\NVTweak
• 7. Create a new DWORD (Edit -> New -> DWORD Value...) with the name POWERUSER and give it the value 1.
• 8. Exit the registry.
• 9. There should now be new options in the RIVA TNT(2) properties menu.
• 10. At Direct3D Settings -> Advanced you can find a new option called Disable Wait for V-Blank. You should enable this option.
• 11. At OpenGL you can now find the option Enable Buffer Flipping for fullscreen applications. Enable this option. Keep Wait for V-Blank disabled. Drivers v1.8x do not flicker in OpenGL anymore when V-Sync is disabled!

You can delete the registry folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation if you are not pleased with the settings. NVTweak creates the folder again with default values after the next start.

Important for OpenGL applications: (for example GLQuake). The driver ist still set to default. You should not benchmark an OpenGL application on its first start after the driver installation because the driver changes some OpenGL registry settings that let the card perform faster. You have to quit and restart the application to get the better performance. But you must only do it the first time after the driver installation. This sounds strange but you can try it yourself. Take a look at the two shots below. The left is before the first start and the right after I ran the application. GLQuake scores 118fps at the first time. With the new settings it scores 129,1fps! But this does only happen the first time you run a OpenGL application. After that you always get the max performance.

Before the first GL start	After quitting

Donīt know if this is a bug or a feature (kind of an intelligent driver, huh?). Fact is that an OpenGL application runs slower at the first time after a new driver installation.

Testsetup: intel Pentium III 500 (yeah! new :-)), 128MB, Diamond Viper V770 ULTRA (150/183), Referenzdrivers v1.81

You can see a great boost in Direct 3D. There are also new menu options for D3D settings. OpenGL didīnt change. But the 7MB file is worth downloading it. Bad: The bug in D3D with the advanced menu ist still there. You can only help yourself with the safe mode. Unreal Patch v2.25f

Aachen, Germany, May 11, 1999 - MainConcept released the highly anticipated Linux version of the MainActor Video Editor today. This release brings the unequaled animation conversion/creation power of MainActor VE to the Linux platform and has all of the functionality of the Windows and OS/2 versions. MainActor VE for Linux has sophisticated playback functions including DGA-based full-screen playback.

Mainactor is shareware and costs DM 149,-. Owners of a ELSA graphic card can use the full version for free. You must have an ELSA driver installed. Download the ELSA Version from ELSA and not from Mainconcept!

• Support Windows 95(OSR2.1)/Windows 98/Windows 98SE.
• ALi AGP Driver 1.60 adds registry key to help Windows98 Device Manager to display proper chipset driver properties, like Provider, Date & Version.
• Support AMD K6-2 CXT core/K6-III MTRR feature. When ALi AGP Driver 1.60 detects an AMD CXT core CPU, it sets up MTRR to enable this feature.
• S3 Savage3D is not stable on M1621 system, ALi AGP Driver 1.60 has solved this problem.
• ALi AGP Driver 1.50 does not work well in Win98 with the Savage4. System may turn into BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). ALi AGP Driver 1.60 has solved this problem.
• System may turn into BSOD when executing Turok on Intel i740 and M1621 based system. ALi AGP Driver 1.60 has solved this problem.
• Solve system poor performance for Intel i740 in Windows 95. Need Intel i740 driver version v3.2.
• Asus P5A bios 1005 sets up M1541 GAT mode and this will cause problem in ATI Rage 128. ALi AGP Driver 1.60 has solved this problem.
• Add support for nVidia TNT2.
• Add support for 3Dfx Voodoo3. 11. Fix nVidia TNT playing DVD frame drop.

Download the driver here: ALI AGP Driver v1.60

Most interestingly was the identical line being touted by the aforementioned sources with regards to the projected performance of the NV10, which is said to be somewhere in the region of four times that of the TNT2 (the current 350MegaTexel/second fill rate is already high). Many of you will already know that NVIDIA is aiming to take 3D graphics into the 'next stage of realism' by sporting hardware T&L (transformation & lighting), clipping and geometry features on-chip but what if we told you that this will be backed up by a 64MB-128MB memory specification? Obviously full AGP 4X support will increase the memory bandwidth considerably too.

NVIDIA has always claimed that the TNT2 was "only the beginning"… OEMs that we spoke to were already committed to the NV10 (which is yet to get an official name), which they stated should start shipping by October. Upon our own investigation, we reckon that a late Q4 release is more likely, what with the delay to both the 820chipset (upon which so much rides upon) and the AGP 4X occurring due to RAMBUS problems. Anything else? Well it looks as though NV20 (the chip following NV10) will be the first NVIDIA chip to sport multiple processors, so you'll have to wait a good while longer for that sort of raw horsepower.

More information including infos about a ELSA TNT2 ULTRA solution (2 cards: 150/183 & 175/200) can be found in the whole article.

Everything about the 3D shutter glasses ELSA 3D Revelator. RIVA Station reviewed the Infrared and cable version. Currently only in German language - Iīm working on the english translation. If you want to take a first look or use Altavista Translations: ELSA 3D Revelator Review

Normaly I donīt post such things but this seems to be harmless because everybody can do it himself (if you have the demo). Chirs sends me a zip file whih contains files that makes Need For Speed 3 Direct X6 compatible. This should result in more performance for TNT and Voodoo3. The DLL files are from the new NFS Demo High Stakes: NFS3X.ZIP

Be carefull! This is not an offical patch! Use it on your own risk!!!

PowerStrip 2.50.01 (648kb) is now available for downloading, with support for the NVidia Vanta/TNT2, Voodoo3, Savage4 and Rage128, under Windows 95/98 and NT. Although - aside from the additional chips supported - there are no new features, this release includes quite a few small improvements and bug fixes. Note that 2.5 is likely to be the last major revision of what is now, in fact, a very old and dated program. The next major release will be the first ever to be completely unencumbered by prior OEM demands and restrictions (the source of many legitimate complaints by end-users), and has a completely different architecture and feature set.

Note: As with all previous releases, upgrades to PowerStrip 2.5 are free to registered users. If you have lost or find you need a new registration key, just fire off a message to support@entechtaiwan.com and include your registered name, e-mail address or order number.

Update: it seems this doesīnt work at all - so just forget it!

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