3dfx has had a full OpenGL ICD available since June 99. There may be some confusion about what a full OpenGL ICD is. The version that is currently available on our website has been certified by Microsoft WHQL as a full OpenGL ICD. It has been optimized for OpenGL games, and is currently being tested with other popular OpenGL applications. 3dfx is committed to creating the ultimate visual experience for consumers. We optimize all of our drivers for leading games and popular consumer applications on a continuing basis. We are in the final stages of releasing a new version of our OpenGL driver. However, writing software and fixing bugs is an unpredictable process. We thank you for your patience.

With 50GFLOPS (billions of floating-point operations per second) of potential, NVIDIA says it's measuring better than a 10 million polygon-per-second throughput today and has the architectural capability to reach 15 million polygons-per-second. This is equivalent of what a 256-processor Cray T3D supercomputer would be capable of. At these rates, the NVIDIA chip's 4X AGP interface connected to Intel's upcoming 820 chip set with 4X AGP support is actually a performance bottleneck.

Thanks to nvnews

A small video clip that was made during some video experiments I´m currently working on. You need the actual Windows Media Player to play this ASF-File. Download:

RIVA Station Intro (763 KB) > ISDN Stream (IE)
RIVA Station Intro (623 KB) ISDN Stream (IE)
RIVA Station Intro (295 KB) 56K/Modem Stream (IE)

Michael Tirtasana released Version 1.4 of the Tirtanium Benchmark:

- use new compiler Version, speed may change a little bit (I think it's a little faster).
- build in some internal 3DNOW support (just the important routines in the math3D lib).
- build in new math benchmark. Tests CPU floating point speed with x87/3DNOW code (win32 version).

Download: Tirtanium v1.4 + 3DNow.exe

LONDON - September 02, 1999- Guillemot is once again leading the way towards a new era of 3D acceleration with its revolutionary graphics solution : 3D Prophet™. 3D Prophet™ predicts hardcore gamers will reach the nirvana of 3D acceleration in all their favorite games.

3D Prophet™ is built on the incredible NVIDIA’s GPU (Graphics Processing Unit): GeForce 256™ . This new technology makes 3D Prophet™ the most innovating graphics card and gives gamers ultra-realistic images and the ultimate gaming experience!

"Guillemot aims at offering gamers the best technology. NVIDIA is showing today that they can "change the world" with GeForce 256™ . After the success of our Maxi Gamer Xentor 32™, based on the RIVA TNT2 Ultra graphics processor, our strategic partnership with NVIDIA™ leads us to take the experience once step further and revolutionize 3D gaming. That’s why we decided to give to our new graphics card the name : 3D Prophet" says Claude Guillemot, President of Guillemot Corporation.

3D Prophet™ integrates GeForce256™ new hardware functions : the 256-bit rendering engine, the geometric transform engine, the lighting engine, the four-pixel-per-clock pipeline engine which generates an unprecedented 15 million triangles per second and 480 million pixels per second!

3D Prophet™ provides support for AGP 4X with Fast Writes and the most advanced supports for OpenGL® and Microsoft’s® new DirectX® 7.0 features, such as cube environment mapping, vertex blending and projective textures.

Thanks to 3D Prophet™ real-life rendering, hardcore gamers will be completely blown away by the astonishing images in their favorite games.

FREMONT, CA (August 31, 1999) — LEADTEK Research Inc. further strengthened its partnership with NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) with the announcement today that it will offer revolutionary new 3D accelerators based on NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce 256 graphics processing unit (GPU). NVIDIA's GeForce 256 GPU features a unique quad engine design that combines transform, lighting, setup and rendering engines in the industry's first single-chip solution capable of processing the entire 3D pipeline.

Unrivaled Core Structure

NVIDIA's GeFource 256 GPU, is equipped with 256-bit bandwidth and a quad-engine design which processes four 32-bit pixels in a single clock cycle. The enhanced AGP 4x fast write feature allows the graphics board to transfer data directly from the CPU without going through the system memory, greatly improving data transfer efficiency compared to other AGP 4x boards. The high refresh rate at high resolutions can also be easily achieved by the powerful 350Mhz RAMDAC.

The new solutions from Leadtek will offer other value added features including drivers optimized for Pentium III SSE and AMD 3D NOW for Windows 9x/NT/2000, full support of DirectX7 features, DVD package, optional TV output, DVI connector for the digital flat panel and over-clocking utilities.

"NVIDA has been pushing the limits of 3D graphics while Leadtek has specialized in the design and manufacture of 3D accelerators which leverage the power of the graphics processor," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "The combination of our GeForce256 GPU and a robust board design from Leadtek will bring 3D graphics performance into the next era."

Here´s a first exclusive shot of the new ELSA Erazor X with NVIDIA GeForce 256:

click to enlarge

ELSA allready added the Erazor X to the product list:

• The latest 3D graphics technology with the NVIDIA GeForce 256 processor
• High-definition 3D—the latest games using DirectX7 use up to 4 times more polygons at full speed!
  Witness nearly true-life player skins!
• High-definition picture—high performance with up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, over 16 million colors and
  refresh rates of 200 Hz provide an astounding picture—ideal for 19" to 24" monitors
• 32-MB graphics memory give you scope for image processing and huge textures
• ELSA SmartRefresh and ELSA SmartResolution provide optimal monitor settings
• Supports the 3D shutter glasses, 3D REVELATOR

id Software´s John Carmack mades some comments about GeForce:

I have been getting a lot of requests for commentary on two subjects lately:

Nvidia's new geometry accelerated card with the funny name.

It is fast. Very, very fast. It has the highest fill rate of any card we have ever tested, has improved image quality over TNT2, and it gives timedemo scores 40% faster than the next closest score with extremely raw beta drivers.

The throughput will definately improve even more as their drivers mature.

For max framerates in OpenGL games, this card is going to be very hard to beat.

Q3's target of about 10,000 triangles a frame doesn't stress this card at all. If you want more polygons out of Q3, you can do:

r_lodBias -2 // don't use lower detail models r_subdivisions 1 // lots more triangles in curves r_lodCurveError 10000 // don't drop curve rows for a long time

I haven't looked at the stencil shadow stuff in a long time, but it gives the largest increase in triangle use (and a lot of fill rate as well):

cg_shadows 2 // turn on stencil shadows // (if you have a stencil buffer)

Thanx to Voodooextreme

Guillemot offers a new 3D entry card based on NVIDIA TNT2 M64: The Maxi Gamer Cougar. The card is equipped with up to 32MB SDRAM memory and will be available for about DM 200,- (Marks) in Germany.

BeOS R4.5.2 has been released today by Be Inc. and one thing that has been improved is the TNT2 driver, which now supports more cards. Performance improvements have also been reportet. You can find the release note here. (Oliver Thylmann)

S3 announced its new 3D chip called Savage 2000:

Savage2000’s 64MB support also allows for full-scene anti-aliasing at higher resolutions. Superior 3D Technology Combining the industry-leading 3D image quality (32-bit rendering, 32-bit Z-buffer and S3TC™) of the Savage4 accelerator with an extremely fast 3D rendering engine, Savage2000 is designed to deliver both speed and quality for ultimate gaming performance..... Approximately twice the speed of today’s slower single pixel/dual texture architectures, Savage2000 is designed to be the ultimate gaming solution for multi-textured games such as Quake III, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Sanity and Prince of Persia 3D..... S3TL™ Technology - Off-loading the geometry calculation stage of the 3D pipeline from the CPU, S3’s first-generation transform and lighting engine (S3TL) will enable the development of future OpenGL and DirectX 7 games that deliver 4-10X the polygon and lighting complexity of today’s fastest PC applications. Delivering up to 8 dynamic hardware lights at 3X the performance of today’s CPUs, S3TL also enables real-time load balancing between Savage2000 and the host CPU....

More information about the chip in the S3 pressrelease.

Some official words from the NVIDIA pressrelease about the NVIDIA GeForce 256:

The GeForce 256 GPU incorporates many groundbreaking innovations that drive a major discontinuity in the 3D graphics industry, a market already known for its staggering pace of innovation. The new groundbreaking features available on NVIDIA's GPU include:

• The first 256-bit 3D processor
• The first integrated geometry transform engine
• The first integrated dynamic lighting engine
• The first four-pixel rendering pipeline
• Stunning new Microsoft's DirectX 7.0 features: cube environment mapping, projective textures and vertex blending
  

"The GeForce 256 continues NVIDIA's long tradition of introducing groundbreaking technologies and trend-setting products to the PC market. In 1997, we created the first 128-bit 3D processor, the RIVA 128™. In 1998, we delivered the first dual-pipe processor, the RIVA TNT™. And now, we are introducing the world's first GPU, the GeForce 256," stated Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "The GPU is a major breakthrough for the industry and will fundamentally transform the 3D medium. It will enable a new generation of amazing interactive content that is alive, imaginative, and captivating. The richness of this new 3D medium will have a profound impact on future of storytelling and will broaden the appeal of 3D far beyond the game enthusiasts."

The whole pressrelease can be found here.

ELSA anounced a new graphics card based on the NVIDIA GeForce 256 - The Erazor X:

The ERAZOR X features the newly announced GeForce 256 graphics chip from NVIDIA—the first to offer four independent rendering pipelines plus an additional transform- and lighting engine. In action, this massive reserve of computing power crunches four-times the number of polygons than the previous generation TNT chips can handle, resulting in ultra-realistic 3D images.

Oliver Rapp, vice president of consumer graphics at ELSA AG: "The ERAZOR X graphics board is optimized for the display of ultra-realistic games scenery. The heart of the ERAZOR X—the brand-new GeForce 256 graphics chip from NVIDIA—guarantees a level of 3D rendering performance never before seen with any games graphics board. And, when combined with ELSA’s REVELATOR 3D glasses, gamers will for the first time experience scenes in photo-realistic quality."

"The combination of the 3D performance of NVIDIA’s GeForce 256 with unique ELSA features, such as the option to connect to the 3D REVELATOR, makes the ERAZOR X the ultimate gaming platform," said Jeff Fisher, vice president of sales at NVIDIA Corporation.

more information in the official pressrelease

NVIDIA presented the GeForce in Germany at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin in an impressive presentation.

Here is a short overview about the power and features of the new GeForce 256: Presentation of the NVIDIA GeForce 256.

The chip now has a name: GeForce 256. This is the reall name of the new NVIDIA chip that was former called with the codename NV10. The pressrelease can be found here. More information about the chip can be found at the NVIDIA GeForce Homepage.

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