The GeForce 256 (codenamed NV10), often known simply as the GeForce, was the first of NVIDIA's "GeForce" product-line. Released in August 1999, the Geforce 256 improved on its predecessor (RIVA TNT2) by increasing the number of fixed pixel-pipelines, offloading host geometry calculations to a hardware transform and lighting engine, and adding hardware motion-compensation for MPEG-2 video. NVIDIA corporate logo This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. ... NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is a major supplier of graphics processors (graphics processing units, GPUs), graphics cards, and media and communications devices for PCs and game consoles (Xbox). ... GeForce is a consumer branding of PC graphics chipsets designed by NVIDIA. The first GeForce products were designed and marketed for the high-margin gamer community of computer users, but later product releases expanded the line to cover all tiers of the graphics market, from low-end to high-end. ... Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The RIVA TNT2 was a 3D graphics chip manufactured by NVIDIA starting in early 1999. ... Transform and Lighting is a computing term used in computer graphics, generally used in the context of hardware acceleration (Hardware T&L). Transform refers to the task of converting coordinates in space, which in this case involves moving 3D objects in a virtual world and converting 3D coordinates to a... MPEG-2 (1994) is the designation for a group of audio and video coding standards agreed upon by MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group), and published as the ISO/IEC 13818 international standard. ...

With its industry-leading 3D feature-set and rendering-speed, the GeForce 256 cemented NVIDIA's position as a key figure in the PC graphics industry. NVIDIA's success came at the expense of 3Dfx, Matrox, and S3 Graphics. A few months after the GeForce 256, Nvidia's competitor S3 rolled out their Savage 2000 Diamond Viper II which also had hardware T&L and had the supposed advantage of being able to be produced cheaper than the GeForce 256. However, poor drivers prevented the Savage 2000's T&L from functioning and S3 made no attempt to correct them. One year after the Geforce 256's introduction, only ATI with their comparable Radeon series would remain in direct competition with NVIDIA, in the discrete graphics-chipset market. 3dfx Interactive was a company which specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics cards and graphics processing units. ... Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd is a Canadian company based in Dorval, Quebec, which produces video card components and equipment for personal computers. ... S3 Graphics, Ltd are a computer hardware company specialising in the field of graphics. ... Savage was a product-line of PC graphics chipsets designed by S3. ... ATI Technologies Inc. ... Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units (GPU) that has been manufactured by ATI Technologies since 2000. ...

It was the first PC graphics card with hardware T&L, and at the time several hardware reviews promoted this new feature. Its raw rendering performance far surpassed existing high-end graphics cards including the RIVA TNT2, the 3Dfx Voodoo 3, and the Matrox Millenium G400 MAX. However, without broad application support at the time in 1999, critics contended that the T&L technology had little real-world value. The GeForce 256 was also extremely expensive and its average or poor performance for non-gaming consumer applications confined it to a niche market as a "gamer's card". Only after the GeForce 256 was replaced by the GeForce 2 line did hardware T&L become a recommended feature for current games. At half the GeForce 256's price, the GeForce 2 MX offered performance close to the GeForce 256. Transform and Lighting is a computing term used in computer graphics, generally used in the context of hardware acceleration (Hardware T&L). Transform refers to the task of converting coordinates in space, which in this case involves moving 3D objects in a virtual world and converting 3D coordinates to a... Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model, by means of a software program. ... The RIVA TNT2 was a 3D graphics chip manufactured by NVIDIA starting in early 1999. ... 3dfx Interactive was a company which specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics cards and graphics processing units. ... Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd is a Canadian company based in Dorval, Quebec, which produces video card components and equipment for personal computers. ... The GeForce 2 (codenamed NV15) was the second generation of GeForce graphics cards by NVIDIA Corporation. ... The GeForce 2 (codenamed NV15) was the second generation of GeForce graphics cards by NVIDIA Corporation. ...

Based on the GeForce 256, Nvidia also produced the Quadro for professional workstations; the Quadro had special features not found in its consumer-oriented GeForce counterpart. However the first Quadro was undercut by its GeForce sibling; many professionals found out that the GeForce 256 could handle workstation applications reasonably well at a fraction of the Quadro's cost. Although the GeForce 256 was expensive as a gamer's card, it was a bargain for professionals, making it known as the "poor man's workstation card". The Quadro series of video cards by NVIDIA Corporation is a set of AGP and PCI Express video cards targeted at the professional workstation market. ...

The GeForce 256 and GeForce 2 derivatives enjoyed much longitivity and popularity in the gaming market, due in part to its hardware T&L. Its competitors in 1999 and 2000 such as the ATI Rage 128, Voodoo 3 and 5 series, Matrox G400, and the STM PowerVR3 Kyro were rendered obselete not long in their lifespans due to a lack of built-in T&L. The GeForce 256 and its similar offshoots, the GeForce 2 and GeForce 4 MX, only support the fixed DirectX 7.0 graphics. However, the widespread popularity of the GeForce 2 and GeForce 4 MX would ensure that the GeForce 256 would be supported in games released as late as 2004, although these chips do not support the programmable DirectX 8.0 and 9.0 models. The GeForce 2 (codenamed NV15) was the second generation of GeForce graphics cards by NVIDIA Corporation. ... ATI may be an acronym for: ATI Technologies Inc. ... 3dfx Interactive was a company which specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics cards and graphics processing units. ... Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd is a Canadian company based in Dorval, Quebec, which produces video card components and equipment for personal computers. ... PowerVR is a subsidiary of Imagination Technologies, a UK company. ... The GeForce 2 (codenamed NV15) was the second generation of GeForce graphics cards by NVIDIA Corporation. ... A GeForce 4 (codenames below) is a fourth-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) manufactured by Nvidia which forms the basis of many computer graphics cards. ... The current official DirectX logo. ... This is the list of computer games that require DirectX 8. ...

Specifications:

• Core Clock: 120 MHz
• Memory Clock: 166 MHz (150 MHz for DDR SDRAM version)
• Graphics Core: 256-bit
• Memory Interface: 128-bit
• Triangles per Second: 15 million
• Pixels Per Second: 480 million
• Memory: Up to 128 MiB

The common configuration was 32MB of SDRAM (mid-high end) or DDR SDRAM (high-end), with DDR giving substantially better performance. 64MB versions were made by several third-party manufacturers but they were extremely rare. Defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 1998, a mebibyte (MiB) is a unit of information or computer storage. ... DRAM is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor. ... DDR SDRAM or double-data-rate synchronous dynamic random access memory is a type of memory integrated circuit used in computers. ...

External links

• NVIDIA: GeForce 256 - The World's First GPU