The NV1, also known as the SGS Thompson STG-2000, was a multimedia PCI card released in 1995 and sold to retail as the Diamond Edge 3D. It featured a complete 2D/3D graphics core based upon quadratic texture mapping, VRAM or FPM DRAM memory, an integrated 32-channel 350 MIPS playback-only soundcard, and a Sega Saturn compatible joypad port. As such, it was intended to replace the 2D graphics card, Sound Blaster-compatible audio solutions, and 15-pin joystick ports, then prevalent on IBM PC compatibles. Image File history File links NVIDIA_Logo. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The High Level Shader Language (HLSL) is a shader language developed by Microsoft for use with DirectX, and is very similar to Cg. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Diamond Multimedia is a company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. ... 2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models (such as 2D geometric models, text, and digital images) and by techniques specific to them. ... 3D computer graphics are different from 2D computer graphics in that a three-dimensional representation of geometric data is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. ... VRAM an acronym for Video RAM. Generally a term used in computers to describe RAM dedicated to the purpose of displaying bitmap graphics in raster graphics hardware. ... Dram can mean several things: For the imperial unit of volume see dram (unit), commonly used to describe a measure of Scotch whisky For the imperial unit of weight or mass see avoirdupois and apothecaries system (of mass) For the Armenian monetary unit see dram (currency) DRAM is a type... Million instructions per second (MIPS) is a measure of a computers processor speed. ... The Sega Saturn ) is a 32-bit video game console, first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. ... The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was for many years the de facto standard for audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, before PC audio became commoditized, and backward-compatibility became less of a feature. ... The game port is the traditional connection for video game input devices on an x86-based PCs. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...

Several Saturn games were converted to NV1 on the PC such as Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter Remix. However, the NV1 struggled in a market place full of several competing proprietary standards, and was marginalised by emerging polygon-based 2D/3D accelerators such as the low-cost S3 Graphics ViRGE, Matrox Mystique, ATI Rage, and Rendition Verite V1000 among other early entrants. Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by SEGA, created first by its internal Team Andromeda and later, the Smilebit development team. ... Virtua Fighter is a 1993 fighting game developed by the Sega studio AM2, headed by Yu Suzuki. ... Polygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. ... The Virtual Reality Graphics Engine (ViRGE) graphics chipset was one of the first 2D/3D accelerators designed for the mass market. ... Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd is a Canadian company based in Dorval, Quebec, which produces video card components and equipment for personal computers. ... The ATI Rage is a series of graphics chipsets offering 2D GUI acceleration, video acceleration, and 3D acceleration. ... Rendition was a maker of 3D graphics chipsets in the mid- to late-90s. ...

NV1's biggest initial problem was its cost and overall quality. Although it offered credible 3D performance, its use of quadratic surfaces was anything but popular, and was quite different than typical polygon rendering. The audio portion of the card was of questionable quality, receiving ratings of merely acceptable quality in reviews, with the General MIDI quality receiving lukewarm responses at best (a critical component at the time). The Sega Saturn console was a market failure compared to Sony's PlayStation, and so the unique and somewhat limiting support of these gamepads was of limited benefit. NVIDIA, by integrating all of these usually separate components, raised their costs considerably above what they would have been if the card had been designed solely for 3D acceleration. General MIDI or GM is a specification for synthesizers which imposes several requirements beyond the more abstract MIDI standard. ... The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ...

Diamond Edge 3D 2120

During the NV1's release timeframe, the transition from VLB/ISA (486s) to PCI (Pentiums) was taking place, and games often used MIDI for music because PCs were still generally incapable of large-scale digital audio playback due to storage and processing power limitations. Reaching for the best music and sound quality, and flexibility with MS-DOS audio standards, often required 2 sound cards be used, or a sound card with a MIDI daughtercard connector. Additionally, NV1's 2D speed and quality was not competitive with many of the high-end solutions available at the time, especially the then-critical-for-games DOS graphics speed. Many consumers were simply not interested in replacing their often-elaborate system setups with an expensive all-in-one board and so the heavy integration of NV1 hurt sales simply through inconvenience. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 503 pixelsFull resolution (1160 × 729 pixel, file size: 320 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Diamond Multimedias Edge 3D 2120 video card. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 503 pixelsFull resolution (1160 × 729 pixel, file size: 320 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Diamond Multimedias Edge 3D 2120 video card. ... Diamond Multimedia is a company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Intel i486 DX2- top view The Intel i486 (also called 486 or 80486) is a range of Intel CISC microprocessors which is part of the Intel x86 family of processors. ... The Pentium is a fifth-generation x86 architecture microprocessor from Intel. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... A daughterboard or daughtercard is a circuit board meant to be an extension or daughter of a motherboard (or mainboard), or occasionally another card. ...

Market interest in the product quickly ended when Microsoft announced the DirectX specifications, based upon polygon rendering. This release by Microsoft of a major industry-backed API that was generally incompatible with NV1 ended NVIDIA's hopes of market leadership immediately. While demos of quadratic rendered round spheres looked good, experience had proved working with quadratic texture maps was extremely difficult. Even calculating simple routines such as collision detection was problematic. NVIDIA did manage to put together limited Direct3D support, but it was slow and buggy (software-based), and no match for the native polygon hardware on the market. Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Microsoft DirectX (Direct eXtension) is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. ... An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that a computer system or program library provides to support requests for services to be made of it by a Length. ... In physical simulations, video games and computational geometry, collision detection includes algorithms from checking for intersection between two given solids, to calculating trajectories, impact times and impact points in a physical simulation. ...

Subsequent NV1 quadratic-related development continued internally as the NV2. NV2 was to be NVIDIAs second graphics processor designed for consumer PC 3D accelerator add-in boards. ...

3D games that supported Edge 3D

• Nascar Racing
• Panzer Dragoon
• Virtua Fighter Remix

NASCAR, the most popular motorsport in the United States, has worked with video game developers to design several video games. ... Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by SEGA, created first by its internal Team Andromeda and later, the Smilebit development team. ... Virtua Fighter is a 1993 fighting game developed by the Sega studio AM2, headed by Yu Suzuki. ...

See also

• Comparison of NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units

This table contains general information about NVIDIAs GPUs and videocards based on official NVIDIA specifications. ...

References

• Edge 3D 3000 Information on Diamond's website within Archive.org.
• 7 Years of Graphics
• 1995: The launch of the NV1