The RIVA TNT (For TwiN Texel) was a 3D graphics chipset manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in late 1998 and cemented NVIDIA's reputation as the chief rival of then industry leader 3dfx. NVIDIA corporate logo This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... A chipset is a group of integrated circuits (chips) that are designed to work together, and are usually marketed as a single product. ... 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). ... 3dfx Interactive was a company which specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics cards and graphics processing units. ...

The TNT was designed as a followup to the RIVA 128 and a response to 3dfx's introduction of the Voodoo2. It added a second pixel pipeline, practically doubling rendering speed, and used considerably faster memory. Unlike the Voodoo2 (but like the slower Matrox G200) it also added support for a 32-bit (truecolor) pixel format and 24-bit Z-buffer in 3D mode, and dramatically improved image quality compared to the RIVA 128. It also added support for up to 16MiB of Video RAM. Like the RIVA 128 but unlike the Voodoo2, it was a single chip solution for both 2D and 3D. The RIVA 128 was a 3D graphics chipset manufactured by NVIDIA. Following several less successful products, it was the first product to gain NVIDIA widespread consumer recognition. ... Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd is a Canadian company based in Dorval, Quebec, which produces video card components and equipment for personal computers. ... Truecolour (or Truecolor, Millions on a Macintosh) graphics is a method of storing image information in a computers memory such that each pixel is represented by three or more bytes. ... Defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 1998, a mebibyte (MiB) is a unit of information or computer storage. ... 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. ...

The TNT shipped later and at a lower clock speed than NVIDIA had planned, and thus did not match the sales of the Voodoo2. However, it gained NVIDIA much attention and paved the way for the refreshed version called the RIVA TNT2. The RIVA TNT2 was a 3D graphics chip manufactured by NVIDIA starting in early 1999. ...

Competing chipsets

• 3dfx Voodoo3
• Matrox G400
• ATI Technologies Rage 128
• S3 Graphics Savage4

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. ... ATI Technologies Inc. ... S3 Graphics, Ltd are a computer hardware company specialising in the field of graphics. ...