Back Nvidia NV1 German NV1 Spanish NV1 French NV1 Italian NV1 Japanese NV1 Korean NV1 Portuguese NV1 Russian NV1 Slovak NV1 Chinese
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2020) |
.jpg) NV1 chip manufactured by SGS-Thomson under the model name STG2000 | |
| Release date | May 22, 1995[1] |
|---|---|
| Manufactured by | SGS-Thomson Microelectronics |
| Designed by | Nvidia |
| Marketed by | Diamond Multimedia |
| Codename | NV1 |
| Fabrication process | 500 nm |
| History | |
| Successor | RIVA 128 |
| Support status | |
| Unsupported | |
The NV1 was Nvidia's first graphics accelerator, introduced in May 1995 and released later that year as a multimedia PCI card.[2] Manufactured by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, sometimes under the model name STG2000, the chip was sold in retail by Diamond as the Diamond Edge 3D card. The NV1 stood out for its use of quadratic texture mapping, a departure from the triangular primitives favored by competitors. The use of quadratics made it possible to port games from the Sega Saturn, however, after the NV1 was introduced, Microsoft announced that DirectX would exclusively support triangle primitives.[3] As a result, the NV1 failed to gain traction in the market.[4]
In addition to its 2D/3D graphics core and Video RAM or FPM DRAM memory, the NV1 card also integrated the functionality of a 32-channel playback-only sound card, and had a joystick port, along with ports for two Sega Saturn controllers. As such, it was marketed as a "multimedia card" that was a replacement for both a graphics card and a Sound Blaster-compatible audio card in IBM PC compatible systems. However, this made it more expensive, and with many computer owners owning a sound card, the all-in-one design further hurt its market appeal.
The NV2 was a follow-up chip developed for Sega's Dreamcast, but was ultimately abandoned. Nvidia shifted focus with its next product, the RIVA 128, which adopted triangle primitives and dropped the audio functionality. This alignment with Direct3D and a more streamlined design made the RIVA 128 a success.
- ^ Nvidia Corporation (May 22, 1995). "Multimedia Accelerator From NVIDIA Corporation Transforms PC Into The Ultimate Multimedia Machine" (Press release). Archived from the original on November 12, 1996. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Nvidia Corporation (May 22, 1995). "NVidia, Links to other Press Releases" (Press release). Archived from the original on February 28, 1997.
- ^ Peddie, Jon (September 23, 2019). "Nvidia's RIVA 128". Electronic Design. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ Kim, Tae (2024). The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant (1st ed.). W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-324-08672-7.