The fight over the best , fastest and most compatible 3D technology is a hard and long one. Right after 3dfx annouced its T-Buffer technolgy and Matrox did their piece of fun with hardware Bump Mapping all kinds of rumors where floating around the 3D scene. Accidental covers/Boxes of a new nVIDIA product where released and speculations on what this chip might bring where rising. Today (August 31, 1999) nVIDIA finally came out on their newest latest and greatest product, the GeForce 256With all the hype around it I decided to write a little preview on this next generation chipset ,GPU (graphics processing unit) as nVIDIA calls it. 

geFORCE 256

The most important aspect of the GeForce 256 is that it is a graphics processing unit (GPU), which means that the graphics load previously placed on the CPU is now handled by the GPU, freeing the CPU up to perform other tasks. This means better AI, better animation and an overall richer experience in computer gaming than we've ever seen. The GeForce 256 is more complicated than your computer's processor with more transistors than any existing CPU. As a GPU, the GeForce also is unlike previous graphics chips in that it is not very CPU dependent, meaning you'll get top performance on lower end processors.

The GeForce 256 features:

• 15M triangles/sec - sustained DMA, transform/clip/light, setup, rasterize and render rate.
• 4 Pixels per clock (4 pixel pipelines)
• 480M pixels/sec fill rate - 32 texture samples per clock, full speed 8-tap anisotropic filtering.
• 8 hardware lights
• 350 MHz RAMDAC
• Most feature complete for DX7 and OGL - Tranform & Lighting, Cube environment mapping, projective textures, and texture compression.
• Will utilize 4x AGP performance with Fast Writes , which enables the CPU to send data directly to the GPU (1 GB/sec transfer rate), increasing overall performance and freeing the system memory bus for other functions.
• 256 bit rendering engine
• Highest quality HDTV (High Definition Television) video playback
  • High Precision HDTV video overlay
    • 5 horizontal, 3 vertical taps
    • 8:1 up/down scaling
    • Independent hue, saturation and brightness controls in hardware
  • High bandwidth HDTV class video I/O
    • 16 bit video port
    • Full host port
    • Dedicated DMA video
  • Powerful HDTV motion compensation
    • Full frame rate DVD to 1080i resolution
    • Full precision subpixel accuracy to 1/16 pixel
• Enables the PC to compete with the Playstation 2 as a major entertainment platform.
  
  

The GeForce 256 will truly revolutionize the computer gaming industry. Here are some very revealing quotes on the matter from Intel, AMD, and Microsoft:

“Intel has been working with NVIDIA to shape the future of PC platforms and provide new levels of intelligence and realism in simulations, entertainment and enhance Internet experiences,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s vice president and general manager of the Desktop Products Group. “The Pentium III processor, when balanced with the next generation GPU architectures like NVIDIA’s result in dramatically increased levels of life-like 3D graphics on Intel desktop platforms.”

“With NVIDIA’s new GeForce 256 GPU, a rebalancing of system resources occurs that radically changes the capabilities of the PC architecture,” said Dirk Meyer, vice president of engineering for AMD’s Computation Products Group. “By enabling new levels of functionality to be off-loaded from the processor, software designers can now re-focus the power of the AMD Athlon processor on other areas such as artificial intelligence or the application of real-world physics.”

“NVIDIA’s GeForce 256 heralds a new era of ultra-realistic real-time graphics on standard personal computers,” said Kevin Bachus, group product manager for DirectX at Microsoft Corporation. “The combination of broad support for the features exposed by the Direct3D 7.0 API, blazingly fast performance, and consumer-friendly prices will enable software developers to realize their creative visions, and deliver exciting new entertainment experiences to Windows users everywhere."

And here are a few developer's quotes thrown in for good measure:

"The sheer power of NVIDIA’s next-generation GPU gives us greater freedom when designing characters and worlds. The technology not only allows us to incorporate unbelievably detailed visuals, but it also offers the ability to add more robust artificial intelligence, level design, and more. In short, it’s the next giant step in gaming."

Darren Falcus
VP and General Manager, Acclaim Studios Teesside


"Hardware T&L allows us to build larger, more realistic and intensely detailed real-time 3D worlds for our games."

Patrick Moynihan
Founder, The Whole Experience


"The new GPU from NVIDIA will allow us to do the kind of wild and amazing stuff that we have been dreaming about for years. By using the T&L features, we free up a ton of the CPU for better AI and more accurate physics. People are going to be blown away by the amazing visuals that are going to be more intense than ever!"

Chris Taylor
President, Gas Powered Games



"Space isn't likely to feel empty here (Babylon 5). Instead, you can expect some battles of an unprecedented epic scale. So far, the team has tested the engine with up to 350 ships fighting it out."

David Gehringer
Product Manager, Sierra Studios

Where does it end, do we really want to spend 250-300$ on a new Video card every six months ? (Ok, I do ... but I'm the guru here!)

GeForce 256 Frequently Asked Questions

What is a GPU?
What is the GPU’s impact on the PC industry?
Are there different versions of GeForce 256?
Will I see any difference in performance when GeForce 256 runs existing games?
Is the performance of GeForce 256 CPU-dependent?
How difficult will it be for developers to take advantage of T&L?
Can GeForce 256’s integrated T&L engines be used with Microsoft® DirectX® 7?
Is DX7 required to take advantage of GeForce 256’s T&L engines?
If the GeForce 256 offloads the host CPU from performing the T&L calculations, what will be left for the CPU?
Does it support texture compression?
What kind of bump mapping does GeForce 256 support?
Which companies are developing games to take advantage of GeForce 256’s transform and lighting engines and other advanced features?

Q: What is a GPU?
A: GPU is an acronym for "graphics processing unit." A GPU is a single-chip processor with integrated transform, lighting, triangle setup/clipping and rendering engines that is capable of producing a minimum of 10 million polygons per second.

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Q: What is the GPU’s impact on the PC industry?
A: The GPU brings a major discontinuity in performance and image fidelity, and will fundamentally change the PC industry forever. 3D applications will never be the same.

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Q: Are there different versions of GeForce 256?
A: There is only one version of the GeForce 256 GPU.

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Q: Will I see any difference in performance when GeForce 256 runs existing games?
A: YES! Current games and applications will benefit from GeForce 256’s higher fill rate, especially in resolutions 1024 x 768 and higher.

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Q: Is the performance of GeForce 256 CPU-dependent?
A: GeForce 256 provides high-performance graphics with any CPU. In addition, GeForce 255’s integrated transform and lighting engines allow developers to increase geometry complexity without the performance penalty. Developers can now take full advantage of the CPU horsepower to apply more realistic physics, artificial intelligence, and game play.

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Q: How difficult will it be for developers to take advantage of T&L.
A: Not at all. In fact, developers are already developing high-quality databases for cut shots and level transitions today. In addition, GeForce 256’s performance will also be optimal for PlayStation2® developers to convert those assets over to the PC.

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Q: Can GeForce 256’s integrated T&L engines be used with Microsoft® DirectX® 7?
A: Yes. The GeForce 256 and DirectX 7 were designed in conjunction so that maximum performance and compatibility could be achieved.

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Q: Is DX7 required to take advantage of GeForce 256’s T&L engines?
A: No. Hardware T&L can be used with OpenGL® or DirectX 7.

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Q: If the GeForce 256 offloads the host CPU from performing the T&L calculations, what will be left for the CPU?
A: By offloading the T&L computations, the CPU will now have the bandwidth to dramatically improve the level of quality for physics, artificial intelligence and character animation.

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Q: Does it support texture compression?
A: Yes. GeForce 256 supports all five formats of DX6 texture compression.

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Q: What kind of bump mapping does GeForce 256 support?
A: GeForce 256 supports single-pass emboss and dot-product bump mapping. With its integrated T&L geometry power, GeForce 256 will enable much more realistic "bump" effects without sacrificing performance.

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Q: Which companies are developing games to take advantage of GeForce 256’s transform and lighting engines and other advanced features?

• Lionhead Studios
• Surreal Software
• 989 Studios (Sony)
• id Software
• Raven Software
• Ritual Entertainment
• Nihilistic Software
• 3DO
• Ubi Soft
• Sierra Studios
• LEGO Media
• Monolith Productions
• Blizzard Entertainment
• Bullfrog
• Activision
• Acclaim
• Rage Software
• Hasbro
• Interplay
• Attention to Detail
• Bungie
• Accolade
• Codemasters
• Valve
• GT Interactive
• Disney
• Epic MegaGames
• LucasArts
• Electronic Arts
• Havas Interactive
• Infogrames
• Origin
• Planet Moon
• Cavedog Entertainment
• Microsoft Games
• Eidos Interactive
• Gas Powered Games

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Technical data and FAQ came from Riva 3D.

Copyright 1999 - All rights reserved Hilbert Hagedoorn