It’s testomony to the Nvidia advertising and marketing crew that one in every of its buzzwords has now slipped into widespread parlance. Not solely did the 1st-gen Nvidia GeForce 256 introduce us to its now well-known GeForce gaming graphics model, however it additionally introduced the time period “GPU” to the gaming PC with it. Now, two and a half a long time later, Nvidia is celebrating the GeForce 256’s twenty fifth birthday with a video and inexperienced popcorn. Right here, we glance again on what made a real fashionable basic of the PC period tick.
Again to that time period GPU, it’s an initialism that we now use as shorthand for any PC graphics chip, as present in the very best graphics playing cards, however it began life on the PC as an Nvidia advertising and marketing slogan. To provide you an concept of how way back this was, I used to be launched to the time period “GPU” by a paper press launch the identical week I began my first tech journalism job in September 1999.
We didn’t get press releases by way of electronic mail then – they had been bodily posted to us, and the editorial assistant sorted all of them right into a field for the crew to peruse. “In an occasion that ushers in a brand new period of interactivity for the PC, Nvidia unveiled as we speak the GeForce 256, the world’s first graphics processing unit (GPU)”, it mentioned.
On the time, I believed it appeared pompous – how may this relative newcomer to the 3D graphics scene have the nerve to assume it may change the language of PC graphics? However I now see that it was a bit of promoting genius. Not solely did “GPU” stick for many years to return, however it additionally meant Nvidia was the one firm with a PC GPU at this level.
GeForce 256 remodel and lighting
Nvidia’s first GPU did certainly deal with 3D graphics fairly in another way from its friends on the time, so it’s time for a bit historical past lesson. If we need to perceive what made the primary GeForce GPU so particular, we first have to try 3D pipelines of the time.
It was October 1999, and the primary 3D accelerators had solely been doing the rounds for a couple of years. Up till the mid-Nineties, 3D video games comparable to Doom and later Quake had been rendered totally in software program by the CPU, with the latter being one of many first video games to require a floating level unit.
If you wish to show a 3D mannequin, it has to undergo the graphics pipeline, which at this stage was all dealt with by the CPU. The primary stage is the geometry, the place the CPU works out the positioning (the place polygons and vertices sit in relation to the digicam) and lighting (how polygons will look underneath the lighting within the scene). The previous includes mathematical transformations, and is normally known as “remodel” with the 2 processes collectively known as “remodel and lighting” or T&L for brief.
As soon as the geometry is nailed, the following step is to fill within the areas between the vertices, which is known as rasterization, and pixel processing operations, comparable to depth evaluate and texture look-up. That is, in fact, an enormous oversimplification of the 3D graphics pipeline of the time, however it offers you an concept. We began with the CPU dealing with the entire graphics pipeline from begin to end, which resulted in low-resolution, chunky graphics and poor efficiency.
We then had the primary 3D accelerators, such because the 3dfx Voodoo and VideoLogic PowerVR playing cards, which dealt with the final levels of the pipeline (rasterization and pixel processing), and massively improved the way in which video games appeared and carried out, whereas additionally ushering within the extensive use of triangles slightly than polygons for 3D rendering.
With the CPU now not having to deal with all these operations, and devoted {hardware} doing the job, you might render 3D video games at greater resolutions with extra element and quicker body charges. At this level, the CPU was nonetheless doing a good quantity of labor although. For those who wished to play 3D video games, you continue to wanted an honest CPU.
Nvidia aimed to vary this case with its first “GPU”, which may course of the whole 3D graphics pipeline, together with the preliminary geometry levels for remodel and lighting, in {hardware}. The CPU’s solely job then was to work out what needs to be rendered and the place it goes.
GeForce 256 vs 3dfx Voodoo 3
As with all new graphics tech, in fact, the business didn’t immediately transfer towards Nvidia’s {hardware} T&L mannequin. At this level, the one actual method to see it in motion in DirectX 7 was to run the helicopter take a look at firstly of 3DMark2000, though some video games utilizing OpenGL 1.2 additionally supported it.
The latter included Quake III Area, however the undemanding nature of this sport meant it virtually ran simply as nicely with software program T&L. DirectX 7 additionally didn’t require hardware-accelerated T&L to run – you might nonetheless run DirectX 7 video games utilizing software program T&L calculated by the CPU, it simply wasn’t as fast.
The GeForce was nonetheless a formidable graphics chip whether or not you had been utilizing {hardware} T&L or not although. In contrast to the 3dfx Voodoo 3, it may render in 32-bit colour in addition to 16-bit (as may Nvidia’s Riva TNT2 earlier than it), it had 32MB of reminiscence in comparison with the extra typical 16MB, and it additionally outperformed its rivals in most sport checks by a considerable margin.
The response from ATi (now AMD) on the time was a brute-force method, placing two of its Rage 128 Professional chips onto one PCB to make the Rage Fury Maxx, utilizing alternate body rendering (every graphics chip dealt with alternate frames in sequence – word how I’m not utilizing the time period “GPU” right here) to hurry up efficiency. I examined it shortly after the discharge of the GeForce 256 and it may certainly sustain.
The GPU wins
The Rage Fury Maxx’s limelight was lower shortly afterward, although, when Nvidia launched the DDR model of the GeForce in December 1999, which swapped the SDRAM used on the unique GeForce 256 with high-speed DDR reminiscence. At that time, Nvidia had received the efficiency battle – nothing else may compete.
It additionally took some time for everybody else to catch up, and at this level, varied folks within the business had been nonetheless swearing that the ever-increasing velocity of CPUs (we’d simply handed the 1GHz barrier) meant that software program T&L could be high-quality – we may simply stick with it with {a partially} accelerated 3D pipeline.
When 3dfx was constructing as much as the launch of the Voodoo 5 in 2000, I bear in mind it having an FAQ on the web site. Requested whether or not the Voodoo 5 would have software program T&L help, 3dfx mentioned, “Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 have software program T&L help.” It’s not intentionally dishonest, however each 3D graphics card may help software program T&L right now – it was accomplished by the CPU – it appeared as if the reply was there to sneakily recommend function parity with the GeForce 256.
In truth, the one different graphics agency to provide you with an honest competitor in an affordable time was ATi, which launched the primary Radeon half a yr later, full with {hardware} T&L help. In the meantime, the 3dfx Voodoo and VideoLogic PowerVR strains by no means managed to get {hardware} T&L help on the PC desktop, with the Voodoo 5 and Kyro II chips nonetheless working T&L in software program.
However 3dfx was nonetheless taking a brute-force method – chaining VSA-100 chips collectively in SLI configuration on its forthcoming 3dfx Voodoo 5 vary. The Voodoo 5 5500 lastly got here out in the summertime of 2000, with two chips, sluggish SDRAM reminiscence, and no T&L {hardware}. It may sustain with the unique GeForce in some checks, however by that point Nvidia had already refined its DirectX 7 {hardware} additional and launched the GeForce 2 GTS.
By the tip of the yr, and following a sequence of authorized battles, 3dfx went bust, and its belongings had been purchased up by Nvidia. GeForce, and the idea of the GPU, had received. It’s truthful to say Nvidia deserves its inexperienced popcorn.
We hope you’ve loved this private retrospective concerning the very first Nvidia GeForce GPU. For extra articles concerning the PC’s classic historical past, try our PC retro tech web page, in addition to our information on find out how to construct a retro gaming PC, the place we take you thru all of the {hardware} you want.