The historical past of Nvidia’s graphics playing cards
Nvidia was initially based in 1993 but it surely wasn’t till 1995 that the corporate launched its first graphics product – the NV1.
Issues have modified loads since then and we’re now spoiled with ray tracing, DLSS and different great applied sciences that make our gaming experiences much more pleasurable.
We’re having a look again via the historical past of Nvidia graphics playing cards and what these gadgets have regarded like through the years.
Nvidia NV1
The Nvidia NV1 launched in 1995 and was in a position to deal with each 2D and 3D video. It was offered because the “Diamond Edge 3D” and even sported a Sega Saturn appropriate joypad port.
A number of Sega Saturn video games have been ported for PC together with Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter Remix. These options alone weren’t sufficient to enchantment to the market although because the Saturn was struggling to compete with the unique PlayStation.
NV1 was off to a tough begin that was made worse by the discharge of Microsoft DirectX which was incompatible with the GPU and lots of video games wouldn’t run.
Nvidia RIVA 128
In 1997 Nvidia launched the NV3 aka Riva 128, Riva stood for “Actual-time Interactive Video and Animation”. This graphics card used each 2D and 3D acceleration together with polygon texture mapping.
On the time Nvidia’s rival 3dfx was dominating the market however the NV3 had a 100MHz core/reminiscence clock and primarily doubled the spec of 3dfx’s Voodoo 1.
There have been two variants of the NV3 within the type of the Riva 128 and the Riva 128ZX. The latter was extra highly effective with 8MB of VRAM and a 250MHz clock pace.
The NV3 was far more profitable than the corporate’s first GPU and helped Nvidia get widespread reputation.
Nvidia NV4
In 1998, Nvidia unleashed NV4, aka Riva TNT. This graphics card improved over the earlier fashions by together with assist for 32-bit True Color. The NV4 additionally had extra RAM with 16MB of SDR SDRAM which meant it supplied larger efficiency too.
It was round this time that Nvidia began to make strikes to frequently replace graphics drivers to make sure good efficiency and compatibility for the top person, one thing the corporate remains to be doing to this present day.
Nvidia’s Riva TNT was extra reasonably priced on the time than 3dfx’s Vodoo2 if a little bit slower when it comes to efficiency. The driving force assist was key to NV4’s success.
Nvidia NV5
In 1999, Nvidia adopted up NV4 with the RIVA TNT2. NV5, because it was codenamed, purchased plenty of updates together with 32-bit Z-buffer/stencil assist, as much as 32MB of VRAM and 2048 x 2048 texture assist.
Extra importantly, this graphics card had improved clock speeds (as much as 150+ MHz) which gave it as a lot as a 17 per cent efficiency enhance over the earlier mannequin.
This card was a direct competitor to the 3dfx Voodoo3 and each have been extremely standard.
Nvidia GeForce 256
Late in 1999, Nvidia launched what it pitched because the “world’s first GPU” within the type of the Nvidia GeForce 256.
This was a intelligent advertising and marketing transfer from Nvidia and the start of a love affair with GeForce-branded graphics playing cards for years to return.
It improved upon earlier RIVA playing cards by growing the pixel pipelines but additionally supplied a giant leap in efficiency for PC gaming.
This card supported as much as 64MB of DDR SDRAM and operated as much as 166MHz. As such it was 50 per cent sooner than the NV5.
Extra importantly, the GeForce 256 additionally totally supported Direct3D 7 which meant it may energy lots of the finest PC video games accessible on the time.
Shortly after this launch 3dfx went bankrupt and ATI turned Nvidia’s predominant competitor.
Nvidia GeForce2
Nvidia adopted up the world’s first GPU with the aptly named GeForce2.
This GPU got here in a number of totally different variants together with the Ti, Professional, GTS and Extremely fashions. These have been primarily NV11, 15 and 16 playing cards. Rising pipelines and better clock charges adopted all through the 2000 and 2001 releases.
The factor that made GeForce2 fascinating was the beginning of assist for multi-monitor setups.
It was additionally round this time that Nvidia acquired 3dfx.
Nvidia GeForce3
Shortly after GeForce2 got here GeForce3. Codenamed NV20, this sequence of graphics playing cards represented Nvidia’s first DirectX 8 appropriate GPUs.
There have been three variations – the GeForce3, GeForce3 Ti 200, and GeForce3 Ti 500. This subsequent GeForce GPU added programmable pixel and vertex shaders, multisample anti-aliasing into the combination.
A model of GeForce3 known as NV2A was used within the authentic Xbox console.
Nvidia GeForce FX sequence
Leap ahead a few generations and in 2003 we have now the discharge of Nvidia’s GeForce FX sequence.
These have been the fifth era of the GeForce graphics playing cards and supported Direct3D 9 in addition to plenty of new reminiscence applied sciences. These included DDR2, GDDR2 and GDDR3 in addition to Nvidia’s first try at a reminiscence information bus wider than 128 bits.
In the meantime, the GeForce FX 5800 made waves for being the primary GPU to be geared up with a big cooler. One so large that it was typically referred to as the “dustbuster” due to the quantity of fan noise it gave off.
Nvidia GeForce 6 sequence
Shortly after the discharge of the GeForce FX sequence got here the 6 sequence (aka NV40). GeForce 6 was the beginning of Nvidia pushing SLI know-how permitting individuals to mix multiple graphics card for extra energy.
The flagship of this vary was the GeForce 6800 Extremely, a graphics card which boasted 222 million transistors, 16-pixel superscalar pipelines and 6 vertex shaders. It had Shader Mannequin 3.0 assist and was compliant with each Microsoft DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.0.
The sequence additionally featured Nvidia PureVideo know-how and was in a position to decode H.264, VC-1, WMV and MPEG-2 movies with lowered CPU use.
Because of all this, the GeForce 6 sequence was extremely profitable.
Nvidia GeForce7 sequence
In 2005 got here the GeForce7 sequence together with the spotlight considered 7800 GTX.
That card alone was an actual powerhouse for the time and with some intelligent cooling, Nvidia was in a position to push the clock pace to 550MHz. On the similar time, the corporate additionally managed to cut back latency and enhance the bus to 512 bit.
Curiously a model of the 7 sequence was crafted because the RSX Actuality Synthesizer which was the proprietary CPU co-created by Nvidia and Sony for the PlayStation 3.
Nvidia GeForce8 sequence
In 2006 Nvidia launched the GeForce8 sequence and unveiled its Tesla microarchitecture. This was the corporate’s first unified shader design and could be one among its most used architectures in future playing cards too.
The much-loved Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX was the flagship of the vary and was extremely standard. It boasted 681 million transistors, had 768MB of GDDR3 reminiscence and got here with 128 shaders clocked at 575MHz.
Most importantly, this graphics card may run Crysis, which was all that PC avid gamers needed on the time.
In 2006 issues have been additionally heating up as AMD bought ATI for $5.4 billion and would develop into a thorn in Nvidia’s aspect for years to return.
Nvidia GeForce9 sequence
At the beginning of 2008 Nvidia launched the GeForce9 sequence. These playing cards continued to make use of the Tesla structure but additionally added PCIe 2.0 assist, improved color and z-compression too.
By this time Nvidia was pushing efficiency up a notch with clock speeds hitting as much as 675MHz and but energy consumption was being lowered as properly.
Nvidia GeForce 400 sequence
The following important replace got here in 2010 when Nvidia launched the GeForce 4000 sequence. This was when Nvidia revealed the Fermi microarchitecture which was the corporate’s subsequent main structure.
This sequence additionally noticed assist for OpenGL 4.0 and Direct3D 11 and was a direct competitor to the Radeon HD 5000 Sequence.
Nevertheless, the sequence was let down by excessive operating temperatures and energy consumption which brought about plenty of grumbles from customers.
Nvidia GeForce 600 sequence
The GeForce 600 sequence launched Nvidia’s Kepler structure which was designed to extend efficiency per watt whereas additionally enhancing upon the efficiency of the earlier Fermi microarchitecture.
With Kepler, Nvidia managed to extend the reminiscence clock to 6GHz. It additionally added GPU Enhance which assured the GPU would be capable to run at a minimal clock pace, but additionally enhance efficiency when wanted till it reached a pre-defined energy goal.
This vary additionally supported each Direct3D 11 and Direct3D 12. It additionally launched a brand new anti-aliasing methodology often known as TXAA.
Nvidia GeForce 700 sequence
In 2013 Nvidia kicked issues up a notch with the 700 sequence which was topped off with the insane high-end fanatic GTX Titan card.
This sequence was a refresh of the Kepler microarchitecture however some later playing cards additionally featured Femi and Maxwell architectures.
The GTX Titan boasted 2688 CUDA cores, 224 TMUs and 6GB of RAM. By this time Nvidia was managing to squeeze as many as seven billion transistors into its GPUs.
The GeForce 700 sequence was designed to maximise power effectivity but additionally included different options resembling {hardware} H.264 encoding, PCI Categorical 3.0 interface, assist for DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a 4K x 2K video output in addition to GPU-Enhance 2.0.
Nvidia GeForce 900 sequence
In 2014 Nvidia seemingly skipped a era and went straight into the GeForce 900 sequence. This was the introduction to the Maxwell microarchitecture which supplied improved graphics capabilities in addition to higher power effectivity.
This sequence had the GeForce GTX 980 as its preliminary flagship, later adopted by the 980 Ti and GeForce GTX TITAN X on the excessive finish.
NVENC was additionally improved for this sequence and assist appeared for Direct3D 12_1, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 3.0 and Vulkan 1.3.
Nvidia GeForce10 sequence
In 2014 Nvidia revealed the GeForce10 sequence based mostly on the Pascal microarchitecture. The GTX 1080 Ti is maybe probably the most well-known of the GPUs from this sequence and cemented itself in historical past as maybe one of the vital important playing cards Nvidia launched.
This graphics card dominated the market and supplied such very good efficiency and power effectivity vs price that it might typically be referred to compared with future GPUs.
The ten sequence additionally included new options resembling GPU Enhance 3.0, a dynamic load balancing scheduling system, triple buffering and assist for each DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b.
Nvidia GeForce20 sequence
The GeForce 20 sequence was launched in 2018 and launched the Turing microarchitecture to the world.
Notably, these graphics playing cards have been the first-gen of RTX playing cards and noticed Nvidia pushing ray tracing as the principle promoting level.
Using Tensor Cores and different enhancements helped these playing cards current a large leap in graphical prowess. Leading to reasonable lighting and convincing reflection results in-game.
Enhancements got here at a value although, with the RTX 2080 Ti retailing for an eye-watering $1,199 (in comparison with the $699 of the 1080 Ti).
Nvidia GeForce30 sequence
The GeForce30 sequence succeeded the 20 sequence in 2020 and sadly turned most well-known for merely being unattainable to pay money for because of the silicone scarcity.
Nonetheless, the Nvidia RTX 3080 was meant to retail for $699 making it far more reasonably priced than the earlier generations flagship and the sequence purchased important enhancements too.
The flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti introduced in March 2022 packed 10,752 CUDA cores, 78 RT-TFLOPs, 40 Shader-TFLOPs and 320 Tensor-TFLOPs of energy. This highly effective beast was additionally famous to be power-hungry, requiring a minimum of 850 watts of energy which means you’d possible want a 1,000-watt PSU to run it.
Nvidia GeForce 40-series
Nvidia has continuously been attempting to push the boundaries with every iteration. With the RTX 40-series, one person proved it was attainable to run video games at 13K decision.
This was the primary sequence of GPUs to make use of the 12VHPWR connector which led to some issues, however in any other case principally had glowing critiques.
The flagship card of this vary, the RTX 4090, had 24GB of GDDR6X, 16384 Cuda cores and a few severe processing energy. With these playing cards, Nvidia additionally launched DLSS 3.
