RIVA TNT
Encyclopedia
The RIVA TNT, codenamed NV4, is a 2D
, video, and 3D
graphics accelerator chip for PCs that was manufactured by Nvidia
. It was released in mid 1998 and cemented Nvidia's reputation as a worthy rival within the developing consumer 3D graphics adapter industry. The first RIVA TNT based card released on June 15, 1998 by STB: Velocity 4400. RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator. The "TNT" suffix refers to the chip's ability to work on two texels at once (TwiN Texel).
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, 24-bit Z-buffer
in 3D mode, a 8-bit stencil-buffer and support for 1024×1024 pixels textures. Improved texture filtering
techniques, partially assisted by newly-added trilinear filtering
, dramatically improved image quality compared to the TNT's predecessor. It also added support for up to 16 MiB
of SDR SDRAM
. TNT was a single chip solution.
The TNT shipped later than originally planned, ran quite hot, and was clocked lower than Nvidia had planned (90 MHz instead of 110 MHz). Originally planned specifications should have placed the card ahead of Voodoo2 in theoretical performance for Direct3D
applications, but at 90 MHz it didn't match the Voodoo2. At the time, most games supported 3dfx's proprietary Glide API
which gave the Voodoo2 a large advantage in speed and image quality, and some games only used the Glide API for 3D acceleration, leaving TNT users no better off than people who didn't have a 3D accelerator. Even in "OpenGL
only" comparisons such as the case in Quake 2, The Voodoo2 had the upper hand as a custom "MiniGL" driver was made specifically for 3dfx cards to run the game (and most other OpenGL games at the time). The 3dfx MiniGL driver was not a fully featured OpenGL driver and was able to attain a speed advantage because of that. Later on when fully featured OpenGL drivers were made for the 3dfx line of cards, it was noticed that it was much slower when compared to its cut down MiniGL brother. The TNT had 32-bit color support while the Voodoo2 only supported 16-bit (although internally dithered down from 24-bit color, beating the TNT in 16bit quality). Voodoo 2 cards also gained an even larger speed advantage over the TNT because of the ability to link two Voodoo2 cards together in an "SLI" setup.
TNT did not match the sales of the incredibly popular Voodoo 2. 3Dfx's customer mind share
was at its peak during this time and Nvidia was still a somewhat new player. Again, like with the RIVA 128, the lack of Glide API
support hindered Nvidia's opportunities for market share growth. Glide was still considered the best 3D gaming API available by both gamers and developers. However, TNT gained Nvidia much attention and paved the way for the refreshed version called the RIVA TNT2
. After all, unlike the rest of the competition, Nvidia had come close to the Voodoo2 in performance in some games, and beaten it in 32bit image quality.
In what would become standard industry practice on a massive scale in later years, Nvidia released a budget version of TNT called Vanta. This board used the same TNT chip but lowered its clock speed and halved both memory data bus
width (to 64-bit) and memory size (to 16 MiB). By doing this, Nvidia was able to still sell somewhat defective TNT chips that couldn't reach the TNT's specified clock speeds, and cut board costs significantly by using a narrower bus and less RAM. The board proved popular with OEM computer builders because of its capable feature-set and low price. Vanta also was implemented as integrated graphics on some motherboards.
TNT itself was used on several popular cards, such as the Diamond Viper V550
and STB Velocity 4400, both of which managed OEM wins with the likes of Dell and Gateway, among others.
These drivers were a huge success. While the TNT had always performed well on Intel based systems, it previously lagged behind in terms of performance on then current AMD based systems. At the time, Quake2 was the benchmark for performance and the 3dfx-made Voodoo2 enjoyed a large performance difference over the TNT because it had 3DNow! optimizations that negated the performance penalty of the weak, unpipelined FPU on then current AMD processors. The Detonator drivers included 3DNow! optimizations and the TNT's Quake2 performance jumped 30%. In fact, all OpenGL and DirectX applications benefitted from such optimizations. This made the TNT a much more attractive 3D accelerator for AMD owners than previously.
The Detonator drivers also fixed compatibility issues with motherboards of the time, and improved overall software compatibility.
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
, video, and 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
graphics accelerator chip for PCs that was manufactured by Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
. It was released in mid 1998 and cemented Nvidia's reputation as a worthy rival within the developing consumer 3D graphics adapter industry. The first RIVA TNT based card released on June 15, 1998 by STB: Velocity 4400. RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator. The "TNT" suffix refers to the chip's ability to work on two texels at once (TwiN Texel).
Overview
The TNT was designed as a follow up to the RIVA 128RIVA 128
Released in late 1997 by Nvidia, the RIVA 128, or "NV3", was one of the first consumer graphics processing units to integrate 3D acceleration in addition to traditional 2D and video acceleration...
and a response to 3Dfx
3dfx
3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry...
's introduction of the Voodoo2
Voodoo2
The Voodoo2 was a set of three graphics processing units on a single chipset, made by 3dfx. It was released in February 1998 as a replacement for the original Voodoo Graphics chipset. The card ran at a chipset clock rate of 90 MHz and used 100 MHz EDO DRAM, and was available for the PCI interface...
. It added a second pixel pipeline, practically doubling rendering speed, and used considerably faster memory. Unlike the Voodoo2 (but like the slower Matrox G200
Matrox G200
The G200 is a 2D, 3D, and video accelerator chip for personal computers designed by Matrox. It was released in 1998.-History:Matrox had been known for years as a significant player in the high-end 2D graphics accelerator market. Cards they produced were excellent Windows accelerators, and some of...
) it also added support for a 32-bit (truecolor) pixel format, 24-bit Z-buffer
Z-buffering
In computer graphics, z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional graphics, usually done in hardware, sometimes in software. It is one solution to the visibility problem, which is the problem of deciding which elements of a rendered scene are visible, and which...
in 3D mode, a 8-bit stencil-buffer and support for 1024×1024 pixels textures. Improved texture filtering
Texture filtering
In computer graphics, texture filtering or texture smoothing is the method used to determine the texture color for a texture mapped pixel, using the colors of nearby texels . Mathematically, texture filtering is a type of anti-aliasing, but it filters out high frequencies from the texture fill...
techniques, partially assisted by newly-added trilinear filtering
Trilinear filtering
Trilinear filtering is an extension of the bilinear texture filtering method, which also performs linear interpolation between mipmaps.Bilinear filtering has several weaknesses that make it an unattractive choice in many cases: using it on a full-detail texture when scaling to a very small size...
, dramatically improved image quality compared to the TNT's predecessor. It also added support for up to 16 MiB
Mebibyte
The mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major...
of SDR SDRAM
SDRAM
Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...
. TNT was a single chip solution.
The TNT shipped later than originally planned, ran quite hot, and was clocked lower than Nvidia had planned (90 MHz instead of 110 MHz). Originally planned specifications should have placed the card ahead of Voodoo2 in theoretical performance for Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
applications, but at 90 MHz it didn't match the Voodoo2. At the time, most games supported 3dfx's proprietary Glide API
Glide API
Glide is a 3D graphics API developed by 3dfx Interactive for their Voodoo Graphics 3D accelerator cards. Although it originally started as a proprietary API, it was later open sourced by 3dfx. It was dedicated to gaming performance, supporting geometry and texture mapping primarily, in data...
which gave the Voodoo2 a large advantage in speed and image quality, and some games only used the Glide API for 3D acceleration, leaving TNT users no better off than people who didn't have a 3D accelerator. Even in "OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
only" comparisons such as the case in Quake 2, The Voodoo2 had the upper hand as a custom "MiniGL" driver was made specifically for 3dfx cards to run the game (and most other OpenGL games at the time). The 3dfx MiniGL driver was not a fully featured OpenGL driver and was able to attain a speed advantage because of that. Later on when fully featured OpenGL drivers were made for the 3dfx line of cards, it was noticed that it was much slower when compared to its cut down MiniGL brother. The TNT had 32-bit color support while the Voodoo2 only supported 16-bit (although internally dithered down from 24-bit color, beating the TNT in 16bit quality). Voodoo 2 cards also gained an even larger speed advantage over the TNT because of the ability to link two Voodoo2 cards together in an "SLI" setup.
TNT did not match the sales of the incredibly popular Voodoo 2. 3Dfx's customer mind share
Mind share
Mind share, or the development of consumer awareness or popularity, is one of the main objectives of advertising and promotion. When people think of examples of a product type or category, they usually think of a limited number of brand names. For example, a prospective buyer of a college education...
was at its peak during this time and Nvidia was still a somewhat new player. Again, like with the RIVA 128, the lack of Glide API
Glide API
Glide is a 3D graphics API developed by 3dfx Interactive for their Voodoo Graphics 3D accelerator cards. Although it originally started as a proprietary API, it was later open sourced by 3dfx. It was dedicated to gaming performance, supporting geometry and texture mapping primarily, in data...
support hindered Nvidia's opportunities for market share growth. Glide was still considered the best 3D gaming API available by both gamers and developers. However, TNT gained Nvidia much attention and paved the way for the refreshed version called the RIVA TNT2
RIVA TNT2
The RIVA TNT2 was a graphics processing unit manufactured by Nvidia starting in early 1999. The chip is codenamed "NV5" because it is the 5th graphics chip design by Nvidia, succeeding the RIVA TNT . RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator...
. After all, unlike the rest of the competition, Nvidia had come close to the Voodoo2 in performance in some games, and beaten it in 32bit image quality.
In what would become standard industry practice on a massive scale in later years, Nvidia released a budget version of TNT called Vanta. This board used the same TNT chip but lowered its clock speed and halved both memory data bus
Computer bus
In computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers.Early computer buses were literally parallel electrical wires with multiple connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same...
width (to 64-bit) and memory size (to 16 MiB). By doing this, Nvidia was able to still sell somewhat defective TNT chips that couldn't reach the TNT's specified clock speeds, and cut board costs significantly by using a narrower bus and less RAM. The board proved popular with OEM computer builders because of its capable feature-set and low price. Vanta also was implemented as integrated graphics on some motherboards.
TNT itself was used on several popular cards, such as the Diamond Viper V550
Diamond Multimedia
Diamond Multimedia is a company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. They have produced graphics cards, motherboards, modems, sound cards and MP3 players, however the company began with the production of the TrackStar, a PC add-on card which emulated Apple II computers...
and STB Velocity 4400, both of which managed OEM wins with the likes of Dell and Gateway, among others.
Drivers
Nvidia's driver development with TNT was the beginning of their notably aggressive efforts to maintain the best set of drivers possible. TNT received the first branded driver within the industry, called Detonator.These drivers were a huge success. While the TNT had always performed well on Intel based systems, it previously lagged behind in terms of performance on then current AMD based systems. At the time, Quake2 was the benchmark for performance and the 3dfx-made Voodoo2 enjoyed a large performance difference over the TNT because it had 3DNow! optimizations that negated the performance penalty of the weak, unpipelined FPU on then current AMD processors. The Detonator drivers included 3DNow! optimizations and the TNT's Quake2 performance jumped 30%. In fact, all OpenGL and DirectX applications benefitted from such optimizations. This made the TNT a much more attractive 3D accelerator for AMD owners than previously.
The Detonator drivers also fixed compatibility issues with motherboards of the time, and improved overall software compatibility.
Competing chipsets
- 3dfx3dfx3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry...
Voodoo2Voodoo2The Voodoo2 was a set of three graphics processing units on a single chipset, made by 3dfx. It was released in February 1998 as a replacement for the original Voodoo Graphics chipset. The card ran at a chipset clock rate of 90 MHz and used 100 MHz EDO DRAM, and was available for the PCI interface... - 3dfx3dfx3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry...
Voodoo Banshee - Matrox G200Matrox G200The G200 is a 2D, 3D, and video accelerator chip for personal computers designed by Matrox. It was released in 1998.-History:Matrox had been known for years as a significant player in the high-end 2D graphics accelerator market. Cards they produced were excellent Windows accelerators, and some of...
- ATI Rage Pro
- S3 SavageS3 SavageSavage was a product-line of PC graphics chipsets designed by S3.-Savage 3D:At the 1998 E3 Expo S3 introduced the first Savage product, Savage3D. Compared to its ViRGE-derived predecessor , Savage3D was a technological leap forward...