History of nVIDIA Graphics cards Vol. 2 GPU competition

yjfy 

  On August 31, 1999, nVIDIA announced the integration of hardware T&L (Transform and Lighting) into the graphics core, the first GeForce (Geometry Force) product-GeForce 256 graphics card, which pioneered the concept of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The GPU originally referred to display chips that support hardware T&L, but today, all display chips are collectively referred to as GPUs.
    The GeForce 256 graphics card uses the T&L engine to share the processor computing load. For video games that support the T&L engine, the performance of the GeForce 256 can be fully utilized, bringing a revolution in 3D graphics performance.In fact, Geforce 256 won the title of "The world's first GPU" is very difficult, because there are two opponents in front of it.

GeForce 256 Engineering sample

    May 11, 1999 ,3Dlabs announced the Oxygen GVX1, workstation graphics card.The GVX1 does not take nVIDIA's more cost-effective route of integrating hardware T&L support into the core.this using GLINT R3(Permedia 3) and one external chip ,this chip is GLINT Gamma G1, Geometry Processor.The GLINT Gamma G1 is capable of processing 4.75 million triangles per second.Although Oxygen GVX1 is a hardware T & L graphics card before Geforce 256, but they were not integrated into the graphics core.

    The gaming performance of Oxygen GVX1 is only slightly better than TNT, and the professional 3D performance is only about half of Quadro 256. It is not difficult to understand why 3Dlabs has stopped selling chips since Permedia 3, and focused on mid-to-high-end professional graphic cards. As a result, 3Dlabs has missed a large number of entry-level professional graphics card users who can do professional work and meet general entertainment needs. Even if 3Dlabs acquired Intense3D in July 2000 and released the Wildcat II Series graphics card, it still could not escape the fate of being acquired by Creative Technology in June 2002.

Oxygen GVX1 Engineering sample

  The strongest rival of GeForce 256 is undoubtedly Savage 2000, which was announced by S3 the day before. S3 had high hopes for Savage 2000. On June 22, 1999, it made a desperate acquisition of Diamond, turning a chip manufacturer into a graphics card manufacturer. In November, it released the Viper II Z200 graphics card based on the Savage 2000 chip.

Savage 2000 hardware supports S3TL similar to hardware T&L, but the initial driver is based on DirectX 6 (DirectX 7 is the first version to support hardware T&L), resulting in S3TL not working at all and it is not a real GPU. The 3D performance is only 80% of the GeForce 256 graphics card, so S3 lost the title of "The world's first GPU". The miserable ending was acquired by VIA on August 5, 2000, and it exited the GPU competition early.

Viper II Z200 Qualification sample

On the same day that nVIDIA announced the GeForce 256 graphics card, Videologic announced that the only Neon 250 graphics card using the PowerVR 250 chip will be sold in the UK.PowerVR 250 (PowerVR second generation) is a PC ported version of the Sega game console version PVR250DC jointly launched by Videologic and NEC on December 2, 1998.Compared with PVR250DC, the performance of PowerVR 250 has shrunk a lot, and the performance is still close to TNT2.This is because the PowerVR 250 display chip integrates unique TBR technology, which effectively reduces the burden on the CPU, but it is much inferior to the Geforce 256 graphics card that supports T&L with hardware.

Neon 250

The GeForce 256 graphics card is too powerful, and even the Rage Fury Maxx graphics card with dual RAGE 128 Pro cores on November 7, 1999 could not be matched by ati. Rage Fury Maxx graphics cards are priced higher than GeForce 256 graphics cards, and their 3D performance is only about 80%, which is slightly weaker than Savage 2000 graphics cards.

Rage Fury Maxx

Even the well-known 3dfx  Voodoo3 graphics card (April 3, 1999) in the same period can hardly conceal its brilliance, and the 3D performance is only about 70% of the GeForce 256 graphics card. In 1999, nVIDIA surpassed 3dfx  for the first time with a shipment of 10 million pieces.

Voodoo3 Engineering sample

Since then, nVIDIA's Geforce series has established GPU dominance in one fell swoop, gradually letting out competitors one by one.
       GeForce 256 series products include GeForce 256 and GeForce 256 DDR. The professional version is called Quadro and is based on GeForce 256. 

1.GeForce 256 （NV10）series

        The GeForce 256 core has four rendering pipelines, each of which includes four pixel units, a material unit, and provides two different graphics memory configuration options, SDRAM and DDR SDRAM. The GeForce 256 chip supports DirectX 7.0, T&L, and OpenGL 1.2 at the same time. And other advanced graphics technology. It became the product with the longest life cycle at that time.

 1.1 GeForce 256

    In the article "History of nVIDIA Graphics cards Vol. 1", the PCB Code of nVIDIA's engineering sample graphics cards are: S/N EVAL-???- (note: Evaluation board), S/N BRD-???- (note : Reference board).

     Entering the Geforce era, nVIDIA’s engineering sample graphics cards began to cancel the “S/N” label, and enable PCB Code starting with “180”. Commonly used are reference boards with the letter “P” in the PCB Code, and evaluation boards with the letter “E” are rare. , The letter "A" is the Apple MAC version. The number of engineering samples with the letter "T" in the PCB Code was the least, and only one Geforce FX5800 graphics card was found.

1.1.1 GeForce 256

Model:P03

PCB Code:180-P0003-0100-D02  

    The announcement date of Geforce 256 (NV10) was August 31, 1999 (9936 week), and the release date was November 11, 1999 (9946 week).

The date on the PCB of this Geforce 256 graphics card is 9934 weeks, which is equivalent to the time of early September.

Geforce 256 Engineering sample

1.1.2 GeForce 256 DDR

Model:P10

PCB Code:180-P0010-0000-B01

    The Geforce 256 DDR graphics card was released on February 11, 2000 (0007 weeks).
    The date on the PCB of this Geforce 256 DDR Reference board is 9948 weeks, which is earlier than the announcement date in early December 1999 (9949 weeks).

Geforce 256 DDR Engineering sample

1.1.3 GeForce 256 DDR 64MB

    A 64MB GeForce 256 graphics card is relatively rare. This graphics card comes from a Dell computer with a PCB date of 0020 weeks and uses nVIDIA's reference design.

Model:P11

PCB Code:180-P0011-0100-C05 

GeForce 256 DDR 64MB

 1.2 Quadro

   On November 1, 1999 (9945 week), nVIDIA announced the workstation GPU Quadro. The Quadro core clock is 135MHz, which is an increase of 15MHz over Geforce's 120MHz core clock. The higher core clock increases Quadro's fill rate by 13% to 540 Mpixels/s.

1.2.1 Quadro AGP   

Model:E11 A00

PCB Code:S/N BRD-010-E11-A(180-E0011-0000-A00) 

  The PCB date of this Quadro 256 Evaluation board is 9946 weeks, one week later than the announced date.

 Quadro 256 Engineering sample

1.2.2 Quadro AGP Pro

Model:E11 B00

PCB Code:180-E0011-0000-B00 

    The B00 PCB date of Quadro 256 AGP Pro Evaluation board is 9946 weeks, which is one week later than the announced date.

 Quadro 256 AGP Pro Engineering sample

 1.3 Creative

1.3.1 Geforce 256 (3D Blaster Annihilator)

As an important partner of nVIDIA, Creative first invested in the development of Geforce 256 graphics card. It can be seen from the following version of the 3D Blaster Annihilator graphics card is 009931. Creative obtained the reference design of Geforce 256 and designed the 009931 version before the 31st week of 1999. The production date of the PCB board is 9932 weeks, that is, the PCB board is produced in the 32nd week of 1999. This date is earlier than the date of first publication on August 31, 1999 (9936 weeks). This is because nVIDIA's engineering sample graphics cards are all manufactured by Creative. In addition, the release date of 3D Blaster Annihilator is October 25, 1999 (9944 weeks), which is earlier than nVIDIA's November 11, 1999 (9946 weeks).

 3D Blaster Annihilator Engineering sample

1.3.2 Geforce 256 DDR(3D Blaster Annihilator Pro)

3D Blaster Annihilator Pro Released 12 February 2000 (0007 weeks), just one day later than the release date of Geforce 256 DDR.

        This 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro graphics card is also directly used Geforce 256 DDR reference design stereotyped 009942 version, dated 9942 weeks, earlier than the early December 1999 (9949 weeks) Geforce 256 DDR announcement period. The PCB date of this card is 9941 weeks, which is earlier than the final date of 9942 weeks. 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro Qualification sample

1.4 VISIONTEK

VISIONTEK Geforce 256 Engineering sample directly uses nVIDIA's Geforce 256 reference design, with a PCB date of 9949 weeks and later than release date October 11, 1999 (9942 weeks).

 VISIONTEK Geforce 256 Engineering sample

1.5 AZtech

The customer sample PCB date of this AZtech Geforce 256 is 9950 weeks, which appears relatively late, and is also a reference design using Geforce 256.

 AZtech Geforce 256 Customer Sample

1.6 ELSA

Most manufacturers' graphics cards based on nVIDIA's first-generation GPUs use the nVIDIA reference design directly, and some manufacturers insist on designing themselves. ASUS's V6600 design is progressing quickly, and it is released after innovation; Canopus' SPECTRA 7400 has a special structure; ELSA even designed several very unique first-generation GPU graphics cards.

1.6.1 Erazor X

    Erazor X itself adheres to the NLX form factor specification for a peripheral card, which explains its odd shape.

 Erazor X

1.6.2 Erazor X PCI

Erazor X PCI is the only PCI interface version of the Geforce 256 graphics card, which was eventually not listed. Perhaps Geforce 256 does not have sufficient support for the PCI interface.

 Erazor X PCI Engineering sample

 （From CHIP.de） 

1.6.3 GLorla II

The Glorla II graphics card PCB date with the "PROTOTYPE" sticker is 0007 weeks.

 GLorla II Engineering sample

1.6.4 GLorla II pro

GLorla II pro is the AGP Pro interface version. This version of the AGP Pro interface can be changed to the AGP interface to become GLorla II.

GLorla II pro

    In the first generation of GPU, ELSA's huge investment has won many awards, but the benefits are not much. Since the era of Geforce2, ELSA has gone to the other extreme since the era of Geforce2. The mainstream products copy the reference design, and the low-end products are directly OEM.

 1.7 SGI VPRO VR3

   SGI VPRO VR3 Quadro 256 graphics card directly used the board type of the evaluation board, and early even directly used nVIDIA's engineering sample graphics card.

2.GeForce 2 （NV15）series

On April 25, 2000, half a year after the introduction of GeForce 256, ATi launched the first generation of faster and more efficient GPU-Radeon 256 (R100 series).

Radeon 256 Engineering sample

Even the GeForce2 GTS announced by nVIDIA the next day could only be evenly matched. Later, the GeForce2 GTS relied on the Detonator III driver to successfully counterattack. The architecture of the GeForce2 GTS is similar to that of the previous GeForce 256, with the addition of a second TMU. Due to the use of a more advanced 180nm process, the core frequency has almost doubled (to 200Mhz). However, the video memory bandwidth is slightly insufficient, and the performance of Direct3D games is not as good as OpenGL.

GeForce2 GTS Engineering sample

On June 5, 2000, Imagination Technologies, which spun off from VideoLogic, announced that Kyro (the third generation of PowerVR) was manufactured by its strategic partner ST Microelectronics. Kyro core codenamed STG 4000X, adopts 0.25 micron technology, 12 million transistors, display core and video memory are both 125Mhz, 128bit 32/64MB SDRAM video memory. The unique TBR technology is difficult to overcome the weakness of not supporting hardware T&L, and the flaws of the dual-pipeline single-texture unit cause the performance to be inferior to the GeForce 256, let alone the GeForce2 GTS of the same period. However, Kyro's core size is small, heat generation is small, and the number of transistors is also significantly lower than that of nVidia's products at the same time, which has a higher cost performance. In addition, ST Microelectronics has led many manufacturers such as Hercules to join, and graphics cards based on Kyro chips have finally taken a place in the market.

Hercules 3D PROPHET 4000XT PCI

On June 22, 2000, 3dfx  released the Voodoo5 5500 graphics card with dual VSA-100 chips, which was comparable in performance to GeForce2 GTS.

Voodoo5 5500 Engineering sample

3dfx  knows that the VSA-100 chip does not support hardware T&L and cannot compete with contemporary GPUs, so it has no choice but to adopt a multi-core solution. The actual performance of the Voodoo5 6000 graphics card with four VSA-100 chips is only comparable to that of GeForce2 Ultra. The efficiency is low, the design is difficult, and it takes nearly a year to still be in the engineering sample stage, and it also seriously affects the development of the Rampage graphics card that supports hardware T&L. As a result, 3dfx  was acquired by nVIDIA on December 15, 2000, prematurely exiting the GPU hegemony. The Voodoo5 6000 graphics card is undoubtedly the craziest design in history, and it is worthy of being a classic handed down. Especially the tragic color of the ups and downs, only 84 survived and became the bellwether of the graphics card collection.

Voodoo5 6000 Engineering sample

On December 11, 2000, SiS released the first-generation GPU graphics card SiS315. Because it provides 3D acceleration performance equivalent to GeForce2 MX at a relatively low price, and has excellent video playback effects, it has also achieved a small amount of market sales.

 SiS315 Engineering sample

（From www.hwsw.hu）

The GeForce2 series products are mainly divided into the high-end GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Ultra, the low-end GeForce 2 MX series and the first mobile GeForce2 GO series. Starting from this generation, the GeForce series has been divided into a variety of models with a clearer level ladder, so as to better meet the consumer groups at all levels. GeForce2 is also the first nVIDIA series to support multiple display configurations. The GeForce2 series of professional editions have Quadro2 PRO based on GeForce2 GTS and Quadro2 MXR based on GeForce2 MX, as well as the mobile version of the first generation GPU--Quadro2 Go.

 2.1 GeForce2 GTS

The GeForce2 GTS release date is April 26, 2000 (0018weeks).

2.1.1 P20

PCB Code:180-P0020-0000-D01

  The PCB date of this card is 0011week, before the release date. 32MB DDR SGRAM.

GeForce2 GTS Engineering sample

2.1.2 P30 A00

PCB Code:180-P0030-0000-A00

  The PCB date of this card is 0013 weeks. 64MB DDR.

GeForce2 GTS Engineering sample

 2.1.3 P30 B00

PCB Code:180-P0030-0000-B00

  The PCB date of this card is 0018 weeks. 64MB DDR.

GeForce2 GTS Engineering sample

Compared with GeForce2 GTS, the GeForce2 GTS Pro (GeForce2 Pro) graphics card launched on December 5, 2000, mainly has the memory clock increased from 166MHz to 200MHz, and the graphics card form factor has not changed.

2.2 GeForce2 Ultra

  Released on August 14, 2000 (0034 week).

Model:P32

  GeForce2 Ultra has the same form factor as Quadro2 Pro. It just shows that the core is different.

GeForce2 Ultra Engineering sample

 2.3 GeForce2 Ti

  On October 1, 2001 (0140 week), GeForce2 Ti (Ie "titanium, using the 0.15 process") was released, and its performance is between the GTS and Ultra versions.

2.3.1 P23

PCB Code:180-10023-0000-A01

  Chip date 0129weeks, PCB date 0135weeks.

GeForce2 Ti Engineering sample

2.3.2 P30

PCB Code:180-P0030-0000-C00

PCB date is 0129 weeks.

GeForce2 Ti Engineering sample 

 2.4 Geforce2 MX

    Released on June 28, 2000 (0027weeks). The MX version is adjusted on the basis of the GTS version. The first is to remove the rendering pipeline while retaining the original architecture. The second is to adjust the video memory type and bit width, because the performance and price of GeForce2 MX are very suitable for general consumers. The demand has continued to the GeForce4 MX version.
    On March 3, 2001, Geforce2 MX200 and Geforce2 MX400 were released.2.4.1 P38

PCB Code:180-P0038-0000-C00

Chip model:NV11ES

The chip date is 0023 weeks, and the PCB date is 0026 weeks.

GeForce2 MX Engineering sample

 2.4.2 P39

PCB Code:180-P0039-0100-C02

Chip model:GeForce2 MX200

GeForce2 MX200 Engineering sample

2.4.3 P44

PCB Code:180-P0044-0100-A04

Chip model:GF2MX

GeForce2 MX Engineering sample

2.4.4 P55

PCB Code:180-P0055-0000-01

Chip model:GF2MX

GeForce2 MX

There are also versions such as P36. 

2.5 Geforce2 Go

    On November 11, 2000 (week 0047), nVIDIA released the world's first mobile GPU Geforce2 Go at COMDEX / Fall 2000. Geforce2 Go is based on Geforce2 MX core.

2.5.1 E46

PCB Code:180-E0046-0000-B00

  The chip date of the Geforce2 Go Evaluation board below is 0045 weeks earlier than the release date of 0047 weeks. The PCB date is 0050 weeks.

  Geforce2 Go Engineering sample

2.5.2 P38

PCB Code:180-P0038-0000-C01

The chip date of the Geforce2 Go Reference board below is 0045 weeks, and the PCB date is 0033 weeks, using the Geforce2 MX Reference board.

 Geforce2 Go Engineering sample

2.6 Quadro2 Pro

    Released on July 25, 2000 (0031weeks). There are four products in the Quadro2 series, namely Quadro2 Pro, Quadro2 EX, Quadro2 MXR and a mobile version of Quadro 2 Go. Quadro2 Pro is based on GeForce2 Ultra core, Quadro2 EX is based on GeForce2 MX 200, Quadro2 MXR is based on GeForce2 MX 400, and Quadro2 Go is based on GeFroce2 Go.

Model:P32

PCB Code:180-10032-0000-A02

    PCB date is 0033 weeks, chip date is 0024 weeks.

Quadro2 Pro Engineering sample

2.7 Quadro2 MXR

    Released on July 25, 2000 (0031weeks).

Model:P55

PCB Code:180-P0055-0000-A03

    Chip date is 0106 weeks, PCB date is 0117 weeks.

Quadro2 MXR Engineering sample

    There are also P38 P39 board types. The low-frequency version of Quadro2 MXR Quadro2 MXR EX uses P39 board type.

 2.8 Quadro2 Go

Model:E46

PCB Code:180-E0046-0000-B00

  Quadro2 Go is based on the core of Quadro2, a high-frequency version of Quadro256, and is a mobile version. Release date August 14, 2001 (0133 week). The chip date of the Quadro2 Go Evaluation board below is 0116 weeks, and the PCB date is 0124 weeks.

 Quadro2 Go Engineering sample

 2.9 nFroce

At the beginning of 1996, SiS launched the SiS5596 chipset with built-in graphics accelerator and VGA controller. This is the earliest integrated graphics chip for desktop computers; on February 20, 1997, Cyrix launched the IT industry’s first chip integration solution (All in One). Media GX chip, in addition to integrating S3 ViRGE/DX, it also integrates Cyrix Cx5x86 CPU and audio; on November 21, 1998, VIA announced the launch of the Apollo MVP4 chipset integrated with Triden Blande 3D; on April 26, 1999, Intel released the integrated i740 display core The i810 chipset has achieved unprecedented success in the market and has made a great contribution to the popularization of integrated chipsets; on November 8, 1999, ALi announced the launch of Aladdin 7 chipsets with integrated ArtX video chips.

Motherboard integrated display already has a large market. As the GPU overlord, nVIDIA is naturally unwilling to be lonely. On Computex2001 on June 4, 2001, nVIDIA released the first-generation motherboard chipset nForce, code-named Crush 12. The nForce chipset is composed of the north bridge chip IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) and the south bridge chip MCP (Media and Communications Processor) that integrate GeForce2 MX.

    nVIDIA involves the field of motherboard chipsets, starting with the XBOX project in cooperation with Microsoft. February 14, 2001-nVIDIA released the graphics processing unit (XGPU) and media communication processor (MCPX) for the Xbox video game console. Taking this opportunity, nVIDIA uses many advanced technologies from the XBOX project to develop its first PC chipset product-nForce. Seeing that nVIDIA launched the nForce series, ATi also released the integrated graphics chip Radeon IGP in 2002, which is equivalent to the level of Radeon VE.

nForce Engineering sample

（From anandtech.com） 

2.10 Creative  

   GB0030 uses the P44 reference board, the finalization date is 0033 weeks, and the PCB date is 0034 weeks.

GB0030 Engineering sample

2.11 ELSA

The Geforce2 MX400 graphics card below is a foundry made by a Taiwanese manufacturer and was tested and verified by ELSA with the "PROTOTYPE" label. ELSA, which has always liked to show its strong R&D heritage, began to abandon the path of self-research.

 ELSA Geforce2 MX400 Engineering sample

3. GeForce 3（NV20） series 

     In view of the progress made by the GeForce2 series, nVIDIA released the first GeForce3 graphics card supporting DirectX 8 on February 27, 2001. In terms of hardware specifications, GeForce3 does not have a big gap with GeForce2 GTS, and all the advantages are now in DirectX 8's advanced API technology. In addition, GeForce3 supports a programmable T&L engine and is the industry's first programmable GPU.

GeForce3 Engineering sample

On March 12, 2001, Kyro II was launched. The core code is STG4500. It adopts 0.18 micron process, 15 million transistors, core and video memory frequency is increased to 175Mhz, 128bit 32/64MB SDRAM video memory, dual pipeline single texture unit. Although Kyro II was known as the MX400 killer in the European market at the time, its performance was weaker than GeForce2 GTS and only half of its rival GeForce3 in the same period. The problem with Kyro II is that the rendering pipeline is too small, the fill rate is limited, and the video memory bandwidth provided by the outdated SDR video memory limits the performance. What is particularly serious is that Kyro II still fails to support hardware T&L, and relying on a part of software T&L to try to gain a foothold in the GPU competition has become an impossible task.

Vivid!XS Qualification Sample

On June 18, 2001, Trident released the first-generation GPU: Blade XP. The performance was so weak that it was only equivalent to the TNT2 level, and was eventually ignored by the market. The mobile version of Blade XP is called Cyberblade XP.

Cyberblade XP Engineering sample

On August 14, 2001, ATi launched Radeon 8500 (R200 series). In its battle with GeForce3 Ti500, even if the Radeon 8500 graphics card has a higher theoretical performance, the GeForce3 Ti500 still has a great advantage thanks to the excellent support of the detonator driver.

Radeon 8500 DV Engineering

    nVIDIA returned to the home gaming console market again in 2001, becoming an important part of Microsoft's original Xbox. The onboard graphics card comes from nVIDIA's NV2A, which is an adjusted GeForce3 with performance close to that of GeForce3 Ti500.
    The three models of the GeForce3 series products are all mid-to-high-end, and there is no low-end series and mobile platform series. The professional version is called Quadro DCC.

3.1 GeForce3

      Released on February 27, 2001 (0109 week).

3.3.1 P50

PCB Code:180-10050-0000-A05

  Chip date is 0104 weeks, PCB date is 0104 weeks.

GeForce3 Engineering sample

3.1.2 P51 MAC版

     On February 22, 2001, this card was announced for Apple’s Power Mac G4, which was the first cooperation between nVIDIA and Apple. Prior to this, Apple and ATi had close cooperation.

GeForce3 Ti500 Mac Engineering sample

（From anandtech.com）

 3.2 GeForce3 Ti200

Model:P50

PCB Code:180-10050-0000-A05

    Released on October 18, 2001 (0142 week). Chip date is 0131 weeks, PCB date is 0134 weeks.

GeForce3 Ti200 Engineering sample

 3.3 GeForce3 Ti500

Model:P50

PCB Code:180-10050-0000-C00

Released on October 18, 2001 (0142 week).

GeForce3 Ti500 Engineering sample

(From ixbt.com)

3.4 Quadro DCC

Model:P50

PCB Code:180-10050-0000-A09

     Quadro DCC is essentially the standard version of GeForce3. nVIDIA authorized the GLoria DCC product exclusively launched by Elsa. All three GeForce3 models can be turned into a professional Quadro DCC by simply changing the resistance, which is even faster, which makes ELSA a big blow.

GeForce3 Engineering sample

4. GeForce 4（NV25）系列

The successor to GeForce3 was released on February 6, 2002 and was called GeForce4 Ti. Its architecture is similar to NV20 (GeForce3), but NV25 is significantly faster due to its 150nm process. By increasing the clock frequency and doubling the number of ALUs, nVIDIA provided GeForce4 Ti with approximately three times the vertex shading capability of GeForce3, and easily eliminated Radeon 8500.

GeForce4 Ti4600 Engineering sample

3D Prophet 4800 Engineering sample

On May 14, 2002, Matrox released its first generation GPU-Parhelia 512. Although it got rid of the embarrassing situation of using G450 and G550 without hardware T&L against the GeForce series. However, the Parhelia 512 graphics card, which was introduced to the market after a long R&D process, its 3D performance is not great, only comparable to GeForce4 Ti4200. Matrox had to give up support for 3D games, quit the GPU hegemony, and became a professional 2D graphics card manufacturer.

Parhelia 512 Qualification sample

On June 3, 2002 (week 0223), S3 merged into VIA and released the first generation GPU: Savage XP. Savage XP is fundamentally "only" a revised version of Savage2000. Although it supports hardware T&L, its performance is still at a low level, only at the Geforce256 level. Savage XP, also known as Alpha Chrome, is the first of VIA's Chrome product line, with a small number of applications on the mobile platform.

Savage XP Engineering sample

On March 12, 2002, SiS announced the Xabre series of graphics cards, namely Xabre 80, Xabre 200, Xabre 400, and the updated Xabre 600 with higher frequency. The performance of Xabre series graphics cards is not fully utilized due to driver compatibility issues. The performance of Xabre 400 graphics cards is comparable to that of GeForce4 MX440. The highlight is the first graphics card that supports AGP 8X.

Xabre 400 Engineering sample

In April 2002, at the WinHEC conference, Trident announced the development of XP4 graphics cards. The XP4 prototype card was tested in August and the result was only 60% of the GeForce4 Ti 4200. On January 24, 2003, Trident said that because UMC's .13um process capacity was too low, the mass production of the XP4 graphics chip was postponed. In fact, Trident is already in trouble and is seeking to sell the graphics department to SiS. As a result, the XP4 graphics card has not been sold. The mobile version of Cyber XP4 was only sold after Trident sold. XP5 is XP4 that supports AGP 8x, and the development is almost completed in April, while the development of XP8 that supports DirectX 9 has been discontinued.

XP5 Engineering sample

On July 18, 2002, ATi released the Radeon 9700 PRO (R300 series) graphics card. It is the world's first display chip that fully supports DirectX 9. The floating-point high-precision and high-performance texture effects brought by DirectX 9.0 are very shocking to the dramatic changes in the game screen. It allowed ATi to outperform nVIDIA's flagship graphics card GeForce4 Ti4600 in performance for the first time in the GPU competition since 1999 by more than 50%. Since 2002, ATi began to fight against nVIDIA, becoming the two dominant players in the graphics card market.

Radeon 9700 PRO Engineering sample

 （From anandtech.com）

GeForce4 series products are mainly divided into high-end Ti, low-end MX, and GeForce4 Go for mobile computers. There is also a PCX 4300 that supports the PCI-E interface through the HSI bridge chip. The professional version has the Quadro4 series.

4.1 GeForce4 Ti4600

Model:P83

PCB Code:180-10083-0000-A01

Chip model:NV25-A2

Released on February 6, 2002. Chip date is 0152 weeks, PCB date is 0150 weeks.

GeForce4 Ti4600 Engineering sample

4.2 GeForce4 Ti4400

Model:P80

Chip model:NV25 A1C8

PCB Code:180-10080-0000-A01

Released on February 6, 2002. Chip date is 0140 weeks, PCB date is 0140 weeks.

GeForce4 Ti4400 Engineering sample

The AGP 8X version of NV25 is GeForce4 Ti4800 SE.

4.3 GeForce4 Ti4200

Model:P85

Chip model:NV25-A2-V

PCB Code:180-10085-0000-A01

Released on February 6, 2002. Chip date is 0152 weeks, PCB date is 0208 weeks.

GeForce4 Ti4200 Engineering sample

4.4 GeForce4 Ti4600 MAC Edition

Model:A84

PCB Code:180-10084-0000-A00

Chip model:NV25 Ultra A3
Mac Edition. Chip date is 0202 weeks, PCB date is 0202 weeks.

GeForce4 Ti4600 MAC Edition Engineering sample

4.5 GeForce4 Ti4800

Model:P152

PCB Code:180-10152-0000-A02

Chip model:GeForce4 Ti-8X A1

Released on September 25, 2002. Chip date is 0247 weeks, PCB date is 0243 weeks.

GeForce4 Ti4800 Engineering sample

 4.6 GeForce4 MX 420

Model:P71

Chip model:NV17-A28

PCB Code:180-10071-0000-A00

Released on February 6, 2002. Chip date is 0141 weeks, PCB date is 0146 weeks.

GeForce4 MX 420 Engineering sample

4.7 GeForce4 MX 440

Released on February 6, 2002.

4.7.1 E63

Chip model:NV17 A58

PCB Code:180-10063-0000-A01

The chip date is 0205 weeks, and the PCB date is 0212 weeks.

GeForce4 MX 440 Engineering sample

4.7.2 P70

PCB Code:180-10070-0000-A03

Chip model:NV17 A3

Chip date is 0148 weeks.

GeForce4 MX 440 Engineering sample

4.7.3 P112

PCB Code:180-10112-0000-A00

Chip model:NV18-A1　

AGP 8X, chip date is 0224 weeks, PCB date is 0227 weeks.

GeForce4 MX 440 Engineering sample

 4.7.4 P118

PCB Code:180-10118-0000-A00

Chip model:NV18B-L A3

AGP 8X, chip date 0239 weeks, PCB date 0243 weeks.

GeForce4 MX 440 Engineering sample

4.8 GeForce4 MX 460

Model:P75

PCB Code:180-P0075-0000-A00

Chip model:NV17 A2

Released on February 6, 2002. Chip date is 0143 weeks, PCB date is 0144 weeks.

GeForce4 MX 460 Engineering sample

4.9 Geforce PCX 4300

Model:P241

Chip model:Geforce MX4000 C1

PCB Code:180-10241-0000-A01

2Released on February 17, 004. Chip date is 0350 weeks, PCB date is 0402 weeks.

Geforce PCX 4300 Engineering sample

 4.10 Personal cinema MX420

Model:P79

PCB Code:180-10079-0000-A01

Chip model:MX420-A5

A product launched in response to ati’s All in Wonder graphics card. Chip date 0211 weeks, PCB DATE 0214Weeks.

Personal cinema MX420 Engineering sample

4.11 Personal cinema MX440-8X

Model:P104

PCB Code:180-10104-0000-A01

Chip model:MX440-8X A2

Chip date 0234 weeks, PCB DATE 0242Weeks.

Personal cinema MX440-8X Engineering sample

4.12 NVTV

Model:P309

PCB Code:180-10309-0000-A00

For Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE)

In response to the product launched by ati's TV Wonder, the PCB date is 0425 weeks.Later, DualTV MCE was also launched.

NVTV Engineering sample

4.13 Geforce4 410 Go MCM

nVIDIA uses MCM technology to package the Geforce4 410 Go core and 2 or 4 memory particles on a substrate. At that time, the MCM packaged display chip was aimed at mobile devices.

Model:E93

PCB Code:180-10093-0000-A06

Chip model:Geforce4 410 Go A5

16MB

Chip date is 0222 weeks, PCB DATE is 0225 weeks.

Geforce4 410 Go Engineering sample

4.14 Geforce4 420 Go

 4.14.1 E64

Chip model:SQ17 A4

PCB Code:180-10064-0000-A00

Chip date is 0150 weeks, PCB date is 0204 weeks.

Geforce4 420 Go Engineering sample

4.14.2 P71

Chip model:NV17LT A4

PCB Code:180-10071-0000-A03

Chip date is 0201 weeks, PCB date is 0202 weeks.

Geforce4 420 Go Engineering sample

4.14.3 E93

Geforce4 420 Go MCM

PCB Code:180-10093-0000-A06

Chip model:GF4 420Go A5

The chip date is 0222 weeks, and the PCB date is 0225 weeks.

Geforce4 420 Go Engineering sample

 4.15 Geforce4 440 Go

4.15.1 E63

PCB Code:180-10063-0000-A00

Chip model:NV17M A4

Chip date is 0150 weeks, PCB date is 0202 weeks.

Geforce4 440 Go Engineering sample

4.15.2 E93

Geforce4 440 Go MCM

PCB Code:180-10093-0000-A06

Chip model:GF4 440Go

Chip date is 0225 week, PCB date is 0228 week.

Geforce4 440 Go Engineering sample

4.16 Geforce4 460 Go

Model:E63

Chip model:Geforce4 460Go A5

PCB Code:180-10063-0000-A02

Chip date is 0216 week, PCB date is 0232 week.

Geforce4 460 Go Engineering sample

 4.17 Geforce4 488 Go

Model:E133

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A00

Chip model:GF4 488Go A3

Chip date 0251 weeks, PCB date 0252 weeks.

Geforce4 488 Go Engineering sample

The mobile series also has Geforce4 4200 Go (NV28M).

4.18 Quadro4 NVS 200

    NVS is Professional Business Graphic.The nVIDIA Quadro NVS desktop solutions enable multi-display graphics.

Model:P155

PCB Code:180-10155-0000-A01

Chip model:Quadro4 NVS200 A5

Chip date is 0218 weeks, PCB date is 0240 weeks.

Quadro4 NVS 200 Engineering sample

There are also Quadro4 NVS100 (NV17 P150 is similar to P71) and Quadro4 NVS50 (NV18).

4.19 Quadro4 NVS 400

Model:P77

Quadro4 NVS 400 64MB PCI(Dual NV17 chip).

Quadro4 NVS 400 Engineering sample

 4.20 Quadro4 750 XGL

Model:P80

Chip model:NV25GL-A18

PCB Code:180-10080-0000-A02

Released on February 19, 2002. Chip date is 0141 weeks, PCB date is 0142 weeks.

Quadro4 750 XGL Engineering sample

    And Quadro4 700 XGL uses P80 form factor, Quadro4 900 XGL uses P83 form factor, Quadro4 550 XGL uses similar form factor to P71, but uses different video memory. AGP 4X. 

4.21 Quadro4 380 XGL

Model:P112

PCB Code:180-10112-0000-A01

Chip model:NV18GL-A1

Released on November 12, 2002. Chip date is 0227 weeks, PCB date is 0229 weeks.

Quadro4 380 XGL Engineering sample

There is also Quadro4 580XGL, which is P115 board type and AGP 8X.

 4.22 Quadro4 980XGL

AGP 8X

4.22.1 E153

PCB Code:180-1-153-0000-A00

Chip model:Quadro 4 XGL A2

Released on November 12, 2002. Chip date is 0240 weeks, PCB date is 0245 weeks.

Quadro4 980 XGL Engineering sample

4.22.2 P152

Chip model:NV28GL A1M8

PCB Code:180-10152-0000-A01

The chip date is 0231 weeks, and the PCB date is 0232 weeks.

Quadro4 980 XGL Engineering sample

 4.23 Quadro4 500Go GL

Model:E63

PCB Code:180-10063-0000-A00

Chip model:NV17GLM A4

The mobile Edition was released on April 23, 2002. Chip date is 0201 weeks, PCB date is 0202 weeks.

Quadro4 500Go GL Engineering sample

There is also Quadro4 700Go GL (NV28 GLM).

4.24 nFroce2

On July 16, 2002, the nForce2 motherboard chipset nForce2 chipset was launched. The nForce2 chip integrates GeForce4 MX.

nFroce2 Engineering sample

(From deruberhanyok)

4.25 VISIONTEK

GeForce 4 Ti 4600 Mac Edition。

GeForce 4 Ti 4600 Mac Edition Engineering sample

4.26 Sparkle

    SP7300M4-64MB/DV will directly label the engineering sample of nVIDIA Personal cinema MX420-8X as a commodity, which may be displayed as a sample.

SP7300M4-64MB/DV Engineering sample

5. GeForce FX（NV30）series

After repeated delays, nVIDIA released the GeForce FX5800/5800 Ultra graphics cards on November 18, 2002, and the actual release date was in March of the following year. The NV30 chip is made with 130 nm transistors, operates at a frequency between 400 and 500 MHz, and can access 128MB GDDR2 via a 128-bit bus running at 800 MHz or 1000 MHz.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

One of the reasons why GeForce FX uses "FX" instead of the number "5" is that many former engineers of 3dfx  have participated in the development of GeForce FX. Due to the incomplete realization of the innovative design, and the imperfect GDDR2 memory. This causes the GeForce FX5800/FX5800 Ultra graphics cards to generate a lot of heat. The performance barely surpasses the Radeon 9700 Pro (R300 series) that made the limelight in 2002.

On March 6, 2003, ATi released the Radeon 9800 Pro. It is a version that optimizes the Radeon 9700 Pro, increases the frequency, and can well support GDDR2. Its performance exceeds the GeForce FX5800 Ultra graphics card.

Radeon 9800 Pro

（From ixbt.com）

Radeon 9800 Pro caught nVIDIA by surprise. I had to give up the immature GDDR2 video memory for the time being. On May 12, 2003, it released the GeForce FX5900 Ultra, which uses GDDR1 video memory, and has improved graphics quality, heat dissipation, and power consumption. This enables GeForce FX5900 Ultra/FX5950 Ultra to compete with Radeon 9800 Pro/9800 XT graphics cards.

On June 13, 2003, Xabre Graphics (XGI), a newly established subsidiary of SiS, acquired Trident’s graphics chip development business at an undisclosed price. On September 15, 2003, XGI announced the Volari V3/V5/V8 chip graphics card and the Volari Duo V8 Ultra graphics card with dual display chips. Among them, the Volari V3 graphics card is the Trident XP5 graphics card, and the Mobile Edition is called Volari XP5. The performance of Volari Duo V8 Ultra graphics card is slightly higher than that of GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, and sales are less. Because of its powerful appearance created by its dual display core, it is now the darling of collectors.

Volari Duo V8 Ultra Engineering sample

The second product in VIA’s Chrome product line is DeltaChrome S8, which was not developed smoothly. S3 designed the DeltaChrome S8 evaluation board in August 2003, and it was not officially released until July 28, 2004. It supports DirectX 9a, and its 3D processing capability is close to that of the mid-level graphics card FX 5700Ultra at that time.

 DeltaChrome S8 Engineering sample

（From legitreviews.com）

On July 23, 2002, Intel supported AWG (Arapahoe Work Group) officially released the PCI Express computer bus, referred to as PCI-E, and officially referred to as PCIe. Due to the close cooperation between ATi and Intel, it was the first to showcase the industry's first graphics card using PCI Express at IDF2003 on September 19, 2003 (week 0338). The specific model of this card was not announced. The chip shown in the picture is labeled "215S8KAGA11F", which has integrated PCI-E. It is an engineering sample chip of RV380 (X600). It can be seen that the first graphics card in the industry that uses PCI Express is Radeon X600, and the PCB date is 0330 weeks.

Radeon X600 Engineering sample

Since the publication of the PCI Express interface standard, nVIDIA's R&D pace has lagged. The solution is to design the AGP-to-PCI Express bridge chip BR02. BR02 stands for Bridge Revision 02, also known as High Speed Interconnect (HSI). It can convert AGP signals to PCI-E signals, and it can also convert PCI-E signals to AGP signals. On February 17, 2004 (0408 week), nVIDIA released the GeForce PCX series of graphics cards using the BR02 chip. The BR02-A1 ES chip in the picture is dated 0345 weeks. It seems to feel the huge pressure of ATi and accelerate the finalization. The BR02-A2 ES chip has a date of 0407 weeks and is finally finalized in A2.

GeForce PCX5300 Engineering sample

    GeForce PCX is mainly based on the unsuccessful old product GeForce FX series, and its conversion performance will be slightly lost, so the bridge chip has been criticized. ATi also said: "Where is there a way to build a bridge". In the period of GeForce 6 and GeForce 7, the advantage of the BR02 chip finally emerged, that is, only one interface chip needs to be developed. ATi chips are all native, that is, a single chip launches native PCI-E and native AGP versions at the same time. Finally, due to cost pressures, the Rialto unidirectional bridge chip that converts PCI-E signals to AGP was also developed.

The embarrassing situation of nVIDIA's lagging behind PCI-E interface graphics cards in desktop computers prompted it to cooperate with many notebook computer manufacturers to announce the mobile PCI Express Module (MXM) specifications for notebook computers on May 17, 2004. The full name of MXM technology is Mobile PCI eXpress Module.

GeForce PCX5300 MXM Engineering sample

(From hexus.net)

    nVIDIA also released the entry-level and mid-range versions of GeForce FX: mid-range FX5600 (NV31), FX5700 (NV36) and entry-level FX5200/5500/5100 (NV34), as well as the corresponding mobile version.

5.1 GeForce FX5800/FX5800 Ultra

5.1.1 Rev A00

There are two types of Rev A00 from GeForce FX, T01 using GDDR1 video memory and P126 using GDDR2. There is no difference between T01 and P126 from the front, except that the capacitor used by T01 is slightly smaller.

5.1.1.1 T01

PCB Code:180-10T01-0000-A00

At the beginning of August 2002, the first NV30 silicon taped-out. It takes about 4 weeks (0236 weeks) to package the chips, and 4 weeks (0240 weeks) to test the chips. The PCB date of this T01 is 0240 weeks, which should be the earliest version. The NV30 chip on the PCB is the first packaged chip, and the chip is marked as follows:

TMG177-12"-PI8124（12 inch wafer）

N91517.06（Unknown）

EHS-FCBGA 1152（External Heat Spreader Flip Chip BGA 1152 Pin）

Ibiden Daisy Chain（Ibiden Co Ltd ,Daisy Chain Topology）

T01 is a chip evaluation board for NV30 chip, using mature and reliable MBGA package GDDR1 video memory. After the verification is feasible, directly copy the P126 product evaluation board/reference board using GDDR2 video memory.

The cooling system is the prototype of GeForce FX5800 (QUADRO 2000). The fan power cable is in the lower left corner, and the length is not enough to plug into the upper right socket. The lower left socket is blocked by the heat sink. It was pasted with glue on the lower left fan socket 3 cm to the left. Suspected exhibit samples.

GeForce FX5800 Engineering sample

5.1.1.2 P126

    Samsung developed the industry's first 1Gbps 128Mb GDDR2 SDRAM in July 2002. nVIDIA GeForce FX is the first graphics card to use GDDR2. On November 18, 2002 (0247 week), COMDEX2002 released GeForce FX. The promotional picture of GeForce FX at that time is the following picture. The Samsung graphics memory particles on the engineering sample card of the picture are the ES version and the date is 0238 weeks. The PCB date should be 0240 or 0241 weeks.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

The GeForce FX of this kind of turbo fan was also circulated on COMDEX 2002. It seems that the design cost is slightly higher and was abandoned.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

 （From ixbtlabs.com）

5.1.2 Rev A01

PCB Code:180-10126-0000-A01

Chip model:NV30GL A1

    The video memory particle date is 0241 weeks, which is the official version. The PCB date is 0242 weeks, the NV30 chip date is 0243 weeks, and the version is A1. Although the chip is marked as NV30GL, it is not distinguished as QUADRO and GeForce FX. When the NV30 chip is the A2 version, it is marked as GeForce FX to indicate formal mass production, and marked as QUADRO 2000 is still in the engineering sample stage.
    This heat dissipation system is optional for GeForce FX. Due to its low heat dissipation capacity, it is mainly used for the heat dissipation of low-end graphics cards. 

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

5.1.3 Rev A02

PCB Code:180-10126-0000-A02

Chip model:NV30GL A1

    The chip date is 0244 weeks, and the PCB date is 0244 weeks.
    This slightly lower cost turbo radiator (nVIDIA's FX Flow cooling technology) was selected and finally adopted.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

5.1.4 Rev A03

PCB Code:180-10126-0000-A03

    PCB date is 0245 weeks.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

5.1.5 Rev A04

PCB Code:180-10126-0000-A04

PCB date is 0249 weeks.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

5.1.6 Rev A05

PCB Code:180-10126-0000-A05

PCB date is 0251 weeks.

  This revised version has been revised and officially finalized. This card is still undergoing important tests on GDDR2 video memory and even the chip. It can be seen that until the final GeForce FX5800 Ultra is finalized, there are still many problems in the hardware, but time is not waiting, so we can only bet on the driver. The final engineering sample PCB date is 0301 weeks.

GeForce FX5800 Ultra Engineering sample

 5.2 GeForce FX5200/FX5200 Ultra

Released on March 6, 2003.

5.2.1 E133

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Chip model:NV34 A1B2 ES

Chip date is 0303 weeks, PCB date is 0305 weeks.

GeForce FX5200 Engineering sample

5.2.2 P162

Chip model:NV34-A2

PCB Code:180-10162-0000-A03

Chip date is 0309 weeks, PCB date is 0309 weeks.

GeForce FX5200 Engineering sample

 5.2.3 P140

PCB Code:180-10140-0000-A01

Chip model:NV34U A2

Chip date is 0309 weeks, PCB date is 0309 weeks.

GeForce FX5200 Ultra Engineering sample

5.3 GeForce FX5600/FX5600 Ultra

Released on March 6, 2003.

5.3.1 P141

PCB Code:180-10141-0000-A01

Chip model:NV31 A1+M9 ES

Chip date is 0305 weeks, PCB date is 0309 weeks.

GeForce FX5600 Engineering sample

5.3.2 P140

Chip model:NV31FC A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10140-0000-A01

Chip date is 0318 weeks, PCB date is 0320 weeks.

GeForce FX5600 Ultra Engineering sample

 5.4 GeForce FX5700/FX5700 Ultra

Released on October 23, 2003.

5.4.1 P193

Chip model:NV36 A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10193-0000-A00

    Chip date is 0333 weeks, PCB date is 0334 weeks. Most of nVIDIA's PCBs are green, and red ones are very rare.

GeForce FX5700 Engineering sample

5.4.2 E183

Chip model:NV36S A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10183-0000-A00

Chip date is 0334 weeks, PCB date is 0330 weeks.

GeForce FX5700 Engineering sample

5.4.3 P190

PCB Code:180-10190-0000-A03

Chip model:GF-FX-5700-U-A1

Chip date is 0346 weeks, PCB date is 0342 weeks.

GeForce FX5700 Ultra Engineering sample

5.5 GeForce FX5900/FX5900 Ultra

2003年5月12日发布。

5.5.1 P172-A00

Chip model:NV35 A1

PCB Code:180-10172-0000-A00

Chip date is 0310 weeks.

GeForce FX5900 Engineering sample

5.5.2 P172-B00

Chip model:NV35-U-A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10172-0000-B00

Chip date is 0329 weeks, PCB date is 0335 weeks.

GeForce FX5900 Ultra Engineering sample

5.6 GeForce FX5950 Ultra

On October 23, 2003, nVIDIA released the GeForce FX5950 Ultra.

Model:P172-B00

Chip model:FX5900U-A1

PCB Code:180-10172-0000-B00

Chip date is 0329 weeks, PCB date is 0333 weeks.

GeForce FX5950 UltraEngineering sample

5.7 Personal cinema FX5200

5.7.1 P143

PCB Code:180-10143-0000-B01

Chip model:FX5200 A2

Chip date is 0318 weeks, PCB date is 0341 weeks.

Personal cinema FX5200 Engineering sample

 5.7.2 P164

PCB Code:180-10164-0000-A01

Chip model:NV34 A2 ES

The chip date is 0308 weeks, and the PCB date is 0306 weeks.

Personal cinema FX5200 Engineering sample

5.8 Personal cinema FX5600

5.8.1 P143 A00

Chip model:NV31 A1+9 ES

PCB Code:180-10143-0000-A00

Chip date is 0310 weeks, PCB date is 0309 weeks.

Personal cinema FX5600 Engineering sample

5.8.2 P143 B00

Chip model:FX5600 A1

PCB Code:180-10143-0000-B00

Chip date is 0321 weeks, PCB date is 0306 weeks.

Personal cinema FX5600 Engineering sample

5.8.3 P164

PCB Code:180-10164-0000-A01

Chip model:NV31 A1+9 ES

Chip date is 0310 weeks, PCB date is 0327 weeks.

Personal cinema FX5600 Engineering sample

5.9 Personal cinema FX5700

Model:P178

PCB Code:180-10178-0000-A02

Chip model:FX5700 A1

Chip date is 0403 weeks, PCB date is 0404 weeks.

Personal cinema FX5700 Engineering sample

And Personal Cinema FX5900 is a GeForce FX5900 graphics card equipped with a video daughter card.

 5.10 GeForce PCX5900

On February 17, 2004, nVIDIA released GeForce PCX series graphics cards: GeForce PCX5950 (NV35), GeForce PCX5750 (NV36), GeForce PCX5300 (NV34) and GeForce PCX4300 (GeForce4 MX 4000), which are essentially AGPs with bridge chip BR02 Card.

5.10.1 P268 A00

Chip model:5900XT

PCB Code:180-10268-0000-A00

Chip date is 0336 weeks, PCB date is 0409 weeks.

GeForce PCX5900 Engineering sample

 5.10.2 P268 A01

Chip model:5900XT

PCB Code:180-10268-0000-A01

Chip date is 0349 weeks, PCB date is 0421 weeks.

GeForce PCX5900 Engineering sample

nVIDIA later changed the name of GeForce PCX5950 to Geforce PCX5900, but there are still manufacturers using this form factor to make the so-called GeForce PCX5950 graphics card.

5.11 GeForce PCX5300

5.11.1 E286

Chip model:GF-FX-5200-B1

PCB Code:180-10286-0000-B00

Chip date 0404 week, PCB date 0407 week.

GeForce PCX5300 Engineering sample

5.11.2 P241

Chip model:FX5200 B1S1 ES

PCB Code:180-10241-0000-A01

The chip date is 0344 weeks, and the PCB date is 0352 weeks. The BR02-A2 ES chip date is 0407 weeks.

GeForce PCX5300 Engineering sample

GeForce PCX 5750 (NV36) is a P269 form factor with a similar appearance to the P241.

5.12 GeForce PCX5300 MCM

Used for mobile devices and MXM interface graphics cards.

5.12.1 P233

PCB Code:180-10233-0000-B01

Chip model:NV37 A1 ES

Chip date is 0405 weeks, PCB date is 0405 weeks.

GeForce PCX5300 MCM Engineering sample

MCM (Multi-Chip Module) is a packaging and packaging technology for bare dies, chips, and integrated circuits. This packaging technology can encapsulate two or more dies on one substrate. Usually, only one display core die is packaged in the display chip. As mentioned earlier, nVIDIA GeForce4 Go once packaged the display core and 2 or 4 video memories on a base to save space and reduce energy consumption. It is mostly used on mobile chips. Entering the PCI-E era, nVIDIA’s BR02 bridge chip is packaged on the same base with the display chip and video memory through MCM packaging.

 5.12.2 E233

PCB Code:180-10233-0000-A00

PCB date is 0352 weeks. The BR02 chip is packaged on the same base as the graphics chip and video memory.

GeForce PCX5300 MCM Engineering sample

 5.13 GeForce FX Go5100

Model:E133

Chip model:Go5100 A3 ES

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0319 week, PCB date is 0317 week.

GeForce FX Go5100 Engineering sample

5.14 GeForce FX Go5200

5.14.1 E133

Chip model:Go5200 A2

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0310 weeks, PCB date is 0305 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5200 Engineering sample

 5.14.2 E134

Chip model:Go5200 A3 ES 64M

PCB Code:180-10134-0000-A02

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0320 weeks, PCB date is 0319 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5200 MCM Engineering sample

5.14.3 E15

PCB Code:180-10015-0000-A00

Chip model:MVP34 A2 ES 64MB

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0309 weeks, PCB date is 0317 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5200 MCM Engineering sample

5.15 GeForce FX Go5250

Model:E133

Chip model:Go5250 A3

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0327 weeks, PCB date is 0329 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5250 Engineering sample

5.16 GeForce FX Go5300

Model:E133

Chip model:Go5300 A2

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0327 weeks, PCB date is 0329 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5300 Engineering sample

5.17 GeForce FX Go5600

5.17.1 E133

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Chip model:Go5600 A1

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0338 weeks, PCB date is 0308 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5600 Engineering sample

GeForce FX Go5600 MCM

5.17.2 E134

PCB Code:180-10134-0000-A00

Chip model:MAP31 A1 ES

Mobile Edition. The chip date is 0304 weeks, and the PCB date is 0251 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5600 MCM Engineering sample

5.18 GeForce FX Go5650

Model:E133

Chip model:Go5650 A1

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0330 weeks, PCB date is 0315 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5650 Engineering sample

5.19 GeForce FX Go5700

5.19.1 E183

Chip model:NV36M A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10183-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0344 weeks, PCB date is 0344 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5700 Engineering sample

5.19.2 P183

Chip model:GF-FX-Go5700 A1

PCB Code:180-10183-0000-A01

Mobile Edition. Chip date is 0346 weeks, PCB date is 0350 weeks.

GeForce FX Go5700 Engineering sample

5.20 Quadro FX1000

Model:P126

PCB Code:180-10126-0000-A04

Chip model:NV30GL A1

Released on January 21, 2003. The chip date is 0244 weeks, and the PCB date is 0249 weeks.The official version of Quadro FX1000 adopts the P128 form factor of Quadro FX2000.

Quadro FX1000 Engineering sample

 5.21 Quadro FX2000

Model:P128

PCB Code:180-10128-0000-A00

Chip model:FX2000-A2X-ES

Released on January 21, 2003. The chip date is 0252 weeks, and the PCB date is 0301 weeks.
The official version of Quadro FX2000 does not use GeForce FX5800 Ultra's cooling system.

Quadro FX2000 Engineering sample

5.22 Quadro FX3000

Released on July 22, 2003.

5.22.1 P170-B01

Chip model:NV35GL A1S2 ES

PCB Code:180-10170-0000-B01

Chip date is 0314 weeks, PCB date is 0314 weeks.

Quadro FX3000 Engineering sample

 5.22.2 E174-A00

PCB Code:180-10174-0000-A00

Chip model:FX3000 A1

Chip date is 0319 weeks, PCB date is 0321 weeks. Evaluation board, not disassembled, the chip should be ES.

Quadro FX3000 Engineering sample

5.22.3 P171-B00

PCB Code:180-10171-0000-B00

Chip model:FX3000 A1

Chip date is 0333 weeks, PCB date is 0334 weeks.

Quadro FX3000 Engineering sample

5.22.4 P171-A01

Chip model:Quadro FX3000 A1

PCB Code:180-10171-0000-A01

    Chip date is 0320 weeks, PCB date is 0325 weeks.This board type Quadro FX3000 graphics card adds P154 daughter card (support Framelock and Genlock function) is Quadro FX3000G.

Quadro FX3000 Engineering sample

5.23 Quadro FX500

Released on May 21, 2003.

5.23.1 P162

Chip model:NV34GL A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10162-0000-A02

Chip date is 0305 weeks, PCB date is 0307 weeks.

Quadro FX500 Engineering sample

5.23.2 P165

Chip model:QUADRO FX 500 B1

PCB Code:180-10165-0000-A01

Chip date is 0405 weeks, PCB date is 0407 weeks.

Quadro FX500 Engineering sample

 5.24 Quadro FX700

Released on March 17, 2004.

5.24.1 E133

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A00

Chip model:NV31GL_A1+

The chip date is 0302 weeks, and the PCB date is 0252 weeks.

Quadro FX700 Engineering sample

5.24.2 P141

Chip model:NV31GL A1+

PCB Code:

    Prototype cards without PCB Code are very rare and may be 180-10141-0000-A01.
    Chip date is 0302 weeks, PCB date is 0250 weeks.

Quadro FX700 Engineering sample

There are also Quadro FX1100 (NV36GL) using P192 form factor, Quadro FX1300 (NV36GL) using P268 (GeForce PCX 5900/5950) form factor, and nVIDIA NVS 280 (NV34). 

5.25 Quadro FX Go700

Model:E133

Chip model:NV31GLM A1

PCB Code:180-10133-0000-A01

Released on June 25, 2003. Mobile version, chip date is 0312 weeks, PCB date is 0313 weeks.

Quadro FX Go700 Engineering sample

5.26 Quadro FX Go1000

Model:E183

PCB Code:180-10183-0000-A01

Chip model:Go1000 A1

Released on February 25, 2004. Mobile version, chip date 0348 weeks, PCB date 0350 weeks.

Quadro FX Go1000 Engineering sample

5.27 Abit

The Siluro GeForce FX 5800 prototype card uses nVIDIA's T01 prototype card to promote the new product and uses the "OTES III" cooling system.

Siluro GeForce FX 5800 Engineering sample

（From computerbase.de）

6.GeForce 6 （NV40）series

nVIDIA's GeForce4 and GeForceFX series are unable to kill ati's R300 series, and their dominance is at stake. On April 14, 2004, nVIDIA released NV40 with a new architecture and redesign.

GeForce 6800 Ultra Engineering sample

The GeForce 6800 Ultra rendering pipeline has grown to 16 for the first time, using GDDR3 memory frequency to reach 1.1GHz, with a large number of transistors (222 million) but very efficient, and the performance is twice that of ATi Radeon 9800XT. ATi released the Radeon X800 Pro (R420) of the R400 series on May 4, 2004. Because it does not support DX 9.0c, it still loses to the GeForce 6800 Ultra, and both technology and performance lag behind. It was not until February 28, 2005 that ATi optimized the manufacturing process on the basis of the X800 and launched the Radeon X850 (R480) after improvement. But it was crushed by nVIDIA's SLI technology.

Radeon X850 Engineering sample

The NV45 (GeForce 6800 Ultra) released by nVIDIA on June 28, 2004 is an NV40 with an AGP-to-PCI Express bridge. The implementation of the PCI-E interface standard gave birth to SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology. 3dfx  developed SLI (Scan Line Interleave) technology as early as 1995, and its original Voodoo graphics card (Obsidian SB50) reserved SLI interfaces. SLI technology can bridge two Voodoo graphics cards to obtain a 3D performance improvement, which is about 50% higher, which is equivalent to 1.5 voodoo cards.

3dfx  Obsidian 100DB-4440 Qualification Sample

After nVIDIA acquired 3dfx , it improved the SLI technology and created an SLI model with a wide range of applications and high work efficiency with the aid of the new PCI-E interface. On the launch day of NV45 (GeForce 6800 Ultra), nVIDIA also announced the official promotional image of GeForce 6800 Ultra SLI.

GeForce 6800 Ultra SLI

nVIDIA first only released the high-end series of GeForce 6800 graphics cards to support this technology, and later it extended it to the full range of GeForce 6 series. In fact, the performance of the two cards in SLI mode is increased by about 50% on average, and low-end graphics cards are more efficient than high-end graphics cards.
    On June 1, 2005, nearly a year after SLI was released, ATi finally responded with CrossFire technology. nVIDIA's SLI technology connects two identical graphics cards through a bridged daughter card, but ATi uses a DVI dedicated cable to connect the CrossFire Edition main card and the conventional graphics card. On the same day, ATi also announced the official promotional pictures of the Radeon X850 Crossfire Link.Radeon X850 CrossFire

The performance of ati's two-card crossfire mode is improved by less than 50% on average. It is commonly known that the two-card crossfire is only equivalent to 1.5 graphics cards, which is almost the same as nVIDIA. ati's CrossFire technology requires a special CrossFire main card. Four chips including FPGA, ROM, DVI, RAMDAC, a special DVI interface, and complex DVI cables are added to the card. The cost is high and assembly is troublesome. This seemingly small design failure of CrossFire has caused the rapid loss of the hard-won high-end user base, which has a fatal impact on ati. In this round of N/A GPU fierce battle, ATi is very passive, and nVIDIA has become stronger since then.

X850 CrossFire master card Engineering sample

Seeing that N/A has even launched dual-card interconnection one after another, XGI has the experience that Volari Duo V8 Ultra graphics cards that have previously taken out dual-core cards have been beaten by N/A's graphics cards. XGI had to give up the idea of GPU competition. XGI released a brand-new product-Volari 8300 on November 9, 2005, focusing on excellent video playback quality, no longer talking about 3D performance. Its 3D performance is indeed not flattering, only comparable to GeForce 6200TC. Although XGI was so low-key, it was difficult to gain a foothold in the end. On March 6, 2006, ATi acquired part of XGI's business, and XGI withdrew from the GPU competition.

Volari 8300 Engineering sample

With nVIDIA's Jedi counterattack, ATi swallowed the bitter pill of squeezing toothpaste. ati's acquisition of XGI is also to obtain the technical reserves needed to develop the R600 display chip. Intent to reverse the defeat through the innovative design of the R600 display chip. Maybe at this time nVIDIA is too powerful, ATi has a psychological shadow. When AMD extended its olive branch, ATi immediately sold itself completely on October 25, 2006, becoming the most inexplicable loser in the GPU hegemony. Fortunately, AMD has joined the GPU race. The R600 chip prototype graphics card has become the swan song of ATi graphics cards. According to ati's naming rules, it should be called X2900XTX; according to AMD's naming rules, it is called HD2900XTX, and now collectively referred to as HD2900XTX.

 HD2900XTX Engineering sample

On March 9, 2005, VIA announced GammaChrome S18. GammaChrome S18 is the first PCI-E graphics card from S3 Graphics, using a 0.13 micron manufacturing process. It has strong 2D and movie processing capabilities, and 3D processing capabilities are close to that of mid-level graphics cards at the time, surpassing nVIDIA GeForce 6200TC.

GammaChrome S18 Engineering sample

In this GPU competition, VIA survived the N/A cracks, but as the third strongest GPU, it still persisted for several years. On January 3, 2011, it announced the launch of the world's first eH1 graphics card specifically designed for the embedded market, for digital signage and advertising, POS, POI, games or any embedded applications that require complex graphics. Equipped with the last display chip developed by S3-Chrome 5400E embedded display chip. The Chrome 5400E chip is an embedded version of the Chrome 540 GTX chip released on February 12, 2009. It can be seen that the research and development work of S3 in the past two years has been nearly suspended. On July 6, 2011, VIA sold S3 Graphics, leaving only two dominant GPUs.

VIA eH1 Engineering sample

    When VIA's S3 was in recession in 2009, Intel tried to replace it and launched the Larrabee graphics card in early 2009. Intel is the absolute boss of integrated graphics card. Intel thinks it is easier to be the third overlord of discrete graphics card and GPU. As a result, the GPU was made into a CPU, so I had no choice but to bid farewell to the Discrete graphics card and switch to the Core graphics card. But the third overlord of the GPU, if it is not the Intel with the background, who else can it be?

Larrabee Engineering sample

    In this GPU competition dominated by nVIDIA, all the original opponents were defeated by nVIDIA. Even if some alliances and some mergers and acquisitions, they still do not constitute a powerful threat to nVIDIA. 

In addition to the GeForce 6800 series, GeForce 6 also includes the GeForce 6600, GeForce 6500, and GeForce 6200 series; the mobile version of GeForce Go 6800/6600/6400/6200; the professional version of Quadro 1400/1500/3400/3450.

6.1 GeForce 6800 Ultra

6.1.1 AGP

Model:P201

PCB Code:180-10201-0000-A02

Chip model:NV40-U-A1 ES

The release date was May 4, 2004 (0419 week). Chip date is 0413 weeks, PCB date is 0414 weeks.

GeForce 6800 Ultra Engineering sample

6.1.2 AGP Pro

Geforce6800 Ultra DDL

Model:A220

PCB Code:180-10220-0000-A01

Chip model:Geforce 6800U A1

Released on April 14, 2004. APPLE Power Mac G5 dedicated.

Geforce6800 Ultra DDL Engineering sample

6.1.3 PCI-E

Model:P211

PCB Code:180-10211-0000-A00

Chip model:NV45-A1-ES

Released on June 28, 2004. PCB date is 0411 weeks, chip date is 0411 weeks.

GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI-E Engineering sample

There is also 512MB of double-sided video memory of the P214 form factor, which was released on March 14, 2005.

6.2 GeForce 6800

6.2.1 AGP

Release date April 14, 2004 (0416 week).

6.2.1.1 P201

PCB Code:180-10201-0000-A00

Chip model:NV40 A1 ES

Chip date is 0409 weeks, PCB date is 0408 weeks.

GeForce 6800 Engineering sample

6.2.1.2 P212

PCB Code:180-10212-0000-A01

Chip model:GF-6800-A1

GeForce 6800 Engineering sample

6.2.2 PCI-E

Release date November 8, 2004 (0446 week).

6.1.2.1 E275

PCB Code:180-10275-0000-A02

Chip model:NV41 A2 ES

Chip date is 0431 weeks, PCB date is 0438 weeks.

GeForce 6800 PCI-E Engineering sample

6.2.2.2 P260

PCB Code:180-10260-0000-A01

Chip model:NV41-ES

PCB date is 0423 weeks, chip date is 0428 weeks.

GeForce 6800 PCI-E Engineering sample

    There are also GeForce 6800GS series graphics cards, which have the same core structure as the GeForce 6800 series, except that the operating frequency is slightly higher. The core structure of the GeForce 6800 GTO series is the same as the GeForce 6800GS series and GeForce 6800 series, and the operating frequency is somewhere in between. 

6.3 GeForce 6800GT

6.3.1 AGP

Model:P201

Chip model:NV40 A1 ES

PCB Code:180-10201-0000-A01

Released on May 4, 2004. PCB date is 0412 weeks, chip date is 0412 weeks.

GeForce 6800GT Engineering sample

6.3.2 AGP Pro

Geforce 6800 GT DDL

Model:A220

PCB Code:180-10220-0000-A04

Chip model:Geforce 6800 GT A1

Released on April 14, 2004. APPLE Power Mac G5 dedicated.

Geforce 6800 GT DDL Engineering sample

6.3.3 PCI-E

Model:P211

PCB Code:180-10211-0000-A03

Chip model:GF-6800-GT-A1/NV45 A1 ES

The release date was June 28, 2004 (0427 week). The PCB date is 0427 weeks, and the chip date is 0425/0429 weeks.

GeForce 6800GT PCI-E  Engineering sample

The core structure of the GeForce 6800GT series is the same as the GeForce 6800 Ultra series, but the operating frequency is slightly lower.

6.4 GeForce 6800LE

Model:P212

PCB Code:180-10212-0000-A01

On April 14, 2004, the PCB date was 0425 weeks, and the chip date was 0422 weeks.

GeForce 6800LE Engineering sample

    PCI-E version, the board type is P260, and the release date is July 22, 2004 (0430 week). The core structure of the GeForce 6800XT series is the same as the GeForce 6800LE series, but the operating frequency is slightly higher.

6.5 Geforce 6200

6.5.1 AGP

Model:P382

PCB Code:180-10382-0000-A00

Chip model:GF-6200-AGP-A1 NOM

Released on October 12, 2004. Chip date is 0517 weeks, PCB date is 0520 weeks.

Geforce 6200 Engineering sample

6.5.2 PCI-E

Released on January 17, 2005.

6.5.2.1 E233

PCB Code:180-10233-0000-C00

Chip model:NV43 A1 ES

Chip date is 0422 weeks, PCB date is 0422 weeks.

Geforce 6200 PCI-E  Engineering sample

6.5.2.2 P282

PCB Code:180-10282-0000-A01

Chip model:NV44-A1-ES

Chip date is 0439 weeks, PCB date is 0422 weeks.

Geforce 6200 PCI-E  Engineering sample

6.6 GeForce 6200 TurboCache

Model:P262

PCB Code:180-10262-0000-A01

Chip model:NV44 NTB ES

Released on December 15, 2004. Chip date is 0449 weeks, PCB date is 0422 weeks.

GeForce 6200 TC Engineering sample

6.7 Geforce 6500

Model:P280

PCB Code:180-10280-0000-A01

Chip model:GF6500-A2/NV44 U NPB 

Released on October 1, 2005. Chip date is 0449 weeks, PCB date is 0422 weeks.

Geforce 6500 Engineering sample

6.8 Geforce 6600

2004 年 8 月 12 日发布。

6.8.1 P216

PCB Code:180-10216-0000-A00

Chip model:NV43-A1-ES

Chip date is 0422 weeks, PCB date is 0421 weeks.

Geforce 6600 Engineering sample

6.8.2 P229

PCB Code:180-10229-0000-B02

Chip model:NV43-A2-ES

Chip date is 0429 weeks, PCB date is 0421 weeks.

Geforce 6600 Engineering sample

6.9 Geforce 6600GT

Released on August 12, 2004.

6.9.1 P216

PCB Code:180-10216-0000-A03

Chip model:GF6600GT A4

Chip date is 0449 weeks, PCB date is 0446 weeks.

Geforce 6600GT Engineering sample

6.9.2 P229

PCB Code:180-10229-0000-B02

Chip model:GF6600GT A2

Chip date is 0430 weeks, PCB date is 0432 weeks.

Geforce 6600GT Engineering sample

6.10 Personal cinema 6800

Model:P260

Personal cinema 6800 is relatively rare.

Personal cinema 6800 Engineering sample

（From Hyins）

 6.11 Geforce Go 6200

Model:E233

PCB Code:180-10233-0000-E00

Chip model:NV44M-A1-ES

Released in February 2005, chip date 0439, PCB date 0438 weeks.

Geforce Go 6200 Engineering sample

6.12 Geforce Go 6800

Model:E275

PCB Code:180-10275-0000-A02

Chip model:GO6800 B1

Released in February 2005, the PCB date is 0440 weeks, and the chip is 0452 weeks.

Geforce Go 6800 Engineering sample

6.13 Quadro FX 4000SDi

Model:P201

Quadro FX 4000SDi Engineering sample

The main card is similar to GeForce 6800 GT.
In addition, there are Quadro NVS 285 (NV44), Quadro NVS 440 (2× NV43) and Quadro FX Go1400 (NV41GLM).

    The graphics card pictures in this article are based on my graphics card collection, but I also borrowed some of the pictures. I would like to express my sincere thanks! Now take a photo with an nVIDIA graphics card to conclude this article.

    In September 2014, nVIDIA China learned that I was the person with the largest collection of nVIDIA graphics cards, and made a special trip to take this photo. I am also the person with the largest collection of graphics cards in the world, with more than 3,000 graphics cards, 1,000 of which are rare engineering samples. Twenty years of collecting experience has contributed to the publication of articles on the history of nVIDIA, ATi, Intel, and 3dfx  graphics cards. I hope you will like them and promote the collection of graphics cards together.

Attachment: Interpretation of the graphics card suffix:
Ultra: The strongest in this series, the flagship product.
GTX: The performance is between GTS and Ultra. Generally, it is the first high-end product released by nVIDIA.
GTS: The performance is below GTX, which is a bit vague compared to GT.
GT: The frequency and pipeline are improved compared with LE GS SE XT.
GS: The performance is below GT, and the frequency, rendering pipeline or video memory bit width has been reduced.
LE: The abbreviation of "Limit Edition", which means the limited edition, representing the entry-level product in a certain production series.
SE: Similar to LE.
XT: Means the reduced frequency version, which reduces the frequency of the standard version and cuts the pipeline for some products.
MX: GeForce2/4 series, low-end products
TI: GeForce2/3/4 series, high-end products