NVIDIA MAXtreme 6 Accelerator Unleashes the Power of Discreet’s Award-Winning Visual Effects Software

For further information, contact:

Charlie Rasch
NVIDIA Corporation
(408) 486-8236
crasch@nvidia.com 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SANTA CLARA, CA—FEBRUARY 19, 2004—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its MAXtreme 6 accelerator, a custom tool that dramatically increases the performance of Discreet 3ds max® 6 software on NVIDIA Quadro® professional graphics solutions. In recent testing, MAXtreme 6 performance increased up to 74% over 3ds max 6 using the default OpenGL driver on Discreet’s internally developed and sanctioned benchmark, an appreciable difference even the untrained eye can detect.  This free, fully certified productivity boost to 3ds max 6 and NVIDIA Quadro users is now available on the NVIDIA Web site at http://www.nvidia.com/object/maxtreme_6.html.

“Over the years, NVIDIA has been a strong, committed partner to Discreet and the 3ds max user community,” said Chris Ford, animation product line manager at Discreet. “NVIDIA follows through on its promises of ‘value-added solutions.’ They put their development teams to work and, as a result of NVIDIA software development efforts, our joint customers will benefit tremendously from the added muscle MAXtreme brings to the table.”

Developed by NVIDIA in close collaboration with Discreet, MAXtreme 6 further enhances 3ds max 6 user productivity by allowing professionals to control the application’s viewport display quality and real-time rendering speed. MAXtreme 6 is supported on the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and Windows XP operating systems, and is optimized for use with the full line of NVIDIA Quadro-based graphics solutions.
 
About 3ds max
Discreet 3ds max software has the largest installed base in the 3D industry and is the preferred 3D software in the core production environment for UBI Soft, Rockstar Games, Electronic Arts, HOK, Ellerbe Becket, Blur Studios, Frantic Films, Digital Dimensions—along with other leading design and entertainment firms. From the latest radical Burton snowboard designs and the first 3D design visualization software used by the Frank Lloyd Wright® Taliesin® West School of Architecture, to the enthralling visual effects scenes found in The Last Samurai and the interactive twists and turns found in the best-selling Microsoft Xbox games Grand Theft Auto: Vice and Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time; 3ds max continues its widespread popularity and leadership as the preferred 3D production solution of top artists and designers worldwide.

About Discreet
Discreet empowers media professionals to realize the visual experience and transform their vision into reality. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery—across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, and design visualization. Discreet is based in Montreal, Quebec and is a division of Autodesk, Inc, the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. www.discreet.com.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technology dedicated to creating products that enhance the interactive experience on consumer and professional computing platforms.  Its graphics and communications processors have broad market reach and are incorporated into a wide variety of computing platforms, including consumer digital-media PCs, enterprise PCs, professional workstations, digital content creation systems, notebook PCs, military navigation systems, and video game consoles.  NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and employs more than 1,800 people worldwide.  For more information, visit the Company’s Web site at www.nvidia.com.

Certain statements in this press release, including any statements relating to the Company's performance expectations for NVIDIA's family of products and expectations of continued revenue growth, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations.  Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and dependence of the Company on third-party manufacturers, general industry trends including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of the Company's new products, and the Company's dependence on third-party developers and publishers.  Investors are advised to read the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Certain Business Risks," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

# # #

Copyright © 2004 NVIDIA Corporation.  All rights reserved.  All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.  Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on NVIDIA, please visit the NVIDIA Press Room at http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=press_room.