3D Processor Company of Choice Continues to Lead the Performance Mainstream Market

For Immediate Release

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - February 23, 1998 - NVIDIA™ Corporation today unveiled the RIVA 128ZX™ processor, the latest addition to the company's award winning, industry-acclaimed RIVA 128™ processor family. Coupled with new enhanced ZX software drivers, the RIVA 128ZX processor offers the industry's fastest 3D processing capability with a Ziff Davis 3D WinBench 98 score of 781 , extended resolution and color depth, AGP 2X support, as well as high-performance 2D, VGA and digital video capabilities

"As evidenced by our growing customer list and industry awards, NVIDIA has proven it can deliver leading-edge 3D graphics technology to consumers in the PC market," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "NVIDIA is focused on delivering a stunning visual experience, and with the RIVA 128ZX, we will take consumer interactive 3D to a new level."

"Based on the results of Q4 '97, NVIDIA has proven its ability to successfully deliver a high-performance 3D solution to the mainstream marketplace," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Associates (Tiburon, CA). "The architecture, and initial performance numbers, of its RIVA 128ZX indicate that NVIDIA is well positioned to strengthen their leadership position."

"Diamond Multimedia's partnership with NVIDIA has been successful in providing our mainstream customers with a high-performance 2D/3D/video processing solution," said Ken Wirt, vice president of corporate marketing at Diamond Multimedia Systems. "The newly announced RIVA 128ZX features an extension of the RIVA 128's success by offering greater performance and additional support for higher resolutions."

"STB's VELOCITY 128 was the overwhelming winner in the latest round of magazine reviews and its 3D WinBench scores, driven by the NVIDIA RIVA 128, remain the best available today," said J. Shane Long, vice president of sales and marketing for STB Systems. "We expect to extend this lead with the improved performance of the RIVA 128ZX and the addition of AGP 2X support."

RIVA 128ZX
THE RIVA 128ZX is the second in the family of highly integrated products targeting the performance segment of the PC graphics market. This new offering from NVIDIA leverages the company's graphics technology and massive gate counts to deliver rich visual quality and high frame-rate 3D. Testing shows the RIVA 128ZX outperforms Intel's 740 on the Ziff Davis 3D WinBench 98 benchmark, scoring 781 compared to 691 respectively.1

The RIVA 128ZX 3D processor features an 8MB frame buffer (8 or 16Mbit SGRAM) and AGP 2X to support the storage of high-quality 3D textures and a 250MHz RAMDAC, to drive the most extreme resolutions, color depths and ergonomic refresh rates, up to 1600x1200x32bpp @ 85Hz. The RIVA 128ZX integrates advanced video processing technologies necessary to accelerate multimedia applications. Technologies such as scatter-gather DMA, color format conversion, scaling and filtering, and TV flicker-filtering enhance the playback of high-quality digital video. The RIVA 128ZX processor is optimized for both Direct3DTM and OpenGLTM. Like its predecessor, the RIVA 128ZX utilizes a 128-bit graphics pipeline to the frame buffer interface to support the computational throughput required for todayís graphically intense applications.

ZX Software
NVIDIA now offers enhanced software drivers to its OEM customers designed to maximize the multimedia processing performance of the RIVA 128ZX and RIVA 128 processors. Although optimized for the RIVA 128ZX, these new drivers also provide an additional increase in performance for current RIVA 128 customers. In addition, NVIDIA now offers complete support for OpenGL with an ICD (Installable Client Driver) for Windows 95 and Windows NT.

Pricing and Availability
The RIVA 128ZX processor will be priced at $32.00 US, in 10,000 unit quantities. Both the RIVA 128ZX and the ZX software are sampling now and will be in production in the second quarter of 1998. The RIVA 128ZX processor will be provided by new fabrication partner, TSMC (see separate release), and longtime partner, SGS-THOMSON. In addition to providing manufacturing capacity to NVIDIA, SGS-THOMSON is an architectural licensee of the architecture and will co-market and sell the RIVA 128ZX.

RIVA 128
The RIVA 128 processor is the 3D technology of choice for graphics accelerator board manufacturers Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., Canopus and STB Systems, Inc., and major OEMs, including Dell Computer, Gateway 2000, Micron Electronics and NEC. The RIVA 128 processor has enabled NVIDIA's OEMs to receive more than 40 of the industry's most prestigious awards, including PC Magazine's Editors' Choice and PC Computing's Product of the Year.

NVIDIA Company Information
NVIDIA Corporation designs, develops, markets and sells high-performance 3D processors for personal computers. NVIDIA has been recognized as one of the hottest semiconductor companies in Upside Magazine's December 1997 article titled "Mr. Hot Chips '97" and was honored as The Most Respected Private Fabless Company by the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) in November 1997. NVIDIA is a privately held company with venture financing. Corporate headquarters are in California: NVIDIA Corporation, 1226 Tiros Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. (408) 617-4000. http://www.nvidia.com.

Editor Notes: Please note that the recommended way of writing NVIDIA and RIVA 128 is all capitals.

NVIDIA and the NVIDIA logo are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. RIVA 128 is a trademark of NVIDIA Corporation and SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics. Other notations of ™ and ® are trademarks of their respective firms. All other names and logos are trademarks of their respective companies.

1. Tested using ZD 3D WinBench 98 using a Pentium 2, 333MHz system, in 640x480x16bit mode Intel's 3D WinBench 98 score, as quoted by Microprocessor Report at:  http://www.mdronline.com/q/@923609nsyqyy/intel740_pr.html