RIVA TNT First to Integrate True Color TwiN Texel Architecture Matched to Pentium® II and AGP Platform

For Immediate Release

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--March 23, 1998 - Continuing its commitment to deliver award-winning 3D technology to the mainstream PC market, NVIDIA™Corporation today unveiled its new flagship RIVA TNT™3D processor. Boasting an astonishing 250 million pixels-per-second fill rate, the RIVA TNT is the first single-chip 128-bit 3D processor that can process two pixels per clock cycle enabling true single-pass multi-texturing. Utilizing over 7 million transistors, comparable to the complexity of the Intel Pentium® II, NVIDIA's RIVA TNT delivers stunning 3D quality and performance

"In 1997, NVIDIA delivered the world's first 128-bit 3D processor to bring leadership Direct3D performance to the mainstream PC market. The RIVA family's impact on the multimedia experience has our OEMs observing a dramatic shift in the value of the 3D processor vis-a-vis the CPU," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "By introducing the RIVA TNT, NVIDIA is delivering on its charter to raise the standard for 3D performance and quality for mainstream computing"

RIVA TNT
The RIVA TNT is the second generation of the industry-acclaimed RIVA family of 3D processors, targeting the performance segment of the PC graphics market. The RIVA TNT's TwiN Texel processing engine integrates a dual-pixel 32-bit color pipeline, 24-bit Z-buffer, 8-bit stencil buffer and per-pixel precision. Not only can the RIVA TNT apply two textures to a single triangle, but it can also process two pixels per clock cycle to yield twice the pixel fill rate. With its unprecedented fill rate of 250 million pixels-per-second, the RIVA TNT can render up to 8 million triangles per second. The quality enhancements, coupled with high pixel fill rates, will enable the stunning visual effects and realism of tomorrow's leading multimedia applications.

"The high-performance segment is one of the most rapidly growing parts of the 3D PC graphics market, doubling in size in the past year," said Dean McCarron, principal at Mercury Research, Scottsdale Arizona. In 1998, Mercury Research expects the leadership of this segment to be taken over by a new breed of 3D graphics accelerator that provides improved display quality by using pixel-oriented rendering and higher performance by using extensive pipeline and parallel processing techniques."

"The RIVA TNT processor is optimized for Microsoft's PC '98 specification and Direct3D™, including the DirectX 6.0 initiatives. These optimizations include hardware triangle set-up, single-pass multi-texturing and anisotropic filtering. The outstanding DirectX support ensures the RIVA TNT's superb multimedia quality across a wide range of graphical applications, from traditional 2D software to robust 3D games and DVD titles.

"NVIDIA's commitment to DirectX has truly been exemplified by the RIVA 128's success in the performance PC market," said Jay Torborg, director of graphics and multimedia at Microsoft Corporation. "In 1998, DirectX6 and the RIVA TNT will deliver a powerful combination of quality and performance that will take interactive 3D titles to an unprecedented level."

"RIVA 128 was the first chip to demonstrate that fill rate is the true enabler of quality, special effects and high frame rates," said John Heap, Head of Development at Rage. "RIVA TNT's ability to deliver real-time multi-texturing effects will give our creative teams the ability to produce mind-blowing visuals."

"The RIVA 128-based Velocity 128 dominated the computer press awards, beginning with winning the PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award and culminating with the PC/Computing MVP award," remarked J. Shane Long, vice president of sales and marketing for STB Systems. "The dual-texturing engine technology of the new RIVA TNT is exciting and should give STB the opportunity to continue that success."

"Diamond's Viper V330, based on NVIDIA's revolutionary true 128-bit architecture, the RIVA 128, was pivotal in delivering high-performance 2D and 3D on a single board to mainstream consumers," said David Watkins, vice president and general manager of the Multimedia Division at Diamond Multimedia. "The significant enhancements of the new RIVA TNT will enable software developers to create games and professional 3D applications that bring a new level of speed and realism to the desktop PC."

The RIVA TNT 3D processor combines the company's rich graphics technology and massive gate counts to deliver stunning visual quality and high frame-rate 3D as well as high-performance 2D, VGA and digital video capabilities. This new offering supports up to 16MB of frame buffer memory 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. In addition to DirectX support, the RIVA TNT provides full support for an OpenGL™ ICD (Installable Client Driver) for Windows 95 and Windows NT. As a member of the RIVA family of 3D processors, the RIVA TNT utilizes a 128-bit graphics pipeline to the frame buffer interface to support the computational throughput required for graphically intense applications.

Pricing and Availability
The RIVA TNT processor will be priced at $45.00 US, in 10,000 unit quantities. The RIVA TNT will be sampling next quarter and will be in production in the third quarter of 1998.

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.

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.