RIVA TNT
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Image:NVIDIA logo.png The RIVA TNT (For TwiN Texel) was a 3D graphics chipset manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in late 1998 and cemented NVIDIA's reputation as the chief rival of then industry leader 3dfx.
The TNT was designed as a follow up to the RIVA 128 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 and 24-bit Z-buffer in 3D mode, and dramatically improved image quality compared to the RIVA 128. It also added support for up to 16MiB of SDR SDRAM. Like the RIVA 128 but unlike the Voodoo2, it was a single chip solution for both 2D and 3D.
The TNT shipped later than originally planned, ran quite hot, and clocked lower than NVIDIA had planned (90 MHz instead of 110 MHz). Unfortunately, it did not match the sales of the incredibly popular Voodoo2. However, it gained NVIDIA much attention and paved the way for the refreshed version called the RIVA TNT2.
In what would become standard industry practive 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 bus width (to 64-bit) and memory size (to 8 MB). 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.
TNT was used on several popular cards, such as the Diamond Viper V550 and STB Velocity 4400, both of which managed huge OEM wins with the likes of Dell and Gateway, among others.
Competing chipsets
- 3dfx Voodoo3
- Matrox G400
- ATI Rage 128
- S3 Savage4