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Nvidia GeForce 256 is 25 years old

videocardz.com

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Re: Nvidia GeForce 256 is 25 years old

#11
post #6

I still have mine, but sadly I don't have any more functioning systems with an AGP slot. It was the first decent gfx card I ever bought, my little brother and I pooled all our money in order to do it! We picked it up in some little hole in the wall in Fremont I'd found through Pricewatch.com. Prior to that we'd gotten ripped by Fry's buying garbage PCI Diamond Crystal something or other cards, they didn't even stock…

> Storing old PC components seems sensitive - tossing them in a box in anti-static bags in a dry garage doesn't seem to do the trick.

From that era (late 90s-mid 00s) it could be down to capacitors failing - there were a LOT of faulty ones around in that era, vs earlier 80s/90s and later eras.

Re: Nvidia GeForce 256 is 25 years old

#12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but why not consider the NVidia Riva TNT a real GPU? Shaders.

Geforce 256 and 2 were fixed-function; I don't believe the first shaders showed up until Geforce 3.

It was T&L that pushed PR to call it a GPU, but afaik both 256 and GF2 had some shader capabilities. Nvidia Shading Rasterizer (NSR)https://www.anandtech.com/show/537/4 https://www.evga.com/articles/archive/91.asp
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