NVIDIA’s RIVA TNT2 Sets New Mark as Industry’s Fastest 3D Graphics Processor
RIVA TNT2-Based Family Dominates Mercury Research’s Q2’99 Study
Santa Clara, CA – May 11, 1999 – NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq:NVDA) today announced the award-winning RIVA TNT2TM ranked first on both the 3D and 2D benchmark tests conducted by Mercury Research Inc. of Scottsdale, AZ., an industry-leading research and consulting firm. The RIVA TNT2 earned the highest scores ever recorded in 3D WinBench, 2D WinBench and 3DMark; three key tests for the PC graphics industry. In addition, the RIVA TNT2-based family of products earned the top two spots in the 3D WinBench ’99 benchmark test, 3 of the top 4 spots in the 2D WinBench business-graphics benchmark test, and 4 of the top 6 3DMark ’99 scores performed by the Scottsdale AZ firm (http://www.mercuryresearch.com/bnchmark.html). The test results validate NVIDIA’s claim that the RIVA TNT2, which shipped to retail this week, delivers the industry’s best 3D and 2D graphics performance.
“Mercury’s results speak to our focus and commitment to deliver the industry’s best graphics family from top to bottom,” said Dan Vivoli, vice president of product marketing at NVIDIA. “Setting new records for 3D and 2D performance is a testament to our world-class engineering team and our ability to execute season after season.”
In this supplemental report, Mercury Research reported the top performing 3D and 2D processors on the market using Ziff Davis’ WinBench ’99 test and 3DMark ’99 by Futuremark. NVIDIA’s RIVA TNT2 produced the highest 3D score and outperformed the nearest competitor by over 67 points on 3D WinBench and by 339 points on 3DMark . The testing platform for this data series was an Intel Pentium-II 500 MHz CPU running on an ASUS motherboard (440BX chip set). For more information, go to http://www.mercuryresearch.com.
The award-winning RIVA TNT2 3D graphics processor has continued to receive industry accolades since its introduction at the Game Developers Conference in March 1999. Taking full advantage of its 0.25 micron process and newly optimized graphics pipeline, the RIVA TNT2 delivers unequaled graphics performance that is optimized for the Intel® family of Pentium® CPUs and the AMD-K6® family of CPUs.
Combining this record-setting performance level with the superior visual fidelity made possible by 32-bit rendering and 32-bit Z-buffer, along with a high-performance 32MB frame buffer, delivers the ultimate 3D experience to the end-user who demands the best quality graphics for entertainment, education, business and e-commerce applications.
NVIDIA Family Processors
The RIVA family of 3D/2D processors, the RIVA TNT2™, RIVA TNT™, RIVA 128ZX™ and the RIVA 128™ is the first family of high performance processors for the performance mainstream PC market. The RIVA processors utilize a 128-bit pipeline to support the computational throughput required for current and future graphically intense applications. The NVIDIA Vanta™ 3D/2D processor is the first in a family of 3D processors designed for the enterprise PC market. Based on the award winning RIVA TNT2 architecture, the NVIDIA Vanta processor is designed for Windows 2000 and the burgeoning market for enterprise visualization applications. By leveraging its graphics technology and massive gate counts, all NVIDIA processors are able to deliver stunningly realistic, high frame rate 3D, along with benchmark winning 2D, VGA and video acceleration in single chip solutions. NVIDIA processors are optimized for both Direct3D™ and OpenGL.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) designs, markets and sells a complete family of award-winning 3D processors that deliver industry-leading performance and visual quality for a broad range of PC applications, including: enterprise visualization, e-commerce, e-business, entertainment and education. Corporate headquarters are located in California: 3535 Monroe Street, Santa Clara, California 95051. For more information visit the Company’s web site at http://www.nvidia.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. Factors that may affect NVIDIA’s actual results include the impact of competitive products and pricing, technological changes in products and components, the ability to timely and successfully develop and produce in volume new products and modifications to existing products, market acceptance of new products and modifications to existing products and conditions in the PC market. Further information on factors that could affect the financial results of NVIDIA is included in the Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated January 22, 1999, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Notes to Editors: Please note that the recommended way of writing NVIDIA, RIVA 128, RIVA 128ZX, RIVA TNT and RIVA TNT2 is all CAPITALS.
NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, RIVA TNT, RIVA TNT2 and NVIDIA Vanta are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. RIVA, RIVA 128 and RIVA 128ZX are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation and STMicroelectronics. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.