<s>
The	O
Nvidia	O
NV1	B-Device
,	O
manufactured	O
by	O
SGS-Thomson	O
Microelectronics	O
under	O
the	O
model	O
name	O
STG2000	B-Device
,	O
was	O
a	O
multimedia	O
PCI	B-Protocol
card	I-Protocol
announced	O
in	O
May	O
1995	O
and	O
released	O
in	O
November	O
1995	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NV1	B-Device
featured	O
a	O
complete	O
2D/3D	O
graphics	O
core	O
based	O
upon	O
quadratic	O
texture	O
mapping	O
,	O
VRAM	O
or	O
FPM	O
DRAM	O
memory	O
,	O
an	O
integrated	O
32-channel	O
350	O
MIPS	O
playback-only	O
sound	O
card	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
Sega	B-Device
Saturn	I-Device
compatible	O
joypad	O
port	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
replace	O
the	O
2D	O
graphics	O
card	O
,	O
Sound	O
Blaster-compatible	O
audio	O
systems	O
,	O
and	O
15-pin	O
joystick	B-Protocol
ports	I-Protocol
,	O
then	O
prevalent	O
on	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
compatibles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Putting	O
all	O
of	O
this	O
functionality	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
card	O
led	O
to	O
significant	O
compromises	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
NV1	B-Device
was	O
not	O
very	O
successful	O
in	O
the	O
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
modified	O
version	O
,	O
the	O
NV2	O
,	O
was	O
developed	O
in	O
partnership	O
with	O
Sega	O
for	O
the	O
Sega	B-Operating_System
Dreamcast	I-Operating_System
,	O
but	O
ultimately	O
dropped	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
's	O
next	O
stand-alone	O
product	O
,	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
,	O
focussed	O
entirely	O
on	O
2D	O
and	O
3D	O
performance	O
and	O
was	O
much	O
more	O
successful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
Sega	B-Device
Saturn	I-Device
games	O
were	O
converted	O
to	O
NV1-compatible	O
formats	O
on	O
the	O
PC	O
such	O
as	O
Panzer	B-Application
Dragoon	I-Application
and	O
Virtua	O
Fighter	O
Remix	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
NV1	B-Device
struggled	O
in	O
a	O
market	O
place	O
full	O
of	O
several	O
competing	O
proprietary	O
standards	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
marginalized	O
by	O
emerging	O
Triangle	O
polygon-based	O
2D/3D	O
accelerators	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
low-cost	O
S3	B-Device
Graphics	I-Device
ViRGE	I-Device
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
Mystique	O
,	O
ATI	B-Device
Rage	I-Device
,	O
and	O
Rendition	O
Vérité	O
V1000	O
among	O
other	O
early	O
entrants	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NV1	B-Device
's	O
biggest	O
initial	O
problem	O
was	O
its	O
cost	O
and	O
overall	O
quality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
it	O
offered	O
credible	O
3D	O
performance	O
,	O
its	O
use	O
of	O
quadratic	O
surfaces	O
was	O
anything	O
but	O
popular	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
quite	O
different	O
than	O
typical	O
polygon	B-General_Concept
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Sega	B-Device
Saturn	I-Device
console	O
was	O
a	O
market	O
failure	O
compared	O
to	O
Sony	O
's	O
PlayStation	B-Device
or	O
Sega	O
's	O
earlier	O
Sega	B-Operating_System
Genesis	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
so	O
the	O
unique	O
and	O
somewhat	O
limiting	O
support	O
of	O
these	O
gamepads	O
was	O
of	O
limited	O
benefit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
,	O
by	O
integrating	O
all	O
of	O
these	O
usually	O
separate	O
components	O
,	O
raised	O
their	O
costs	O
considerably	O
above	O
what	O
they	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
if	O
the	O
card	O
had	O
been	O
designed	O
solely	O
for	O
3D	B-Architecture
acceleration	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
NV1	B-Device
's	O
release	O
timeframe	O
,	O
the	O
transition	O
from	O
VLB/ISA	O
(	O
486s	B-General_Concept
)	O
to	O
PCI	B-Protocol
(	O
Pentiums	B-General_Concept
and	O
late	O
model	O
486	B-General_Concept
boards	O
)	O
was	O
taking	O
place	O
,	O
and	O
games	O
often	O
used	O
MIDI	O
for	O
music	O
because	O
PCs	O
were	O
still	O
generally	O
incapable	O
of	O
large-scale	O
digital	O
audio	O
playback	O
due	O
to	O
storage	O
and	O
processing	O
power	O
limitations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reaching	O
for	O
the	O
best	O
music	O
and	O
sound	O
quality	O
,	O
and	O
flexibility	O
with	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
audio	O
standards	O
,	O
often	O
required	O
2	O
sound	O
cards	O
be	O
used	O
,	O
or	O
a	O
sound	O
card	O
with	O
a	O
MIDI	O
daughtercard	B-Device
connector	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
NV1	B-Device
's	O
2D	O
speed	O
and	O
quality	O
were	O
not	O
competitive	O
with	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
high-end	O
systems	O
available	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
especially	O
the	O
critical-for-games	O
DOS	O
graphics	O
speed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
customers	O
were	O
simply	O
not	O
interested	O
in	O
replacing	O
their	O
often-elaborate	O
system	O
setups	O
with	O
an	O
expensive	O
all-in-one	O
board	O
and	O
so	O
the	O
heavy	O
integration	O
of	O
NV1	B-Device
hurt	O
sales	O
simply	O
through	O
inconvenience	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Market	O
interest	O
in	O
the	O
product	O
quickly	O
ended	O
when	O
Microsoft	O
announced	O
the	O
DirectX	B-Application
specifications	O
,	O
based	O
upon	O
triangle	O
polygon	B-General_Concept
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
release	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
of	O
a	O
major	O
industry-backed	O
API	B-Application
that	O
was	O
generally	O
incompatible	O
with	O
NV1	B-Device
ended	O
Nvidia	O
's	O
hopes	O
of	O
market	O
leadership	O
immediately	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
did	O
manage	O
to	O
put	O
together	O
limited	O
Direct3D	O
support	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
slow	O
and	O
buggy	O
(	O
software-based	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
no	O
match	O
for	O
the	O
native	O
triangle	O
polygon	B-General_Concept
hardware	O
on	O
the	O
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Subsequent	O
NV1	B-Device
quadratic-related	O
development	O
continued	O
internally	O
as	O
the	O
NV2	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cancelled	O
before	O
completion	O
,	O
NV2	O
was	O
to	O
be	O
NVIDIA	O
's	O
second	O
PC	O
3D	B-Architecture
accelerator	I-Architecture
graphics	O
chip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
successor	O
to	O
the	O
NV1	B-Device
,	O
NV2	O
built	O
upon	O
its	O
predecessor	O
's	O
unusual	O
quadratic	O
3D-rendering	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
initially	O
considered	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
Sega	O
's	O
Dreamcast	B-Operating_System
console	O
,	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
relationship	O
cultivated	O
between	O
NVidia	O
and	O
Sega	O
over	O
the	O
porting	O
of	O
Sega	O
arcade	O
and	O
Saturn	B-Device
console	O
titles	O
over	O
to	O
the	O
PC	O
platform	O
,	O
where	O
the	O
similarity	O
in	O
NV1	B-Device
's	O
and	O
Saturn	B-Device
's	O
3D-rendering	O
architecture	O
aided	O
in	O
the	O
porting	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
The	O
NV1	B-Device
graphics	O
cards	O
had	O
2	O
Sega	B-Device
Saturn	I-Device
gamepad	O
ports	O
integrated	O
so	O
that	O
Saturn	B-Device
titles	O
could	O
be	O
easily	O
ported	O
over	O
to	O
the	O
NV1	B-Device
cards	O
and	O
have	O
an	O
equal	O
gameplay	O
experience	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
experience	O
with	O
both	O
Saturn	B-Device
and	O
NV1	B-Device
's	O
3D-rendering	O
architecture	O
in	O
the	O
Saturn	B-Device
ultimately	O
led	O
the	O
company	O
to	O
abandon	O
quadratic	O
3D-rendering	O
architecture	O
altogether	O
,	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
a	O
more	O
traditional	O
architecture	O
that	O
operated	O
on	O
triangle	O
primitives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sega	O
ultimately	O
selected	O
NEC/VideoLogic	O
'	O
s	O
PowerVR2	O
to	O
power	O
the	O
3d-graphics	O
in	O
its	O
Dreamcast	B-Operating_System
console	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
the	O
demand	O
was	O
not	O
there	O
from	O
Sega	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
PC	O
market	O
had	O
drastically	O
changed	O
direction	O
away	O
from	O
QTM	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
popularity	O
of	O
the	O
triangle	O
polygon-based	O
OpenGL	B-Application
and	O
DirectX	B-Application
,	O
NVIDIA	O
abandoned	O
further	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
NV2	O
and	O
started	O
on	O
a	O
new	O
architecture	O
,	O
a.k.a.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
NV3	B-Device
"	O
or	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
.	O
</s>
