<s>
Released	O
in	O
August	O
1997	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
,	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
,	O
or	O
"	O
NV3	B-Device
"	O
,	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
consumer	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
units	I-Architecture
to	O
integrate	O
3D	B-Architecture
acceleration	I-Architecture
in	O
addition	O
to	O
traditional	O
2D	O
and	O
video	O
acceleration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
the	O
less	O
successful	O
"	O
NV1	B-Device
"	O
accelerator	O
,	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
product	O
to	O
gain	O
Nvidia	O
widespread	O
recognition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
's	O
"	O
NV1	B-Device
"	O
chip	O
had	O
been	O
designed	O
for	O
a	O
fundamentally	O
different	O
type	O
of	O
rendering	O
technology	O
,	O
called	O
quadratic	O
texture	O
mapping	O
,	O
a	O
technique	O
not	O
supported	O
by	O
Direct3D	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
was	O
instead	O
designed	O
to	O
accelerate	O
Direct3D	B-Application
to	O
the	O
utmost	O
extent	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
built	O
to	O
render	O
within	O
the	O
Direct3D	B-Application
5	O
and	O
OpenGL	O
API	B-Application
specifications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
graphics	B-Architecture
accelerator	I-Architecture
consists	O
of	O
3.5	O
million	O
transistors	B-Application
built	O
on	O
a	O
350	O
nm	O
fabrication	B-Architecture
process	I-Architecture
and	O
is	O
clocked	O
at	O
100	O
MHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
has	O
a	O
single	O
pixel	O
pipeline	O
capable	O
of	O
1	O
pixel	O
per	O
clock	O
when	O
sampling	O
one	O
texture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
chip	O
was	O
limited	O
to	O
a	O
16-bit	O
(	O
Highcolor	O
)	O
pixel	O
format	O
when	O
performing	O
3D	B-Architecture
acceleration	I-Architecture
and	O
a	O
16-bit	O
Z-buffer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
2D	B-Architecture
accelerator	I-Architecture
engine	O
within	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
is	O
128	O
bits	O
wide	O
and	O
also	O
operates	O
at	O
100MHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
"	O
fast	O
and	O
wide	O
"	O
configuration	O
,	O
as	O
Nvidia	O
referred	O
to	O
it	O
,	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
performed	O
admirably	O
for	O
GUI	O
acceleration	O
compared	O
to	O
competitors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
32-bit	O
hardware	O
VESA-compliant	O
SVGA/VGA	O
core	O
was	O
implemented	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Video	O
acceleration	O
aboard	O
the	O
chip	O
is	O
optimized	O
for	O
MPEG-2	B-Algorithm
but	O
lacks	O
full	O
acceleration	O
of	O
that	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Final	O
picture	O
output	O
is	O
routed	O
through	O
an	O
integrated	O
206MHz	O
RAMDAC	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
had	O
the	O
advantage	O
of	O
being	O
a	O
combination	O
2D/3D	O
graphics	O
chip	O
,	O
unlike	O
Voodoo	O
Graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ability	O
to	O
build	O
a	O
system	O
with	O
just	O
one	O
graphics	O
card	O
,	O
and	O
still	O
have	O
it	O
be	O
feature-complete	O
for	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
made	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
a	O
lower-cost	O
high-performance	O
solution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
equipped	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
with	O
4	O
MiB	O
of	O
SGRAM	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
memory	O
technology	O
for	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
clocked	O
at	O
100MHz	O
and	O
connected	O
to	O
the	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
via	O
a	O
128-bit	O
memory	B-General_Concept
bus	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
memory	O
was	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
unified	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
architecture	I-Operating_System
that	O
shared	O
the	O
whole	O
RAM	O
pool	O
with	O
both	O
framebuffer	B-Algorithm
and	O
texture	O
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
early	O
AGP	B-Architecture
2X	O
parts	O
,	O
giving	O
it	O
some	O
more	O
marketing	O
headroom	O
by	O
being	O
on	O
the	O
forefront	O
of	O
interface	O
technology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
was	O
built	O
around	O
Intel	O
's	O
AGP	B-Architecture
specification	O
targeting	O
the	O
Intel	O
440LX	B-Device
chipset	O
for	O
the	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
II	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
designed	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
with	O
a	O
maximum	O
memory	O
capacity	O
of	O
4	O
MiB	O
because	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
this	O
was	O
the	O
cost-optimal	O
approach	O
for	O
a	O
consumer	O
3D	B-Architecture
accelerator	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
the	O
case	O
partly	O
because	O
of	O
the	O
chip	O
's	O
capability	O
to	O
store	O
textures	O
in	O
off-screen	O
system	O
RAM	O
in	O
both	O
PCI	B-Protocol
or	O
AGP	B-Architecture
configurations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
early	O
1998	O
,	O
Nvidia	O
released	O
a	O
refreshed	O
version	O
called	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
ZX	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
refreshed	O
design	O
of	O
NV3	B-Device
increased	O
memory	O
support	O
to	O
8	O
MiB	O
and	O
increased	O
RAMDAC	B-Device
frequency	O
to	O
250MHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
additions	O
allowed	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
ZX	O
to	O
support	O
higher	O
resolutions	O
and	O
refresh	O
rates	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
next	O
major	O
chip	O
from	O
Nvidia	O
would	O
be	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
TNT	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
's	O
release	O
,	O
3Dfx	O
Voodoo	O
Graphics	O
had	O
firmly	O
established	O
itself	O
as	O
the	O
3D	O
hardware	O
benchmark	O
against	O
which	O
all	O
newcomers	O
were	O
compared	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
was	O
scorned	O
for	O
its	O
lower	O
quality	O
rendering	O
(	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
Voodoo	O
)	O
and	O
rendering	O
errors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
initial	O
drivers	O
,	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
used	O
per-polygon	O
mipmapping	B-Data_Structure
instead	O
of	O
the	O
much	O
higher-quality	O
,	O
but	O
more	O
demanding	O
,	O
per-pixel	O
variety	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
issue	O
with	O
the	O
card	O
's	O
texturing	O
was	O
its	O
use	O
of	O
automated	O
mipmap	B-Data_Structure
generation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
this	O
improves	O
visual	O
quality	O
and	O
performance	O
in	O
games	O
without	O
mipmaps	B-Data_Structure
,	O
it	O
also	O
caused	O
unforeseen	O
problems	O
because	O
it	O
forced	O
games	O
to	O
render	O
in	O
a	O
way	O
that	O
they	O
were	O
not	O
programmed	O
for	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NV3	B-Device
's	O
bilinear	O
filtering	O
was	O
actually	O
"	O
sharper	O
"	O
than	O
that	O
of	O
3Dfx	O
Voodoo	O
Graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
because	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
can	O
render	O
at	O
resolutions	O
higher	O
than	O
640×480	O
,	O
the	O
card	O
can	O
offer	O
quality	O
superior	O
to	O
that	O
of	O
Voodoo	O
Graphics	O
,	O
as	O
shown	O
in	O
the	O
above	O
Quake	B-Application
II	I-Application
screenshot	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
final	O
drivers	O
released	O
for	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
support	O
per-pixel	O
mipmapping	B-Data_Structure
,	O
full-scene	O
anti-aliasing	O
(	O
supersampling	B-Algorithm
)	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
options	O
to	O
fine-tune	O
features	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
optimize	O
quality	O
and	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Not	O
only	O
were	O
the	O
aforementioned	O
Direct3D	B-Application
issues	O
apparent	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
card	O
lacked	O
good	O
OpenGL	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
,	O
Nvidia	O
began	O
their	O
quest	O
for	O
top-quality	O
OpenGL	O
support	O
,	O
eventually	O
resulting	O
in	O
the	O
board	O
being	O
a	O
capable	O
OpenGL	O
performer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
major	O
disadvantage	O
for	O
Nvidia	O
was	O
that	O
many	O
games	O
during	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
's	O
lifetime	O
used	O
3Dfx	O
's	O
proprietary	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
API	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Legally	O
,	O
only	O
3Dfx	O
cards	O
could	O
use	O
3Dfx	O
's	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
API	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
the	O
competing	O
ATI	B-Device
Rage	I-Device
Pro	I-Device
,	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
was	O
never	O
able	O
to	O
accelerate	O
the	O
popular	O
Unreal	B-Operating_System
Engine	I-Operating_System
in	O
Direct3D	B-Application
mode	O
due	O
to	O
missing	O
hardware	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
the	O
engine	O
's	O
OpenGL	O
renderer	O
,	O
but	O
unfortunately	O
OpenGL	O
support	O
was	O
quite	O
slow	O
and	O
buggy	O
in	O
the	O
original	O
Unreal	B-Operating_System
Engine	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Performance	O
in	O
Quake	B-Application
III	I-Application
Arena	I-Application
,	O
a	O
game	O
using	O
an	O
engine	O
more	O
advanced	O
than	O
Unreal	B-Operating_System
Engine	I-Operating_System
1	I-Operating_System
,	O
was	O
better	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
engine	O
having	O
been	O
designed	O
for	O
OpenGL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
's	O
final	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
drivers	O
for	O
Windows	O
9x	O
include	O
a	O
full	O
OpenGL	O
driver	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
driver	O
for	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
is	O
also	O
included	O
in	O
Windows	O
2000	O
and	O
XP	O
,	O
but	O
lacks	O
3D	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
beta	O
driver	O
with	O
OpenGL	O
support	O
was	O
once	O
leaked	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
but	O
was	O
canceled	O
later	O
,	O
and	O
there	O
is	O
no	O
Windows	O
2000	O
driver	O
for	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
on	O
Nvidia	O
's	O
driver	O
site	O
today	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Neither	O
the	O
beta	O
driver	O
nor	O
the	O
ones	O
come	O
with	O
Windows	O
2000/XP	O
could	O
support	O
Direct3D	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
combination	O
2D/3D	O
cards	O
that	O
could	O
rival	O
Voodoo	O
Graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RIVA	B-Device
128	I-Device
's	O
2D	O
capability	O
was	O
seen	O
as	O
impressive	O
for	O
its	O
time	O
and	O
was	O
competitive	O
with	O
even	O
high-end	O
2D-only	O
graphics	O
cards	O
in	O
both	O
quality	O
and	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
