<s>
The	O
RIVA	B-Device
TNT2	I-Device
is	O
a	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
unit	I-Architecture
manufactured	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
starting	O
in	O
early	O
1999	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
chip	O
is	O
codenamed	O
"	O
NV5	B-Device
"	O
because	O
it	O
is	O
the	O
5th	O
graphics	O
chip	O
design	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
,	O
succeeding	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
TNT	I-Device
(	O
NV4	B-Device
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
TNT2	B-Device
core	O
features	O
the	O
same	O
basic	O
dual-pipeline	O
layout	O
as	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
TNT	I-Device
,	O
however	O
with	O
a	O
few	O
updates	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
larger	O
2048x2048	O
texture	O
support	O
,	O
32-bit	O
Z-buffer/stencil	O
support	O
,	O
AGP	B-Architecture
4X	I-Architecture
support	O
,	O
up	O
to	O
32MB	O
of	O
VRAM	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
process	B-Architecture
shrink	O
from	O
0.35	O
μm	O
to	O
0.25	O
μm	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
the	O
process	B-Architecture
shrink	O
that	O
enabled	O
improved	O
clock	O
speeds	O
(	O
from	O
90MHz	O
to	O
150+	O
MHz	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
where	O
the	O
substantial	O
performance	O
improvement	O
came	O
from	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
low-cost	O
version	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
M64	O
,	O
was	O
produced	O
with	O
the	O
memory	O
interface	O
reduced	O
from	O
128-bit	O
to	O
64-bit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
chipset	O
outperformed	O
the	O
older	O
RIVA	B-Device
TNT	I-Device
while	O
being	O
less	O
costly	O
to	O
produce	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
proved	O
quite	O
popular	O
in	O
the	O
OEM	O
market	O
,	O
as	O
most	O
consumers	O
simply	O
assumed	O
all	O
TNT2	B-Device
cards	O
were	O
the	O
same	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RIVA	B-Device
TNT2	I-Device
's	O
competition	O
included	O
the	O
3dfx	O
Voodoo2	O
,	O
3dfx	B-Device
Voodoo3	I-Device
,	O
the	O
Matrox	B-Device
G400	I-Device
,	O
and	O
the	O
ATI	B-Device
Rage	I-Device
128	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
competitor	O
to	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
was	O
the	O
Voodoo3	B-Device
,	O
which	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
lacked	O
32-bit	O
color	O
output	O
in	O
3D	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
a	O
distinguishing	O
point	O
for	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
,	O
while	O
the	O
Voodoo3	B-Device
was	O
marketed	O
under	O
the	O
premise	O
of	O
superior	O
speed	O
and	O
game	O
compatibility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
3dfx	B-Operating_System
Glide	I-Operating_System
API	O
was	O
still	O
popular	O
at	O
this	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
frequently	O
performed	O
faster	O
and	O
with	O
better	O
image	O
quality	O
than	O
non-vendor	O
locked	O
APIs	O
Direct3D	B-Application
and	O
OpenGL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
games	O
also	O
had	O
exclusive	O
3D	O
features	O
when	O
used	O
with	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
,	O
including	O
Wing	O
Commander	O
:	O
Prophecy	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
popular	O
Unreal	B-Application
had	O
a	O
troubled	O
development	O
history	O
with	O
regards	O
to	O
Direct3D	B-Application
and	O
was	O
plagued	O
by	O
issues	O
such	O
as	O
missing	O
details	O
in	O
this	O
mode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Voodoo3	B-Device
cards	O
render	O
internally	O
in	O
32-bit	O
precision	B-Architecture
color	O
depth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
dithered	O
down	O
for	O
the	O
16-bit	O
framebuffer	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
then	O
postprocessed	O
by	O
a	O
2x2	O
box	O
filter	O
in	O
the	O
RAMDAC	B-Device
,	O
dubbed	O
"	O
22-bit	O
equivalent	O
"	O
output	O
by	O
marketing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
this	O
results	O
in	O
markedly	O
less	O
dithering	O
than	O
TNT2	B-Device
's	O
16-bit	O
output	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
equivalent	O
to	O
real	O
32-bit	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
postprocessed	O
nature	O
of	O
the	O
effect	O
also	O
meant	O
that	O
framebuffer	O
captures	O
did	O
not	O
display	O
it	O
,	O
which	O
lead	O
to	O
erroneous	O
claims	O
equating	O
TNT2	B-Device
16-bit	O
quality	O
to	O
Voodoo3	B-Device
when	O
in	O
many	O
titles	O
of	O
the	O
day	O
Voodoo3	B-Device
16-bit	O
quality	O
was	O
closer	O
to	O
TNT2	B-Device
32-bit	O
quality	O
in	O
practice	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Voodoo3	B-Device
and	O
TNT2	B-Device
also	O
differ	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
Voodoo3	B-Device
has	O
a	O
single	O
dual-texturing	O
pipeline	O
(	O
1x2	O
)	O
,	O
while	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
has	O
two	O
single-texturing	O
pipelines	O
(	O
2x1	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
means	O
that	O
in	O
games	O
which	O
only	O
put	O
a	O
single	O
texture	O
on	O
a	O
polygon	O
face	O
at	O
once	O
,	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
can	O
be	O
more	O
efficient	O
and	O
faster	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
when	O
TNT2	B-Device
was	O
launched	O
,	O
single-texturing	O
was	O
no	O
longer	O
used	O
in	O
most	O
new	O
games	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
fact	O
that	O
many	O
hardware	O
review	O
sites	O
noted	O
was	O
that	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
could	O
still	O
be	O
outperformed	O
by	O
two	O
3dfx	O
Voodoo2	O
running	O
in	O
SLI	B-Device
mode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
games	O
that	O
supported	O
the	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
API	I-Operating_System
,	O
Voodoo2	O
SLI	B-Device
setups	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
consistently	O
perform	O
faster	O
and	O
offer	O
better	O
image	O
quality	O
than	O
the	O
TNT2	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
a	O
TNT2	B-Device
Ultra	O
card	O
designed	O
to	O
operate	O
at	O
a	O
record-breaking	O
195MHz	O
core	O
and	O
similarly	O
impressive	O
235MHz	O
RAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
far	O
and	O
away	O
the	O
highest	O
clocked	O
TNT2	B-Device
model	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Creative	O
3D	O
Blaster	O
TNT2	B-Device
Ultra	O
came	O
clocked	O
at	O
the	O
standard	O
150MHz	O
core	O
and	O
183MHz	O
RAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Creative	O
included	O
a	O
unique	O
software	O
package	O
that	O
allowed	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
run	O
software	O
that	O
used	O
3dfx	O
's	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
wrapper	B-Library
,	O
named	O
Unified	O
,	O
was	O
not	O
as	O
compatible	O
with	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
games	O
as	O
real	O
3dfx	O
hardware	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
also	O
the	O
only	O
card	O
available	O
other	O
than	O
a	O
3dfx	O
card	O
that	O
could	O
run	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
wrapper	B-Library
was	O
very	O
slow	O
,	O
not	O
without	O
issues	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
rather	O
unstable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
wrapper	B-Library
was	O
to	O
allow	O
3D	B-Architecture
acceleration	I-Architecture
of	O
games	O
that	O
only	O
supported	O
Glide	B-Operating_System
3D	B-Architecture
accelerators	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hercules	O
equipped	O
their	O
Dynamite	O
TNT2	B-Device
Ultra	O
with	O
faster-than-stock	O
components	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ELSA	O
's	O
Erazor	O
III	O
came	O
clocked	O
at	O
non-Ultra	O
TNT2	B-Device
rates	O
but	O
included	O
"	O
3D	O
Revelator	O
"	O
shutter	B-Algorithm
glasses	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
glasses	O
made	O
games	O
look	O
as	O
though	O
they	O
were	O
coming	O
out	O
of	O
the	O
screen	O
,	O
and	O
worked	O
with	O
both	O
Direct3D	B-Application
and	O
some	O
OpenGL	B-Application
titles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ALi	O
integrated	O
the	O
RIVA	B-Device
TNT2	I-Device
core	O
into	O
the	O
motherboard	O
chipset	O
Aladdin	O
TNT2	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Aladdin	O
TNT2	B-Device
offers	O
support	O
for	O
both	O
a	O
local	O
frame	O
buffer	O
(	O
4-32MB	O
)	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
unified	O
memory	O
mode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
External	O
AGP	B-Architecture
4x	I-Architecture
port	O
for	O
the	O
separate	O
graphic	O
card	O
was	O
lacked	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
local	O
frame	O
buffer	O
integrated	O
TNT2	B-Device
core	O
offered	O
similar	O
speed	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
separate	O
TNT2	B-Device
M64	O
AGP	O
cards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Main	O
motherboard	O
manufacturers	O
like	O
Asus	O
prepared	O
boards	O
with	O
the	O
Aladdin	O
TNT2	B-Device
and	O
local	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TNT2	B-Device
graphic	O
speed	O
was	O
crippled	O
by	O
missing	O
local	O
frame	O
buffer	O
and	O
slow	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
main	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
