Nvidia's First GPU Nearly Never Existed — SkimNews
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- Nvidia released the GeForce 256 on October 11, 1999, its first product it described as a GPU, featuring a transform and lighting engine that offloaded work from the CPU.
- The GeForce 256 was a real boon for systems with low-end CPUs like 300 MHz Celerons, but faster CPUs could perform transform and lighting in software faster than the chip managed in hardware.
- Sega invested $5 million in 1996 to bail Nvidia out after a failed Dreamcast chip deal, later recouping its investment plus a $10 million profit; the Dreamcast ultimately shipped with an NEC-manufactured chip.
- The Sega funding enabled Nvidia's Riva 128 chip, which sold more than a million units and led to the TNT2 and eventually the GeForce 256.
- 3dfx went bankrupt on October 15, 2002 after Nvidia purchased most of its intellectual property on December 15, 2000; 3dfx had been offloading CPU work to graphics coprocessors as early as 1996 on PCs.
Why it matters: A $5 million Sega investment in 1996 rescued Nvidia from bankruptcy after a failed Dreamcast chip — that same company now anchors AI hardware markets. The GeForce 256's status as the 'first GPU' is also more branding than technical breakthrough: 3dfx was doing identical coprocessor work as early as 1996, and Commodore did it on the Amiga in 1985.
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