From NVIDIA: 2024-10-11 09:00:36

In 1999, amid Y2K fears and Britney Spears downloads, NVIDIA released the transformative GeForce 256, the world’s first GPU. The card’s hardware T&L capabilities set the stage for future gaming and computing advancements. Collaborations between game developers and NVIDIA pushed boundaries to create immersive experiences and advance technology over the next 25 years.

The release of the GeForce 256 forever changed gaming, with breakthrough titles like Unreal Tournament showcasing its power. Over the years, NVIDIA’s GPUs evolved, enabling higher frame rates, realistic textures, and smoother gaming experiences. These advancements facilitated the growth of esports, turning players into entertainers and attracting millions of viewers to competitive gaming events.

As gaming grew more complex, researchers harnessed GPUs’ computational power for AI applications. Deep learning, requiring immense computational power, found a perfect match in NVIDIA GPUs’ parallel architecture. These GPUs drove breakthroughs in AI development, enabling superhuman levels of perception and groundbreaking achievements in tasks like image recognition and speech understanding.

The future of gaming, computing, and AI is intertwined thanks to innovations like NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA ACE. AI-powered features enhance gaming performance and bring lifelike interactions to in-game characters, demonstrating the continued transformative power of generative AI. The GeForce 256’s legacy lives on as GPUs shape the future of technology and influence trillion-dollar industries building next-generation AI into their businesses.



Read more at NVIDIA: Game-Changer: How the World’s First GPU Leveled Up Gaming and Ignited the AI Era