[vlask]

Recently i released public version of mine latest project - graphic card history tree. Want to have there all pc graphic chips makers and maybe some nonpc too (ixmicro...). So far are there all big chip makers and slowly working on less known ones.
If some of you folks know any missing chip there or any missing info (mem size and year), let me know pls in this thread or use comments under article. Mem size is there maximum supported by chip, even if they never used that amount of memory (im looking into datasheets or release PR news). Will be happy ofc also for whole new companys trees (name of company, list of chips with year and mem sizes), but don't think that someone will be crazy like me and spend hours on google searching for 80s cards

Article is here

http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/com...story-tree

Direct link on image is in article, i wont post it here since picture have 3,8MB and 9800x47000 resolution - its just too big.

[fellix]

Very nice idea!
One advice from me - use an optimized 8-bit PNG image encoding. It will reduce the file size by 2.5x factor, while retaining most of the colours. Some company logos containing gradients can become dithered, but you probably should use simpler ones anyway.

[lanek]

Really nice.. wow i had completely forget ATI have start somewhere in 1986..

Crazy too to see how much actors was there in the middle of the 80's, and how much are still there.

[dkanter]

What did you use to create that image?

DK

[mczak]

Nice!
I'm not quite sure if you're going after cards based on same chips or not.
If so the earlier radeons are quite wrong. The Radeon 7200 is a strict rebrand of the original Radeon, whereas the LE is also the same but with lower clock (and IIRC some disabled hyperz feature maybe). The VE was also rebranded as the 7000 instead.

[Homeles]

Western Digital had a hand in the GPU industry?

The more you know, eh?

[vlask]

Originally Posted by dkanter

What did you use to create that image?

DK

VUE - free software, best i was able to find (have layers and full control over lines).

Thats why png isnt 8bit optimized since i just export right into png. But will think about doin also smaller more optimized version.

[vlask]

Originally Posted by mczak

Nice!
I'm not quite sure if you're going after cards based on same chips or not.
If so the earlier radeons are quite wrong. The Radeon 7200 is a strict rebrand of the original Radeon, whereas the LE is also the same but with lower clock (and IIRC some disabled hyperz feature maybe). The VE was also rebranded as the 7000 instead.

Well tried to use there only chips, but with with nvidia and ati i give up. Too many models on same chip, just with different frequncy or name. So i put there all models from wiki i found and dont care if they released it year ago with different name.

Since cant find edit post button, adding also web for VUE software which i forgot in previous post... http://vue.tufts.edu/

[no_way]

3DLabs "leaving graphics market" is not entirely accurate - Ziilabs is still around in embedded space. I guess mobile side with the likes of Ambarella, Qualcomm/Adreno etc would need its own chart entirely.
Oh, and Trident still has some stuff going on on embedded side.

[lanek]

Originally Posted by no_way

3DLabs "leaving graphics market" is not entirely accurate - Ziilabs is still around in embedded space. I guess mobile side with the likes of Ambarella, Qualcomm/Adreno etc would need its own chart entirely.
Oh, and Trident still has some stuff going on on embedded side.

This will start to be really complicate then, just cause the patent survivors ...

[vlask]

Originally Posted by no_way

3DLabs "leaving graphics market" is not entirely accurate - Ziilabs is still around in embedded space. I guess mobile side with the likes of Ambarella, Qualcomm/Adreno etc would need its own chart entirely.
Oh, and Trident still has some stuff going on on embedded side.

Yeah, but i'm trying to stay at PC cards area, not in mobile phones, arm graphic cores and consoles. I have there some embedded chips from s3, but trying to keep it on low numbers. Otherwise i might ended by filling in every arm processor with videologic/now imagination technologies graphic core.

[no_way]

Originally Posted by vlask

Yeah, but i'm trying to stay at PC cards area, not in mobile phones, arm graphic cores and consoles

Yep, fully understood, it's just the end of the line in PC side should probably indicate "switched to embedded/mobile" rather than completely exited the market for some of these.

Oh, and Bitboys DID have a working PC Pyramid3D card : )

[vlask]

Originally Posted by no_way

Oh, and Bitboys DID have a working PC Pyramid3D card : )

Me: Good, i'm gonna buy then 10 these cards

You: What, they probably never made 10 working cards

Me: well then i rather give priority to companies which were really selling cards and ignore these prototypes (bitboys, real3d). Will add them as last, theres still many profi cards and 80s not in that chart.

[Dominik D]

Three fundamental questions.

1. Where's VideoLogic/Imagination Technologies? :P
2. How are you going to deal with IP-licensing?
3. How about an interactive map* so you don't have to edit image by hand?

* This should work well in HTML5 with or w/o canvas. Canvas are pretty cool - I did some ad-hoc things** with canvas in the past and I was very surprised how well it worked out.
** You can click on IN pins to the left.

//edit
Ad 1. Oh, VideoLogic is there. But it is present on the PC today.

[Blazkowicz]

missing are the volari Z7, Z9, Z11. those are present one some server motherboards, or marginal mini-PC and low-power boards. the chip burns something like less than two watts.

also exists in rare and overpriced discrete boards.

http://www.abix.fr/carte-video-2d-pc...l?par=leguide#

I find this smart and fascinating .
this feels like building a graphics card from the 90s with modern tech.

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by vlask

Me: Good, i'm gonna buy then 10 these cards

You: What, they probably never made 10 working cards

Me: well then i rather give priority to companies which were really selling cards and ignore these prototypes (bitboys, real3d). Will add them as last, theres still many profi cards and 80s not in that chart.

Don't blame BitBoys, only reason it didn't get to mass markets was TriTech, who got sued and closed down due some audio patent stuff.

[vlask]

Originally Posted by Dominik D

Three fundamental questions.

1. Where's VideoLogic/Imagination Technologies? :P
2. How are you going to deal with IP-licensing?
3. How about an interactive map* so you don't have to edit image by hand?

* This should work well in HTML5 with or w/o canvas. Canvas are pretty cool - I did some ad-hoc things** with canvas in the past and I was very surprised how well it worked out.
** You can click on IN pins to the left.

//edit
Ad 1. Oh, VideoLogic is there. But it is present on the PC today.

Ad1: Dont want there mobile phones and other like that stuff. Too many different makers using same graphic design in different chipsets. And it has almost nothing to do with graphic cards at all. So i wont put there APU from amd or intel core cpus with integrated graphic part - its more for cpu chart and not for graphic one.

Ad2: whats IP licensing? can you put in some example? you mean motorola 6845 clones or what?

Ad3: Work is done in VUE software aimed at image maps and presentations, so its fully interactive and PNG images are only exported from software. It can also export to html, pdf, jpg, svg, rdf and xml. But i see no reason for doin interactive html - much more work and still dunno to where point links - google?, wikipedia?, mine web?. Too many choices and none can find all cards in chart.

[Blazkowicz]

an audio patent?
I thought they had failed because their equipment was faulty, or their costs spiraled or something. I never knew there were killed by a patent. (though, good luck killing say Intel with one patent)

[vlask]

Originally Posted by Blazkowicz

missing are the volari Z7, Z9, Z11. those are present one some server motherboards, or marginal mini-PC and low-power boards. the chip burns something like less than two watts.

also exists in rare and overpriced discrete boards.

http://www.abix.fr/carte-video-2d-pc...l?par=leguide#

I find this smart and fascinating .
this feels like building a graphics card from the 90s with modern tech.

Thx, added Z7 - 2004 - 128MB
but cant find any info about Z9 - year and memory size supported
about Z11 i found only year - 2009, but still missing memory size - anyone know these?

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by Blazkowicz

an audio patent?
I thought they had failed because their equipment was faulty, or their costs spiraled or something. I never knew there were killed by a patent. (though, good luck killing say Intel with one patent)

Well patents, but anyway, TriTech made audio chips which violated CirrusLogics patents, lost the lawsuit and closed down, apparently they couldn't pay the required royalties.

[Rootax]

Videologic / ImaginationTech were very smart to leave PC space on focus on mobile market. Plus there PowerVR architectures were a very good base to do so in the first space by not being transistors monsters and efficients.

I wonder if 3DFX could have done the same things... or it was already to late for them to shift sectors...

[Blazkowicz]

3DFX failed at even doing entry-level graphics and OEM for the PC (after losing the dreamcast console to powervr)

having the voodoo4 pitted against the geforce2 MX was an especially cruel situation, as for crippled voodoo3 versions, which felt outdated already back then (velocity, v3 1000) : I've never ever seen such a card.

just before dieing they had a shrunk voodoo4, 180nm, with 64bit ddr, found on a few IBM computers. their first OEM-worthy card just before they died
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/v/3dfx_co...ly_v424200pci/

[Topman]

I remembered the ALi M1561 Aladdin 7 chipset (for Socket 7).

It's a IGP with a ArtX GPU.

The first one IGP with HT¨&L.

ArtX - > designers of the the Gamecube GPU - > sold to ATi - > The team behind R300.


[ ]

[CarstenS]

Oh Eric where art thou?

[Florin]

Missing a couple of the early VGA manufacturers as reviewed in this 1989 InfoWorld article for instance.

I ran with the Ahead Technologies VGA Wizard Deluxe back in those days