Unseen heroes within our game and multimedia favorites, our intricate design applications throughout are a product of the hard work put in by graphics cards. Their story would be much simpler, if it weren’t for the swift advances, merciless competition and an unrelenting search for visual perfection. Today we’re going to dive deep into how graphics cards have progressed from dumb 3D accelerators to the 2 m CPUs GPUs are now today that drive realistic, lifelike gaming (and more).
Pain: The Limitation of Early Graphics
Computer graphics was at best basic until the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Text based interfaces were Rule and files, and when graphical interfaces arrived they were simple slow and clunky. Computers didn’t have the power to handle complex visuals, smooth animations, or even handle the game as fast as the average gamer could keep up. The CPU held the processing power for graphics, and it struggled even to handle the most basic graphical demands, while still having to do everything else.
Games could only play in simple 2D environments and that cage out high resolution textures, 3D models and advanced visual effects. In other words, the industry really needed a way to make computers more efficient at processing and displaying images, which ultimately lead to dedicated graphics hardware.
Agitation: The Birth of 3D Accelerators – A Glimpse into the Future of Graphics
In an attempt to overcome these issues, in the mid 1990s we started to see the first dedicated 3D cards, also known as 3D accelerators. And these early graphics cards — the 3dfx Voodoo, or NVIDIA’s RIVA 128, were pretty revolutionary, even by today’s standards. So they implemented hardware accelerated 3D rendering which meant their CPUs could handle simple 3D tasks without a hitch. This was a game changer, giving a smooth animation and the ability for authentic 3D gaming that had only just been an idea on the distant horizon.
- 3dfx Voodoo (1996): When Voodoo changed how gaming was done, the Voodoo graphics cards market it. Simpler’s Voodoo offloaded its graphics processing from the CPU, meaning games would run with a much higher amount of frame rates and visual fidelity. That took poker graphics into the 3D polygonal graphics realm in real time and far from what had been seen to that point.
- NVIDIA RIVA 128 (1997): EVERYONE REALLY WANTED THE RIVA 128, the first 2D/3D graphics card to enter the market by NVIDIA. Unlike past 3D cards, RIVA 128 was a combined card handling both 2D and 3D tasks. Because it was affordable and versatile general purpose computing and gaming were popular uses for it.
What these early 3D accelerators demonstrated was what could be done, but also indicated the need for ongoing improvements. Competition quickly turned the dedicated graphics card market up to heat, as innovating rates accelerated.
Solution: Early GPUs Roar – There Were Graphics Cards! And More Competition Compared To Today
Graphics cards developed into a mass component of PCs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And two of the power boundaries got pushed very hard: first by NVIDIA and ATI (now AMD). These companies introduced hardware no longer an accelerator but a dedicated processor for graphics by developing “Graphics Processing Units” or GPUs.
- GeForce 256 (1999):A GeForce 256 is sometimes known as the world’s first GPU. And it integrated a Transform and Lighting (T&L) engine that took on critical 3D rendering tasks that were the CPU’s responsibility. With T&L, it was important for creating more realistic 3D environments, and better frame rates. Since the GeForce 256 was the first to really embody the modern concept of a GPU this was a big milestone.
- ATI Radeon (2000): ATI responded by launching a whole line of Radeon products. It was the first Radeon card—and it introduced proprietary technology to further improve image quality (including HyperZ for improved memory bandwidth). It also ran DirectX 7 and set the bar for performance high. NVIDIA and ATI engaged in a fierce feud which would see each doing all that they could to surpass the other’s capabilities within graphics hardware.
At this age OpenGL and IDirectX and the like became the basis of 3 D graphics programming. Graphics cards themselves were also growing more powerful to keep up with game developers and provide better tools for creating scenes that are more complex than the terrain object mesh and lighting and shading. As early as the early 2000s, anything requiring heavy graphical demands almost had to be fed the dedicated graphics card.
Growth of Technology: Shader Model Revolution and Real time Rendering
Because of the advancement in game visuals, we soon realized more was necessary to meet the demand of modern graphics. It was the GPU programmable pipeline, shader models, a breakthrough that allowed developers to implement custom effects and implement complex unique visuals that would otherwise be impossible on today’s GPU.
- NVIDIA GeForce FX Series (2003): Although not knock perfect, the GeForce FX series set a standard where pixel and vertex shaders were now the standard. Valex gave the coder complete control over nearly every aspect of the visual effect, such as lighting, shadows, and textures, all at higher definition than ever before. Shader Model 2.0 was used in this series, taking a level of detail in games to higher place than ever.
- ATI Radeon X1000 Series (2005): Radeon X1000 series came out in 2004 and they countered with the Introducing Shader Model 3.0. The result was this standard: not just an improvement over previous graphics cards, but a standard that helped further graphical fidelity and smoother effects, both of which were essential as the world outside of gaming turned towards high definition displays.
At the time, there was nothing but rivalry between NVIDIA and ATI, which were competing in every new release to compete against each other. Shaders actually gained unprecedented visual effects and game realism. At this time, graphics cards were no longer an accessory for the avid gamer; they were beginning to become a must have in the modern performance orientated computer.
Gaming Goes Mainstream: Graphics Cards in the Era of High Definition
By the late 2000s high definition displays were common, and graphics power was in high demand. They weren’t just 3D games; games with built in complex physics and lifelike characters. These demands demanded that graphics cards evolve very rapidly.
- NVIDIA GTX 200 Series (2008): Parallel computing, with which GPUs kicked off the GTX 200 series, concerned more than just computing; GPUs could handle more than just graphics. GPU based computing outside gaming — such as machine learning and science research — was set off by this ability.
- ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series (2009): Introduced was DirectX 11 support, a big step forward for graphics with Radeon HD 5000 series. With DirectX 11, lighting is more realistic, tessellation is more complex and multi core processing is better. They were especially laudable, and especially when it came to the Radeon HD 5870 which provided outstanding performance at a very reasonable price point.
It was a turning point of an era. Now graphics cards weren’t just able to power high end games, they could also power the heavy applications of video editing, 3D rendering and even cryptocurrency mining. For that reason, GPUs were an indispensable part of a wider array of users.
The Modern Powerhouses: From Realism to Ray Tracing
In the 2010s, NVIDIA and AMD kept increasing new generational graphics card standards. 4K gaming, virtual reality, and, more recently, ray tracing, an advanced lighting technique simulating the rendering of ultra realistic scenes was the focus.
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX Series (2018): It was a groundbreaking moment when the GeForce RTX series had been introduced. The RTX cards featured a hardware real time ray tracing to provide the most amount of realism to no ends. Ray tracing produces more stunning shadows, reflections and lighting, which brings games closer to real life than they’ve ever been. As for the RTX series, this family also unveiled DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), an AI based scheme that allows to paint high quality images with less processing power. This was important because it was a balance between visual fidelity and performance such that high demand games still ran smoothly.
- AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series (2020): Ray tracing debuted on AMD cards with the Radeon RX 6000 series, but it’s been a close fight with NVIDIA’s RTX series. Featuring high clock speeds, increased memory bandwidth, and ray-tracing capabilities these cards were powered by the RDNA 2 architecture designed to afford an AMD serious threat in the high end GPU market.
Today’s graphics cards are so much more than gaming hardware. Since the advent of GPUs these new technologies such as AI processing, cloud gaming and even autonomous cars would be not possible without the advancements. Graphics cards are now fundamental components to supercomputing, big data, and high-performance simulations, and this is a far cry from where they were in their early days.
Conclusion: What’s Next for Graphics Cards?
A tour of graphics carding from 3D accelerators to modern GPUs is nothing but a chronic of relentless innovation and competition. Over the last 25 years, graphics cards have evolved from the basic 3D functionality of the 1990s, to modern day ray tracing power houses.
What’s next? GPU’s future looks bright with the promise of AI driven rendering, more realistic ray tracing, and potentially even “photorealistic” gaming environments. AI driven visuals such as the ones you can find in NVIDIA’s DLSS or AMD’s FidelityFX are laying the foundation for visuals that balance high performance with amazing image quality, resulting in games and apps that will be much better, and much faster, ever.
But graphics cards are no longer just for gaming, they are the basis for the future of technology. The GPU has a place: from high speed computing to virtual reality to next gen medical imaging. As we move forward, one thing’s clear: graphics cards will.
