
4 generations of GPU
- Before the introduction of the GPU, there only existed very expensive specialized hardware such as the machines from SGI.
- The first generation of GPU, including NVIDIA TNT2, ATI Rage and 3dfx Voodoo3, only supported rasterizing pre-transformed triangles and some limited texture operations.
- The second generation of GPUs, which were introduced around 1999, included the NVIDIA GeForce 2 and ATI Radeon 7500. They allowed for both 3D vertex transformations and some lighting, conformant with OpenGL and DirectX 7.
- The tird generation GPUs, including NVIDIA GeForce 3, Microsoft Xbox and ATI Radeon 8500, included both powerful vertex processing capabilities and some pixel-based configuration operations, exceeding those of OpenGL and DirectX 7.
- Finally, the fourth generation of GPUs, such as the NVIDIA GeForce FX and ATI Radeon 9700, allow for both complex vertex and pixel operations.