NV5
| Branding | RIVA TNT2 (early name: RIVA TNT+), later "NVIDIA TNT2" |
|---|---|
| Architecture | NV5 |
| Announcement date | March 1999 |
| Release date | 31 August 1998 |
| End of production | 2002 |
| PCI vendor ID | 10de (Nvidia) |
| PCI device ID | many, but first was 0028 |
| DirectX hardware supported version | 6.0 |
| OpenGL hardware supported version | 1.2 (hardware) 1.5 (software) |
| Max VRAM clock | 150MHz (TNT2); 166MHz (Pro); 183MHz (Ultra) (configurable by OEM) |
| Max core clock | 125MHz (TNT2); 143MHz (Pro); 150MHz (Ultra) (configurable by OEM) |
NV5 is an improved version of NV4 which was initially intended as a die shrink and clockspeed increase, but as development continued many more features were added. It survived for several years as an increasingly low-end option and was the first NVIDIA GPU to have multiple SKUs, with the straps, installed VRAM and value of NV_PMC_BOOT_0 being used to configure the branding and option. Initially branded as RIVA TNT2 (after RIVA TNT+ was considered), the "RIVA" was dropped when NVIDIA repositioned it as a low-end option. Production most likely ended in 2002. Typically, a TNT2 card was packaged with either 16 or 32 MB of VRAM
SKUs
Note: graphics cards vendors could and often did configure the card outside of the stated specifications. For example, there was a
VANTA LT: Extremely low-end variation of TNT2 M64. Identical to VANTA-16, but VRAM is limited to a mere 8 megabytes and AGP 4X support is disabled - only AGP 2X can be used. VANTA-16: Very low-end variation of TNT2 M64, with a core clock of 100MHz and a memory clock of 125Mhz. RIVA TNT2 M64:: Low-end variation of NV5 (known as NV6) with a 64-bit bus. RIVA TNT2: Mainstream option with a core clock of 125MHz and a memory clock of 150Mhz, released in 1999. RIVA TNT2 Pro:: High-end option with a core clock of 143MHz and a memory clock of 166Mhz, released on October 22, 1999. RIVA TNT2 Ultra: Enthusiast option, with a core clock of 150MHz and a memory clock of 183Mhz, released in March of 1999.