Diamond Edge 3D / Edge 3D 2000
The Edge 3D was Diamond's first (and only?) card to use the nVidia NV1 chipset. It combined 2D and 3D video, wavetable audio, and a digital game port on a single card.
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Released | Late 1995 / Early 1996 |
Bus | PCI | |
Chipset | nVidia NV1 (SGS Thomson SGS2000) | |
Standards | SVGA, MIDI | |
Memory | 1 or 2 MB DRAM, or 4 MB VRAM | |
Ports | 15-pin DSUB (analog video out) 3.5mm jacks for Audio In, Out, and Microphone. Proprietary game port (RJ45) |
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Price | At launch: $259 (2120XL), $315 (2220XL?) | |
See Also |
The NV1 was nVidia's first effort to produce a 3D chipset, and was a commercial failure. It was followed by the much more successful NV3 in early 1997.
The Diamond Edge 3D was not just a graphics product - the board actually featured support for audio as well as Sega Saturn gamepads. At the time of its launch, Diamond promised 'Photo-realistic 3D graphics animation for Windows 95.'. It required a high-end PC for the time: a 486DX2-66 or Pentium 90 MHz.
At the heart of the Edge 3D was SGS Thomson's SGS2000 multimedia accelerator (nVidia had granted marketing rights to SGS Thomson for the NV1 chip design), which was a DRAM-based version of the nVidia NV1 accelerator chip. This chip combined the functionality of both a standard 2D graphics accelerator with an engine that could display realistic texture-mapped 3D objects as well as full-motion video. It could even use a video input as a texture map for 3D objects. The card also provided concurrent video support for colour space conversion and x- and y-axis interpolated video scaling. It also featured a digital game port, wavetable-based audio codec, and a Sega Saturn game controller, supporting up to two gamepads at a time.
The onboard wavetable audio is General MIDI-compatible, provided via an Analog Devices AD1845 chip, and supports to 32 voices.
There were a number of known model variants of the Edge 3D:
- 2120 XL with 1 MB of DRAM
- 2200 XL with 2 MB of DRAM
- 3240 XL with 4 MB of VRAM
- 3400 XL with 4 MB of VRAM
The 2200XL was bundled with several OEM PCs in late 1995, including Micro Center's PowerSpec PC (Pentium 133, 16 MB EDO RAM).
The card came with three 3D games to show off its capabilities: Virtua Fighter Remix, Panzer Dragoon, and NASCAR Racing, plus two Saturn-compatible controllers. These were all recompiled versions specifically to support the NV1 architecture.
Unfortunately, the Edge 3D (and its NV1) did not ever come with DirectX drivers - most likely because of major incompatibilities that we now know of the NV1's architecture. It is believed Diamond and nVidia did intend to produce DirectX / Direct3D drivers for the Edge 3D, as a two-page advert in April 1996 stated 'Choosing a 3D multimedia accelerator today prepares you for future applications. Many are designed specifically for Windows 95, so be sure the 3D accelerator you choose supports all of the Microsoft DirectX APIs that game developers worldwide are supporting.' and in the same advert, 'Designed for Windows 95, the Diamond EDGE 3D multimedia accelerator incorporates all of these features, and comes with SEGA Saturn compatible control pads.'.
Board Revisions
I have no board revision information for the Edge 3D.
Competition
There was little in the way of competition for the Diamond Edge 3D in late 1995, but there were signs the industry was moving in the same direction. One competing card that also supported full-motion video, 2D and 3D acceleration, and a digital game port was the Number Nine 9FX Media574.
In the Media
An advert for the Diamond Edge 3D, March 1996
An advert for the Diamond's multimedia accelerators (including Edge 3D), April 1996
Setting it Up
I have no setup information for the Edge 3D series.
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Original Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Windows 95 Drivers v2 Diamond Edge 3D Windows 95 drivers with InControl Tools v4.02.244. Support Edge 3D 2000 and Edge 3D 3000 PCI only. |
Windows 95 Drivers v2.21 Diamond Edge 3D Windows 95 drivers with InControl Tools v4.02.244. Support Edge 3D 2000 and Edge 3D 3000 PCI only. |
SciTech Display Doctor VESA 2.0 support for DOS, Windows 3.1, 95 and NT. Requires Windows to install the DOS components. |
SciTech Display Doctor VESA 2.0 support for DOS. |
More Pictures
A Diamond Edge 3D 2120? (1995)