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I'm interested in how graphics hardware has worked at different tech levels. Having looked at an annotated die photo of the VIC-II for example, I now feel I have a much better understanding of how it actually works.

Is there such a photo available of a 3D graphics chip? Specifically, I'm talking about the era from the mid-nineties through the noughts, after true 3D graphics started getting hardware acceleration, and before the GPGPU, so one of the graphics chips from the fifth or sixth generation consoles, or some contemporary PC chip like the GeForce 256.

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    Does this count? wccftech.com/nvidia-gtx-1080-gp104-die-shot - the much higher transistor counts do mean that it's going to be less detailed.
    – pjc50
    Jan 31, 2020 at 13:09
  • @pjc50 That is very interesting, thanks! I might someday understand it, if I work my way up through the fifth and sixth generations first :)
    – rwallace
    Jan 31, 2020 at 23:00
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    Nvidia do put out a lot of architecture papers, which help understanding - really the important change is from fixed function pipelines to the shader model.
    – pjc50
    Jan 31, 2020 at 23:32
  • @pjc50 Right, one of the things I'm interested in understanding is what that change entails. Do you have any references to hand, to something that would explain that to a nonspecialist?
    – rwallace
    Feb 1, 2020 at 18:37

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