Editing Number Nine Visual Technology (section)

=== Number Nine Video Cards using Number Nine GPUs ===
[[File:NumberNine Imagine128 1280 PCI.jpg|thumb|Imagine 128 (early original version, note old company name)]]
[[File:NumberNineImagine128II.JPG|thumb|Imagine 128 Series II]]
[[File:NumberNine Revolution3D PCI.jpg|thumb|Revolution 3D (Ticket to Ride), PCI bus]]
[[File:NumberNine RevolutionIV PCI.jpg|thumb|Revolution IV (Ticket to Ride 4), PCI bus]]

The Imagine series [[Graphics processing unit|GPU]]s (also called graphics accelerators) were Number Nine's own in-house designs. The Imagine series went through four generations:
# Imagine 128 (Imagine. Internal codename: "Blackbird").
# Imagine 128-II (Imagine2. Internal codename: "Silver Hammer").
# T2R (marked "Ticket to Ride"; sometimes marked "Imagine-3")
# T2R4 (marked "Ticket to Ride IV").
The Imagine 128 GPU introduced a full 128-bit graphics processor—GPU, internal processor bus, and memory bus were all 128 bits. However, there was no, or very little, hardware support for 3D graphics operations.<ref>Notes on Imagine 128 retail box.</ref>

The Imagine 128-II added [[Gouraud shading]], 32-bit [[Z-buffering]], double display buffering, and a 256-bit video rendering engine.<ref>Notes on Imagine 128 Series 2 retail box.</ref>

The Ticket to Ride (Imagine-3) supported WRAM and both the AGP and PCI buses, had a 3D floating point setup engine, [[bilinear filtering]] and perspective correction, Gouraud shading, [[alpha blending]], interpolated [[Distance fog|fogging]], [[Specular highlight|specular lighting]], double and triple display buffering, 16-, 24- and 32-bit Z-buffering, [[MPEG-1]] and [[MPEG-2]], and hardware [[mipmap|MIP mapping]].<ref>Notes on Revolution 3D retail box</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ebworld.com/news/articles/may/ticket.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19970714055944/http://www.ebworld.com/news/articles/may/ticket.html|title=Number Nine Unveils 'Ticket To Ride'|website=ebworld.com|archivedate=July 14, 1997|date=May 15, 1997|accessdate=November 3, 2019}}</ref>

The Ticket to Ride IV included an integrated 250&nbsp;MHz [[RAMDAC]], support for up to 32&nbsp;MiB SDRAM, full scene anti-aliasing, per pixel fog, specular, and alpha effects, 10-level detail per pixel MIP mapping, bilinear and [[trilinear filtering]], 8 bits per [[Texel (graphics)|texel]], 8&nbsp;KB on-chip texture cache, hardware MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and a full [[IEEE 754]] floating point pipeline 3D rendering setup engine.<ref>Notes on Revolution IV retail box.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/number-nine-launches-ticket-to-ridetm-iv-its-fourth-and-most-powerful-128-bit-3d2dvideo-graphics-chip-77974807.html | title=Number Nine Launches 'Ticket To Ride(TM) IV,' Its Fourth and Most Powerful 128-bit 3D/2D/Video Graphics Chip | publisher=PR Newswire | date=26 May 1998 | accessdate=Jan 13, 2011}}</ref>

Number Nine graphics accelerators were used on the following Number Nine model video cards:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! #9 Model !! #9 GPU !! Memory !! PC Bus Architecture
|-
| Imagine 128 || Imagine 128 || 4 MB, 8 MB VRAM || PCI
|-
| Imagine 128 Series 2 || Imagine 128-II || 4 MB, 8M H-VRAM || PCI
|-
| Imagine 128 Series 2e || Imagine 128-II || 4 MB EDO DRAM || PCI
|-
| Revolution 3D || T2R || 4 MB or 8 MB (base), 12 MB, 16 MB WRAM || PCI, AGP
|-
| Revolution IV || T2R4 || 16 MB, 32 MB SDRAM || PCI, AGP
|-
| Revolution IV-FP || T2R4 || 32 MB SDRAM || PCI, AGP
|}
These 1990s video cards were Number Nine's flagship cards of their day (the Imagine 128 and 128 Series 2 were very expensive). None required a heatsink on the GPU. The original Imagine 128 was introduced in 1994. The Revolution IV was introduced in 1998.

In addition to a standard analog [[VGA connector]], the Revolution IV-FP (also called the Revolution IV-1600SW) had an [[OpenLDI]] digital interface connector for the [[Silicon Graphics| Silicon Graphics, Inc (SGI)]] 1600SW digital flat panel monitor. The Revolution IV-FP was one of only a few standard video adapters with the OpenLDI interface for [[SGI 1600SW|SGI's 1600SW]] digital flat panel monitor (some others were [[3Dlabs]] Oxygen VX1-1600SW, I-O DATA GA-NF30/PCI, and Siemens Nixdorf S26361-D964 cards in some Siemens Nixdorf computer). SGI's 1600SW video adapters were proprietary (on board) to their O2, 320, and 540 graphics workstations. Formac made a limited number of PCI cards with OpenLDI for Apple Macs.

The [[OpenLDI]] interface is neither physically nor electrically compatible with the modern [[DVI-D]] interface. This was the early days of digital video connections and there were several competing, incompatible standards. OpenLDI for stand-alone displays disappeared, but several aftermarket manufacturers made adapters to convert OpenLDI to DVI-D so more modern video cards would work with the 1600SW monitor.

The 1600SW monitor was far ahead of its time and was eagerly sought long after it was out of production. For this reason, for a time, Revolution IV-FP and Oxygen VX1-1600SW video cards commanded a premium price in the used market, long after they were out of production.