3DS MAX 6 RUNS UP TO 74% FASTER WITH NVIDIA QUADRO GRAPHICS AND MAXTREME 6



NVIDIA MAXtreme 6 Accelerator Unleashes The Power of Discreet’s Award-Winning Visual Effects Software



LONDON — FEBRUARY 19th, 2004 — NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its MAXtreme 6 accelerator, a custom tool that dramatically increases the performance of Discreet 3ds max® 6 software on NVIDIA Quadro® professional graphics solutions. In recent testing, MAXtreme 6 increased performance up to 74% over 3ds max 6 using the default OpenGL driver on Discreet’s internally developed and sanctioned benchmark, an appreciable difference even the untrained eye can detect . This free, fully certified productivity boost to 3ds max 6 and NVIDIA Quadro users is now available on the NVIDIA website at http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/maxtreme_6.html.



“Over the years, NVIDIA has been a strong, committed partner to Discreet and the 3ds max user community,” said Chris Ford, animation product line manager at Discreet. “NVIDIA follows through on its promises of ‘value-added solutions.’ They put their development teams to work and, as a result of NVIDIA software development efforts, our joint customers will benefit tremendously from the added muscle MAXtreme brings to the table.”



Developed by NVIDIA using the 3ds max 6 SDK and source code provided by Discreet, MAXtreme 6 further enhances 3ds max 6 user productivity by allowing professionals to control the application’s viewport display quality and real-time rendering speed. MAXtreme 6 is supported on the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and Windows XP operating systems and is optimised for use with the full line of NVIDIA Quadro-based graphics solutions.



About 3ds max



Discreet 3ds max software has the largest installed base in the 3D industry and is the preferred 3D software in the core production environment for UBI Soft, Rockstar Games, Electronic Arts, HOK, Ellerbe Becket, Blur Studios, Frantic Films, Digital Dimensions — along with other leading design and entertainment firms. >From the latest radical Burton snowboard designs and the first 3D design visualisation software used by the Frank Lloyd Wright® Taliesin® West School of Architecture, to the enthralling visual effects scenes found in The Last Samurai and interactive twists and turns found in the best-selling game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Microsoft Xbox, 3ds max continues its widespread popularity and leadership as the preferred 3D production solution of top artists and designers worldwide.



About Discreet



Discreet empowers media professionals to realise the visual experience and transform their vision into reality. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery — across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, colour grading and editing to animation, game development and design visualisation. Discreet is based in Montreal, Quebec and is a division of Autodesk Inc., the world's leading design and digital media creation, management and distribution company. http://www.discreet.com.



About NVIDIA



NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technology dedicated to creating products that enhance the interactive experience on consumer and professional computing platforms. Its graphics and communications processors have broad market reach and are incorporated into a wide variety of computing platforms, including consumer digital-media PCs, enterprise PCs, professional workstations, digital content creation systems, notebook PCs, military navigation systems and video game consoles. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and employs more than 1,800 people worldwide. For more information, visit the Company’s website at http://www.nvidia.co.uk.



Certain statements in this press release, including any statements relating to the Company's performance expectations for NVIDIA's family of products and expectations of continued revenue growth, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and dependence of the Company on third-party manufacturers, general industry trends including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of the Company's new products and the Company's dependence on third-party developers and publishers. Investors are advised to read the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Certain Business Risks," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.