GeForce 3 Spurs GPU Programmability Revolution

When NVIDIA launched the GeForce 3 in February 2001 it introduced DirectX 8.0 pixel and vertex shader support, making GPUs programmable for the first time and enabling demos like the Chameleon and early Doom 3 showcases. Though initial reviewers found its raster performance underwhelming, the architecture laid groundwork for Xbox NV2A, later unified shaders, CUDA, GPGPU, and today's AI acceleration.