Best Videocard of All Time

[christopherzombie]

Without a doubt the 9700PRO was the best. It knocked NVidia off it's feet for two years. NVidia couldn't catch back up untill the 6800Ultra hit stores. The ti 4600 was good, but it wasn't much more than a GF 3 ti 500 with more RAM and faster clocks.

 

[jiffylube1024]

9700 Pro. It's still a good card today!

My buddy got one at launch from his friend who works at ATI (and thus gets the 50% off discount) for $300 CDN which was about $220 US at the time.

He's still using it today and getting great results, while I've upgraded and downgraded countless times with little meaning other than to play with something new.

 

[nitromullet]

My personal favorite cards have been my old GeForce4 Ti4200 and my 6800GT. In terms of historical significance though, I'd have to say that the 9700Pro was probably the most important card in terms of the fact that this card was the first to put nVidia on its ass since they hit the scene. The end result of this (2 years later) was good for consumers. We now have great cards from both ATi and nVidia.

 

[Concillian]

I would say the original Voodoo. Nothing else made an impact like that on me.

9700 would have to be second for me.

 

[MisterChief]

The Radeon 9700Pro came out at the right time, with the right stuff. A big :thumbsup: for that.

 

[nRollo]

Easily the original Voodoo1. Most of you probably don't remember the sparkly days of software only games, but that changed everything.

If this question is "technically what is the best video card of all time"- the 6800U wins hands down. Has the most advanced feature set, does everything very well.

 

[Megatomic]

You got that right Rollo. 3Dfx might have dropped the ball later on but I'll always be grateful to them for the V1 (and especially the V2).

*shudders when remembering the days of software rendering*

 

[Creig]

Softmoddable 9500 Non-Pro. I'm still using it today as it has enough HP for the even the latest games (with the possible exception of D3 which I've never tried). Mine can run 400/600 and has been the only component to be kept in use over multiple upgrades.

Best bang-for-your-buck card ever.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

IBM VGA, particularly 640x480 16 color mode (square pixels!).

 

[MisterChief]

Originally posted by: ArnoldLayne
IBM VGA, particularly 640x480 16 color mode (square pixels!).

:thumbsup::laugh: OOH, I love the "amazing graphics" of the Z80!

 

[mwmorph]

i'd vote for my former interimvideo card before my 6600gt arrived: a nv geforce 2 ultra. it played Madden 2k5 at my lcd's native resolution(1280x1024) medium high settings in my game rig.

 

[mwmorph]

whoops. delete.

 

[Mojo027]

I only obtained my first real computer (ie: not 5 years out of date) in 2001. That's when I really started becoming interested in hardware.

The most impressed I ever was with a video card was definitely when ATI released the r300 core in the 9700pro. That was a wicked card for it's time, and still holds it's own today in pretty demanding games. I kind of wish I had've bought one back then, hopefully my 6800GT will last me as long as a 9700pro could have lasted me.

 

[Zenoth]

Radeon 9800 Pro for me. That GPU is always surprising me, and it's so stable, I can over-clock that baby very nicely. Pushing its limits sky-high. And when it came out, it seemed like nothing else could be better even in two years. Of course, technically there is better products now, but the Radeon 9800 Pro has always been surprising to me.

 

[Rankor]

For me:

3dfx Voodoo 1

Either a Diamond Monster 3D or an Orchid Orchid Righteous 3D

(GLQuake, Mechwarrior in 3D)

and

nVidia's GeForce 2 MX base (not MX 200 or MX 400)

Performance of a GeForce 256 at a fraction of the cost.

Let's add Matrox G400 series with multiple monitor support.

 

[XBoxLPU]

9700 Pro

No doubt

 

[everman]

Voodoo2 was awsome, sold it to a friend so they could use SLI.
Then I'd say the original Geforce was a big step.
And finally my 9800 because it has lasted so long and keeps on performing very well.

 

[js1973]

Someone fill in the holes in my memory, was the voodoo 5500 the first card to offer FSAA?

 

[Fenuxx]

Originally posted by: js1973
Someone fill in the holes in my memory, was the voodoo 5500 the first card to offer FSAA?

No. I believe that honor went to the original GeForce256.

 

[Fenuxx]

1.) Rendition Verite V1000: It was the FIRST 3D card EVER made. I still have one, and it works. I still remember good ol' V-Quake .
2.) 3DFX Voodoo2-SLI: No intro needed. One of the best setups EVER to be created.
3.) NVIDIA Riva TNT2: Proved NVIDIA was serious about ripping the performance crown from 3DFX.
4.) NVIDIA GeForce2: Ended a great era-effectively ending 3DFX for good.
5.) ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (or just R300 in general): The first card that really proved ATI was game.
6.) NVIDIA GeForce 6-Series: After the GeForce FX's defeat at the hands of ATI, this showed that NVIDIA wasn't going to let the performance crown go that easy.

EDIT: Correction to #1: the V1000 was the first 3D accelerator ever made. You guys remember those good ol' S3 Virge things don't you ? Yeah, those were 3D DECELERATORS.

 

[imported_Hi]

9700p

 

[OS]

Pretty much all of those early 3d cards were steps into the new world. Voodoo 1, RIVA 128, Verite Series, Matrox Mystique.

 

[bjc112]

I feel the Geforce 3 was a pretty big step in the graphics world..

 

[Spike]

For me it was the S3 Virge Trio 16mb (I believe that is what it was called) card. That was my first taste of 3D gaming and I LOVED it. Haven't looked back since

-spike

 

[WobbleWobble]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned PowerVR's Kyro based cards. The Kyro 2 put up very good speeds for the money. Its Tile Based Rendering techniques were highly efficient, drawing only what you saw on the screen, not everything behind it as well like every other chip. If only they caught on and were able to get some real hardware T&L support.