My video card history

[fatty4ksu]

Originally posted by: Mojoed
Matrox MGA Ultima
Matrox Millenium 2MB
Matrox M3D (horrid OpenGL support :barf; )
Matrox Millenium II 8MB (I expanded it to 16MB, cost me $80)
Voodoo II 12MB
TnT2 Ultra 64MB
Geforce 2 Ultra 64MB
Geforce Ti4600 128MB


Yea I know, I suck. Still using the Ti4600. Works ok for the games I play I guess.

I had to retire it for BF2....great card.

 

[coomar]

radeon 7500
asus radeon 9600xt
asus x700le (pci-e)
dell 6800 256mb (pci-e)
evga 6800gt pci-e

in order:
x700le
6800gt
9600xt
6800
7500

 

[JesseKnows]

My first cat's meeiow was ATI EGAWonder. Gave you gray scale on a mono TTL display! And ran Hercules hi-res (720X480) monochrome as well! And full-res EGA (640X350).

 

[carreragtr]

1) S3 Virge
2) S3 Trio
3) S3 savage pro
4) nv riva tnt2
5) nv rivatnt2 ultra
6) geforce 2 ti
7) geforce 4 ti 4200
8 radeon 9800 SE
9) radeon 9800 pro
10) geforce 6800 GT(128 mb)
11) radeon x800 xl(1 week)
12) geforce 6800 ultra(now )

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: mdchesne

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
geforce 2
ti4200
9700 pro
9800 pro
6800 gt
x800xl
7800 gtx

just wondering, why'd you switch from the 6800gt to the x800xl? (curious)

agp to pci e (s754 to 939), i got the xl for $179 brand new so i couldnt justify paying $350 (at the time) for a 6800 Gt pci -e

 

[mooncancook]

Matrox Mystique 2MB
Voodoo 4MB
Voodoo 2 12MB
ATi Rage 128 16MB
geForce 2 GTS 32MB
9500 Pro 128MB
9800 AIW 128MB
6600GT 128MB
X800XL 256MB

 

[Eureka]

Let's see...

Integrated for all except a 9600SE 128mb and a 6600GT 128mb (which I'm using now).

Norm

 

[HighCalibreHooch]

My card history in chrono order:

2 MB ATi (in a Pentium 133)
4 MB Rendition Verite PCI (Pentium 133 & AMD K6 350)
16 MB Voodoo 3 2000 PCI (AMD K6 350 to Duron 700)
64 MB Hercules Kyro II 4500 (Duron 700 to Duron 1.3GHz)
64 MB Xabre 400 (Duron 1.3GHz to Athlon XP 2500+)
128 MB Geforce FX 5200 Ultra (Athlon XP 2500+)
128 MB Geforce 6 6600GT PCI-E (Athlon 64 3000+)

 

[vss1980]

Pffft, young whipper-snapper amateurs, time to show you some old school names:

(before I got my own machine I had use of my dad's IBM AT running with an EGA card - a full length ISA card full of chips to produce that low resolution low colour output. It is not included because practically speaking I never owned it)

1) Trident 8900C ISA 512K (256 colours max)
2) Western Digital "Paradise" WD90C30 ISA 512K (256 colours max)
3) Western Digital WD90C31 ISA 1MB (32k colours - woohoo)
4) Trident 8900D ISA 1MB (finally, 16M colours)
5) Videologic Grafixstar 600 2.25MB (Tseng ET6000) PCI
6) Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx 4MB (PowerVR Series 1 PCX2 - that's right PowerVR 1 almost as quick as the voodoo's with a fraction of the PCB space) - 3D only add-on PCI card
7) Videologic Apocalypse 5D 8MB - (basically an improved grafixstar 650 + apocalypse 3Dx on one card) PCI
8) ELSA TNT2 Pro 32MB AGP
9) Diamond ViperII 32MB (The infamous Savage2000 32MB Z200) AGP
10) Leadtek Geforce DDR 32MB AGP
11) Radeon 8500LE 64MB AGP
12) Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB AGP
13) Radeon 9700 AGP

Some of these changes were out of convenience - ie. swapping components between computers, etc., but these are the changes that were carried for any reasonable amount of time.
There were some big gaps between some cards - mainly the jump from ISA to PCI cards and to some point the jump between PCI to AGP which would have happened sooner had it not been for the fact that my then AGP motherboard had a chronic dislike for the Nvidia TNT chipset.

Of course, over the time I have used various other cards in other machines and played about with them. Out of all of those listed though the card which was the most fun to own was probably the TNT2 - it ushered in the current modern 3D era for me as far as I was concerned and what a difference in quality and speed it made in games (although it had some let downs like abismal MIP-mapping performance - way behind the S3 Savage 2000 and a bit behind the PowerVR also).
The most challenging but sometimes rewarding was the Savage 2000 - a real roller-coaster made even more of an experience as S3 wound down and a lack of drivers followed.

The most solid card is a tough call between the R9000 Pro and the GF DDR - both had a lot chucked at them and worked pretty well in all cases. I'd give it to the GF though purely because at the time the tweakability from 3rd part apps was great - something that isn't quite all down to nvidia but the user base.

 

[Kyanzes]

ISA CGA (Like 4K RAM?)
ISA EGA 64K
ISA VGAs (Tseng, Trident, Herkules Terminator) 256K/512K/1MB

PCI:
S3 Trio (32,64) 2MB
S3 VirgeDX 4MB
3DFX Voodoo I (With a PCI video card)
Voodoo Elephant (6MB - Stand alone 3D!!!!)
3DFX Voodoo II (With a PCI video card, also had a Matrox MII)

AGP:
TNT 16MB (Can't remember the brand, probably was noname)
3DFX Voodoo3 3000
Diamond TNT2 32MB (not the Vanta ofc)
GeForce256 32MB (think it had SDR, not sure though)
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS 32MB DDR (I just loved this card)
Innovision GeForce2 Titanium 64MB
Innovision GeForce3 Ti200 64MB
Ati Radeon 8500LE 64MB
Innovision GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB (Another great stuff I loved)
Ati Radeon 9700PRO 128MB (A truly legendary card no question about it.)
Ati Radeon 9800PRO 128MB
MSI GeForce FX5950 128MB (was it 256MB??? anyway I sold it after two weeks because of the huge amount of issues I had with it, and as I already sold my 9800PRO by then I bought the next card in the list, the 9800XT)
Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Ati Radeon X800XT PE 256MB
Club3D GeForce 7800GTX 256MB (Rocks like hell.)

My all time favorite from the AGP world is the ATI 9700PRO, as for the PCI stuff I really loved the Voodoo II and the Elephant.

 

[Avalon]

Chronological:

1) Nvidia 8MB Vanta integrated
2) 3DFX Voodoo 4 32MB PCI
3) Hercules TNT2 32MB PCI
3) Hercules Geforce 2 MX 200 32MB PCI
4) ATI Radeon 8500 64MB AGP 4x
5) Gainward Geforce 3 Ti200 64MB AGP 4x
6) Connect3D Radeon 9500 *unlocked* 128MB AGP 8x
7) eVGA Geforce 6800 128MB AGP 8x *unlocked*
8) XGI Volari 3 128MB AGP 8x
9) Nvidia Geforce 6800U 256MB AGP 8x
10) Asus Geforce 6600 128MB PCI-e
11) Leadtek Geforce 6200 *unlocked* 128MB PCI-e

Damn. No wonder I can't afford college

Favorite three:

1) Connect3D Radeon 9500 *unlocked*
2) eVGA Geforce 6800 *unlocked*
3) 3DFX Voodoo 4

The first two should be self explanatory (Hint: see asterisks)
The 3DFX card because it was the first real GPU I ever had. That turned me into such a huge 3DFX fanboy.

 

[Kyteland]

You people sure upgrade a lot!

Diamond TNT (8MB)
Diamond TNT2 (32MB)
Radeon 9600 Pro (128MB)

I'm about due for an upgrade again. If I'm going to keep the trend going I'll need a 512MB card....

 

[jasonja]

S3 Virge (Diamond Stealth) (Vesa Local Bus baby!)
Voodoo 1 (Orchid)
Voodoo 2 (Wicked3D) SLI
nVidia Riva 128 (Diamond Stealth ??)
Intel i740 (Real3D Starfighter) (The Dawn of AGP!)
nVidia Geforce2 MX
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9700
Radeon 9800 Pro
Radeon X800 XT AIW
Radeon R5XX

 

[lein]

My cards with commentary

AIW Radeon - The beginning of my discrete graphics card history
Hercules Prophet 4000XT (Kryo chip)
9600 Pro
6800 (PCIE)
x800xt (PCIE)
6800gt
x800pro vivo flashed to xt pe
6800gto (couldnt unlock =( ) (PCIE)
x800pro PCIE VIVO - no flash =(
x800xl (PCIE)
7800GT (PCIE) <- This card's a keeper (until Fudo comes out)

 

[jiffylube1024]

Yikes, this will be a long one because I buy, sell and trade cards often. I'll give it a shot:

3dfx Voodoo 3 2000
ATI Radeon LE
Nvidia GeForce 3 Ti200
ATI Radeon 8500 LE 128MB
Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4200
ATI Radeon 8500 128MB
Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 128MB
ATI Radeon 9800 np
Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4600 (128MB)
ATI Radeon X800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 8500 (1-month stopgap before my next card)
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT
ATI Radeon X800XL

 

[xtknight]

ATI Xpert 98 PCI
ATI ?? PCI

3D accelerators:
3DFX Voodoo 3 2000 64MB(?) AGP.
ATI Radeon VE (7500?)
ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 32 MB DDR(?)
ATI Radeon 8500 128-bit(?) 128MB(?) (AGP 4x)
ATI Radeon 9500 PRO 128-bit 128MB (AGP 8x)
Leadtek GeForce 6800 256MB 256-bit

 

[AznAnarchy99]

GeForce 2MX
GeForce 4 MX440
ATi Radeon 9800Pro (omg huge jump)
ATi Radeon x800XT PE (great card)
XFX 7800 GTX (won it in a contest)

 

[fibes]

32MB Nvidia Diamond Viper V770
64MB Nvidia Geforce4 MX400
128MB ATI 9500 PRO
128MB Nividia 6600GT
128MB Nividia 6800LE

In my favorite order:

1. 128MB ATI 9500 PRO (This is where I experienced a true performance video gain. I loved this card!)
2. 128MB Nividia 6800LE (Because I unlocked 12p/6v, plays BF2 smoothly, and only paid $125.00 for it)
3. 128MB Nividia 6600GT (It was a great upgrade from my 9500PRO, but mine could not play BF2.)
4. 64MB Nvidia Geforce4 MX400 (These cards get a bad rep. It's been very reliable, but not much of a video gaming card)
5. 32MB Nvidia Diamond Viper V770 (Can't really remember what I did with this card, but I have lots of fond memories and countless hours of AoE and Interstate 1976 with this card.)

 

[CorCentral]

Diamond Stealth64 w/4meg Vram (this card was well over $500.00 when purchased in '93-'94) Remember when 1mb of ram cost $25.00? Today's 512mb chip would cost $12,800! System ram anyway.
Diamond Viper V550
Elsa GeForce 32mb GTS
EVGA 5600
EVGA 6800gt
In about 2 weeks = EVGA 7800gtx & new computer

It took awhile but I went from close to the Best in '94 to the Best in '05 over the years **LOL**

 

[route66]

Matrox Millenium
nVidia TNT
nVidia GeForce 2MX
nVidia GeForce 6600GT

Can't remember the manufacturers of the nvid cards anymore.

My fave was the TNT. I got the Celeron 300 and the TNT in a new system, overclocked the Celeron to 450 - at the time it was pretty much top of the line system. Got mad FPS in Half-Life.

 

[Powered by AMD]

chronological

1 Mb Trident PCI
6 Mb Voodoo Rush (Jazz)
GeForce 256 32 Mb SDR Leadtek
ELSA GeForce 2 MX 32 Mb SDR
XFX GF FX 5200 128 Mb 128 Bits
Gigabyte ATI Radeon 9600 Pro EZ Edition
BBA ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mb

favorite order

6 Mb Voodoo Rush, cos it opened my eyes to the 3D World. Remeber playing NFS 3, F1 racing Simulator, TOCA2, Hidden & Dangerous.... great memories!

9600 Pro, cos I really saw the speed and quality bump from previous Video Cards.

GeForce 256 & 2 MX, because I started to see a whole new experience in games, such as MAFIA and GTA3.

9800 Pro, cos Im not worry (by now) anymore if a game is gonna be playable at 1024x768 in my PC.

GF FX5200, it was very good OCer, it came with 4ns memories, but I didnt feel a really speed bump from my GF 2 MX. I saw a quality bump, but thats all.

 

[coldpower27]

Chronological
S3 Virge 2MB PCI (1997-2000)
Asus Geforce 2 GTS 64MB (2000-2003)
Asus Geforce 4 TI 4200-8x (2003-present)

 

[Powermoloch]

5200
6600
x850xt

-----
1) 6600
2) xt850xt
3) 5200

 

[kmmatney]

In my personal computers I've owned:
You guys are young!

Trident ISA (256 kb)
Trident VESA Local Bus 512 KB
STB 2 MB VESA Local Bus Card
Diamond Stealth S3 Trio 64V
Diamond Viper (NVidia Riva 128)
Voodoo Banshee
Voodoo 3 1000
Voodoo 3 3000
ATI Radeon LE
Geforce 4 Ti 4200
Geforce 6600GT


Also in the house:
ATI Rage 3D
ATI Radeon 9100
ATI Radeon 8500LE

The best bang for buck video cards I owned were the Voodoo 3 1000 ($45!!) and the Radeon LE, which was $65, and was Bios updated to perform like a $150 Radeon. The Ti4200 was also very good. My current 6600GT is OK, but not the same bang for buck as some of my older cards.

 

[fibes]

Originally posted by: Powermoloch
5200
6600
x850xt

-----
1) 6600
2) xt850xt
3) 5200

How do you determine the 6600>X850XT? Just curious.