What was your favorite GPU back in the day?

[zCypher]

Today I have a GTX 460SE 1GB which is more than enough for an E5200 and me not being a huge gamer (let's just say the occasional CSS deathmatch in 2048x1152 isn't too laggy). I forget how I got there now, but I ended up with a feeling of nostalgia when I came across Anand's review of the Maxi Gamer Phoenix Banshee by Guillemot International (http://www.anandtech.com/show/187/1)

I got this card as an xmas present one year as a kid. I'm pretty sure that I had a Cyrix 166MHz computer at the time (LOL), trying to OC that baby to 183MHz resulting in a distinct burning smell. Actually having to change jumpers on the motherboard to OC was lulzy in retrospect. I kinda miss it though.

The Banshee in that system introduced my young self to "3d" games. It did make me love Glide though with Unreal. I was also able to play Half-Life, which was awesome but the intense bits did get pretty laggy.

I was disappointed when my friend with a P133 could run the original Starcraft much faster than me. Is it crazy that many years later I was still playing Starcraft? Sadly, I was never very good.

So much for AGP... hehe.

edit: not video related, but I'm pretty sure this is the Cyrix processor I had http://www.anandtech.com/show/34. hahahaha!

 

[swilli89]

That's not surprising at all, StarCraft 1 was an amazing game. I only play SC2 now because all of my friends migrated to it.

I hate how you can select as many units as you want.. it allows noobs to mass cheese so easily.. It used to be a skill to move a large army all at once with the 12 unit selection max.

Anyways but yeah that was my entrance to PC gaming.. a Pentium 1 166 with 32 MB ram.

It prompted me to mow yards all summer and save 1,000 to buy an Athlon 1.3 Thunderbird with 512 MB of Ram and a Geforce 3 with a massive 30 GB HD

 

[JSt0rm]

my ti4200. It was my first true performance card and it was a beast at its price point. I had a matrox g400 before that though and played rtcw at 640x480 well. lol.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Voodoo2, then true SLI with 2xVoodoo2's

 

[zCypher]

my ti4200. It was my first true performance card and it was a beast at its price point. I had a matrox g400 before that though and played rtcw at 640x480 well. lol.

I still have an MSI Ti4200 kicking around somewhere, it's a beast. The fan died on it several years ago, but it just never stopped working. That video card just seems to love Serious Sam.

RTCW was FUN!

 

[blackened23]

For me, definitely 3dfx voodoo2 or Riva TNT. Quake 2 on Voodoo2 = mmmm goodness.

RIP 3dfx :|

 

[stahlhart]

Matrox G400 (32Mb, dual head). Wasn't the fastest card around at the time, but held its own at 640x480 and had really nice 2D. Still have it.

 

[zCypher]

For me, definitely 3dfx voodoo2 or Riva TNT. Quake 2 on Voodoo2 = mmmm goodness.

RIP 3dfx :|

I always found that 3DFx's Glide looked remarkably good compared to D3D or OpenGL, but I suppose that's not surprising coming from a Banshee. I often found that games lagged at the worst times, but I just have a soft spot for that video card and the sad sad Cyrix CPUs.

GarfieldtheCat the idea of SLI video cards were only a dream back then for me. It musta been something!

 

[SpeedTester]

Voodoo2, then true SLI with 2xVoodoo2's

This.
I have still my voodoos in one of my old pc boxes along with my v4500

 

[zCypher]

This.
I have still my voodoos in one of my old pc boxes along with my v4500

C'mon let's see some Q3A and UT framerates

 

[96Firebird]

Got the Voodoo II for my Gateway to play the game Viper Racing.

 

[Via]

My first GPU was a Voodoo 3 3000; I still have it. It came with Unreal, NFS:HP, and one of the descent games.

Obviously I have very fond memories of it. Seeing 3d graphics for the first time was crazy. lol - I rememer not getting into Unreal because the inside of the spaceship was pretty bland, and then forcing myself to keep going one day. My jaw hit the floor when I finally got outside. I think I spent hours just walking around, shooting at the sky and stuff in the distance, just marveling at how the plasma bursts looked.

I loved my Geforce 3 until it blew up. It's still the only piece of computer hardware that's actually exploded on me.

The 8800 Ultra was pretty cool too. I know it was too expensive, but I bought it when the prices started to drop (I think I paid like $299). I was still using to great effect this year until I got the PC with the 5970.

 

[lehtv]

Radeon 9500 Pro

 

[lavaheadache]

tie between my old voodoo 2 12meg sli monster 3d setup and probably and 8800GTX. That friggin card was boss for what seemed to be an eternity.

 

[hdfxst]

My first computer had on board video and i upgraded to a v3 2000.I can still remember how blown away i was when i played quake 2

 

[(sic)Klown12]

My favorite GPU was my old Radeon 9500 Non-Pro, which I unlocked(enabled all 8 pixel pipelines and the other half of the physical 256 bit memory bus) and then overclocked to faster speeds than the 9700 Pro. After that I would have to say my old 8800GT, which is still in use by a family friend and going strong.

 

[RiDE]

Rage Fury MAXX

My first video card with my first paycheck from a summer job. :biggrin:

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Probably a tie between the Voodoo2 and the 9700 PRO. I think the 9700 was probably more important for my gaming overall and that card got me through a lot. Thing was beastly when it came out.

 

[happy medium]

TNT 16mb & ti4400

 

[Karl Agathon]

64MB GeForce 2 Ultra.....it ran Quake 3, Unreal Tournament and Star Trek Elite Force like a boss!

 

[gevorg]

Radeon All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro. Served me well for over 3 years.

 

[dac7nco]

Star Trek Elite Force

Dork.

:biggrin:

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'd have to say my old Gefore 4 TI 4400 that card lasted damn near an eternity as far as gaming cards go, I got it when they just released and overclocked it within an inch of it's life faster than a 4600 I didn't replace it until Ati brought out cheap 9800Pro's and I just couldn't resist double the performance for cheap.

 

[(sic)Klown12]

Dork.

:biggrin:

I just finished playing that and the second one, and it's surprising how well the gameplay has stood the test of time.

 

[Absolution75]

ti4600 - though i should have just bought a 4200 or 4400