• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

What was your first GPU ever?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
"August 31, 1999 marks the introduction of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for the PC industry. The technical definition of a GPU is "a single chip processor with integrated transform, lighting, triangle setup/clipping, and rendering engines that is capable of processing a minimum of 10 million polygons per second."

following this definition, for me it was the Geforce 2 mx 400
 
Definitely a SIS, then an ATi Mach 64 or Matrix Marvel than a Rage and everything after was icing on the cake.
 
Last edited:
I would not follow one manufacturer's definition, so they can be the first to have made a GPU.

This is the same as defining a CPU to be "able to process 1 TFLOPS", just so that you can have made the "first one".

I know you copied the "definition" from Wikipedia, but it does not make much sense.
 
Berliner said:
I would not follow one manufacturer's definition, so they can be the first to have made a GPU.

This is the same as defining a CPU to be "able to process 1 TFLOPS", just so that you can have made the "first one".

I know you copied the "definition" from Wikipedia, but it does not make much sense.
Click to expand...

I copied from Nvidia.com, which as far as I know created the term

I used to call things like "voodoo" just 3d accelerators, and the older stuff, like my trident 1MB (with no 3d acceleration) just a video card/chip... I don't remember the GPU term being used back in the day, maybe I'm wrong.

kind of irrelevant, but the voodoo/2 specially, even required an additional "2d card" to work.
 
First video card was an STB Powergraph 64. I think it was an S3 Virge based card with a monumental 2MB onboard. First usable 3D accelerator was an original Diamond Monster 3D.
 
I too recall as if the term 'GPU' came with the release of GeForce(256) in 1999.
So my first would then be GeForce2 MX, and I had the PCI-version since my PC did not have an AGP-port.
 
If we define GPU as a programmable graphics system, then my first was the ECS chipset in the Amiga 500.

My first VGA card with any kind of 3D function was a 2MB Matrox Millennium PCI card, which had very basic 3D (it couldn't do texturing, if I recall). That was replaced by a 4MB Permedia 2, which was a real but very badly designed 3D accelerator.

I remember trying to play Homeworld on the Permedia 2; it managed about 5-6 fps with the graphics turned down to 'bricks in space' level and was swiftly replaced by a Voodoo Banshee.
 
My very first gaming video card was a Matrox Mystique. The Diamond Monster and the Orchid Righteous Voodoo cards were out but they were a steep premium for them and 3d acceleration was so new and was very, very ignorant. Just desired to see what the hype was with 3d acceleration and started with a cost effective solution and was instantly hooked over software rendering.

My very first GPU was the GeForce 256 DDR and enjoyed 32-bit color performance and its feature set. A jaw dropping moment was actually on a playable technology demo called Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens -- amazing for its time:

Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens - GeForce 256 T&L demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0jJwGaAIc4

Another jaw dropping moment was seeing FSAA for the first time on the Geforce 256 DDR; early in 2000, there was a leaked driver that exposed FSAA functionality and choice and HomeWorld was the first title of choice to try FSAA and transformed the title.
 
The first GPU I ever had came with my Packard Bell 486DX2, a Trident with 1MB of vram. But my first ever add-in discreet video card was an ATI Radeon DDR. I believe it was a 7200 with 32MB of vram. My buddy had a GeForce 2 GTX 64MB at the time. The good ol' days. 😀
 
Satn said:
i don't remember 😀 too faaaaaaaar! 😀
Click to expand...

Come on....You can't be old enough to not remember.

My 1st PC

king-kong-bundy-1987.jpg
 
Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme (count the x's, two of them) - Permedia 2 chipset. Tomb Raider 2 looked amazing.

I assumed the question is "what was the first graphics card you bought?". If not, I think it was something like an S3 Virge 3D in the first PC I 'owned' (ie. parents bought it).

Or if the question isn't necessarily PC related, then the Amiga 500's OCS graphics chipset, or whatever was in the ADAM or Philips G7000.
 
Last edited:
The first computer I had were I actually knew what kind of graphics were in it was a Pentium 166 with an S3 trio. First 3d accelerator I had was a Voodoo 2
 
Riva TNT.

I really didn't know much about PC's at the time. I had gown up predominantly around Apple computers, so I had to learn everything about PC hardware and Windows when I built the first PC I ever owned. I knew I wanted a dedicated AGP card, and the TNT was generating quite a bit of buzz at the time, so that's what I went with.
 
Diamond Stealth something-or-other. I don't remember exactly. It was 18 years ago. 😱
 
first video card was a Elsa winner II 32. I traded a us robotics 56k external modem for it on some computer trading forum thats long since dead. later on i updated that with some geforce 2 series card.
 
S3 Virge and boy was it crap. A friend got a PC after I did and got himself a RIVA TNT2 or something pretty awesome and I was jelly.
 
Ugh, I was going through this thread quoting all the non-GPUs people were listing, but after the 6th, I gave up.

Voodoos, TNTs, TNT2s, ViRGEs, etc, are not GPUs. They are 3D Accelerators, no hardware T&L. Err, technically, the S3 VIRGE was a decelerator.

The first real GPU was the Nvidia Geforce, followed shortly by the first generation ATI Radeons. I replaced my first 3D acclerator, the Voodoo 3 2000, with an Nvidia Geforce DDR. Both were nice cards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top