Worst Graphics Card Purchases

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: MagickMan

Most people I know play a mix of old and new games.

I don't. What I've played in the past it's history for me.

Aren't you the odd one then.

Worst purchase for me was an EVGA GTX 260. Not that the card was a bad performer, but it only last five months before burning out. I RMA'd it and was sent a refurbished one in worse shape than the one I sent back. Took a near screaming match with Joe Dawin of EVGA (unlucky him grabbed the phone that afternoon) to get a decent replacement.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: MagickMan

Most people I know play a mix of old and new games.

I don't. What I've played in the past it's history for me.

Aren't you the odd one then.

Worst purchase for me was an EVGA GTX 260. Not that the card was a bad performer, but it only last five months before burning out. I RMA'd it and was sent a refurbished one in worse shape than the one I sent back. Took a near screaming match with Joe Dawin of EVGA (unlucky him grabbed the phone that afternoon) to get a decent replacement.

I thought EVGA had excellent customer service?

 

[ArchAngel777]

I got all you bitches beat! With the exception of the dude with the Rage Fury MAXX. But ding ding ding... Voodoo Rush by Intergraph!

What is even worse is that I remember playing games and thinking
'Wow, they look the same and they are just as choppy before". It took me weeks before I figured out how to turn on glide and I was like "WTF that shockwave on Wing Commander 5 was incredable!" Never seen anything like that.

 

[Spike]

8800GTS 512 on launch day. It cost me $350 and within months was down below $270. The not much slower 8800GT was cheaper by around $100 at the time.

 

[videogames101]

Worst- 8800GTS 640, outdated 3 months later

Favorite Cards-

9800 Pro, My first gaming GPU, everything maxed, it was amazing.

7800GT, what a beast for Price/Performance

HD4870, again, amazing price/performance

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: akugami
So far no one has owned up to buying an nVidia 8800 Ultra. :laugh:

I didn't get an ultra, but I did get an 8800 GTX.

It was the most expensive piece of hardware I've ever purchased ($520), and I bought it along side the brand new 680i SLI, E6600, 2GB Corsair Dominator, 150GB Raptor X, X-Fi Fatal1ty, etc. I think the system (not including monitor, keyboard, etc.) was around $2800-3200ish.

I don't regret buying the card; it was an excellent upgrade from my 6800 GT. The way I look at it, if I had gone with the 8800 GTS 320 or 640, I would have been frustrated with Crysis (and later, other games), and blamed FPS problems on "not having the best card." Then, I almost certainly would have bought another card for SLI or jumped on the 8800 GT / 9600 GT / 9800 GT bandwagon (depending how long I long I could hold out), rather than waiting for my current GTX 285.

In fact, the only reason I regret it at all was because a family member offered to buy my old system off of me, allowing me to name a fair price. Since I got a decent chunk of change for the old system, it just encouraged me to spend more on the new one.

 

[waffleironhead]

I bought a STB TV card waaaaaaay back when, it never worked properly, the sound never jived with the video. It was super buggy. What a waste of money.

I wonder what ever happened to STB? /sarcasm

 

[us3rnotfound]

5800 Ultra Leafblower

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
I thought EVGA had excellent customer service?

Well...I was just ticked by the expense of sending it back so soon after purchasing it new (for $300 in September!) and having it die, only to get such a rough looking, crappy performing one in return. Mr. Darwin was trying to be as adament as possible that I would never get a new card in return for a defective one (only refurbished) and I wasn't buying it after receiving the crap replacement. After about 10 minutes of very loud discussion he finally had a new, factory sealed one sent to me.

Yeah, I suppose they're pretty good, but it took speaking with the "boss" to get some satisfaction in the end.

 

[sandorski]

Diamond Viper 2

It wasn't a total waste as it played Q3 and UT fast and flawlessly with the added bonus of using the Metal Hi-Res Textures in UT. However, I exaggerate not, every other Game on the planet had issues with this card. Annoying graphical glitches. Hardware TnL never really worked, resulting in lowered Performance than doing through Software.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
I thought EVGA had excellent customer service?

Well...I was just ticked by the expense of sending it back so soon after purchasing it new (for $300 in September!) and having it die, only to get such a rough looking, crappy performing one in return. Mr. Darwin was trying to be as adament as possible that I would never get a new card in return for a defective one (only refurbished) and I wasn't buying it after receiving the crap replacement. After about 10 minutes of very loud discussion he finally had a new, factory sealed one sent to me.

Yeah, I suppose they're pretty good, but it took speaking with the "boss" to get some satisfaction in the end.

Well that changes my perception of them.

 

[RobertR1]

Worst:

X1800XT. The X1900XTX was out shortly after and was much faster.

Best:

X800XT PE. This card was awesome back in it's day and played the current games well. I loved it.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: akugami
So far no one has owned up to buying an nVidia 8800 Ultra. :laugh:

Not surprised that the 8800 Ultra wouldn't make an appearance in a "Worst Graphics Card Purchases" thread. It was simply a hopped up 8800GTX, which was probably one of the best cards I've ever owned. Also, you have to remember that people who buy cards like the 8800 GTX/Ultra aren't really value shoppers. They are looking for the best, know that they are buying, and are willing to pay extra for it.

Originally posted by: videogames101
Worst- 8800GTS 640, outdated 3 months later

That is sort of your own fault for buying the 8800GTS like 8-9 months after it launched and expecting it not to get replaced soon. By comparison to previous generations, the G80 based cards had a pretty long useful lifespan. G80 launched 11/8/2006, G92 launched 10/29/2007, and the ATI HD 3870 only launched on 11/15/2007. So you still had a pretty competitive card, not to mention that the 8800GTs were really scarce and quite over priced until the beginning of 2008 IIRC.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Diamond Viper 2

It wasn't a total waste as it played Q3 and UT fast and flawlessly with the added bonus of using the Metal Hi-Res Textures in UT. However, I exaggerate not, every other Game on the planet had issues with this card. Annoying graphical glitches. Hardware TnL never really worked, resulting in lowered Performance than doing through Software.

I still have one of those sitting in a old K6-2+ PC.

I always thought it was a decent card, never really had issues with mine...but then again I also liked Windows Millenium Edition as well...

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
I bought a STB TV card waaaaaaay back when, it never worked properly, the sound never jived with the video. It was super buggy. What a waste of money.

I wonder what ever happened to STB? /sarcasm

merged with 3DFX and then was destroyed along with 3DFX by Nvidia in 2000.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Diamond Viper 2

It wasn't a total waste as it played Q3 and UT fast and flawlessly with the added bonus of using the Metal Hi-Res Textures in UT. However, I exaggerate not, every other Game on the planet had issues with this card. Annoying graphical glitches. Hardware TnL never really worked, resulting in lowered Performance than doing through Software.

Yep, same Savage 2000 card I owned as well.

Worst.Card.Evar.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: sandorski
Diamond Viper 2

It wasn't a total waste as it played Q3 and UT fast and flawlessly with the added bonus of using the Metal Hi-Res Textures in UT. However, I exaggerate not, every other Game on the planet had issues with this card. Annoying graphical glitches. Hardware TnL never really worked, resulting in lowered Performance than doing through Software.

I still have one of those sitting in a old K6-2+ PC.

I always thought it was a decent card, never really had issues with mine...but then again I also liked Windows Millenium Edition as well...

It was "decent", just very flawed. Too flawed to have been actually Sold IMO. S3 just didn't have the talent/expertise to make it work as it should.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Pantlegz1
FX 5200 was by far the worst for me, got it when it was new to replace my 4400 and it was a huge disappointment.

Why would you expect this to work? The GeForce 4 4400 was a very high end card and cost like $500. FX 5200 was just 1 generation later, it's marketed as a low end card, and it was less than $100.

I actually liked my FX 5200. It wasn't fast, but it always worked. It didn't have a fan to fuck up or fill with dust, it didn't require external power, and it could run Doom 3 at low res

So far no one has owned up to buying an nVidia 8800 Ultra

My friend has one. It was crazy expensive, but it's a damn good card. It's comparable to a GTX 280 - great card but way too expensive.

 

[MagickMan]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: MagickMan

Most people I know play a mix of old and new games.

I don't. What I've played in the past it's history for me. The longest life a game had on my hard drive, was Test Drive Unlimited. I've played that sucker for a whole year, almost every day, because it was so sweet ( and there weren't other games in the period ).

Hell, I still regularly play NWN 1 and 2, as well as VtM: Bloodlines. They're some of the best RPGs ever made for PC.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

So far no one has owned up to buying an nVidia 8800 Ultra

My friend has one. It was crazy expensive, but it's a damn good card. It's comparable to a GTX 280 - great card but way too expensive.

You don't mean that its comparable in performance right?

 

[Adam8281]

Some $h1tty ATI card I bought a few weeks before returning it and buying a GeForce 4 Ti4200, which served me well for many years

 

[faxon]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem

Originally posted by: Leyawiin

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: MagickMan

Most people I know play a mix of old and new games.

I don't. What I've played in the past it's history for me.

Aren't you the odd one then.

Worst purchase for me was an EVGA GTX 260. Not that the card was a bad performer, but it only last five months before burning out. I RMA'd it and was sent a refurbished one in worse shape than the one I sent back. Took a near screaming match with Joe Dawin of EVGA (unlucky him grabbed the phone that afternoon) to get a decent replacement.

I thought EVGA had excellent customer service?

not always. read my post about my 7900GT SC, it does happen lol

 

[imported_Asianman]

A MSI Radeon HD 3870, not that it was a horrible card, but I got it for AUD$200 3 days after the 4850 became available in Australia. Also, since this was the overclocked version, it mysteriously die and then come back to life 3 seconds later with the message the GPU recovered from a serious error.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Asianman
A MSI Radeon HD 3870, not that it was a horrible card, but I got it for AUD$200 3 days after the 4850 became available in Australia. Also, since this was the overclocked version, it mysteriously die and then come back to life 3 seconds later with the message the GPU recovered from a serious error.

Ah, the (in)famous VPU recovery. I think this happens when the driver crashes and is able to reload itself without a BSOD.

 

[sharad]

ATI Radeon 9600 XT AGP. I still have that card! This was quite possibly the worst piece of hardware I ever bought. It was ok in 2D but the thing had inexplicable freezes, hangs, lockups and reboots in 3D (mostly games), no matter which motherboard you put in. It was supposed to be an AGP 8X card but you really had to run it at 4X with fast writes disabled to get a few minutes worth of gaming. It hated VIA chipset and both ATI and VIA pointed fingers at each other for not following AGP specs. Lot of disgruntled owners at that time.