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My First PC Graphics Card
- Thread starter KiraXD
- Start date
eBay Huckster
Member
Strictly including the GPUs I've bought for myself (otherwise add at least the GeForce 256, 6600 GT and 8600 GT to this list):
March 2011: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 (artifacted to hell and back by late September)
October 2011: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB (bought instead of going through Sapphire's RMA process)
2014: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB (coming up in August, assuming desktop Maxwell doesn't hit by then - and assuming they get slightly more price-competitive against the R9 280X)
March 2011: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 (artifacted to hell and back by late September)
October 2011: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB (bought instead of going through Sapphire's RMA process)
2014: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB (coming up in August, assuming desktop Maxwell doesn't hit by then - and assuming they get slightly more price-competitive against the R9 280X)
Man, seeing all these cards brings back memories.
Diamond Monster 3D II (3dfx Voodoo 2) + S3 Virge
I build my first own PC in 1998, and the Voodoo2 came with a copy of Need for Speed II, which looked absolutely mindblowing at the time.
Nvidia Riva TNT2
I got it second hand, but I remember it not being that much faster than my previous setup. I didn't own it very long, because I soon upgraded to...
Nvidia Geforce 2 GTS
One of my favorite cards ever. I got this new at some PC hardware expo in 2000, back when those things were still around. I must have played thousands of hours of Counter-Strike on this thing.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Played a lot of Xbox in the meantime so hadn't upgraded in a while, but then I bought the 9800 Pro. Now this probably was my favorite card ever. I bought it pretty late in its lifecycle in 2004, for Doom 3. It was crazy value for the money and served me really well through Half-Life 2, CS:Source, Far Cry and all the other great games that year as well.
ATI Radeon X1950
An alright upgrade, but I remember it being noisy. It didn't benchmark all that well against the competition either. I guess I was kinda an ATI fanboy at this point.
ATI Radeon 4870
Very powerful card, but also too noisy for my tastes. I was getting really annoyed with hearing a leafblower anytime I played a game. Could be because I bought the cheap Sapphire models.
ATI Radeon 5770
Basically the same performance as the 4870, but significantly quieter. I was pretty content with it while I played more Xbox 360 / PS3 during this time.
Nvidia Geforce GTX 660
My first Nvidia card since the Geforce 2, and also bought mainly because of its quietness and good price. I'm quite happy with it and in no rush to upgrade right now. Although I have to say the much talked about difference between Nvidia's drivers and AMD's drivers are incredibly overblown. Both have their issues.
Diamond Monster 3D II (3dfx Voodoo 2) + S3 Virge
I build my first own PC in 1998, and the Voodoo2 came with a copy of Need for Speed II, which looked absolutely mindblowing at the time.
Nvidia Riva TNT2
I got it second hand, but I remember it not being that much faster than my previous setup. I didn't own it very long, because I soon upgraded to...
Nvidia Geforce 2 GTS
One of my favorite cards ever. I got this new at some PC hardware expo in 2000, back when those things were still around. I must have played thousands of hours of Counter-Strike on this thing.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Played a lot of Xbox in the meantime so hadn't upgraded in a while, but then I bought the 9800 Pro. Now this probably was my favorite card ever. I bought it pretty late in its lifecycle in 2004, for Doom 3. It was crazy value for the money and served me really well through Half-Life 2, CS:Source, Far Cry and all the other great games that year as well.
ATI Radeon X1950
An alright upgrade, but I remember it being noisy. It didn't benchmark all that well against the competition either. I guess I was kinda an ATI fanboy at this point.
ATI Radeon 4870
Very powerful card, but also too noisy for my tastes. I was getting really annoyed with hearing a leafblower anytime I played a game. Could be because I bought the cheap Sapphire models.
ATI Radeon 5770
Basically the same performance as the 4870, but significantly quieter. I was pretty content with it while I played more Xbox 360 / PS3 during this time.
Nvidia Geforce GTX 660
My first Nvidia card since the Geforce 2, and also bought mainly because of its quietness and good price. I'm quite happy with it and in no rush to upgrade right now. Although I have to say the much talked about difference between Nvidia's drivers and AMD's drivers are incredibly overblown. Both have their issues.
The Bookerman
Member
A Geforce 2 MX 200.
The Card was replaced twice in the span of two months. Btw Hercules was a brand of hardware owned by ubisoft.
smithy1983uk
Member
i remember buying a voodoo 2 agp then getting home finding out i never had a agp port 
ended up with a riva tnt2
Riva TNT2
Geforce mx (?)
Geforce 5200
PNY Geforce 6600gts
BFG Geforce 7800
Geforce 8800gt
Sappire amd 4870
MSI geforce 560ti
will likely upgrade when the next gen intels are out
ended up with a riva tnt2
Riva TNT2
Geforce mx (?)
Geforce 5200
PNY Geforce 6600gts
BFG Geforce 7800
Geforce 8800gt
Sappire amd 4870
MSI geforce 560ti
will likely upgrade when the next gen intels are out
If memory serves the latest rumours peg the 8xx series for release in July, but assuming for the moment that you stick with the decision to go with a 770, do yourself a favour and bump it up to the 4GB flavour. 2GB has already begun to be too low a ceiling in titles such as Wolf14 (Wolfenstein: The New Order) and Watch Dogs and this will only become more common going forward as the PS360 are left out of the picture entirely.
I seriously hope you're right, and that they offer significant performance improvements.
- 2000/2001: Family PC upgraded with some Godawful Radeon
- 2003: Upgraded again to a GeForce 4 MX that could barely run Star Wars Galaxies
- Fall 2005: New family desktop, with an Athlon 64 3500+ and 1GB of RAM, upgraded the GPU to a 6600GT myself. Real trooper of a card. Ran WoW, Guild Wars, Source engine games, and even Doom 3 at very nice framerates and mostly high settings.
- Summer 2006: 7900GT with my first PC build (E6600, 2GB RAM. I actually ordered an E6400 but TigerDirect sent me a better CPU by accident.)
- Fall 2007: 8800GT
- Fall 2009: GTX 260 (Core 216)
- Spring 2012: Upgraded to an i5 2500k and 8GB of RAM
- Fall 2012: HD7870
- Fall 2014: Planning to get a GTX 860 or 870
- 2015: May upgrade mobo and CPU to Broadwell if it has an 8-core or HT quad in the $250-300 range
Gamesadict
Member
2007 - e-GeForce 6200 for old family PC
2008 - GeForce 8600gt for my first rig
2008 - Geforce 8800gt to get much better performance. One of the best cards ever made.
2010 - Radeon 5770, my 8800gt died :'(
2013 - Radeon 7850, the one I'm using right now, does great for all games I play, not sure when I will upgrade
2008 - GeForce 8600gt for my first rig
2008 - Geforce 8800gt to get much better performance. One of the best cards ever made.
2010 - Radeon 5770, my 8800gt died :'(
2013 - Radeon 7850, the one I'm using right now, does great for all games I play, not sure when I will upgrade
Brerlappin
Member
Geforce 4 Mx440 represent. Thing was beasting back in the day. Looking at getting a 770 or 780 soon, how times have changed
Mine was the Raven Voodoo Banshee...
Well technically it was a ATi Rage Pro which came with my 2nd PC which was the first ever PC i had which had a 3D Accelerator card!, but the Banshee was the first ever card i actually bought for an upgrade
My complete GPU History...
ATi Rage Pro (1997)
Voodoo Banshee (1998)
GeForce 2MX (2000)
Radeon 9700 Pro (2002)
GeForce FX 5500 (2004)
GeForce 7800 GT (2006)
GeForce 8800 GT (2007)
GeForce GTS 250 (2009)
GeForce GTX 260 (2010)
Radeon HD6950 (2011)
Radeon HD7970 (2013)
Nvidia GTX 970 (2015)
Well technically it was a ATi Rage Pro which came with my 2nd PC which was the first ever PC i had which had a 3D Accelerator card!, but the Banshee was the first ever card i actually bought for an upgrade
My complete GPU History...
ATi Rage Pro (1997)
Voodoo Banshee (1998)
GeForce 2MX (2000)
Radeon 9700 Pro (2002)
GeForce FX 5500 (2004)
GeForce 7800 GT (2006)
GeForce 8800 GT (2007)
GeForce GTS 250 (2009)
GeForce GTX 260 (2010)
Radeon HD6950 (2011)
Radeon HD7970 (2013)
Nvidia GTX 970 (2015)
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I think mine was the Voodoo Rush. That weak 2D/3D hybrid card from 3DFX. Back in like 97 or 98. I got the much better Voodoo 2 not too much later and kept that until I switched to a Voodoo 5 5500 that I picked up for cheap after 3DFX went bankrupt.
I think went with Nvidia almost exclusively after that until I decided to go with the ATI 4870 card when I made a new build in 2008, after which I bought the 5870 and 7970 cards before just recently jumping back to Nvidia with the GTX 970.
I think went with Nvidia almost exclusively after that until I decided to go with the ATI 4870 card when I made a new build in 2008, after which I bought the 5870 and 7970 cards before just recently jumping back to Nvidia with the GTX 970.
spons
Gold Member
I remember this crock. A rebranded Geforce 2 you could barely play games on. It wasn't comparable to any of the other Geforce 4 cards.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, it was a terrible sham, but it was definitely priced accordingly.
My first "3D video card" was an S3 ViRGE in about 1997 or so. It was pretty shitty. Playing Jedi Knight with it at the time, it actually ran much slower in hardware accelerated mode than in software, because of all the fancy graphics effects that were added in hardware accelerated mode.
However I eventually got a Monster 3D (aka a 3Dfx Voodoo), complete with VGA passthrough cable, while continuing to use the S3 as the 2D card. Glide was great. Quake and Tomb Raider were never the same again.
I think the next one I got after that was an Nvidia Riva TNT, in 1999.
However I eventually got a Monster 3D (aka a 3Dfx Voodoo), complete with VGA passthrough cable, while continuing to use the S3 as the 2D card. Glide was great. Quake and Tomb Raider were never the same again.
I think the next one I got after that was an Nvidia Riva TNT, in 1999.
irrotational
Member
Was there a pentium 60? or did the 486 go up to 60 and then Pentium was a big increase at 90?
I remember those and the old turbo button!
Rogue_Ledr
Banned
There was a P-60. It was the very very first Pentium chip:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_P5
I'm not sure about the 486. That was before my first PC. Wiki seems to indicate there was not a 486-60:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80486
Haha, yes. "Watch out. We're about to go... TURBO!"
486 went faster than 60. You could get a 486 DX/4 100MHz. There was a pentium 60, too. I had a Pentium 75 in the 90s.
Marko_Baomoro
Member
Riva nvidia tnt 2 16mb
Integrated SIS 6326. T_T I would never wish it even upon my enemies. It had no OpenGL, no hardware acceleration for D3D games, and I used it for several painful years before i moved to geforce2 mx400.
After that I moved to Radeon 4670 [great!], Radeon 6870 [great!], and after it died I am now with Radeon 4850 [ T_T] and patiently awaiting for new AMD cards or for GTX970 to get more cheaper.
After that I moved to Radeon 4670 [great!], Radeon 6870 [great!], and after it died I am now with Radeon 4850 [ T_T] and patiently awaiting for new AMD cards or for GTX970 to get more cheaper.
II wanted a voodoo 2 sli setup so so badly when I was younger. I finally got that setup last year.
No, while I drooled aand dreamed of 3dfx awesomeness, my first hardware accelerated card was the atI all in wonder pro. That was an awesome card with tv out.
If we're talking first graphics card upgrade period, I remember upgrading from my cga card to an ega card on my 8088. The card was over a foot long lol.
I currently rock a gtx 980 waiting for the vr sli driver to drop before buying a second.
No, while I drooled aand dreamed of 3dfx awesomeness, my first hardware accelerated card was the atI all in wonder pro. That was an awesome card with tv out.
If we're talking first graphics card upgrade period, I remember upgrading from my cga card to an ega card on my 8088. The card was over a foot long lol.
I currently rock a gtx 980 waiting for the vr sli driver to drop before buying a second.
protomouse
Member
GeForce 2 MX400.
texhnolyze
Banned
A mid-end gamer since forever.
2004 - Radeon 9800 Pro
2007 - HD 4670
2010 - HD 5770
2014 - HD 7870 Ghz
I upgrade my PC once every 3 years or so.
2004 - Radeon 9800 Pro
2007 - HD 4670
2010 - HD 5770
2014 - HD 7870 Ghz
I upgrade my PC once every 3 years or so.
Dreamgazer
Member
ATI Rage PRO
The age of AGP only lasted for 8 or so years..
The age of AGP only lasted for 8 or so years..
Drakendodertje
Member
I sold some bonds that my grandpa gave me when I was born to get the very first Voodoo card. GLQuake was the shiiiitttt
Wow, so many memories. Not from actually having it, but just from looking at the box through a store window. It was crazy expensive right? But to my recollection this was the true first 3d-acceleration card on the market?
My first was the voodoo dragon 1 from Trust. When 3dfx became available for the masses
I believe i got the TNT2 after that, but not sure
Also my first 3D card, paired with a Mach64. That VGA passthrough goodness.
I think mine was an ati radeon 9200..........then i had an ati hd 4650 for years, didn't use it for gaming though. built a new pc in October and now have an AMD r9 270. i love it, i'm mostly a console gamer but its nice to have a fairly decent pc to use for Photoshop, Maya and the occasional go on civilization V.
First graphics card upgrade?
Well, hmm... let me dust the shelves of my memory first. Alright, yes, managed to find it, so... here goes:
I had a 1MB Trident 2D-graphics card in my first PC that I had for 6 years, which was a 486 DX 50MHz. My first graphics card upgrade happened when I bought my second PC, an Intel Pentium II 350MHz -based desktop computer that had a 4MB Matrox G100 2D-card and, as the 3D-card, a 12MB Diamond Monster 3D II 3dfx Voodoo 2.
Well, hmm... let me dust the shelves of my memory first. Alright, yes, managed to find it, so... here goes:
I had a 1MB Trident 2D-graphics card in my first PC that I had for 6 years, which was a 486 DX 50MHz. My first graphics card upgrade happened when I bought my second PC, an Intel Pentium II 350MHz -based desktop computer that had a 4MB Matrox G100 2D-card and, as the 3D-card, a 12MB Diamond Monster 3D II 3dfx Voodoo 2.
Cool thread
2000-2002: GeForce 2 MX (AGP)
I'm certain I didn't have a Voodoo card and I had a cheap build with a 667mhz Pentium 3. I remember Midtown Madness 2 crashing a lot. HL and its mods ran great. Callus95 (cps1 emulator) also ran great. All those games looked way better on the 13" Phillips CRT I had. The PC eventually broke and it was a few months until I got a replacement.
2003-2006: ATi Radeon 9200 (AGP)
This card was super weak to start with. I remember playing Quake 4 on it and everything was green - textures, hud, effects. Played Half Life 2 fine though.
2006-2010: GeForce 7800 GS (AGP)
I bought this card for the same PC the Radeon was in so I could play Oblivion. I played a ton of games with this thing, mostly at 5-20fps. Far Cry 2 comes to mind. I played that damn game to completion at an average of 10fps.
2010: GTX 460
AGP is dead! Long live PCIE (and new games actually running)!
2011-2013: GTX 560 ti
I got this really cheap so it was a small upgrade for a small price. Started showing its age after 2 years.
2014: GTX 970
Latest and (almost) greatest. Bought to power a 120hz monitor.
2000-2002: GeForce 2 MX (AGP)
I'm certain I didn't have a Voodoo card and I had a cheap build with a 667mhz Pentium 3. I remember Midtown Madness 2 crashing a lot. HL and its mods ran great. Callus95 (cps1 emulator) also ran great. All those games looked way better on the 13" Phillips CRT I had. The PC eventually broke and it was a few months until I got a replacement.
2003-2006: ATi Radeon 9200 (AGP)
This card was super weak to start with. I remember playing Quake 4 on it and everything was green - textures, hud, effects. Played Half Life 2 fine though.
2006-2010: GeForce 7800 GS (AGP)
I bought this card for the same PC the Radeon was in so I could play Oblivion. I played a ton of games with this thing, mostly at 5-20fps. Far Cry 2 comes to mind. I played that damn game to completion at an average of 10fps.
2010: GTX 460
AGP is dead! Long live PCIE (and new games actually running)!
2011-2013: GTX 560 ti
I got this really cheap so it was a small upgrade for a small price. Started showing its age after 2 years.
2014: GTX 970
Latest and (almost) greatest. Bought to power a 120hz monitor.
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Very first one was a 3Dfx card for my PowerMac 7200 back in like 96 or 97. Plugged that shit right in and had Quake running at 800x600 with full AA. Bawlin'
Wasn't until a while later that I got into building and upgrading.
Got a 9800 Pro, then an 8800 GTX, then 8800 GTX SLI, then a 580, and now have a 780 SC.
Wasn't until a while later that I got into building and upgrading.
Got a 9800 Pro, then an 8800 GTX, then 8800 GTX SLI, then a 580, and now have a 780 SC.
Astral/H3X
Member
I had some GTX4--- series. Back when they were still on PCI/AGP. It was pretty crap haha.
wkureservedp2
Member
GTX 780M.
mambadragon
Banned
I can't remember the manufacturer as it was OEM, but I know it was a Riva 128. I know that it wasn't a Diamond, because for whatever reason a Diamond card is what I wanted the most.
The only 3DFX card I ever owned was a Voodoo3... so during their downfall. Around that time I was infatuated with my Nintendo 64, and prior to that in the 16-bit generation I was in grade school and believed I was going to be in the NBA and didn't play many games. I now spend most of my free time playing video games as I'm 5'6".
The only 3DFX card I ever owned was a Voodoo3... so during their downfall. Around that time I was infatuated with my Nintendo 64, and prior to that in the 16-bit generation I was in grade school and believed I was going to be in the NBA and didn't play many games. I now spend most of my free time playing video games as I'm 5'6".