Post your 3D video card history

[bpt8056]

My 3D video card history:

1. Sierra Screamin' 3D (Rendition Verite 1000)
2. Diamond Stealth S220 (Rendition Verite 2100)
3. Canopus Pure3D (Voodoo1)
4. Canopus Pure3DII (Voodoo2)
5. ATI LT Rage Pro 8MB (laptop)
6. 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 AGP
7. 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP
8. ATI Radeon 64MB VIVO Retail (will be receiving this soon)

 

[timelord Bateman]

Matrox Millennium 2mb
Mechwarrior 2 was amazing.

Diamond Voodoo1 4mb
GLQuake & Tomb Raider, couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Orchid Voodoo2 12mb
for two weeks only, darned card had 83MHz memory and died @96MHz permanently.

Creative Voodoo2 12mb
this one went near 100MHz if I remember correctly and it's still functional.

Diamond Nvidia TNT 16mb PCI
Old Matrox Millennium couldn't handle Worms Armageddon.
This TNT plus CL Voodoo2 ruled for a long time on my PPro.

Voodoo5 5500
Used it for three days in 2000... no drivers for NT4.0 so it had to go.

Creative GeForce2 GTS 32mb
...

 

[darth maul]

Over two years of owning a computer here is my history:

RIVA 128 8meg (came in dell)
Canopus TNT
ATI AIW128 16meg
Asus 7700 GF2 GTS

Probably will stay with the GF2 until a GF3 hits $275 or lower...maybe even longer.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

1MB Number Nine video card
Got it with my first computer, a 486DX2 66, that I bought at a computer show. Complete with 8MB of ram, 80MB hard drive, and floppy drive, which I still use today.

POS SIS integrated in chipset, 1-4MB
Got this one in an "upgrade special" at a local computer shop. At the time it was a great deal, but I had no idea how bad a 3D game could look until I loaded one up on this system.

4MB Power VR
I was given this by a generous soul who couldn't stand to see me suffer through Quake2 in software.

8MB ATI Rage Pro (PCI)
Once again bought at a computer show. Great deal at $50. 2D image quality like I had never seen.

4MB S3 Trio3D (AGP)
Sold the ATI card in a system to a friend, so when I got my shiny new AGP slot, I had to use it. Only used this card for 2D, which ironically was worse than the ATI card. Tried running a game in D3D once. Big mistake.

12MB Diamond Monster 3D II Voodoo2 (SLI added soon after)
Paid nearly $300 for the both of them, but damn did they make my games run smooth, all the way up to UT. Kept these for about 3 years and they served me very well.

32MB Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS
My current baby. Got a great deal on it too, at $150 4 months ago. I think I can make it at least the next year with this one. Nothing like running GLTron at 330 fps.

 

[RockEater]

integrated ATI somthing
voodooII
NVidia TNT2
GeForce 2 GTS 64Mb

Always the best I could manage on a low budget

 

[gerbil]

1. Matrox Millennium II 8MB - This was a great card, but caused weird problems and wouldn't give me 3D (this was on my Mac)

2. ATI XClaim 3D 8MB (Rage II? I don't remember/care) - I got fed up with the Matrox card and got this. I first saw hardware accelerated 3D on this card and it was beautiful, even if it was really, really slow.

3. Creative Labs 3D Blaster Banshee 16MB - This came with my new Gateway PII 450 system (I became an ex-Mac user then) and it was silky smooth (way better than 3D on the 603e 180MHz with the ATI card anyway).

4. ATI Rage 128 16MB - My friend recommended this card. I should have shot him. It wasn't that fast and has never worked right. It is possessed by Satan. I've tried it two times several years after I bought it on my Dual PIII 450 system and my Athlon 850 system and it hasn't worked right on either one. Works fine in my friend's system though. Ironic, ain't it?

5. Voodoo 3 2000 16MB - This card was great! I got wicked fast, great-looking 3D from this card. And, I got stability back again.

6. TNT2 Ultra 32MB - 32-bit, fast 3D, stability, and TV-out made this card great, although I think I paid too much for it (wasn't enough better than the Voodoo3 to justify it's high price).

7. Matrox Millennium G200 8MB - I tried to give up on games and almost succeeded. I bought this card because of Matrox's reputation for good 2D. It had really sharp 2D, but unfortunatly it was just too slow (the 2D at 1280x1024x24 wasn't nearly fast enough). I'm not sure if I ever got 3D working properly, but I didn't really care at the time.

8. Voodoo 5 5500 64MB - Being out of school for the summer made my brain relax a bit and I got back into 3D gaming. The TNT2 Ultra just wasn't fast enough to give me what I needed on my 19" monitor, so I bought a V5. This card is still plenty fast and really, really stable. I've had no problems with it.

I'm considering giving up 3D gaming again and getting a Matrox Millennium G450. The 2D and Dual-head features of this card should be great and I'm assuming it'll be faster (2D wise) than the G200. Keeping up with current capabilities of 3D accelerators is just too darned expensive.

 

[XGamer]

Im happy to say I am a professional gamer, and have had a total of 2 video cards in the past 5 years. Clabs TNT1 and Clabs TNT2 ultra.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

hmmm, let's see:

Voodoo2 SLI(I can't remember the brands, but it was a mis-matched SLI that worked flawlessly except in Half Life)
Voodoo3 2000 PCI
Voodoo3 2000 AGP
Voodoo3 3000 PCI
Voodoo3 3000 AGP w/TV out(in a current system)
TNT2 (LeadTek)
TNT2 Ultra (LeadTek)
32MB GeForce DDR (LeadTek)
Voodoo5 5500 PCI(in a current system)
Voodoo5 5500 AGP
Radeon64 ViVo(in a current system)

. . .and it looks like I'm going to be one of those suckers who shells out the big bucks for a GF3, too! That way, when all the silly debates arise(and you know they will) about which card has better AA or 2D quality, I'll be truly qualified to respond. . .just kidding! I want the burning frame rates, especially at hi-res with AA. Probably won't have to upgrade that system's vid-card again, either. Will I pay $549.99 retail pricing? Hell no! When was the last time any of you paid retail MSRP for a computer component? Besides, I just want to have one; isn't that reason enough?

I know this looks like alot of $$$, but if you upgrade at the right time then you minimize the amount of $$ it costs to upgrade. . .and I always get a great deal! I keep what works for me and dump the rest. I must admit that for UT/HalfLife/NFS purposes, the V3 is simply the best deal out there, still! I see them in the ForSale forum for $40 all the time.

 

[PliotronX]

[*]Hercules Thriller 3D (the Verite 2200 flavor, that board owned my friends' 2D+Voodoo setups in every way )

[*]Diamond Monster 3D II 12Meg (needed this solely for Glide games)

[*]Creative Labs 3D Blaster TnT2 Ultra

[*]Visiontek GeForce 2 GTS 32Meg (this has pisspoor 2D quality, and shall meet the other end of my soldering iron shortly)

Geez some people here have money to burn..

 

[Rocksnow]

A SVGA ISA with 512K(don't remember who make it, about 12yrs ago)
2MB S3 Trio PCI Card
4MB ATI Rage IIc PCI
8MB ATI AIW AGP
8MB Matrox G200 AGP
32MB Viper 770 AGP
32MB ATI AIW Radeon AGP

I think that's about it.

 

[nortexoid]

didn't he say 3d video card history?...major 2d video card posts...

i won't bother mentioning the sh1te 2d cards..

Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix - voodoo banshee 16mb SGRAM...first 3d card

Guillemot Maxi Gamer Xentor - TNT2 Ultra 32mb - highest stock core clock

ATI Rage Fury Pro 32MB VIVO - wanted the VIVO, tho didn't get much use out of it

Diamond Viper II (Savage 2000) - loved the UT and Q3 performance, but that's about it

Asus V6600 Geforce 32MB SDR - jumped on the geforce bandwagon as soon as it came out...good card, currently using it...and don't plan on upgrading until decent software comes out utilizing better 3d technology found in next gen. cards (i..e geforce 3, radeon II, etc.)

 

[DeeK]

Might as well resurrect this, I missed it the first time around.

1) Cirrus Logic 5426 1MB VLB (Sep 1995)
Soldered right onto the motherboard (LPX) of my old 486/66.

2) S3 ViRGE 2MB (Aug 1997)
This thing was such a flaky piece of crap that it put me on the ViRGE of a nervous breakdown. It came with a P200 machine.

3) Diamond Stealth 2 S220 4MB PCI (Rendition V2100, Apr 1998)
My first real 3D card, it replaced the ViRGE. The first game I played on it? My just-bought copy of StarCraft!

4) Diamond Viper V550 16MB AGP (TNT1, Dec 1998)
I bought a whole new P2-400 machine, and this is the board I got with it. It lasted me a long while, but it's retired now.

5) added a CL 12MB Voodoo2 (Dec 2000)
My brother got a new video card for his birthday, so he let me use his old V2. Final Fantasy 7 is much less flaky on this thing than on the TNT.

6) Jaton GeForce2 MX (Mar 2001)
I've only had it about a week, but I really love this thing now. It's roughly 2-3 times as fast as the TNT, and it works like a champ.

 

[SleepyGuy]

1) Trident 1MB
- My First PC

2) Voodoo Rush 3D
- Upgrade for 1st PC

3) Trident 9750
- My 2nd PC for cheap 2D

4) Voodoo 2
- 3D for my 2nd PC

5) Voodoo 3
- Replaced #3 and #4 for 2nd PC

6) AIW Radeon
- for 3rd PC

My favourite card to own was the voodoo 3. no headaches, no messing around with one billion drivers... i just run like it was suppose to. still runs diablo 2 better than my radeon. peace out.

 

[CHHASmatroxuser]

1) Voodoo Graphics 4 MB
2) Intel i740
3) ATI Rage 128
4) Matrox G400 16 MB
5) Powercolor Evil Kyro 64 MB

 

[Multi]

1) generic 2d vid card(doesn't count I guess)
2) added a voodoo2 8mb(didn't help playing q2, had a k5-100)
3) complete system upgrade in Fall 99' w/a TNT2U. Still have it now.

 

[Rankor]

...And their prices (when purchased). Does not include tax:

Diamond Monster 3D (3dfx Voodoo) 4MB OEM $145 US

Matrox Mystique G200 8MB Retail $149 US

(2) Best Data Arcade FX2 (3dfx Voodoo2 SLI) 2x12MB Retail (2) @ $125 US

Matrox Millenium G400 Dual-Head 32MB OEM $145 US

3Dfx Voodoo3 2000 16MB (166 cre clk) Retail $129 US

eVGA GeForce2 MX Single Head 32MB (175/166 cre/mem clk) Retail $139 US

Leadtek Winfast GeForce2 MX Single Head w/TV-OUT 32MB (175/166 cre/mem clk) Retail $149 US

Hercules Prophet II MX (GeForce2 MX) Single Head 32MB (175/183 cre/mem clk) Retail $149 US

eVGA GeForce2 MX Twin-View Plus w/TV-OUT 32MB (175/166 cre/mem clk) Retail $139 US

Leadtek Winfast GeForce2 Pro GTS w/TV-OUT 32MB (200/366 cre/mem clk) Retail $169 US

 

[miken]

256k Orchid on my 286

2M ATI Mach64 on my P133

4M TNT Diamond Viper v330 on my PII 300

12M Voodoo2 STB Blackmagic on my PII 300

32M Diamond Viper II on my Athlon 500, sent back after seeing 2d quality probs.

32M Asus V6600 Geforce SDR on my Athlon 500/700

32M CL Geforce2 GTS on my Athlon 1100

 

[BrainSalad]

Hmm..lets see....

1) ATI xpert@play 4meg with tv-out
2) Diamond Stealth 4meg
3)ATI xpert98 8meg
4)ATI xpert128 16 meg
5)back and forth between Diamond Viper v770
and Voodoo3 3000 (Nightmare for Best Buys returns! hahaha)
Kept the VooDoo.
6) ATI Radeon 32meg. Returned it because of terrible drivers.
7) Geforce2 MX (dumped this sucker because 2D was so bad!)
8) Matrox G450 32meg DualHead (Eyes don't hurt any more! )

Waiting for Nvidia to get their act together with 2D.

 

[Rellik]

Some old 512k card in my 386
s3 Trio 64+ 2MB (2MB was soo cool to have)
Matrox Mystique 220 -Great 2D and one cool motorcycle game it could run

Voodoo 1. Diamond Monster. Overclocked it to 59Mhz and enabled some pci tweaks.. Unreal looked so good...

Voodoo Banshee Diamond Monster. Fastest Banshee in Town(115/125!)

Voodoo 3 2000 PCI Good 2D great support.. until I saw Sacrifice on a GF DDR..

Ati Radeon 64MB VIVO. Best Card I ever owned- Apart from Matrox, best 2D, best 3D. Not the framerate king, but the performance is not that bad...

Waiting for Radeon II, and a NVidia card that has decent 2D and 3D...
and NOT this every day a new driver crap..