What was your favorite GPU back in the day?

[ther00kie16]

all in wonder 9600 pro. tv + capture & voucher for HL 1&2
also oc'ed 25%. best $150 i ever spent on a pc part.

 

[sangyup81]

ati 9800 pro was the first gpu that made me happy with my graphics performance

 

[tigersty1e]

BFG 6800 OC (unlocked to 6800 gt)

RIP bfg.

 

[Blitzvogel]

I was a late comer to PC gaming (started in summer of 2005), and I have fond memories for every machine I've had and the parts inside. In particular, the first computer I had with dedicated graphics - a Gateway MX7515 which I bought in Jan 2006, was what really set me off into PC gaming land. It's mobile Athlon 64 4000 and ATi Radeon X600 "128 MB" (as in 64 MB dedicated DDR VRAM, and 64 MB shared) while weak for the time frame (I hardly knew too much better) made it possible for me to jump from my very limited Toshiba laptop at the time (I could at least play HL1 and CoD1 on it!) to CoD2, Source games, and the love of my life: Battlefield 2. That is pretty much where my PC gaming obsession started.

The next year in early 2007, I finally built my first desktop with an Athlon x2 5600, 2 GB DDR2-800, and the very awesome value 8800 GTS 320 MB. Needless to say, my Xbox 360 hardly ever saw me again. Just about every major PC FPS from 2004 through 2008 was played on this machine. Lots of BF2, 2142, CS:S, FEAR, CoD2 and 4, STALKER, Crysis. GOOD TIMES. Hell, it would still be a somewhat decent gaming machine at 720p if I still had it.

Needless to say, I've had ALOT of computers since summer 2005 when I got my first one for college, and been through many GPUs.

 

[liddabit]

2 Voodoo 2s connected with that funny exterior cable in quake 2 was great.. then Voodoo 5 5000 was fantastic for EQ and Deus Ex..glide was amazingly pretty back then. Then a bit later I used a 9700pro forever

this picture makes me laugh still from that era
http://members.cox.net/hellebore/3dcard.jpg

 

[zlejedi]

Voodoo 1 then probably radeon 9700 "vanilla" as we used to say those days.

 

[thilanliyan]

X1800XL, first video card I watercooled, and first that I could software volt mod.

Honorable mention goes to my X800GTO2 and 8800GTS 640 (most I've ever paid for a video card but it blew pretty much anything other than the 8800GTX out of the water).

 

[Stuka87]

Either some people got into gaming a lot later than some of us, or I just realized I am older than a lot of people that frequent here. I say this because of all the newer cards being mentioned. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just an observation.

Oh and I second the comment on Diablo 2 and Glide. It was designed for glide, and looked 10x better on a 3Dfx card than it did in OpenGL or DirectX.

I actually kept my Voodoo2 (Which I still have) around just for that game. Even when I was using a Radeon 9800 Pro for everything else.

 

[sm625]

nerd alert!

I had a radeon 7000 something something that I paid 50 bucks for back in 03. Had a lot of fun gaming with that.

 

[Majic 7]

My favorite card always seems to be the one later in the day.

 

[mindwreck]

voodoo2 in SLI baby. I still have my set tucked away for memories sake. made quake 2 and 3 run awesome!

 

[JustMe21]

For me, 3Dfx Voodoo. Playing some of the Outlaws maps with it was the difference between it looking pitch black on an S3 Virge to looking like Dusk on the 3Dfx.

 

[Peppered]

If I rember rigth wasn't the Voodo a pass threw card. You still needed a 2d card that used a VGA conection back to the voodo card and then to your Monitor

 

[Stuka87]

If I rember rigth wasn't the Voodo a pass threw card. You still needed a 2d card that used a VGA conection back to the voodo card and then to your Monitor

Yes Voodoo 1 & 2 were both passthrough 3d only cards. The Banshee was the first 2d/3d card from 3Dfx, but it was horrible. The Voodoo3 came later and was better, but was still slower in many respects compared to the Voodoo2. The 4 and 5 were awesome, but came too late and by then 3Dfx was on their way into bankruptcy due to poor management and failure to get products out on time.

 

[Piano Man]

Yes Voodoo 1 & 2 were both passthrough 3d only cards. The Banshee was the first 2d/3d card from 3Dfx, but it was horrible. The Voodoo3 came later and was better, but was still slower in many respects compared to the Voodoo2. The 4 and 5 were awesome, but came too late and by then 3Dfx was on their way into bankruptcy due to poor management and failure to get products out on time.

I think the Voodoo Rush was the first 2D/3D card as it was based off of the Voodoo 1 architecture. I did however, blow much like the Banshee.


And I totally agree with Glide and Diablo 2. Made the game look so much better.

 

[Worthington]

The Diamond Viper 770s that work bought to slot into our desktops for "testing purposes"

 

[Tikerz]

GeForce 256. Was ridiculously excited when it was delivered and I had it in my hands.

 

[spittledip]

Radeon 9500 Pro for me. I had that card in my primary PC until 2005. It was a great bang for buck card.

 

[Epsilon-Zero]

Bought a Geforce 2 GTX after mowing lawns for a summer.
It was a substantial upgrade compared to using software rendering in Tribes.

Then sometime later I bought a Geforce FX 5700 Ultra. That card is still running strong to this day in my moms PC.

The card I use now though I still hold near and dear, the Geforce 8800GT OC.

 

[Cookie Monster]

6800GT! loved that card especially with a NV silencer 5 on it.

 

[Interitus]

6800GT! loved that card especially with a NV silencer 5 on it.

Ahh the good ol' Silencers.

I remember (for at least me personally) when the 9700/9800 ATi's came out and it seemed like it was the start of the aftermarket cooler craze for GPU's.

I had a silencer on my 9800pro and I won't even get into the crazyness that I did to my 6600GT to keep it quiet.

I'll see if I can find a pic of it, I might have been one of the first to ghetto rig 120mm cooling to a GPU lol.

 

[Interitus]

Well surprisingly found that fast, lol.

6600GT + Zalman samich cooler + hardware store flat head screws + Yate 120mm = heavy arse GPU cooler. Still didn't sag like my 5850 on a full cover waterblock though.

Why I'm still using IDE drives here I'll never know, haha.

 

[at80eighty]

4200 Ti. Good times!

 

[PCboy]

9700 Pro, the game-breaking scene changer. Marvelous piece of work.

Maybe the Matrox Parhelia too.

 

[liddabit]

wow , I really want to play Deus Ex and Quake 2 reading this