Your Video Card Upgrade Ladder

S3 Virge
ATI Raedon 9200SE 128mb
ATI x800xl
2x 7800 GTs
8800 GTS 320mb
Next up will be the r600.
 
for PC:

EGA
256k isa VGA
512k isa VGA
1 mg Trident VLB (big perf boost!)
2 meg? rage vga vlb card I think..
Riva128 (those were the days for constant driver updates)
That Intel 3d card (borrowed)
TNT2
FX5200 (free, then stuffed in a HTPC)
9600XT (suckered into the HL2 deal)
6800GT (ironically gotten before HL2 actually came out!)


8 series will be right around the corner.
 
i won't even guess about things back in those 8088, 286, 386, and 486 days.
in fact, i can't even remember 3Dfx stuff.
in recent times:

ATI Radeon 8500 All-In-Wonder
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (bought week it came out, lasted so long, best purchase ever)
BFG GeForce 6600 GT (replace 9700 Pro which started acting up)
BFG GeForce 7800 GTX
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX Superclocked
 
Riva TNT 2 pro -> Geforce ti 4200 -> Asus 7800gtx -> Leadtek 7950gx2 -> Leadtek 8800gtx.
 
Dimension 4700
Intel GMA900 ---> Leadtek 6600 -->
Dimension 5150
Intel GMA 950 ---> Asus 6200 TC --->
Dimension 9200
Dell 7300LE ---> XFX 7600GS
 
SIS 8MB (don't remember model name/number) -> Riva TNT2 32MB -> GeForce 4 Ti4200 -> ATi Radeon 9200SE -> Geforce 6600 (non-GT variant) -> 2x ATi Radeon X1900XTX in Crossfire
 
Riva TNT2 Ultra 32MB (still have it) ~>ATI 8500LE ~> ATI 9800PRO ~> xfx 6600gt ~> eVga 8800TS
 
Alright, some VLB card, Diamond Speedster 64 ISA, S3 Virge PCI, Matrox G200 + 3dfx Voodoo2 12MB SLI, Diamond Viper V330 TNT, 3dfx Voodoo5 5500, Geforce2 GTS, Geforce3 Ti200, Geforce4 Ti4600, 9600XT, 9700Pro, 9800XT, Geforce 6800 Ultra, Geforce 6800 Ultra PCIe, 7800GTX.

That spans my 5 main systems over my geek lifetime. I have alot of them still in use in other systems (Voodoo5 for Tribes!).
 
CGA -> Diamond Speedstar ISA -> Tseng ET4000 -> TNT -> TNT2 -> GF3Ti200 -> Radeon 9600XT -> GF6600GT -> GF7900GS -> GF8800GTS?

Upgrade path from 1985 onward, didn't include the stuff before as it was non-pc.
 
Geforce 2 mx200 > Geforce 4 mx440 > 6800 nu > (step up) 6800GS > ???

Gunna get an 8600 or 8800 soon, and that will hold me till the 10 series. skipping every other generation is great on the wallet :p
 
(these early ones are really fuzzy)

some generic card (never even looked or cared) > voodoo 2 > voodoo 3 > Radeon 7500 > Radeon 8500 > Radeon 9800 pro > Radeon x850 pro

now ( im still soldiering on with an AGP slot) im looking at either a Geforce 7900gs, or the X1950pro agp.
 
update

monochromatic ISA 8 Bits Hercules, don´t remember the model
Trident 9280
Trident 9680
Diamond Viper 330 (Riva 128)
Voodoo 2 (SLI)
Canopus Spectra TNT
GeForce DDR0
GeForce 2 GTS
Geforce 3
Geforce 4 Ti4800
Geforce 5700 Ultra,
Radeon 9800 Pro
XFX Geforce 7800 GT OC (SLI)
and as of today i´m the proud owner of my third SLI setup
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB (SLI) !!! :D
 
Wow.. what a memory test. Well I forget which ISA vid cards I've used.. but here's what I do remember:

Diamond Series.. forget which. (First *performance* vid card I've had)
S3 of some sort.. first PCI vid card I owned
3dfx Voodoo 3000
nVidia TNT of some sort
nVidia Ti4400
ATi Radeon 9800
ATi Radeon 9700 Pro
nVidia 6800GT
nVidia 8800GTS (arriving today!)
 
Trident 4meg
Diamond Viper 550 (TNT) +2x12MBVoodoo2
Voodoo3
TNT2
TNT2Ultra
Geforce
ElsaGladiac
Geforce3Ti200
GF3Ti500
Radeon
Voodoo5-5500
VertoGeforce4Ti4400
ATI9700Pro
BFG6800GT
BFG6800Ultra

easier to list what I skipped:

radeon 8500 series
Nvidia 5X00 series
Nvidia 7X00 series

:cool:
 
hmmmm

Matrox mystique (first one)
Rendition verite
Voodoo Rush
Matrox G100+Voodoo II
TNT
TNT2 Ultra
Geforce 2MX
radeon 9500 pro
Geforce 6800
Geforce 7900GT
 
Heh.. Can you pair them up with Monitors?

The only two that really stick out of my head were:

The EGA monitor, because back then, my friend had to explain to me the difference between the EGA digital input and the analog VGA monitor input, and why I'll have to buy a new monitor for that VGA card I was eyeing...


and my first VGA monitor, with .52 dot pitch.. It was horrible! It had one of those "screen's (like a screen door mesh)" taped on top of it.. remember? They were suppose to shield you from radiation and improve picture quality? (by putting something infront of hte monitor? lol) I suffered for years with that.. I don't think they made a crappier monitor than that.


I wonder if that monitor is to blame for my bad eyesight today.. lol
 
Fun Thread!!

Matrox3D+Monster3d(Voodoo1)>Voodoo2>TNT2>GeForce>GeForce2>9700Pro>???>6800GT>8800GTS
 
cool thread, why haven't I noticed it before? hmm anyway:

3dfx voodoo2 --> Nvidia TNT2 Ultra --> Geforce2 Pro --> Radeon 9500 Pro --> Radeon 9800 Pro --> Geforce 6800GT --> Radeon X1950GT

I scoff at brand loyalty :p

Kind of had to compromise a bit by getting the x1950gt. Wanted to wait to afford something better, but the 6800 was getting a little long in the tooth and there's been a big wave of must have games to come out on PC this month. That and I'm still on 1280x1024 so it's all good.
 
[ T ] A C O;1030838118 said:
9600XT all the way to 8800GTS!


Ok 2 cards thats it.
Click to expand...



i don't get why people like you make upgrades with no real noticable difference :D
 
Lets see now...
Intel imbeded < Ati 3D Expression < Nvidia RivaTNT < original Ati All-In-Wonder < Nvidia FX5200 < Nvidia 5700Ultra < Ati 9800Pro < Nvidia 6800GS < Nvidia 7900GT

All cards except for the last 3 were air cooled. The 9800Pro, 6800GS and the 7900GT were/are all OC'ed nicely and kept cool via the DangerDen Acetal-Topped Maze4GPU water block and OCZ memory heatsinks. The 7900GT is now awaiting an EK 7900 full coverage block and volt modding. :)
 
P166 integraded something(rage?)
>
Diamon Stealth 32mb
>
Radeon 9700 (fried :(
>
Geforce 6600 256mb
>
Geforce 7900 ko 256 YEA!!
 
nVidia GF2 Mx400 64MB -> XFX 5200 128MB -> ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB -> ATi Radeon x800XL 256MB -> next upgrade?? probably an 8800 GTS 320MB

There was like no difference between the GF2 and the 5200 :( haha
 
Capt. Canada said:
nVidia GF2 Mx400 64MB -> XFX 5200 128MB -> ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB -> ATi Radeon x800XL 256MB -> next upgrade?? probably an 8800 GTS 320MB

There was like no difference between the GF2 and the 5200 :( haha
Click to expand...

That looks a lot like my ladder. :D

There was no difference between the GF2 MX and the FX5200 either. Both cards were equally crap, too bad the FX5200 cost $70 more!/

Bo_Fox said:
Am I the only one to do a "nostalgic" article like the one quoted above?

It was fun writing it... any of you guys out there wanna do your own story?
Click to expand...

I read it! Bo_Fox!

I think people are more interested in their own stuff. I know I'm going through every other page or so. :p
 
3D FX Monster 3D 2 Voodoo2 --> Nvidia Riva TNT-- Nvidia TNT2 Ultra--> Geforce 256 --> Geforce 2 Ultra--> Geforce 4--> ATI 9700 Pro--> ATI 9800 Pro-->ATI X1800XL-->ATI X1800XT
 
some onboard that came with the retro rig in sig --> nvidia tnt2 --> geforce mx4000 --> radeon 9550 --> gefore 7900 gs ko (fried) --> radeon x850xt PE (kinda a downgrade)
 
3dfx Voodoo3 3000
3D Prophet II GTS 32MB (loved it sooo much)
Visiontek GeForce3
Abit Siluro GeForce 4 Ti 4600
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
3D Prophet 9800 Pro
ATI X800 XTPE
EVGA 7800 GT CO
EVGA 7900 GT KO
EVGA 8800 GTS 320MB
 
3DFX Voodoo2 1000 (12 MB)
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 MODEL 64 (32MB)
3D Prophet GeForce 3 Ti500 (64MB)
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO (128MB)
EVGA GeForce 6600GT (128MBx2 SLI)
BFG GeForce 7900GTX (512MB)
BFG GeForce 8800GTX (768MB)
*Planning to drop in a second 8800GTX once Crysis ships
 
Voodoo 3 PCI
Geforce2 onboard graphics
Geforce3 AGP
Radeon 9700 AGP
X850xt-pe AGP
8800 GTS 320mb PCI-E (will be in my hands Tuesday)
 
GF2 MX400
GF2 GTS
GF3 Ti200
9800 Pro (XT flash)
6600 GT
x800 GTO (x850xt PE flash)
7900 GS
....and every one of them was overclocked as phook, with the 9800 and the x800 being flashed into their big brothers.
 
Integrated 8MB

32MB No name Card

64MB ATi Radeon 9000 Vanilla

128MB Saphire Radeon 9600XT

128MB ATi Radeon 9800 Pro

256MB ATi Radeon x850 Pro

----------------

Was happy with the x850 till I found out it's kinda tech limited thanks to age. Still think it's awesome though.
 
Well it all started for me on a monochrome monitor, DOS only pc. God only knows what the "video card" on that was. From there I moved to some cruddy onboard video that could do colors (geewiz), VooDoo for EQ, Geforce2 MX400, Geforce4 something or other, Radeon 9700, Radeon 9700 mobility, Radeon 850xt and currently upgrading to RadeonX1950XT 512mb as soon as prices drop from the Radeon X10000 release.
 
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