Best video card of all time?

I wasn't around for the voodoo days, but my Ti 4200 was probably the best $200 I ever spent, I got more than 2 full years out of that thing. I was hoping that my 6600GT would last me 2 years, but it looks like it won't quite make it. :(
 
sabrewolf732 said:
actually, the x800xt is about 2x faster than a 9800 pro. And, for you guys saying 9800pro, I don't really agree. The 9800 pro was pretty much expected and didn't really make the impact that the 9700p did, the 9700p came out of left field and left everyone with dropped jaws. It was truly ahead of it's time imo.


Good point on the 9700, I completly agree.
 
I second the 9800 series and Voodoo 1 & 2. And I'm glad to say that I own both of them. Still waiting for that next great card. It'll likely be a full featured DX10 card. And all past cards had its merits. I remembered getting the Diamond Viper V330 which used a vga chip (before they started to call them GPUs) called Riva something from a new company named Nvidia. It turned out to be a shitty 3D card compared to the Voodoo 2 that soon came after, but I had both in my rig at one point (An Nvidia card connected to a 3DFX card, before Nvidia bought 3DFX! I coulda went SLI too! Wow, 3 video cards in one computer!). The Riva whatever was an attempt to put 2d and 3d cards together. It sucked until the Riva TNT 1/2/Ultra came out, then the GeForce GPU, but all that marked the rise of Nvidia which is to become the biggest of them all? Damn, I was also considering to buy their stock at that time too.
 
IMO the 9800pro was the best card so far. Only because of the life span of the thing plus back in the day it was awesome.
 
9800 pro or Ti4200.

Both provided huge value at the time and lasted forever as viable cards.

Hell I am still running a 9800 non-pro, about eqaul to a 9700 pro, and bet I could play most games of today with the settings turned down.
 
9700 Pro (still my primary gaming card, o/c to 350/680)

And since the title of this thread is best video card and not gaming card, the Matrox G400 Max. For no other reason than it was one of the last video cards to use an external video decoder (not integrated into the GPU). Absolutely gorgeous TV output. I still use one on my HTPC.
 
This thread should have a poll.

I throw my vote in for the voodoo series. I will never forget how sweet CS looked right when it came out on that card. Was smooth as butter, and CS is still the greatest game ever made.
 
Riva TNT was the first video card I ever personally bought, 16 MB and 2D/3D all in one. My friends with their old Voodoo add-on cards were annoyed I paid just over $100 for it. Would easily get my vote for sheer simpilicty and quality. :)
 
AeonF1 said:
(An Nvidia card connected to a 3DFX card, before Nvidia bought 3DFX! I coulda went SLI too! Wow, 3 video cards in one computer!).

I actually did do that at one point. I had a Riva 128ZX and Voodoo 2 SLI in a PII-450 Dell. The Riva card came with the Dell and I retired my old Diamond Monster 3D. I wasn't satisfied with the Riva card and added the Voodoo 2 cards. I spent many nights playing Q2/RA2 with that config. Great times.

:D
 
I have very fond memories with the voodoo2 original voodoo cards. But greatest of all time, for me would probably have to be the ATI's 9700. As others have said, it was way ahead of its time.
 
9800pro is still runnin' here also...over 2 years...though I've returned one after using the 1st for 2 weeks. But the 2nd is really nice..Anyone, I also think Geforce 440MX/TNT2/voodoo are also very popular card....any one agree..? :cool:
 
i would say the original GeForce 3. my very first high end card, and i paid $250 for it when it first came out. back then, $250 was the most a gaming video card would cost.
 
This might date me somewhat, but I'd have to say the dedicated sprite processor in the Amiga series was the grandfather of today's video cards. The graphics of games on the Amiga were far and above anything available on the mac or PC at the time. Anyone remember Shadow of the Beast?

And yeah, both the GF4-ti4200 and ATi 9700pro were swell cards. I think they both lasted me about a year and a half, maybe a bit longer.
 
128MB Hercules Prophet 9700 that could easily be OC'ed beyond PRO speeds
To this day I am still upset Hercules is out of the graphics cards scene :(
 
my 9700 is at 9800 pro speeds.. flashed to 9700 pro.. and OCed more to 9800 pro speeds.. with modded ATI silencer 4.. ( yea thats right 4!!!)..
 
either

*the G400max,, matrox's last good graphics card, every game just seemed to look better on that card.

*the mighty Voodoo 5, under powered at the time but I have never ran a card for as long as this one,, finally gave up the voodoo dream in 2005, that was a sad sad day,, there were tears.
 
i havent read the whole thread, so its probably been mentioned many times, becauseit is definitely THE best video card ever, behold the awesomeness that was the bitboys 3dglaze.

oy!
 
/puts on flame retardant suit

GeforceFX 5900U-256

Now that everyone is looking at me crazy like... I won the MSI N-Box 5900 package @ Quakecon in '03. When the 5950 came out, I flashed this card with the new bios and ran it @ 510/1020 till about 3 months ago. Was a damn fine card while I had it, and I know it wasn't the fastest card on the block, but you can't beat free.
 
Partial to the 9800 Pro myself. Until I came across the deal for my X850XT, I was using the 9800 Pro on just about any game at medium settings or so. The 9800 Pro is still going strong in my brother's computer right now. Heck of a lifespan.
 
9700 Pro.

I wanted to vote for the Ti4200, the 9800 Pro or the 12 MB Voodoo 2 cards, but if we are talking pure longevity, the 9700 Pro has that in spades.

The 9700 Pro would have been one of if not the best investment in hardware of its time. A good 3+ years you could play many of the games out on more than acceptable resolutions and quality settings.

It was just a very good card.
 
everyone's mentioned the revolutionary cards, what about the removable/upgradable GeForce Go series? swapping vid cards in my laptop is probably the best idea ever! just wish i could afford a 7800 go.

if we're going desktops, i wasn't a gamer when vid cards were PCI, but my first card was a 9600 AIW 64mb, imagine the look on my face when i tried to play Halo PC. but it was awesome for watching TV on my computer.
 
The question is very subjective to the timing of the 'best video card'. The cards that made the largest impression on me - the Wow factor if you will - were:

Voodoo 1/2 - First time I stepped into Tomb Raider and GL Q1/Q2 - whoa! Someone stated earlier that they had to clean their undies after loading up a GL game. Oh yeah!

Geforce Series - Another huge step in graphics. It was a dragon game that made me drool.

I'm on a 6800gt atm. I have a feeling playing 1600x1200 full everything that's capable with the sli/crossfire setup might be my third pick. But since I don't have them I can't justly state it.
 
9700 Pro - I still have one in a rig taht will run any game on the market right now at 1024x768 with medium settings. That is like 3 years or more of use adn still respectable gaming. I do not konw anotehr card out there that has done this.
 
Radeon 9500 non-pro, could be flashed to a 9700 and is still useable 3 years later in dx9 games...Don't know how anyone could say the 9800pro when the 9700pro came out a full year earlier and was the same card at a little lower clocks...

I had the original monster3d, and it was great but didn't have anywhere near the longevity or bang for the buck as that card, though it did change 3d gaming for all intents and purposes.

Also the voodoo5, just for the insanity of it, I still have 2 of them kicking around...
 
9700 Pro, when I first started getting into computers the 9700 was the SHIZNIT. It was the card that every high end user was using. It also is still a half decent card.
 
LOL, maybe ppl are saying 9800 series b/c it came with HL2 vouchers that were supposedly gonna be good in a few months :) hahaha

seriously, other than that, i have no idea why ppl think its one of the "best of all time"... because it really was just a 9700 on steriods......

Voodoo 1, Geforce 2, Ti4200, 9700.... THOSE were the greatest cards... and I still personally pick GF2 just because it lasted me up until about last year....
 
8500

Cost barely more than half the price of the Geforce 3's that it was tying or beating in almost every game and benchmark (and was much cheaper than the Ti that was released to "beat" it), and it took ATI from a "never-ran" to a true contender.
 
The Voodoo series was incredible. The TI 4200 was incredible. The 9700 Pro blew my balls out of the back of my pants the first time I fired it up on Unreal Tournament 2003.

9700 Pro for the win.
 
TI4200. With my XP1600, I'm running CS at 1280x1024, WC3FT at 1280x1024 with everything on high, and NFSMW at 1024x768 on medium. I'm installing F.E.A.R right now as I am typing this. Should be interesting...

EDIT: Uhmm.. waiting for install to finish. Comp just stopped after installing, and all I see is the F.E.A.R screenshot. Btw, the picture quality is crappy... I'm starting to get nervous.

EDIT: 1024x768, graphics and computer on medium (hehehe). Runs like a charm... Now can someone explain to me why I shouldn't install BF2?
 
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