Favorite GPU you have owned?

the first time i played unreal with my new obsidian2 in glide after playing it in d3d or opengl with a riva128 or something was like in wizard of oz when dorothy steps out of the crashed house.
 
8800GTX...first time I paid out big bucks and turned out it was a long lived purchase.
 
5950 Ultra!!
5950u-3qs.jpg
 
2wiced said:
oh man!. I remember the 6800.

I had a PNY 6800 that unlocked into an ultra it was awesom! I also remember my 9800 pro it was my first real gaming card.
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I had an unlocked 6800 also...good stuff.
 
I'll say my 8800GTX, longest I've owned a GPU and be able to play all my games on high.

Sad that I'm even considering getting a GTX470 or GTX480.

Prior I owned 4 series (numerous), 6600 vanilla (PCIe, awesome card and 2nd fav), 6800GT and 7600GT; I only got cards that would serve me well. Believe it or not, before those I didn't bother with graphics card...the first game that tempted me to get a graphics card was Quake III Arena because I couldn't run the BETA without one, but I didn't for a while after that.
 
Two come to mind:

BFG GeForce 6800GT was my first desktop GPU after years as a laptop-only user.

XFX HD 5870 won me to ATI for the first time.
 
Softmodded 9500 Pro overclocked by 15%. Best mid-range card ever. It kicked the Ti4600's ass when AA and AF were used.
 
Oh man, my 8800GTX was easily the most long-lived amazing card purchase. Late 2006, I went from two 7950gx2s in SLI (Quad SLI! OMG!1) to a single XFX 8800GTX XXX that just trounced the 7950s. Last week I finally caved and picked up an XFX 5970 Black Edition.

So that 8800GTX (RMA'd once too!) ended up lasting until May 2010. Not bad in my book.
 
Probably my FireGL X1 128. It was basically the same thing as a 9700 Pro except it had Dual-DVI. I used moded catalyst drivers on it when I ran it. I bought it as a Dell pull for $200 and ended up selling it over a year later for $300 on ebay. That was the only time I can recall that I used a card for a while and actually made a profit on it.

Runner up would be my old Geforce 256. It was a huge upgrade over my S3 Savage4 and I got it when all my friends were still running TNT2 cards.
 
3DFX Voodoo3 3000

It was the most memorable because, in OpenGL, the graphics were truly stunning and performance was mind blowing...at the time.

Somehow, 3DFX got Darth Maul to pose for the Box Shot. :eek:
 
Mr. Wolf said:
Two come to mind:

BFG GeForce 6800GT was my first desktop GPU after years as a laptop-only user.

XFX HD 5870 won me to ATI for the first time.
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Don't know how you could choose the 6800GT....I had one from BFG as well. Crap....the thing idled at 60 and loaded up to 110 once (reference) but mainly hovered close to 100. Constant restarts and an RMA gave me a 6800GT with a beefier heatsink back (twin fans + giant copper heatsink). Guess what? Also idled at 60 but loaded up to 98ish. Lasted about a few hours before artifacts started showing up. Thing sits in a clamshell somewhere in my basement.

Anyhow, for me, I'd say it's the 8800GTX or my older Geforce4 ti4400
 
8800GTS. Made Oblivion at full quality settings completely playable. That was a very exciting era for GPU's IMO - one that recent innovations have yet to match. Near 100% performance increases over the previous generation's mid-high range cards.
 
defaultluser said:
My Matrox G400 MAX.

It was the card that introduced the world to fast 32-bit color rendering, and it was unbeaten at this task until the release of the GeForce 256. It introduced the world to the concept of consumer-level dual-monitor outputs. It also had 2D quality that put Nvidia to shame (back when most cards had shoddy analog image quality).

It lasted me a good three years before I was forced to upgrade.
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+1!

I still use that card in one of my PCs!

The G400 tech demo STILL looks good today imo.
 
I've only been into computer gaming since about 19 (due to lack of money in my teen years). So I've only had one real system. It came with 8800GT's SLIed back when they first came out. Held up forever till I had an electrical malfunction that blew one up, along with my TV and PSU. Fortunately, It didn't touch the remain 8800GT. One 8800GT held up pretty well @ 1080p but was starting to show age in some modern games. Then I bought a 4870x2 for $175 (cheaper than one of the 8800's back when i bought them), and I couldn't be more thrilled with its performance at 1080p. Now, i have a system that will last me for the next few years (since 1080p isn't awfully demanding) until I graduate. Running nearly everything at max plus substantial AA is a treat. AC2 is running at max settings and 8x AA with barely a slow down.
 
SinShiva said:
sapphire 9800 pro, flashed to xt :D

edit: i bought a vantec hsf made for some nvidia card, dremeled the fins and mounted it to the card, worked like a dream
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QFT card lasted me over 2 years... Still going strong in my kids computer..
 
9800pro , Broke the pins on the power connector, soldered it back together when my mom needed a video card and it's still running. That thing has taken abuse and then some.

My GTX280's are the best looking cards I've owned though.
 
I have to join in on this later, but better than never.

I'll list my 3 favorite graphics cards.

1. The original Diamond 3DFX Voodoo card.

2. My Diamond 3DFX Voodoo 2 card.

3. My 3DFX Voodoo 3 3500!


Fantasysage said:
What has been your favorite GPU you have ever owned?

For me it has to be the 6800 ultra extreme that I got for 20 bucks from some idiot in early 2005.

evga6800ue.jpg


Remember when that was sexy?

(and also when that was a large heatsink :D:D)

EDIT: BTW, this is still running strong in the same box it was installed in. Linux makes it fast again :)
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Probably the AIW 9800 Pro for me. I remember when the 9700 Pro hit and smashed everything else out at the time, it also put ATI on the map as a serious card maker. I got an AIW 9800 Pro through Newegg after my vanilla 9800 Pro crapped out. It was a free upgrade as they were out of the vanillas. That card could do it all.
 
8800GTX OCed to 660 on the core. I had a Thermalright HR03 Plus with a 92mm Panflo H1A fan on it.

Bought it at release and owned it until the GTX 260 Core 216 cards hit.
 
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8800 GTX. Let me play my favorite game at the time (Oblivion) in all its glory. Didn't replace it for 3 years and 3 months. Amazing card.
 
My favourite card is a tie between the 6800GT and the 8800gtx
When I purchased the 6800GT it was after I sold my craptastic ati 9600xt. I was disillusioned with PC gaming and was about to call it quits with the mouse and keyboard altogether, but decide to give it another chance after I found someone selling the 6800GT really cheap. Man was that a good decision!! This card was amazing, it was the first time I was more impressed by a PC game 3 years after getting a PS2. The PS2 immediately became last-gen after that.
I was very happy with the 6800GT and didnt even think of upgrading till I read about the specs of ... the 8800GTX.
Bought it at launch for almost twice the price of an xbox 360. It wasn't as ground breaking as promised - even the 5970 doesn't meet what nvidia promised with the 8800GTX!! but it was very powerful and eclipsed console games right from the beginning of their lifespan which was a first for me - I usually had to wait 3 or 4 years before I had a system capable of better performance than the most powerful console of the period.
My least favourite card is a tie between the S3 Virge and the ati 9600xt
The S3 Virge because it barely did anything, and the 9600xt because it was way overhyped at the time and couldn't even run Half Life 2 properly - the game that it comes with!
 
I'd have to say my Radeon 9800 Pro. Was a huge leap from my ATI 64mb ddr card.
 
I'd have to say probably my Creative Labs 12 mb Voodoo2 in SLI. Followed by that, probably my Radeon 9700 pro. And this 5870 ain't too bad. ;)
 
8800GTX as well. Had one from release day until 2 weeks ago when I got a 480. Best value in a piece of computer hardware ever.

Here it is with my first video card ever: :D
DSCF2185.JPG
 
My last one. While I liked my Nintendo, I liked my SNES better. And then my sega Saturn. The same has been true with my video cards. I've never bought a weaker video card to replace one, and until I do I'll always like the last the most because of the speed.
 
vengence said:
My last one. While I liked my Nintendo, I liked my SNES better. And then my sega Saturn. The same has been true with my video cards. I've never bought a weaker video card to replace one, and until I do I'll always like the last the most because of the speed.
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My thoughts exactly. The 9700 Pro was a great card, but I wouldn't want to game on one now!
 
Best value: 9500 Pro, softmodded into...9700 Pro, I think. Last one on the shelves at CompUSA (now out of businesses where I lived) for only $130 or so.

Most exciting: Guillemot Voodoo 2 12MB SLI. I think I bought them when V3 was already out, and they were really cheap. I loved playing FreeSpace and seeing the SLI-exclusive higher-resolution option.
 
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