GeForce 256 Launched this Day in 1999

My First <sniff> was that Orchid 3DFX board....with the VGA pass-through from my Tsung Labs 256k VGA card........fired up that Mechwarrior game that launched with support........
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My first nVidia card was the TNT. Just as good as the Voodoo2 but it was an all in one card. Then I jumped to the Geforce256 DDR and never left nVidia.
 
I never got an original GF256...thought about it, even carried one around a CompUSA while deeply contemplating it, but ultimately returned it to the shelf, and went home to continue enjoying my 32MB TNT2 + 12MB Voodoo2 SLI setup. I think my next GPU setup ended up being a GeForce2 Pro 64MB.
 
The problem I had with all those early Geforce cards was the shitty RF filters that were used. 3D was fine, but trying to read text would make your eyes bleed, every card I tried the text was fuzzy as hell. It wasn't until I got the Geforce 3 Ti by Leadtek that some quality filters were put on. After that I think Nvidia started mandating their partners use better filters.
 
I can't remember if I was still using a Voodoo Rush, or if I had upgraded to a Voodoo Banshee at that point. I skipped the Voodoo 2. I had a buddy at the time who I said was using the world's first 3d Decellerator in the S3 Virge...
 
Stoly said:
I had a RiveTnT2 and upgraded to the Geforce256 a couple of months after it came out. Then got a Geforce 2 GTS

I remember running all the nvidia demos with every new upgrade up until the Geforce 6800

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nVidia fairy was hot!
 
tetris42 said:
Alright, so anyone recognize every game those were from? I saw:

UT2004 / Painkiller / Bloodrayne / Borderlands

I wasn't sure what the mech / cult guy / black stamp ones were from.
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One was Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines.
 
As I recall, I was using a Voodoo 3-3000 (hurrah for financial aid checks) and was pondering whether to go for the faster speed and increased features or stick with Glide. Ended up skipping the original Geforce, and getting in when the 2's came out and game designers had gotten their Direct3d renderers up to parity with the Glide ones.
 
First card was the Voodoo 2.. Playing Quake GL with that... Ahhh.. Then Everquest... Bought the Geforce 256 to replace that setup and thought I was in heaven... The good ol days!!
 
Chris_B said:
Nvidia always claim they coined the term "gpu", am i the only one that can recall that term floating around years previous to geforce? Pretty sure "gpu" was already being used by people to describe voodoo etc. I remember amd trying to steer away from saying "gpu" and instead saying "vpu" but that didn't last long.

Had a 256 ddr, those were the days when you didn't have to have a heatsink the size of a small house along with a hairdryer for a fan bolted onto your card to keep the fucker "cool".
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We commonly referred to them back then as "3D Accelerator" , or "2D/3D cards" I don't remember using the term gpu til much later.
 
I skipped the 256 and stuck it out with my TNT2-Ultra. It was a great clocker. I mounted a cpu heatsink and ram sinks using thermal paste and the 'superglue at the corners trick'. My TNT2-Ultra was the envy of the lan. Benchmarking was about 20% of the fun. Eventually I sold it to one of the guys. One of these days I need to make a list of all the gpu's I've owned. Started off with voodoo then voodoo-sli then to nvidia because 32-bit color/compression. I know most people couldn't see a diff, I could on my sony crt. Switched to ATI for awhile; x850, 9000 series, to get me through the nv fx debacle.
 
Khahhblaab said:
LOL........and it was a CRT.:D
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Oh man, I remember refresh rates of like 144hz (or more? i can't recall) on a viewsonic that literally started smoking and died at some point. Replaced with a Dell CRT with similar refresh, so smooth for my Counterstrike gaming
 
I kind of remember 1999. I was working as a software developer, single, and lived in my parents basement. I was making good money and had a black budget for buying stuff. I don't remember what cards I had - but I had spent a ridiculous money on hardware.
I was saving up to buy a house so i could move out. I should have stayed in the basement - I could have retired several years ago and my computer would be modern ;)
I personally thought the 3D accelerator movement was exciting and fun. I compare it to the Amiga experience.
 
ccityinstaller said:
You took the words outta my mouth. I miss those times so much. I still love computers but it just doesn't have the same awe and wonder it did back then. It truly was the golden age of HW. I mean we got 2X the performance every 6-15 months.
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Celeron 300a = 2x performance in the same day :woot:

Those 'were' the times.
 
I remember a buddy jumped from the TnT2 to the GeForce... and like a month after he bought it they released the "DDR" version

I still remember how everyone wanted the "Gainward Golden Sample" cards lol. I thought the cards we're big then, can you imagine opening up a box in 1999 to find the size of video cards we use now? Ha!
 
keshley said:
It was all in good ribbing. He was the only one of our 'group' that didn't either have a Voodoo 1, 2, or Matrox G400 at the time. And the Virge was slower than all of them.
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...so the group decided to build up his character ;)

cool.
 
I also ran Voodoo 2 and 3 cards back then. I remember finally trading up to a Geforce 2 Ultra. Then came the Ti500 followed by the Ti4600. Then ATI dropped the 9700 on us and forever did ATI cards dominate my destiny until the GTX970.

Voodoo 2 through Geforce 4 pretty much brackets the glory days PC gaming; Half-Life, Quake 3 and UT99. The age of PC gaming excellence.
 
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I was Running My Matrox G400, trying out TreeMark (The demo Nvidia released to pump T&L).

The benchmark results put my Coppermine Celeron at 896MHz to shame. I think it was still THREE TIMES as fast at rendering triangles.

See here, along with an early Crytek T&L demo (.

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/gf2hwtl/index.html

And when I wasn't distracted by demos, I was playing some hardcore Q3. Matrox TurboGL had the best 32-bit performance of anyone (until DDR became a thing).
 
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keshley said:
I can't remember if I was still using a Voodoo Rush, or if I had upgraded to a Voodoo Banshee at that point. I skipped the Voodoo 2. I had a buddy at the time who I said was using the world's first 3d Decellerator in the S3 Virge...
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I beat shadows of the empire using a Virge. And Jedi Knight too. @ 400x300 and under 5fps in open areas. And lots of weird graphics errors or effects missing.
 
Diamond Viper V550 was my entry into the NV family....

Then a 770 and on and on and on..... :)
 
Dear God I had an S3 virge that
M76 said:
I beat shadows of the empire using a Virge. And Jedi Knight too. @ 400x300 and under 5fps in open areas. And lots of weird graphics errors or effects missing.
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You poor poor soul...I had a Virge for about a week. I was so disgusted with it that my dad went out and bought me my TNT to replace it when I showed him that it couldn't actually accelerate. I guess he felt bad since it was a gift for me getting Straight As all year.
 
ccityinstaller said:
Dear God I had an S3 virge that


You poor poor soul...I had a Virge for about a week. I was so disgusted with it that my dad went out and bought me my TNT to replace it when I showed him that it couldn't actually accelerate. I guess he felt bad since it was a gift for me getting Straight As all year.
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TNT? When I had the Virge 3D was very new. I've had a Voodoo1, a Riva 128, and a Savage before getting to a TNT later.
 
keshley said:
I can't remember if I was still using a Voodoo Rush, or if I had upgraded to a Voodoo Banshee at that point. I skipped the Voodoo 2. I had a buddy at the time who I said was using the world's first 3d Decellerator in the S3 Virge...
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I had and still do have my voodoo banshee 16mb.. loved that card.. first nvidia card I ever got was the leadtek winfast ti4600 with the giant aluminum heat sink. But yeah I remember the s3 Virge. Looking back though it's sad to see all these great manufactures that no longer exist.
 
M76 said:
TNT? When I had the Virge 3D was very new. I've had a Voodoo1, a Riva 128, and a Savage before getting to a TNT later.
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You are correct, I was mistaking my Creative Riva 128 for the TNT. I believe the Virge had been out for a year or so before this occured.
 
man i remeber splashing out the little bit extra for the "pro" version
 
I had such a crush on Renditions Verite, sadly, they died.

rendition_v1000e_x.jpg
 
PhaseNoise said:
I was probably camping some stupid rare spawn in EQ to get something ultimately wildly disappointing which made me question life choices. That happened a lot in EQ1.
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I was probably charging you 50p for a res that you pleaded for in tell because I was the only cleric in the zone or not busy meditating from the other 20 dead corpses from some damn noobs train!
 
knowom said:
I was probably charging you 50p for a res that you pleaded for in tell because I was the only cleric in the zone or not busy meditating from the other 20 dead corpses from some damn noobs train!
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Rez's were solid money! The horrible pathing in Kunark skyrocketed my income!
 
I remember going from a Voodoo 3 to a Geforce 2 GTS, now that was an upgrade! And the Voodoo 3 was overclocked. Quake III Arena flew after that.

People see those days as the glory days, bleh! The Commodore 64 followed closely by the Commodore Amiga, they were the glory days!
 
ccityinstaller said:
You are correct, I was mistaking my Creative Riva 128 for the TNT. I believe the Virge had been out for a year or so before this occured.
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Actually the Virge was released in 1995, I've got mine in January 1996. There was at least two years between the two chips. S3 kept releasing various derivatives of the Virge during that time, (GX,VX,GX2, and who knows what) but they were all equally crap.
 
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