What was your 1st 3D video card ?

[Savoy]

Mine was an s3 trio in 1995ish. Then i got serous in i think 99 and built a new rig with a p3 and a voodoo 3 3000.

 

[Jeffredo]

Voodoo 3 3000 PCI for my first crappy PC.

http://www.amazon.com/3dfx-Voodoo3-3000-Graphics-Accelerator/dp/B000023VQ4/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[ironforge]

First video card was a 4-color cga card to play kings quest 2. I think it had 16 kilobytes of memory. 320x240 res was the standard. After that I upgraded to vga with 512k ram for 640x480 @ 256 colors. Mainly got the upgrade for Kings quest 5. At about that time no games were being made that supported 4 color, so I had to upgrade.

 

[cybereality]

I believe the first card I had on my own computer (not shared) was the Voodoo3 3000.

 

[Factum]

First video card was a 4-color cga card to play kings quest 2. I think it had 16 kilobytes of memory. 320x240 res was the standard. After that I upgraded to vga with 512k ram for 640x480 @ 256 colors. Mainly got the upgrade for Kings quest 5. At about that time no games were being made that supported 4 color, so I had to upgrade.

None of that is 3D?
(As per OP's title: "What was your 1st 3D video card ?")

 

[Mystic-Micro]

First dedicated 3d accelerator was unfortunately a shiitthy Geforce 2 MX 200 with 64MB of ram back in 2001. First game I recall full was og half-life. Remember thinking I messed the whole game up by pushing the trolley thing in the reactor. Good times.

Sadly, that same videocard was used to beat half life 2 5 years later.
First real GPU was my trusty x1900xt in 2006.

 

[Makeroflostsouls]

I so must have been an upgrade whore I think I have owned almost every card people have listed. Had , dual voodo's, Riva tnt 2 ultra, ATI AIW 32, GeForce 265, GeForce 2, had something else to lol. Been to long I'm getting old lol. I remeber getting that first GeForce card and play some unreal, the good old days..

 

[mjoe]

a Riva TNT, have used nvidia since then

 

[Factum]

I so must have been an upgrade whore I think I have owned almost every card people have listed. Had , dual voodo's, Riva tnt 2 ultra, ATI AIW 32, GeForce 265, GeForce 2, had something else to lol. Been to long I'm getting old lol. I remeber getting that first GeForce card and play some unreal, the good old days..

I got Unreal before I got my first 3Dfx Voodoo PCI card.
I remember installing the new card, starting up Unreal, seeing the image quality I promptly restarted the game.

I think a lot of people have forgotten how PC games looked before GPU's:

This was bleeding egde back in 1998...people forget how ugly gams looked in the past compared to now.
I have fun memories of playing "Gunship 2000" on my Amiga.
But looking at videos from that game today, I am horrified at the poor graphics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5cs0qBopFI

 

[ThinJ]

My first 3D card was a Diamond Voodoo Banshee.

It served me well through Half-Life and a whooooooooole lot of TFC and the early Counter-Strike betas

 

[HRslammR]

Nvidia Ti4200 http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4ti.html

so I could run Diablo 2 at a decent level.

 

[Archmage]

I may have had one of the original S3 virge cards, but the cards of which I have a distinct memory:

- S3 Virge DX 4mb = I remember playing Terminal Velocity. I still remember some tunes from that sound track. Of course I was playing a lot of id software games and RPGs and warcraft / C&C.

- matrox g200 8mb (because my brother did not trust the hot-as-hell riva TNT from this relative newcomer, nvidia) = played Unreal at about 20 fps at whatever resolution I was running...

- A few different Voodoo 3 cards = counter-strike

- Riva TNT 2 ultra (because I got a $100 coupon) = ran quake 3 quite well, I think. It died for unknown reasons. I think it was the diamond viper v770, but it may have been a Guillemot card...not sure.

- Geforce 1 DDR (first DDR, there was an SDR version) - This card actually felt fast.

 

[AltTabbins]

The first one I installed myself, not including our family 486, Pentium 90, or Pentium 3 systems that were built by my uncles company was the ATI Radeon 7500. A little later than you guys and a bad purchase at the time considering the 9 series from ATI and the 5 series from Nvidia were right around the corner.

 

[Armenius]

First was a 3Dlabs Permedia that was in my dad's computer, lackluster D3D support and all.

First that went in my own computer was a Hercules NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 200 64MB PCI.

The card that went into the first computer I built was a BFGTech NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB AGP.

The first card I bought with my own money was a pair of BFGTech NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX OC2.

 

[Tgrove]

Sapphire 6870

 

[rocketr2]

RIVA 128 to play Wipeout
Looked amazing at the time

 

[illram]

The Voodoo2 card with the weird shaman dude on the front.

 

[termite]

First video card was a EGA to VGA upgrade card (ISA). I cannot remember the exact brand but want to say RealTek.

The first two games I had for that upgrade (Which included a Sound Blaster card) were Spirit of Excalibur and Wing Commander.

The first 3D card (after a few years without a PC) was I think an S3 Savage 3D which recall was a piece of crap. I know I was playing Rainbow Six, Falcon 4.0, Conflict; Freespace, Baldurs Gate, Half- Life, Theif etc.

 

[theduck]

Had a Matrox Mystique, but the 1st 3d add-on card I had was the Power VR based Matrox M3D, only lasted a few months before I upgraded to a Canopus Pure3D 3dfx card.

 

[jbean7457]

My first 3d card when I got into PC gaming was the BFG 6800GT. I still think back to those days and how much better everything looked over my ps2. I was also coming to grips with keyboard and mouse for games, never looked back...PC master race!

 

[Hornet]

GeForce 2 MX 200

Wish I had a picture of it

 

[ironforge]

None of that is 3D?
(As per OP's title: "What was your 1st 3D video card ?")

Oh snap. First 3d card was 3dfx voodoo with 4 meg. Played GLQuake. It was a diamond monster 3d. Bought at computer show with money from summer job, for $150ish. After that I bought nvidia tnt 16 meg.

 

[MorgothPl]

S3 Virge+ Voodoo2 combo. Was running that for a long time. Riva TNT couldn't match graphics quality. I remember how tiresin the Need for Speed game were round on Ati hardware, while they were more square on TNT. It also had draw distance problems - V2 was far more superior.

Then I went with Ati Fury Rage Maxx. First dual GPU card on market that was beast Was mostly using Ati, but then got pissed on them, while they used all those crazy naming schemes - xt, xt pro, xtx, xl. And sometimes card of older gen had more "beefy" name, but was running worse than newer gen.

 

[Nytegard]

First 3D cards were ATI Rage and Rendition Vérité 1000. I returned the Vérité though when some reviews were claiming that this upcoming graphics card from 3dfx could actually run a few games at that mythical 30 fps (which, at the time seemed incredibly smooth & fluid). Also, outside of a few demos targeted for those 2 cards, I never really bought games which could actually use either.

 

[Musaab]

S3 Trio 3D 2x 4MB from unknown brand called butterfly then ATi Rage 2C then Trident 8MB.
My first Game was Duke Nuke 3D my first windows game was Tomb Raider 3 one of the best ever games in the history .

 

[LordBritish]

S3 Trio 3D 2x 4MB from unknown brand called butterfly then ATi Rage 2C then Trident 8MB.
My first Game was Duke Nuke 3D my first windows game was Tomb Raider 3 one of the best ever games in the history .

To my knowledge Duke Nukem 3D never had a version that utilized 3D acceleration, it was all done with the main CPU from my recollection.

 

[ironforge]

To my knowledge Duke Nukem 3D never had a version that utilized 3D acceleration, it was all done with the main CPU from my recollection.

I played Duke Nukem and the 3D was more 2D sprite based. You couldn't walk around the enemies like you could in quake. No matter where you went the enemy was facing you the same way. It was still a fun game though!

 

[Rizen]

I briefly had a Voodoo1 8MB but this was a couple of years after they were basically obsolete. First real 3D card was an S3 Savage4 32MB AGP.

I've had a ridiculous amount of video cards since. I've upgraded once per generation from 200 series NVIDIA til today and I've been had four sets of CFX/SLI cards.

 

[MrGuvernment]

I started late, first computer i built in ATI AIW days

ATI 128 PRO AIW 32MB
http://hothardware.com/reviews/ATI-AllInWonder-128-Pro

5/31/00 - By, Marco ?BigWop? Chiappetta

Convergence... Anyone that?s been around PC?s has been hearing this word for quite some time. Since the first CD-Quality audio was available on the PC, industry pundits have been foretelling of the day when your PC will be the centerpiece of the living room, replacing your current televisions, computers and stereos with an all-in-one solution. They have visions of a "catch all' of home entertainment, where Dad can watch the latest DVD and the kids can get involved in a multiplayer "frag-fest" just before dinner?Well they probably never envisioned a "frag-fest" but you get the idea.

ATI has helped make that vision a reality. The ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 128 has all the 2D and video capabilities needed for those chores, while combining a 3D feature set capable of running today?s most demanding games.

The board fits into a standard AGP slot, and despite all its integrated features is no bigger than a standard length card.

Specifications Of The All In Wonder 128 Pro
Well engineered

Inside the box, there is also a very strong software bundle. You?ll find Ulead Videostudio 4.0 and Merlin VR included for your development needs, as well as full versions of Heavy Gear 2 and Need For Speed: High Stakes, to kill some of that leisure time.

On the back of the card, you have connections for Cable-TV In, A/V In (which connects to a ?breakout box? or pod that houses standard composite A/V inputs as well as an S-Video input), A/V out and a standard monitor connection.

Specifcations:

RAGE 128 PRO 128-bit 3D Chipset (125mhz)

Intelligent TV-Tuner with Digital VCR

High-resolution 1920x1200 graphics at 85Hz refresh rate

32-bit true color gaming

Still image and MPEG-2 motion video capture

Video editing

Hardware DVD video playback

Video output to TV or VCR

32 MB of memory (7ns Micron @ 142mhz)

AGP 4X/2X

Full 3D acceleration in all modes and color depths in resolutions up to 1920x1200@32bpp

Support for DirectX and OpenGL

8 million triangles/second set-up engine

Integrated iDCT and motion compensation allows for flicker-free DVD decoding with minimum CPU usage

125-channel TV-Tuner lets you watch high-quality stereo TV on your PC

Check out the action up close using instant replay or powerful zoom feature

Schedule the viewing of favorite shows, scan through all available stations for a glance at what's on, or create a TV Magazine with images and text from your chosen programs

The All-In-Wonder 128 Pro offers a VERY complete feature set. The video features distinguish it as not just any other graphics card but a Multi-Media "Jack of All Trades".


Read more at http://hothardware.com/reviews/ATI-AllInWonder-128-Pro#izrRQ4tx8LmzZ1Xw.99

Unreal 99' and Quake 3 arena and Delta Force 2 were my poison at the time.

 

[Musaab]

I played Duke Nukem and the 3D was more 2D sprite based. You couldn't walk around the enemies like you could in quake. No matter where you went the enemy was facing you the same way. It was still a fun game though!

You are right I played the game in 1995 it was cross platform Windows / DOS with beeb and woooosh sounds .

 

[Tzzird]

Here's what a 3DFX Voodoo card looks like:

And the 3DfX version of Mechwarrior 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1s2WOHJG-Q

This. If memory serves me correct... 1996?

 

[ep0x73]

Nvidia MX200, 32mb memory paired with a Athlon 1 overclocked to a massive 950mhz.

 

[Zuul]

Diamond Monster VooDoo2 12MB... I will always remember the DONUT

 

[Saturn_V]

Canopus Total 3D using the Rendition Verite V1000 4MB. I bought it solely because Papyrus' racings sims and EF2000 supported it.

But I ended up with a Voodoo 3 before the end of the decade.

 

[tjmonsen5]

I think it was a Geforce 2 MX? First 3D game i can remember really needing the card and upgrade to 64mb+ ram was GIANTS. Fun game!

 

[Mr Nightman]

EVGA 9800gt

First game was cod waw

 

[53oval]

I believe mine was a S3 trio 64+. I added a NEC Power VR and a Diamond 3DFX Voodoo card and used a little program to switch between them. That 3DFX card was my favorite card ever. It was like going from a 386 to a Pentium. I still have it in my computer part graveyard.

 

[Armenius]

EVGA 9800gt

First game was cod waw

Single-slot cooler and dual DVI? Sexy . NVIDIA needs to get a single-slot GTX 960 with 4x DisplayPort (or 3x DisplayPort + 1x HDMI 2.0). I could only imagine how popular that would be with the SFF crowd .

 

[Aaron_ATX]

We have these threads periodically, and I still cannot really recall...soooo many, cards over the years. Believe it was a Triton 128....pretty sure thats 128 meg as well. Woulda been right before the dual rage setup....
Sooo 1992ish? 1991? Ugh. That woulda been on my pentium 2. Dont remember what was in my 486sx13. I was 12 years old and stuff....

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

S3 Virge + Canopus Pure3D
Canopus Spectra + Canopus Pure3D II