Your Video Card Upgrade Ladder

SPARTAN VI

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jun 12, 2004
Messages
8,746
Know your roots!

S3 Virge > Voodoo > Voodoo2 > PNY Verto GeForce 2 MX400 > PNY Verto GeForce FX 5200> Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro > XFX 6600GT > Connect3D X800XL PCI-E > 3DFuzion SLI 7800GTs > BFG OC 7900GT > Sapphire X1900XT > XFX 8800GTS 640mb

Let me see yours. :)
 
Ati rage 2mb>Diamond 3d monsterII 8mb(voodoo2)>Gf2mx32mb>ti4200 64mb>Onboard nvidia 6150 till I got my x1800xt 512mb.
 
Onboard Cirrus Logic VESA w/512KB -> Diamond Viper V550 (16MB TNT2) -> ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 32MB -> eVGA GeForce 6800GS 256MB
 
ATi Rage 128 -> Geforce 2 MX 200 -> Geforce TI4600 -> Geforce 5200 Ultra -> ATi 9700 PRO -> Geforce 6600GT

The TI4600 died and I got a cheap 5200 to replace it, then, the 5200 really, REALLY sucked so I bought a 9700 PRO from a friend. I've had my 6600GT ever since the first S754 Athlon64's came out.
 
TNT2>Geforce2 MX220>Geforce 5600>Radeon 9800pro>Geforce 6800GT>Radeon X1800XT>Geforce 7900GTX
 
none>some onboard intel>some 8mb agp crap>xtasy geforce 2 mx/mx400 64mb>xfx geforce fx5200 256mb>bfg geforce fx5900xt oc 128mb>msi geforce 6600GT 128mb>bfg geforce 7900gt oc 256mb|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||??????????? :cool:
 
S3 Virge (4mb) ----->added voodoo 2 8mb ---> GF4 MMX 440 -----> 9800 pro -----> oving to 1950xtx as soon as i can get one.

EDIT: got one and love it.

 
Voodoo > Rage 128> Ti4600 > X700


:( I miss my Ti4600 that thing was a beast...ran all the new games for 3 years on high settings...Had to upgrade when HL2 came out though :p
 
oh god lets see

Ati Rage 8mb---> GF-2MX 100 PCI----> Kyro II----->8500LE----GF4 4200---->9500Pro---->9700Pro---->6800NU---->X800Pro Flash 16 pipes--->6800GT----->X1800XT----> Current card X800Pro PCI-E

EDIT Forgot my voodoo cards as well. had a voodoo Rush, then a voodoo banshee during my Diablo 2/UT addiction.
 
Trident 1 MB -> GeForce 2 MX 400 32 MB -> GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB
 
Math coprocessor :)D) -> SVGA Adapter -> ATI Rage Pro -> Voodoo 3 3000 -> Geforce 2 Pro 64 -> Radeon 8500 -> GeForce FX5200 -> Radeon 9550XT -> GeForce 6600GT AGP -> GeForce 7600GT AGP (Coming Soon!)
 
Here is my complete video card history. This is as close as I can remember anyway.

Diamond SpeedStar 24 Tseng Labs ET4000 ISA
ATI 512k VGA
Cirrus Logic CL-GD5420
Diamond SpeedStar 64 Cirrus Logic CL-GD5434 PCI
Diamond S3 Vision 964
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 S3-ViRGE PCI
Diamond Stealth 3D 3000 S3-ViRGE/DX PCI
Hercules 3DFX Voodoo Rush
NEC PowerVR
Diamond Monster 3D 3DFX Voodoo1 4MB PCI (combined with above)
Diamond Monster 3D II 3DFX Voodoo2 8MB PCI
Diamond Monster 3D II 3DFX Voodoo2 8MB PCI (combined with above)
Diamond Monster 3D II 3DFX Voodoo2 12MB PCI
Diamond Monster 3D II 3DFX Voodoo2 12MB PCI (combined with above)
Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro 3Dlabs Permedia2 AGP
Matrox G200 4MB AGP
Matrox G200 8MB AGP
3DFX Voodoo 3 2000 AGP
3DFX Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Diamond Viper V330 nVidia Riva 128 AGP
Diamond Viper V550 nVidia Riva TNT AGP
Diamond Viper V770 nVidia Riva TNT2 Ultra AGP
Herecules Geforce 2 GTS 64MB AGP
Geforce 2 MX (Unknown brand)
PNY Geforce 3 Ti500
PNY Geforce 4 Ti4600
PNY Geforce 4 Ti4600 (To replace the above that I smoked while overclocking)
ATI Radeon 9600Pro
ATI Radeon X800Pro
PNY Geforce 6800GT AGP
ATI Radeon 7000 PCI 32MB
ATI Radeon X700Pro PCI-Express
PNY Geforce 6600GT
BFG Geforce 6600GT
EVGA Geforce 6800GT PCI-Express
EVGA Geforce 6800GT PCI-Express
BFG Geforce 7800GTX PCI-Express
BFG Geforce 7800GTX PCI-Express
BFG Geforce 7900GTX PCI-Express
BFG Geforce 7900GTX PCI-Express (Combined with above in SLI)
Mad Dog Geforce FX 5200 Plus PCI 128MB (Sitting in a box)
ATI Radeon X1950XTX PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X1950XTX PCI-Express (combined with the above in Crossfire)
ATI Radeon X1950Pro PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X1950Pro PCI-Express (combined with above in Crossfire)
BFG Technologies 8600GTS (Separate systems, non-SLI)
BFG Technologies 8600GTS (Separate systems, non-SLI)
EVGA Geforce 8800GTX
EVGA Geforce 8800GTX
BFG Technologies 8800GTX (combined with the above cards in 3-Way SLI)
EVGA Geforce 9800GX2
EVGA Geforce 9800GX2 (combined with the above in Quad-SLI)
EVGA 8800GTS 320MB Superclocked (HTPC)
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossfireX
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossfireX (combined with the above in CrossfireX)
BFG Technologies Geforce GTX 280 OC
BFG Technologies Geforce GTX 280 OC
BFG Technologies Geforce GTX 280 OC (combined with the above cards in 3-Way SLI)
EVGA 8800GT 512MB Superclocked (HTPC)
XFX Geforce GTX 280 XXX Edition (Server/Spare rig)
Diamond Multimedia ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB
Galaxy GeForce GTX 580
Galaxy GeForce GTX 580 (combined with the above in SLI)

Total=63 cards
 
Last edited:
Onboard Intel>Generic 4MB card>Generic 8MB card>On board Crap>Radeon 7500>Ti4200>Radeon 9800>6800GS>(2) 7600GT's
 
Mx440 SE > Sapphire 9600 pro > x700 pro 256mb

All were ery faithful, but the 700 is starting to show its age in a bad way.
 
Dan_D said:
Here is my complete video card history. This is as close as I can remember anyway. I didn't list all the secondary video cards I've owned for other machines, but these are the cards that I've had in my main machines over the years.

ATi 512k VGA (I can remember no more details)
Cirrus Logic CL-GD5420
Diamond SpeedStar 24 Tseng Labs ET4000 ISA
Diamond SpeedStar 64 Cirrus Logic CL-GD5434 PCI
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 S3-ViRGE PCI
Diamond Monster 3D 3DFX Voodoo1 4MB PCI (combined with above)
Diamond Monster 3D II 3DFX Voodoo2 8MB PC (combined with above)I
Diamond Monster 3D II 3DFX Voodoo2 12MB PCI x2 (SLI) (combined with below)
Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro 3Dlabs Permedia2 AGP
Matrox G200 4MB AGP
Matrox G200 8MB APG
3DFX Voodoo 3 3000 AGP.
Diamond Viper V330 nVidia Riva 128 AGP
Diamond Viper V550 nVidia Riva TNT AGP
Diamond Viper V770 nVidia Riva TNT2 Ultra AGP
Herecules Geforce 2 GTS 64MB AGP
PNY Geforce 3 Ti500
PNY Geforce 4 Ti4600
PNY Geforce 4 Ti4600 (To replace the above that I smoked while overclocking)
ATi Radeon 9600Pro
ATi Radeon X800Pro
PNY Geforce 6800GT AGP
ATi Radeon 7000 PCI 32MB (Interim card while waiting out the 6800 PCI-E shortage)
ATi Radeon X700Pro PCI-Express (Interim card while waiting out the 6800 PCI-E shortage)
PNY Geforce 6600GT (Interim card while waiting out the 6800 PCI-E shortage)
BFG Geforce 6600GT (Interim card while waiting out the 6800 PCI-E shortage)
eVGA Geforce 6800GT PCI-Express x2 (SLI)
BFG Geforce 7800GTX PCI-Express x2 (SLI)
BFG Geforce 7900GTX PCI-Express x2 (SLI)
Mad Dog Geforce FX 5200 Plus PCI 128MB (Interim card while waiting for my X1950XTX)
ATi Radeon X1950XTX PCI-Express (Soon to be x2)

The interim cards that I used to wait out the 6800GT PCI-E shortage were all purchased from a retail store and returned within the 14 day return period, and exchanged for different cards. Eventually I kept the last 6600GT from BFG and installed it into my second PC, which would later be sold to me girlfriend that I had at the time.

Same, didn't want to list all the videocards I've come into contact with. Just those on my primary rig.
 
The worst part is that I have probably owned more motherboards than video cards.
 
Skipping old 2d cards, here is my own story :

Matrox Mystique
Matrox Millennium
Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro
Diamond Viper V770
Diamond Monster Fusion (not satisfied with V770 so exchanged for it).
3dfx Voodoo 3 3000
ATI Radeon 7500
GeForce 6800GT
GeForce 7900GS (a few days ago)

There is a big gap between the Voodoo 3 3000 and 6800GT where i didn't spend a single dime (Radeon 7500 was to remplace the V3 who got broken just before the end of the extended warranty from Future Shop).

On a side note, I'm surprised to see another one (Dan_D) owning a FireGL 1000 Pro... It is a beast for OpenGL games on the birth of the first OpenGL games like GLQuake.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
Same, didn't want to list all the videocards I've come into contact with. Just those on my primary rig.

Yeah I have had a bunch of Geforce MX series, several Ti4200 cards, lower end Radeon's, and a ton of others in secondary machines.
 
2MB onboard > 64MB GeForce2 MX 400 > 128MB ATI 9700 Pro > 256MB Nvidia 6800GT > 256MB eVGA 7800GTX > 256MB eVGA 7900GT > 512MB ATI X1900XT
 
Xilikon said:
Skipping old 2d cards, here is my own story :

Matrox Mystique
Matrox Millennium
Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro
Diamond Viper V770
Diamond Monster Fusion (not satisfied with V770 so exchanged for it).
3dfx Voodoo 3 3000
ATI Radeon 7500
GeForce 6800GT
GeForce 7900GS (a few days ago)

There is a big gap between the Voodoo 3 3000 and 6800GT where i didn't spend a single dime (Radeon 7500 was to remplace the V3 who got broken just before the end of the extended warranty from Future Shop).

Well on my list there are only 4 video cards that weren't 3D capable.

Additionally, I had a gap around the Ti4600 where I quit upgrading. I also had that 9600Pro a long time. It was bought to replace my second Ti4600 that I killed. I wanted a 9800Pro, but money was tight back then. My rig was pretty stagnant then. My 2.0A Pentium 4 Northwood stayed around until the 2.4C Pentium 4's came out.
 
hmm, I"m reaching way back here.

PCjr built in CGA compatible display adapter.
new computer got me a Trident TVGA9000 with 512k VRAM
kept that for a couple years, then got a Trident TVGA8900 1mb VRAM in a computer upgraded/replacement.
New computer in 1999 got me a S3 Savage4 GT(?) with 32MB SDRAM which lasted me a few years.

Then bought a new computer which had integrated graphics on the i845GE chpset.
Upgrade got me a Xpress 200 video chip from ATI with 32mb hypermemory.

Now I've got a ATI X1900XT 512
 
Trident 2meg > AiW Rage Pro 8meg > AIW Radeon (now called the 7200) > Radeon 9500 Pro > Radeon 9800 Pro > GeForce 6800GT
 
Hmm...could be difficult to remember here, bear with me here as some of these might be out of chronological order as I can't summon the energy to figure out what came first.

Onboard something or other with 300mhz IBM aptiva
ATI Rage 4mb
3d Labs Wildcat 16mb (for a time it was a CAD computer)
Vodoo 3
TNT Riva 32mb
Geforce 2 Mx400 64mb
Geforce 2 Ti (after the mx400 got smoked)
Geforce 3 Ti200
Geforce 4 Ti4400
fx5200 (sold Ti4400 for car money)
Radeon 9800
AIW Radeon x800xt
X850xt

Yea yea...i'm still on agp. I'll switch when the x850xt can't run games at acceptable settings for me anymore.

edit...so I caved...picked up one of the 7900 gtos
 
GeForce2 GTS > Radeon 9500 Pro > Radeon X850 Pro agp flashed to X850XT PE
 
Dan_D said:
Well on my list there are only 4 video cards that weren't 3D capable.

Additionally, I had a gap around the Ti4600 where I quit upgrading. I also had that 9600Pro a long time. It was bought to replace my second Ti4600 that I killed. I wanted a 9800Pro, but money was tight back then. My rig was pretty stagnant then. My 2.0A Pentium 4 Northwood stayed around until the 2.4C Pentium 4's came out.

And I see that you're still an Intel head. What's there that keeps you coming back?

My first serious gaming rig had an Intel 3.0E Prescott. Hot as hell, not sexy, just hot as hell! It was a tough little guy, but I've been with AMD ever since.
 
ATI VGA Wonder
ATI Rage Pro
Diamond Monster 3d Vodoo 2
Another Voodoo 2 (SLI was awesome... wish I could afford it now...)
3dfx Voodoo 3 2000
ATI Radeon 7200 (Got rid of this quick)
ATI Radeon 7500 (This too)
3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 (And it still has a shrine in my computer room)
ATI Radeon 8500LE (Which burned up)
ATI Radeon 8500
GeForce 4200Ti
Another ATI Radeon 8500 (I needed TV out)
ATI Radeon 9600XT (It even came with a HL2 coupon that only took a year to redeem)
XFX Geforce 6800GT (PCI-E)
ATI Radeon X1800XT

I'm pretty sure I missed some in there somewhere, but that's close enough. As most have stated, this is only from the primary rig.
 
Geforce TNT2 M64 > swapped out for the 9000, somewhere in storage
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro > swapped out for AIW 9600, then gave to friend as upgrade
ATI AIW 9600 > returned for the 9800
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 > swapped out for the X850, somewhere in storage
ATI Radeon X850 XT > old rig
eVGA 7800 GTX w/ ACS3 > new rig
 
SPARTAN VI said:
And I see that you're still an Intel head. What's there that keeps you coming back?

My first serious gaming rig had an Intel 3.0E Prescott. Hot as hell, not sexy, just hot as hell! It was a tough little guy, but I've been with AMD ever since.

Actually, in the early days I was for Intel 486's, I just couldn't afford them. So it was Cyrix and AMD for me.

Then the Pentium's came out and I couldn't afford those either. So it was the Cyrix 6x86 chips for me once those became available. Of course they sucked for gaming, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't afford Intel just yet. Then after awhile I got to where I could, and the lack of performance in games was pissing me off. So I switched to the Pentium MMX 233. Then somewhere around there I built my mighty dual Pentium Pro 200MHz system. Then later I would go with the Pentium II 266MHz, and then the 300MHz, 350MHz, 400MHz, and then the Celeron 300A, dual Celery 366's on my BP6, and then later dual 533's and then I finally got a Coppermine Pentium III 800.

I kept with Intel because my experiences during the Pentium, Pentium II, and III days with AMD and Cyrix were so bad that I couldn't stand it anymore. Then around the time of the Pentium 4's lackluster release I gave AMD another try.

I thought I had been burned before, I had no idea what I was in for. The KT7A-RAID Thunderbird system I owned was the biggest pile of shit imaginable. I went through 3 motherboards and it wouldn't stay stable. Then I finally got an ASUS A7V-133A and my problems went away. Then I upgraded to the 1.2GHz T-Bird which was DOA, so I returned it, and then finaly I got a 1.33GHz T-Bird and kept that for awhile.

The Pentium 4's performance was so bad I went with AMD, but my AMD experiences were so bad that I didn't think I'd ever switch again. So I finally went Intel through the socket 478 days with a 2.0A Northwood and then had a 2.4C, 3.06GHz, 3.0C and finally a 3.0E on up through my LGA775 Pentium 4 550 [email protected].

Problem was the performance of the AMD Athlon 64 was so far ahead of the Intel's that I made the switch again. Even at 3.95GHz my machine couldn't match medium end AMD 64 rigs in games. So I snatched up the AMD Athlon 64 3800+ (Not X2) and never looked back. Right now I am running a dual Opteron 254 rig, and it kicks ass and has been very stable, but now the gaming performance and overclockability of the Core 2 Duo has me enticed to go Intel again.

The main reason why I have usually stuck with Intel is because their processors and chipsets are some of the best quality in the world. I've had the most stable, problem free machines based on Intel processors and chipsets. I've had the least amount of driver and application compatibility issues out of the Intel platform and basically I have stuck with it for the most part.

When AMD had the severe performance edge, I went with them and these last couple of machines have been fantastic. I've had a couple minor issues here and there, but nothing major and nothing involving stability problems.

So now I am in the process of building my Core 2 Duo machine.
 
i dont know the past video card i got, but right now i sell my 6800U pcie for 7600gt pcie
 
VGA
TNT
Rage Pro 16mb (laptop)
Geforce 256 DDR
Geforce 4 ti4200
9800pro
X1800XL
X1900XT
 
Geez memory tester here
Trident 1mb pci
ATI 4mb something or other pci
Voodoo 3 2000 pci or agp I cannot remember
GeForce 2 MX agp
GeForce 4 Ti 4200
*Radeon 9600XT* RMA'd after a week
GeForce 7600 GT
 
Bowhuntr11 said:
Voodoo > Rage 128> Ti4600 > X700


:( I miss my Ti4600 that thing was a beast...ran all the new games for 3 years on high settings...Had to upgrade when HL2 came out though :p

Yes it did. That card has some of the longest staying power of any card/video chipset I have ever seen.
 
You guys have good memory. I can't even think of what sat in my PC before the Matrox card. Something obviously did as I've been using PCs since their inception. I remember paying for an EVGA (not the same as the company today) card for my Packard Bell so I could play Kings Quest with EVGA resolution.

Matrox Millennium <- the press would gush over this card for unknown reasons
Voodoo <- 3D add-on card. You had to have another main card.
Voodoo 2
Voodoo 2 SLI <- holy crap that was expensive
... something here I forget ...
Geforce 3
Geforce 5900 Ultra
Geforce 7300 LE <- this card is unbelievably slow but do I upgrade now or wait for DX10?
 
Owned on my primary rigs...

Trident 9750 I think
Voodoo Banshee
Voodoo 3
Radeon 64meg vivo
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9700pro->9800pro through RMA
Geforce 6600
Radeon x850xt

Next I probably pickup 1900xt or the R600
 
Onboard Video
Diamond Inteli 740
3DFX Voodoo 1
Diamond TNT
Diamond TNT2 Ultra
Elsa Geforce
Elsa Geforce 2 GTS
MSI Geforce 4 Ti4600
ATI Radeon 9800pro
EVGA Geforce 6800Ultra
EVGA Geforce 7800gtx
BFG Geforce 7800gtx OC
BFG Geforce 7800gtx 512 OC SLI
BFG Geforce 7800gtx 512 OC SLI
EVGA Geforce 7950GX2
 
ATI AIW Rage Pro > ATI Radeon 7000 > ATI Radeon 9600XT > eVGA 6800 > eVGA 7800GS CO SuperClocked
 
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