Your Video Card Upgrade Ladder

Matrox Millenium MGA 4MB
Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro 8MB (Permedia 2 GPU)
Diamond Monster 3D II 12MB (Voodoo 2 GPU)
Diamond Viper V770 Ultra 32MB (TNT2 Ultra GPU)
ATI All-In Wonder Radeon 32MB
ATI Radeon 8500 64MB
ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro 128MB
Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB
XFX GeForce 6800GT AGP 256MB

I've got quite a few other video cards lying around the house (mostly ATi cards, but also a Matrox m3D as well), but that pretty much how my upgrades went. No PCI-E cards, though :(
 
32MB ATI Rage 128 (2001-2006) on an old P3
128MB Geforce 6200 (2006 - Present)
512MB Geforce 7900GTO (Just got it)

Pretty significant upgrades :D
 
riva-tnt 8mb card w/voodoo 2 add on card
riva-tnt2 16mb card
9500 pro
6600gt
6600 gt pci-e
6800 xt sli
1800xt
 
ATI Rage
Diamond Monster 3D2
Diamond Monster 3D2x2
Geforce Ti4400
*Then the computer died due to shit PSU and thunder storm.
Geforce FX5200
Geforce 7600GS This friday.
 
Integrated Graphics
Diamond 3D2
Ati 7500
Nvidia ti4600
SLI 6800ultra
7900GS
G80gts, or the second gen of the g80 if it comes out to counter r600 in new year (by which time it will hopefully be a smaller cooler chip)
f
 
Nvidia TNT Pro2
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
ATI Radeon 9800XT
BFG 6600GT
BFG 6800NU
Sapphire X800GTO²
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon X850XTPE
XFX 7900GT
2xeVGA 7900GTO
 
Few Old Integrated Graphics ----> Riva TNT ----> Geforce Ti500 ----> Radeon 9800 pro ---> Geforce 6800 ------>>> Who knows
 
prolly not whole'ly anatomically correct ..but something like:

Matrox 8meg agp
ATi Rage 128 16meg agp
ATi Radeon 32meg something agp
nVidia GeForce Ultra
nVidia Ti 200 64meg
ATi Radeon 8500 64meg
nvidia Ti 4400 128meg
ATi 9700pro
nVidia 6800 Ultra
7800GTX
7800GTX SLi'd
7900GTX
X1900XT
... maybe X1900XT CrossFire next because I've never played with a CrossFire setup before .. :confused:

 
Bo_Fox said:
2 MB Video-VRAM (ATI), Matrox 4MB WRAM then expanded to a whopping 8 MB VRAM!!! All back then during the end of 1995... ahh.. the golden days during Doom ][, Rise of the Triad, and then Duke Nukem 3D demo in January 1996. Ahhhh.. it was the old days... when I was 16 years old.

Since there was no need for a 3-D accelerator with Quake1, which was software rendered anyway, I waited all the way until 1998 before getting a new computer. It was fun watching Quake 2 run like a slide-show at 1/2 frames per second at 1280x1024 in 1997!

With the new computer, it came with a 8MB Intel something AGP graphics card. Ran Quake 2 at nice frame rates (40-60fps at 1024x768). Didn't want Voodoo2 or Banshee because of complications. Went ahead and got ATI Rage 128 (Pro?) when it was released.. ran 32-bit color very well, better than TNT. Got another PentiumPRO 200 MHz computer with 16MB Riva TNT ($7000 PC during mid 1996 with 128 MB EDO-DRAM!)... But I quickly returned the Rage 128 when Voodoo3 3000 was first released at CompUSA in early 1999. Loved it!!! Upgraded to Voodoo3 3500 with TV tuner in 2000 and loved it! Perfect for the best online fps game of the decade--Unreal Tournament in Glide!!! It also played UltraHLE (Nintendo64 emulated games) beautifully!

Finally upgraded to Voodoo5 during mid 2001 (Twice as fast as Voodoo3) Then got GeForce4 Ti4200 in early 2002 when first released. (4x as fast as Voodoo5). I always had 2 computers so I always had the previous card along with the new one.

The next upgrade didnt come until 2 years later which was early 2004 with the Radeon 9800 PRO! I was waiting for the king Radeon 9800 to come down in price. People were so stupid with buying the GeForceFX series because it did DirectX9 only half-way right (and much slower that it had to revert to DirectX8 in games), when the 9700/9800 series already had full DirectX 9.0 support. The only thing that the FX series was better at was high quality AF (just like with ATI's recent X1xxx series), but that was only at 8X, and with more penalty than ATI's. It also was so noisy compared to the 9800.

Anyway, when I just got the 9800Pro, the X800 and 6800 series were announced right afterwards! That pissed me off, man! Because of that custom-fitted CPU heatsink on the oc'ed 9800 and the fastest Athlon XP-M, I had almost the fastest computer in the world for only a couple months.... argh! $500 sucker for the X800 XT---didn't believe in giving ATI or Nvidia $500 yet!

So I waited until the X800 XT All-In-Wonder dropped below the $350 price mark. It was one year ago. Then got a 6800 Ultra AGP for the second computer, by Leadtek with 3-way surround air cooling heatsink setup. I started hating AthlonXP's when Athlon64's kicked major butt, so ditched the motherboards and upgraded to PCI-Express. That was about 6 months ago.

So I got a new PCI-E 6800 Ultra from a Gateway computer that had silent 4-heatpipe heatsink on it! It was so fly! Overclocked to Ultra-Extreme speeds at only 55 degrees load. Also got a X1900XTX for the other computer so I could play at 1920x1200 with all games on my new 24" Dell 2405FPW. This beauty is the beast!

Now, a few weeks ago I just got a 7900GT with 512 MB of memory to replace the 6800Ultra on my "red" computer. A Zalman CPU flower heatsink ( CNPS6500-Cu ) was slapped onto the 7900GT so that I could overclock it to 7900GTX speeds at DEFAULT voltage!!! So, it's running at 650/1600 at only 65 degrees load. BEAUTIFUL!!!


Hey, before you complain.. I had much more fun typing the memories down and talking about it than just listing the video cards used. Just making a list is a lot less "moving", personally IMHO..
Click to expand...

Come on, guys...

It'd be fun typing up a nostalgic post like mine quoted above.
 
S3 Virge 4MB; Voodoo 3 PCI 16MB, original Radeon DDR 64MB AGP, Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB AGP, ATI x850XT Radeon 256MB AGP
 
Diamon Viper TNT2 16MB -> Asus Geforce 2 MX200 64MB Ram -> FX5900XT (died) -> Sapphire 9800pro 128MB (died) -> Another 9800pro (DOA) -> Leadtek 6800GT 256MB (died) -> Asus 6800GT 256MB (I broke...:( ) -> eVGA 6800NU 128MB -> MSI X1900XTX 512MB

yeah, alot of dead cards, I don't OC as much as I used to now.. :rolleyes:
 
integrated ---> eVGA Geforce 6200 AGP8X ---> eVGA Geforce 7900GT CO

plan to get an eVGA 8800GTX when it comes out :D
 
skeeder said:
Diamon Viper TNT2 16MB -> Asus Geforce 2 MX200 64MB Ram -> FX5900XT (died) -> Sapphire 9800pro 128MB (died) -> Another 9800pro (DOA) -> Leadtek 6800GT 256MB (died) -> Asus 6800GT 256MB (I broke...:( ) -> eVGA 6800NU 128MB -> MSI X1900XTX 512MB

yeah, alot of dead cards, I don't OC as much as I used to now.. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Yeah OCing is against my religion.
 
S3 2d (integrated) > ATI Rage 4mb > TNT2 Ultra > GeForce2 MX > Radeon 8500 > Radeon 9700NP > GeForce 6800GT
 
A bit more ancient than others, but here goes:

Integrated color graphics chip for Apple //c
Integrated CGA color graphics chip for PC-clone (XT)
16 bit Oak Technologies ISA VGA graphics, 256 K memory (286)
Diamond Speedstar Pro, VESA Local Bus, 1 MB memory (486)
ATi Graphics Pro Turbo, PCI Local Bus, 2 MB VRAM memory (Pentium)
STB Velocity 3D, PCI Local Bus (S3 Virge VX, 4 MB EDO VRAM, 4 MB EDO DRAM) (Pentium)
Matrox Millenium II, PCI, 8 MB WRAM (Pentium Pro)
Matrox G200, AGP 2X (AMD K6 3D)
ATi Rage Fury, 32 MB SGRAM, AGP 2X (Pentium III)
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS, 32 MB DDR, AGP 4X (Athlon 650 MHz)
NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200, 64 MB DDR, AGP 4X (Athlon 1200 MHz)
ATi Radeon 9700 Pro, AGP 8X (Athlon XP 1700+)
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro, AGP 8X (Athlon XP 2500+)
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 (NU), AGP 8X (Athlon 64 3000+)

That's where I currently am at this time. Next up is where I'll go with PCI-e, and an AMD K8L or Intel Core2 Duo. Whoever offers the better bang / buck.
 
ati mach 64 something or other -> ati rage 2c 4mb -> ati rage pro turbo 8mb (hated that thing) -> voodoo 3 2000 PCI 16mb -> ati radeon 9000 pro 64mb -> evga 7900 GT CO 256mb -> 2x 7900 GTO 512mb SLI

not very exciting. i have a habit of stretching the cards as long as i possibly can. only reason i got the GTO's was because they were a great price and i was able to sell my 7900 GT for near the same price so the first one was virtually free. see if i cant get 4-5 years out of these babies;)

for you boys allergic to OC'ing, give it a shot when you want to get a new one in the near future anyways. that V3 2000 i had....clocked it up to the 3500 model and managed to keep fairly playable framerates on newer games. *it got me an extra 8 months - 1 year out of the card* if it dided, who cares? i wanted a new one anyways. however....i ended up getting something better. i got the radeon 9000 pro shortly after release. great card for the time! unfortunately didn't overclock very well...

the 8mb rage pro was god awful...it actually caused windows to crash on startup sometimes. in quake 2 you'd be lucky to get 20-25 fps. remember in quake 2 when you see blood in software you'd get big red squares? 3d would be fading circles? well this card couldn't quite do circles and fading was well beyond its capability. so i'd get crappy +'s that caused monsterous lag up close. all it was doing was taking that software square and cutting the corners off!

the rage 2c was funny....half-assed 3d for sure. i don't think it even had an OpenGL driver haha.
 
THRESHIN said:
for you boys allergic to OC'ing, give it a shot when you want to get a new one in the near future anyways. .
Click to expand...

True and I might to experiment after I buy a new one, but to be honest I don't want to do it because its 100% not necessary with my system. It would only increase synthetic bench marks (which are a waste of time) and give me some e-penis flogging rights (which I just don't want any part of) my games play well enough I don't need these things occuping my time.
 
Um.. personally it went something like this:

Something Onboard > ATI 9800 256mb > ATI Onboard 32mb Mac > Nvidia 6800XT > Nvidia 7900GT and 256mb (128 shared) ATI Radeon Xpress 200M (lappy)
 
geforce 2, geforce 3 ti500, geforce 4 ti4600,ati radeon 8500dv all in wonder, geforce 6800gt, geforce 7800gt, geforce 7900gto......
 
Whatever the onboard standard was for 1999 > GeForce FX5200 > GeForce 6800 > 2x GeForce 7600GT's in SLi
 
ATI Xpert@work 8MB AGP->
ATI Rage Fury 32MB AGP ->
ATI Radeon 7000 32MB AGP -> (Replaced for a Powercooler 7000 because I needed a TV out)
Power Cooler ATI Radeon 7000 32MB AGP -> (See above for reason)
ATI Radeon AIW 8500 128MB AGP -> (Holding onto in case I need a spare card for AGP, and as a test card)
ATI Radeon AIW 9600 128MB AGP -> (In use on my 3rd machine)
EVGA Nvidia 6800 128MB AGP -> (Ditched the AIW and bought a stand alone tuner, in use on my second rig)
MSI NVIDIA 6200 64MB? PCI-Express -> (Interim to hold me over because of a bad card. Still have for use as a test card)
EVGA NVIDIA 7900GT KO 256MB PCI-Express ->


ATI Mobilty 200 on work laptop -> (Onboard obviously)
 
i started late in the game

ATI 7200 > ATI 9700 > ATI AIW9800 > ATI X800gto > the future

hope noone thinks im an ATI !!!!!!, but i sure like my ati cards.
 
Lots of early integrated 2d video cards.

Then a VLB monstrosity from Diamond or somebody, I think it was an S3 virge.

Then a few PCI S3 cards, one of which eventually got mated to a 3dfx Voodoo

In between the Voodoo & Voodoo2 I had two different Voodoo Rush cards, the Hercules one that was an Alliance? or something 2d card with a Voodoo daughterboard taking a piggyback ride. I can't remember the brand of the other Rush, but it was all integrated into one PCB at least.

Then some kind of crappy Intel AGP card. e810 or something like that. It came out around the same time as the Viper V330, which I promptly used to replace the crappy Intel card. I would have forgotten all about both of those cards if Dan_D hadn't mentioned the V330.

Then the Voodoo2, because the V330 kinda sucked too.

Next a STB Velocity TNT or something like that. 1024x768 Quake...2? Quake? Heck I can't even remember what game I played, I was just happy to not have to run at 800x600 anymore, and it had better 2d performance than the V330.

Then a Viper V770 TNT2.

I actually used that second Voodoo Rush I had for my very first dual monitor setup somewhere in there, running in Win98!! alongside either the STB TNT card or the V770 I replaced it with. That only lasted a couple of days, it was so unusable and unstable.

I had a few different Matrox cards. A G200 and a G450 for sure.

I had a Voodoo3 2000.

I had a Creative GeForce.

Then I had a Creative GeForce2.

Then I had an ABIT GeForce3 Ti200? 300?

Then an ATI AIW Radeon 9700

Then an ATI AIW Radeon 9800 Pro

I think that's all of them.

Now are finally PC games I want to play again, so I'm going to upgrade to a C2D with 2 Gigs of RAM and a X1950PRO. Or two.

$900-1100 to play NWN2. Yeah, I'm a winner.

[edit] Update - Somewhere in there (I think just after the Voodoo Rush) I had a Sierra SCREAMIN!3D Rendition V1000. I want to say I bought a V2200, too, but I can't remember for sure. [/edit]
 
ATI Mach64 1MB>Rendition 2MB>S3 ViRGE 4MB>Diamond Monster 3D 4MB>TNT 16MB>TNT2 32MB AGP>Monster 3D 2 8MB>Voodoo 3 3000 AGP>Hercules 3D Prophet Geforce 256 32MB DDR AGP>Hercules Geforce2MX 32MB AGP>Gainward Ti450 Golden Sample GF2 64MB AGP>Radeon 9200 128MB AGP>Radeon 9600XT AGP>Sapphire Radeon x800XTPE 256MB AGP>Dual Sapphire x1950pro 25MB PCI-e in Crossfire....WHEW! :D
 
ati rage pro 8mb > tnt2 ultra > gf 2fx > ti4600 > 6800gt > 7800gs (free rma) > 7900gto
 
Voodoo3 3000 PCI> Voodoo3 3000 AGP> Leadtek Geforce2 GTS 32 MB> Leadtek Geforce3 Ti 500> Geforce FX 5200 AGP(what a crap ass card and explains next purchase)> Leadtek Geforce4 Ti 4200 128 MB> BFG 6600GT OC AGP> eVGA 7800GT CO PCI-E now looking at either a eVGA 7950GT and step up to an 8800 or just waiting for the 8800s to come down a bit.
 
geforce 2> ati radeon 9600 pro> geforce 6600 gt >geforce 7800gt >when geforce 8800 comes out i'll buy it propaply will get the GT version
 
Today, Dual 7900GTX SLI ---> Dual 8800GTX SLI














...
Just kidding! LOL..

8800GTX ---> Radeon X2800XTX ---> GeForce 9900GXTX ---> Nvidia GorePower Ultra (GPU) ---> Nvidia GorePower 2 Ultra
 
as if people actualy read this stuff....

3Dfx Voodoo2 x2 > 3Dfx Voodoo 3 3000 > ATi Rage 128 PRO AiW > ATi Rage 128 PRO Ultra 32 > Every Brand of Radeon 7000 you can think of! > HiS & ATi Radeon 7500 > FiC Radeon 9000 PRO > Crucial & Sapphire Radeon 9100 > Gigabyte Radeon 9200 ViVo Edition > PowerColor, Diamond & Sapphire Radeon 9250 > Sapphire Radeon 9600 XT > Crucial Radeon 9700 PRO > ATi, Sapphire & PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO > MSI Radeon 9800 XT > Sapphire X800XL Ultimate Edition > HiS & MSI X1600XT iTurbo > ATi X1800XL AiW (Never owned a 9500 series! Also, never used but did own an 8500 once!)

I've also owned several NVIDIA cards inbetween such as the TNT2, Geforce 2MX, Geforce 4 Ti 4200, Geforce FX 5200, Geforce FX 5500, Geforce 6800NU, Geforce 7600GS, Geforce 7600 GT KO, Geforce 7900GS Most of the NVIDIA stuff that I've owned have been either MSI and eVGA with an occassional Biostar and Albatron thrown in.

My current is the onboard Geforce 6100 via my MSI K8NGM-V mATX mobo ;)

BRAND OF CHOICE = MSI :p
 
Cirrus Logic ....
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 S3-ViRGE PCI
Matrox G200 4MB AGP
Canopus Spectra 2500 (16 MB) AGP (Loved this card)
Hercules 3D Prophet II Pro 64MB AGP
MSI Geforce 3 Ti200
MSI Geforce 4 Ti4200
Sapphire ATi Radeon 9500 Pro (Flashed to 9700Pro - Still in my Shuttle)
ATi Radeon 9600Pro
BFG Geforce 6800GT AGP
Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 PCI-Express
eVGA Geforce 7900GT OC PCI-Express
eVGA Geforce 7900GTO PCI-Express x2 (SLI)
eVGA Geforce 7900GTO PCI-Express (sold the other to my brother)

 
lovely onboard ----> more lovely onboard -----> 9800pro -----> 6800GT(Spare FX5900XT(spare rig)) ------>6600GTx2 ------>6600GT ------>7900GT

Special suffixs arent needed
 
onboard>onboardagain>6800go>7800(free and sold)>7900gt>7950GT(free)>WILL be 8800gtx
 
Hey guys,

(I dont think it would be too off-topic here.. Kyle?)

What do you think would be the best number/name for the upcoming R600?

Radeon X2800XTX is a practical guess, and it certainly sounds very good, indeed.

Any other ideas?
 
All you newschoolers... I start BEFORE 3d acceleration.

Diamond Stealth 2000 Pro 4MB S3 Virge > Matrox Millennia 8MB> Diamond Monster 3D (first 3d accelerator) > Riva TNT > Diamond Viper V770 Riva TNT2 Ultra > Geforce2 GTS > Geforce4 Ti4600 > Geforce 6800GT > :confused: undecided.
 
Some card made by Diamond w/1MB vram and upgradable to 2MB (ISA)
ATI All in Wonder 128 (PCI) + Voodoo2 (PCI)
Geforce 2MX 400 64MB (AGP 4x) <~~ Didn't know much about cards then, thought I had found a great deal, then later learned the MX cards are garbage
Geforce 4 Ti4400 (AGP 4x)
9800Pro (AGP 8x)
x800xl (PCIe)
7600GT (PCIe)
x1900XTX (PCIe)
 
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