Discussion First Nvidia / ATI card you've used?

[jnjnilson6]

What was the first GPU you've used? Were you satisfied with the performance? What did you mostly do with it?

In my case that would be the GeForce2 MX 400 w/ 64 MB memory.

If you could go back in time and had the ability to choose another GPU as your very first one - would you?

The intermittently lingering colors and depthless skies and verges of pale framerates and dragging scenery in shadows and brilliant tinges and leaves and grasses tinged serenely, ubiquitously - that's what the cool games provided and what the GeForce2 could provide for me. It was quite beautiful. That card marked a revolution in gaming and graphics, despite being trashed by cards coming out only a few years later.

Do write up and thank you!

 

[Order 66]

My first GPU was intel integrated graphics back in 2017. My system then was a laptop with a celeron n3350. I was not at all satisfied with its performance. I attempted to game on it. I would absolutely go back and change my first GPU, but to do that, I would need an entirely new system, that would probably consist of an i7 7700k, a gtx 1080ti and 16GB of DDR4.

 

[Imperat0r]

Hello.
In my case, my 1st computer was a Compaq 386DX 40.
I don't remember the card that came in it, but after a few days i swapped the video card with an Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 on ISA slot. That was ofc not ATI nor Nvidia but that was a very good card back then.

 

[jnjnilson6]

My first GPU was intel integrated graphics back in 2017. My system then was a laptop with a celeron n3350. I was not at all satisfied with its performance. I attempted to game on it. I would absolutely go back and change my first GPU, but to do that, I would need an entirely new system, that would probably consist of an i7 7700k, a gtx 1080ti and 16GB of DDR4.

Oh yes; the system mentioned by the end would truly be powerful even today. I'd had (around 2012) a system with Celeron G530 which had 2 cores at 2.4 GHz (same specs as the N3350; only it was Sandy Bridge - 2nd gen). Its Integrated Graphics (Intel HD 2000) were abominable. Crysis was a slideshow; Counter-Strike 1.6 lagged with many people in the server; which is unbelievable, yet true. When I got me the Radeon HD 6770 things changed more than drastically and when I updated to a Core i7-3770K it was definitely another story. Then I got one HD 7870 GHz and after that another and put them in CrossFire. Many games didn't run as smoothly as one'd anticipated in CrossFire, but there are those which ran exceptionally smoothly like Battlefield 3 and 4 (there the performance increase in CF was exactly 100% - which is incredible).

 

[stonecarver]

ATI Rage something but the one that I remember was a ATI 9200.

Nvidia GeForce 2 than a GeForce 4

The first modern one back than a 5700 Ultra.

I still have the ATI 9200 and the Nvidia 5700 Ultra.

The CPU's I had if I recall back than at that time were AMD XP 3200
Or Intel P-4 2.53 Ghz.

 

[jnjnilson6]

ATI Rage something but the one that I remember was a ATI 9200.

Nvidia GeForce 2 than a GeForce 4

The first modern one back than a 5700 Ultra.

I still have the ATI 9200 and the Nvidia 5700 Ultra.

The CPU's I had if I recall back than at that time were AMD XP 3200
Or Intel P-4 2.53 Ghz.

Had a machine (HP Compaq nx7000) with the Mobility Radeon 9200, a Pentium M @ 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM and a 60 GB Hard Drive. The resolution was something like 1680 x 1050 and it ran Windows XP Professional. Back in 2003 that was the highest-end thing you could get in the mobile sector. The JBL sound was incredible. A system for media and entertainment like no other. Everything ran on it and ran very well; too bad it appeared in a period past which specifications blew upwardly only in the matter of a few years.

 

[John Chesterfield]

First 3D GPU was a Voodoo 2.

 

[Wolfshadw]

First card purchased was an S3 Virge for my AST 486 DX2-50.
First ATI Card was a Radeon 9200 for my custom built PIII-800 w/256MB RAM.
First NVidia Card was a 8800GTS-640.

-Wolf sends

 

[jnjnilson6]

First 3D GPU was a Voodoo 2.

Which OS did you run?

I ran Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 Pro and RedHat Linux 7.3 simultaneously on the GeForce2 MX 400 (64 MB memory) system. It had a Celeron 1.3 GHz Tualatin; 256 MB RAM and a 40 GB HDD. The Celeron could overclock up to 1.5 GHz which seems amazing. The system was acquired in 2001. It was like getting a Core i7-14700, 32 GB RAM and a RTX 4070/4080 today. It was a great gaming system. Too bad that only a few years later there was a boom in the hardware sector and specifications shot up rapidly bringing my system to the edge of obsolescence.

 

[jnjnilson6]

First card purchased was an S3 Virge for my AST 486 DX2-50.
First ATI Card was a Radeon 9200 for my custom built PIII-800 w/256MB RAM.
First NVidia Card was a 8800GTS-640.

-Wolf sends

How was the 8800GTS-640? Those cards were one of the first cards which could tackle games like Crysis seriously; appearing like a blooming sunray over hardware's garden.

 

[jordanbuilds1]

What was the first GPU you've used? Were you satisfied with the performance? What did you mostly do with it?

In my case that would be the GeForce2 MX 400 w/ 64 MB memory.

If you could go back in time and had the ability to choose another GPU as your very first one - would you?

The intermittently lingering colors and depthless skies and verges of pale framerates and dragging scenery in shadows and brilliant tinges and leaves and grasses tinged serenely, ubiquitously - that's what the cool games provided and what the GeForce2 could provide for me. It was quite beautiful. That card marked a revolution in gaming and graphics, despite being trashed by cards coming out only a few years later.

Do write up and thank you!

wasnt mine but my grandmas (+its a laptop gpu), rtx 3060m and it was a wonder for editing paired with an i9 11900h. if i had to chose, i wish it was the 3080 variant of the laptop (rog strix).
(edit: before that i was just using prebuilts)

 

[Unolocogringo]

My first video card was a Cirrus Logic S3 Virge 4mb. 2 mb soldered and a 2mb socket-ed upgrade.
It was purchased for CAD drawings.
My first 3D card was a Creative 3D Blaster Banshee 16mb (3Dfx).
Then a Nvidia TNT for non glide games and to build another computer.
Then a Nvidia 256.
Had an ATI rage 128 and later a 4750, but we never got along very well with stability so I went back to Nvidia.

 

[John Chesterfield]

Which OS did you run?

I ran Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 Pro and RedHat Linux 7.3 simultaneously on the GeForce2 MX 400 (64 MB memory) system. It had a Celeron 1.3 GHz Tualatin; 256 MB RAM and a 40 GB HDD. The Celeron could overclock up to 1.5 GHz which seems amazing. The system was acquired in 2001. It was like getting a Core i7-14700, 32 GB RAM and a RTX 4070/4080 today. It was a great gaming system. Too bad that only a few years later there was a boom in the hardware sector and specifications shot up rapidly bringing my system to the edge of obsolescence.

W98 SE with that card. I did eventually go to W2000 Pro (just the best OS ever), but at that time I'd also upgraded graphics to a 32mb GeForce 2 GTS.

 

[jnjnilson6]

W98 SE with that card. I did eventually go to W2000 Pro (just the best OS ever), but at that time I'd also upgraded graphics to a 32mb GeForce 2 GTS.

Yeah... It was rock solid and hard and good - Windows 2000. However, Windows XP seemed based upon its theme to communicate a newer and more refreshing world. Windows Vista and 7 were beautiful. Windows 8, 10 and 11 lost a part of that beauty it seems forever.

 

[iTRiP]

I think one of the first GPU's I ever bought was a Nvidia Riva TNT2 32MB/64MB, funny thing with that pc I remember is that the pc it self also only had 32MB/64 RAM... kind of an odd ball pc if I recall correctly, going by what they always said everywhere that your pc's ram ought to be at least four times that of what your GPU has.

But it worked none the less and games at that time where great.

There where also All kinds of apps that you could utilize to increase your GPU ram, by simple using your system ram to add onto that and make games compatible that way, say they did not want to launch if your current setup wasn't having enough v-ram, Cant now recall everything anymore, but that was one of those things that got one playing without having the required v-ram.

Just a few years after they invented the apps that got pc users to measure their FPS whilst playing pc games, And one of the fun and cool things in those days where that you could simply lower your resolution of said game and you would find playable fps, funny how that exact thing has totally disappeared from modern gaming!

 

[artk2219]

First card i used?

Probably some Paradise or Trident vga card with the Acer Acros Pentium 75 PC my family purchased in 1994.

First 3D accelerated card i used?
Rendition Verite

First pretty decent 3D card?
TNT2 M64

First card i ever purchased with my own money?
Asus v7100 Pro which used a Geforce 2 MX400 64MB, I got it open box from Newegg for a whopping $60 dollars at the time.

I still own this card and use it in my DOS and Windows 98SE retro PC with an AMD K6 -iii+ 450Mhz, clocked at 550Mhz, 256mb ram, 64GB SSD

It was replaced by a Radeon All in Wonder 8500.

Then a Radeon 9600 XT, I just picked up a TV wonder and kept that for a few refreshes instead of another All in Wonder. Prior to the All in Wonder 8500 I wasn't allowed to have a TV in my room, but somehow that was ok. I guess I was in highschool by that point, and that was the loophole my dad let me have since my mom was mainly the one against TV's in the kids bedrooms.

Then many many more GPU's since then hah.

 

[Eximo]

In my case that would be the GeForce2 MX 400 w/ 64 MB memory.

If you could go back in time and had the ability to choose another GPU as your very first one - would you?

That was also my first Nvidia card. I probably would have gone for something a little nicer, but at the time the price was right and I was mostly getting it for compatibility with newer games, not so much performance. Though it was perfectly adequate.

I don't think I ever had an ATI card. Did get an AMD HD6770 when that was the most powerful GPU you could get with slot only power.

Actual first card was a 1MB Paradise Pipeline 64 + a single Voodoo 2 12MB.

 

[jnjnilson6]

First card i used?

Probably some Paradise or Trident vga card with the Acer Acros Pentium 75 PC my family purchased in 1994.

First 3D accelerated card i used?
Rendition Verite

First pretty decent 3D card?
TNT2 M64

First card i ever purchased with my own money?
Asus v7100 Pro which used a Geforce 2 MX400 64MB

I still own this card and use it in my DOS and Windows 98SE retro PC with an AMD K6 -iii+ 450Mhz, clocked at 550Mhz, 256mb ram, 64GB SSD

It was replaced by a Radeon All in Wonder 8500.

Then a Radeon 9600 XT, I just picked up a TV wonder and kept that for a few refreshes instead of another All in Wonder. Prior to the All in Wonder 8500 I wasn't allowed to have a TV in my room, but somehow that was ok. I guess that was the loophole my dad let me have since my mom was mainly the one against TV's in the kids bedrooms.

Then many many more GPU's since then hah.

I got a 2nd hand DELL Optiplex GX1 some time down the line. Had a Pentium II @ 450 MHz, 128 MB RAM and an ATI RAGE PRO (8 MB, I think). My memory is getting thin, but I think it ran Windows 98 very well, but the machine had an issue running Windows 95.

 

[jnjnilson6]

That was also my first Nvidia card. I probably would have gone for something a little nicer, but at the time the price was right and I was mostly getting it for compatibility with newer games, not so much performance. Though it was perfectly adequate.

I don't think I ever had an ATI card. Did get an AMD HD6770 when that was the most powerful GPU you could get with slot only power.

Actual first card was a 1MB Paradise Pipeline 64 + a single Voodoo 2 12MB.

Funny thing. I also had the Sapphire Radeon HD 6770. Could overclock core from 775 MHz to around 980 MHz (stable) and memory from 1000 MHz to around 1370-1380 MHz (stable). It was a great card for the times and very well priced too.

 

[Eximo]

Funny thing. I also had the Sapphire Radeon HD 6770. Could overclock core from 775 MHz to around 980 MHz (stable) and memory from 1000 MHz to around 1370-1380 MHz (stable). It was a great card for the times and very well priced too.

By that point I was dipping into running two machines. One very efficient for everyday tasks and a separate machine for gaming.

So the HD6670 was actually just to run an HTPC/browser. Technically it was an AMD APU as well so you could also say HD6310 as my first AMD GPU. Hybrid crossfire actually worked, but was really stuttery so I didn't keep it on after messing with it.

Still do the same today. i3-12100F + A380 for HTPC and general browsing and my gaming box only runs when I am actively playing a demanding game. Though the A380 is my test bed for Intel drivers. Keeping a close eye on Battlemage.

 

[iTRiP]

I don't have any of my previously owned hardware anymore, somewhere along the way I sold, gave away or simply threw away any pc part that was not being used anymore.

Remember trading one of my old pc's (complete pc) for a super expensive car stereo head unit once!

Just thinking now, that might have just been that pc that had my first proper GPU in it, the one I mentioned in my previous post of this thread.

(AGP)! Remember that? what did it stand for again, was it: Advanced Graphics Port or something?

 

[artk2219]

By that point I was dipping into running two machines. One very efficient for everyday tasks and a separate machine for gaming.

So the HD6670 was actually just to run an HTPC/browser. Technically it was an AMD APU as well so you could also say HD6310 as my first AMD GPU. Hybrid crossfire actually worked, but was really stuttery so I didn't keep it on after messing with it.

Still do the same today. i3-12100F + A380 for HTPC and general browsing and my gaming box only runs when I am actively playing a demanding game. Though the A380 is my test bed for Intel drivers. Keeping a close eye on Battlemage.

I recently picked up a refurbished A770 16GB from Acer's ebay store, since its "ebay refurbished" it comes with a 2 year warranty from all state (how easy it will be to actually get it serviced if there is an issue, i have no clue). But i picked it up for $210 out the door after tax with a 9% discount from Acer and another 10% off with a discount code. I've been spending more time at the in laws recently, and decided that that was a good enough excuse to build something to keep over there. Since it wont be my main rig I decided to pickup an Intel GPU to play with lol. Its being paired with a flaky Ryzen 7 5700G I picked up cheap, mismatched 16GB sticks of ram for 32gb's total, a Gigabyte B450 board that originally had issues (a missing capacitor that i replaced, and some usb pins were touching so a simple short), a new 256GB NVME SSD, used 1TB Sata SSD, two used 8TB HDD's (itll also work as a NAS, one is storage and the other is a backup drive), an open box Powerspec 750W PSU, my wifes old Corsair Carbide Spec Omega case (i replaced the front glass with mesh, it was an oven otherwise), and an old but perfectly serviceable Corsair a70 cooler. It's my cast off's \ problem parts rig, I had to do some tweaks to get it stable (totally surprising given the assortment of parts, i know 😀), but so far ive done about 20 hours of gaming on it without any major issues, so its off to a good start.

Refurbished A770 16GB

eBay Refurbished Warranty

eBay has partnered with Allstate to include a powerful two-year warranty with every Certified Refurbished product.

pages.ebay.com

 

[Wolfshadw]

How was the 8800GTS-640? Those cards were one of the first cards which could tackle games like Crysis seriously; appearing like a blooming sunray over hardware's garden.

I was never really into heavy games like Crysis, so I was a bit underwhelmed considering the cost (~$300 at the time). It did handle the game I was playing at the time (City of Heroes) very well. Only reason I gave it away was because I wanted a return to TV Tuner capabilities. My next card was the ATI All-in-Wonder X1800XL.

-Wolf sends

 

[John Chesterfield]

(AGP)! Remember that? what did it stand for again, was it: Advanced Graphics Port or something?

Accelerated Graphics Port if I recall correctly. Made it at least sound faster than PCI, but it was actually faster.

Which led me to think of another piece of crazy hardware I once had, an Asrock Dual SATA motherboard, which PCI-E and AGP slots..

 

[Wolfshadw]

ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
I had this board as well, paired with an AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+

-Wolf sends