Question What is your favorite GPU of all time?

[SHaines]

Greetings!

Technology is changing so quickly that it can be tough to develop a deep attachment to any one item. However, through the years we've all likely made that one really big purchase that left us feeling like we were way ahead of the curve.

When I first caught the bug to build computers from scratch, the litmus test for any GPU was how it could run Crysis. At the time, next to nothing could really do it justice.

Many years after it came out, I was still using that game to test the power of graphics hardware and the GeForce 7800 GTX was my first card to run everything on high settings. It wasn't a perfect experience, given limitations I had in other hardware, but that is the first time a graphics card really blew me away.

What graphics card/GPU do you have fond memories of using?

 

[ProgamerIV]

Greetings!

Technology is changing so quickly that it can be tough to develop a deep attachment to any one item. However, through the years we've all likely made that one really big purchase that left us feeling like we were way ahead of the curve.

When I first caught the bug to build computers from scratch, the litmus test for any GPU was how it could run Crysis. At the time, next to nothing could really do it justice.

Many years after it came out, I was still using that game to test the power of graphics hardware and the GeForce 7800 GTX was my first card to run everything on high settings. It wasn't a perfect experience, given limitations I had in other hardware, but that is the first time a graphics card really blew me away.

What graphics card/GPU do you have fond memories of using?

There are two, I can't decide.
My first proper GPU that I used for years and loved is the MSI GTX 460 1GB. I loved that card and I still have it, still can play some games. Recently put it in an older computer with an i5-2500 and 8gb ram, could still play some games. Took me back.

Then there's the GPU that I absolutely loved for getting even better once DX12 games started to appear: the XFX R9-280X 3GB. That's still a nice alternative to a GTX 1050ti to this day. Amazing value.

And then the runner-up: the AMD RX 580 as a used card, especially the Sapphire Nitro+ and Pulse versions. Such an amazing value especially for the 4GB version (which is totally fine for 1080p), you can pretty much max out most games or at least run them with very high settings and 60fps for such a low price.

 

[DavidStojke]

Its for sure my first GPU i ever used : Gainward Bliss 9600 GT it was a literal beast in my mind beacuse it could play everything that i wanted at that time and since before that i used a gma x3100 from my HP 550 laptop that i got 2 years prior to building my first pc i was so amazed at the performance.

 

[bit_user]

Its for sure my first GPU i ever used : Gainward Bliss 9600 GT it was a literal beast in my mind beacuse it could play everything that i wanted at that time and since before that i used a gma x3100 from my HP 550 laptop that i got 2 years prior to building my first pc i was so amazed at the performance.

Wow, Gainward? That looks kind of... ungainly.

(groans)

 

[R_1]

Gainward, there is a name I've not seen in many a year.

 

[WINTERLORD]

honestly i like the latest Raytracing Hardware, just kool

 

[derekullo]

Geforce 3 Titanium 500

The first GPU to my knowledge to use vertex shaders which allows fancy water.

Just look at that amazing mercury colored water in Morrowind.

 

[Villepro100]

My favourite is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
Had so many great memories with it

 

[prince_xaine]

So far, the GTX 1060 6GB. It's priced competitively online ($150 USD), and is still quite relevant for playing the latest titles at high/ultra settings.

Of course there's more powerful options, and more nostalgic ones. But I feel the GTX 1060 6GB sits in a perfect balance between price and performance.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Geforce 256 AGP 😀

At the time, I had the brilliant Voodoo 3 3000 PCI, and this baby came along. It literally jumped FPS up by 100%. First card to bring HW T&L, which was amazing at the time, but became superseded by faster CPU's which could do the T&L faster than the GPU.

 

[DavidStojke]

Gainward, there is a name I've not seen in many a year.

They are still producing gpu's check them out dude : http://www.gainward.com

 

[clutchc]

The 8-series Nvidia cards. They were a giant step in gaming cards back then. I still have my 8800 GTS and 8800 GT. Back then I could never quite afford the "mighty" 8800 GTX.
Why do I still keep them? Nostalgia, I guess.

 

[Unolocogringo]

The 8-series Nvidia cards. They were a giant step in gaming cards back then. I still have my 8800 GTS and 8800 GT. Back then I could never quite afford the "mighty" 8800 GTX.
Why do I still keep them? Nostalgia, I guess.

I'm the same way, Still have shelves with old computers and parts. Hell still have my first CPU Pentium75@90mhz and my first gaming card, a Voodoo Banshee.
Old P2 350 dual socket Dell server, 6800ultra, ................... The list goes on.

 

[R_1]

They are still producing gpu's check them out dude : http://www.gainward.com

Thanks for that. last I remember they were merged/swallowed by Palit in 2005 then shuttered, or maybe they just moved out of my local market at that time. copyright on the Gainward page starts at 2007, there were shuttered for two years I must not have gotten the word til now that they re-opened
Gainward was one of my go to manufacturers way way back.

 

[bit_user]

I'm the same way, Still have shelves with old computers and parts.

Yeah, I intentionally keep retired machines for a few years, but then I just get too lazy to get rid of them. I definitely need to clean out the basement, at this point.

 

[Unolocogringo]

BUT BUT BUT how do you decide which ones to get rid of.
Lots of memories sitting on those shelves.
Many many hours of enjoyment with family and friends over for gaming.
For many years Sunday afternoon was Game Day with a few of my friends and a few of my sons friends.
8 player Descent, Midtown Madness ,Monster truck madness, Battlefield 1942 with Desert Combat mod , The original Diablo, Citizen Kabuto.
just to name a few oldies that were so much more fun at what later became known as lan parties.

 

[bit_user]

BUT BUT BUT how do you decide which ones to get rid of.
Lots of memories sitting on those shelves.

Ideally, I keep only what I can still plausibly use.

Try to image the HDDs before they die and just let go of older, less efficient hardware that can no longer run any modern software. I'm not one of these bleeding-edge types, either. My main PCs are still Sandybridge.

It helps that I'm not a gamer, so there's basically no old software that I would want to run on them. But, can you really not run most of those games in emulators, or something?

8 player Descent,

Yeah, Descent was pretty awesome. I even played the first one over a modem, with a friend.

The original Diablo

Yeah, it looked cool, but I tried playing it with another friend and then he went way ahead of me on his own. So, that was the end of that.

 

[tralph3]

Ironically, my fav GPU is the universally most hated one, the infamous GeForce 210, and that's not because I like to go against the norm, but because of emotional attachment. My dad bought me a prebuilt when I was like 10, and of course this GPU was in it. My dad asked the seller to add a GPU to the prebuilt, and they told him that this one "was a great and super fast card", yeah, talk about scams.

I played games on that piece of crap for 7 and a half years straight, and the manuevers I made to run the most demanding games were quite astonishing. My proudest accomplishment was running Battlefield 4 at the amazing 640x480 resolution, no shadows, everything on the lowest possible setting by config file, and even using virtual memory to avoid some stutters. Holy moly was it bad, it ran at 20-30 FPS, mostly sitting at low 20s, the input lag was attrocius, and I couldn't see most models or hear most sounds about 5 minutes after the game loeaded, but the fact that I could do it, and that I played with it for quite a lot longer than I should (about 90 or more hours jesus) just made me feel good.

Today, that prebuilt is sitting at my side, the 210 is not there anymore, got replaced with a GTX 750 TI, and the original 4GB of RAM are now 8, but everything else is the same as it came. In case you're wondering, the CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 850, great CPU, but it's quite old for today games and struggles a lot on most titles, sadly, I can't really upgrade for economic problems but I still love these components, they bring good memories.

So in conclusion, I love this GPU because it was a severe limitation on my desire to game, and that forced me to learn and to adapt, to tweak and to edit software, and the knowledge I got from that is far, far more valuable to me than a pleasant, but, in the end, pointless gaming experience.

 

[Enabarkhold]

To me it's Voodoo2 (3Dfx). My first ever 3d card and i stil remember the spec my old computer:
AMD K6-2 350 mhz, 128 mb PC100 SD ram, matrox G100 8 mb (2D), Voodoo2 12 mb (3D)
Back in 1998 this was a monster machine.

 

[gamerbrehdy]

Greetings!

Technology is changing so quickly that it can be tough to develop a deep attachment to any one item. However, through the years we've all likely made that one really big purchase that left us feeling like we were way ahead of the curve.

When I first caught the bug to build computers from scratch, the litmus test for any GPU was how it could run Crysis. At the time, next to nothing could really do it justice.

Many years after it came out, I was still using that game to test the power of graphics hardware and the GeForce 7800 GTX was my first card to run everything on high settings. It wasn't a perfect experience, given limitations I had in other hardware, but that is the first time a graphics card really blew me away.

What graphics card/GPU do you have fond memories of using?

Going to get some 2070 lateron, but i’m still using my first graphics card: the Inno3D GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Twin X2

 

[bjerrum]

ASUS GTX 260

 

[alceryes]

Geforce 3 Titanium 500
The first GPU to my knowledge to use vertex shaders which allows fancy water.

Hahaha, nope! The ATI Radeon 8500 beat the GeForce 3 Ti500 by a couple of months. 😉
I got the 8500 right when it came out and was also blown away by the life-like (by 2002 standards) water in Morrowind. I still play a heavily modified/enhanced Morrowind to this day.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

Nvidia FX 5700, twas the first gpu that I had purchased of my own accord new rather then getting second hand from scrapping other pc's. It also had a large shiny silver passive heatsink, which I found unresistible at the time
It wasn't a ground breaking gpu, nor the fastest, but somehow it was used up till the hd4xxx series.


I still have it, stored in a closet along with the athlon xp-m 2400+ it was paired with.

 

[testsubject2575]

Definitely the GT 210. Been using this way back the counter strike era.

 

[clementttttttt]

Definitely my HD7770(aka R7 250x). With its whopping 1GB vram and unique cooler, and outstanding performance at the past, it easily becomes my favourite graphic card.

 

[luckysury333]

The integrated GPU of Pentium D because it was able to run the AAA titles of that time. My most favourite game "GTA Vice City"