Your History of Upgrades...

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summer_of_alvin

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Sep 4, 2007
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My history of upgrades:

2007: ATI Radeon 2900 XT @ Intel Q6600 (OC 3.0 GHz)

2006: NVidia GeForce 7800 GS Upgrade

2005: n/a

2004: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro @ AMD Athlon 64 3000+

2003: NVidia GeForce 4200 Ti @ AMD Athlon XP 1700+

2002: n/a

2001: ATI Radeon 7200 @ AMD Athlon K7 700 (OC 850 MHz)

2000: Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS Upgrade

1999: 3DFX Voodoo 3 @ Intel Celeron 300A (OC 450 MHz)

1998: 3DFX Voodoo 2 @ AMD K6 200 (OC 233 MHz)

1997: 3DFX Voodoo @ Intel Pentium 166 MMX


Ahhh... the original 3DFX Voodoo from ten years ago. I still remember it like it was just yesterday. A dedicated 3D graphics accelerator that required a separate 2D video card. First time I ever saw games rendered in "real" high-res 3D polygons instead of ugly low-res sprites.
 
Yeah - I remember buying my first card, a Voodoo 3 3000 from Babbage's (a store bought out by EB). I took it home, had a funny day installing it (a whole different story), and as a reward saw graphics that were so smooth and clear that my PS1-adjusted eyes almost freaked out. NFS:HP came bundled with that card; I played it all night thinking visuals just can't get better than this.
 
Mine first graphic card was Nvidia Geforce 2MX, Geforce 4 MX4000, ATI 9600 Pro, and Nvidia Geforce 7600GS AGP8X.

I still remember the Vodoo graphic card.I know that card when I'm playing Counter Strike for the first time. :)
 
I don't remember the timeframe too well but I'll see if I can remember the order:

1. SIS 8MB PCI
2. Riva TNT2 M64 PCI
3. Geforce 2 MX400 AGP
4. Geforce 4 Ti 4200 8x AGP
5. Geforce 6600GT AGP
6. Geforce 6800GT AGP
7. Geforce 7300GT PCI-E (added a 2nd one later and SLI'd)
8. Geforce 8800GTX
 
my first Graphics card was in my first "Real" PC (had other like 8086-80386-and even an old Sinclair ZX Spectrum and an Amstrad). It was an Intel 486DX @66Mhz with an Nvidia Riva 128 with 8Mb of ram. I upgraded my system with an AMD K5 @ 166Mhz and bought an add-on Voodoo 2 at 12Mb ram. That system was fast and when later I upgraded to an AMD K6 @266Mhz it was flying!! Overclocking the Voodoo I was playing quake 2 at 90fps!!. After that I got a Voodoo 3500 with the TV tuner and the first Athlon (Slot A) at 700Mhz. What an amazing machine that was! Also had a TNT2 from Matrox (millenium series) if you guys remember them. Then along came a couple of GeForces (one Geforce 2 MX and a Geforce 4 Ti). Then a few Ati cards (a 9000 and a 9600Pro) and at the moment I got a 7800GTX. Waiting atm for the new gen of card (DX10,1) so I can get a Dx10 card.
Cheers!
 
1993: 386dx 40mhz
1995: 486dx4 100mhz + s3 trio vesa
1998: Celeron 300A + intel 740
2001: Celeron 466 + Riva TNT2
2003: Pentnium 4 2.4 GHz + Riva TNT2
2004: Pentnium 4 2.4 GHz + GeForce FX 5500
2005: Centrino 1.7 + Radeon X300 [Laptop]

Now:

Intel e6750 + Nvidia 8800GTS

finally reasonable build without money/mobility[I needed laptop in 2005] constraints
 
I don't remember when, but I purchased the Voodoo 2 PCI card and never noticed the graphics until I removed it 6 months later and sold it to a friend. Diablo 2 looked like crap!

I had that 166 MMX intel cpu the OP had as well, thought it was hardcore!

Bought the GeForce 2 64 mb for my 500 mhz celeron, then another one for my P4 2.0 Ghz (it came with it). Then bought the ati radeon 9250, then bought the x700 pro. That P4 system came with 256 MB of ram. I then added a 512MB chip to make it 768, then again added 512 and removed the 256 to put me to 1GB.

Finally have the 8800GTS 320MB for my Q6600. Finally have my first system that can handle everything on the highest settings. Took me a lifetime of having lower end computers, this time I spent the same amount of money as I would at Gateway, only I have a far better system. Thanks Tomshardware Forums!!!!
 
Well, it all started with a TRS 80 16k... then a VIC 20... then an IBM PS/2 30-286... ok, you get the picture.

*edit* And yes, I had the original VooDoo as well as a Tseng 6000 for 2D video.
 
Satrting in 1992...
286
386-33 w/1MB ISA Card
486-33 w/4 MB ATI Card
Pentium 66 w/ATI
Pentium 200MMX w/ATI
Pentium 2 333 /Nvidia
Pentium 3 1000 /Nvidia
Pentium 4 2.26 w/Nvidia 4400
Pentium 4 3.0 w/ 5900 Ultra and then 6800 GT
C2D 6850 w/8800GTX
 



You sir, have spent a lot of money on computers of the last 15 years. In the time you had 10 computers, I had 5. Of course there were many many years when I was doing sub par computing on a sub par computer.
 
Don't remember the exact dates but something like this ....

CPU
DX-4 100mhz
AMD 5X86 133mhz
Pentium 133
Pentium 166mmx
Pentium 200mmx oc 233
Pentium II 266
Celeron 300A oc 450
Pentium 3 450
AMD Athlon Thunderbird 900
Pentium 4 2.4 Northwood oc 2.6
AMD A64 3200+ oc 2.6
AMD A64 X2 3800+ oc 2.5

GPU
Cirrus Logic 1mb VLB
ATI Mach64 2mb
ATI 3dXpression+ 2mb
Voodoo 4mb
ATI 3dRageFury 8mb
Voodoo2 8mb
Nvidia RivaTNT 16mb
Nvidia TNT2 32mb
Nvidia Geforce2 TI 64mb
Nvidia Geforce 4 Ti 4200 128mb
ATI 9600XT 256mb
ATI X1600Pro 256mb
Nvidia 6800GS 256mb
Nvidia 7600GT 256mb
Nvidia 7900GS 256mb
Nvidia 8800GTS 320mb
 



Y'know, it's been 10 years... and I'm still waiting to see what Intel's "MMX" is supposed to do for me. I'm starting to suspect it's just all hype.


 
486 dx2-66 (onboard) 1996
5x86 133 (onboard) 1997
pentium mmx 166 (onboard S3) 1998
pentium mmx 200 (ati rage 2 4mb) 1998
pentium 2 400? (I can't remember specifics about this one) 1999
pentium 3 450 (Ati Rage Maxx Fury) 1999
pentium 3 667 (Geforce 2 32mb) 2000
pentium 3 1000 (Geforce 2 32mb) 2001
pentium 4 1300 (Geforce 3 TI 4200 64mb) 2001
pentium 4 2533 (Geforce 3 TI 4200 64mb) 2002
pentium 4 HT 2600 (Geforce FX 5600 128mb) 2003
pentium M 1600 (Ati Radeon 9000 32mb) 2004
pentium D 2800 (Geforce 6800 258mb) 2006
core 2 duo 2130 (ATI Radeon X1950xt 512mb) 2007
 
Here's mine:
1982-Timex Sinclair 1000 (took it back immediately upon discovering only 1K of RAM...lol couldn't even punch in most basic programs!)
1982- TI-99/4A-Much better
1986- Commodore 128/1541 Disk Drive
1988-286/12 (FULL VGA!!! woohoo!!!)
1992-486DX/33 W/ 1MB Video card (don't remember who's it was) and Gravis Ultrasound card (full 1mb memory)
1995-YUK-44/YUK-22 (8 bit and 16 bit modular computers onboard Navy Vessels.. had a punch card reader... no kidding)
2000-AMD Athlon 2000+ with ATI 9700pro 128
2006-AMD x2 3800 with x700xt 256mb PCI-E
2007-AMD x2 6000 with 8800 gts 640

 
Can't remember time frames at all and went by old ebay links since 2000. Just wish I had half the money back. I could retire on a nice beach somewhere ..... :)

Graphic Cards

ISA/PCI/AGP
Cirrus Logic (Chip?)
Diamond Stealth 64
Diamond Viper II Savage 2000
Diamond Viper V550
Diamond Viper TNT2 Ultra
Matrox Mystique3D (bad purchase)
STB Velocity 128
Hercules Stingray Vooodoo Rush (I think this was a decent card.....I think)
Creative Labs Annihilator Geforce 2
PNY Geforce 3
Hercules 3D Prophet (Original)(GPU?) (Prior to this card, it's all a blur)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB (Dynamite card & 1st top of the line card for me)
EVGA FX 5900 Ultra (Got bored with the 9700 Pro, nice side-grade)
ATI Radeon X800XT-PE 256MB (Should have kept this one, was hard to find)
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB (downgraded from PE,thought I spent too much)
EVGA 6800GT (excellent card, I believe it overclocked well)
ATI Radeon X850XT-PE 256MB (sweet card, glad I kept it for a while)
Visiontek X1950 Pro 256MB (No readable temp diode, no fan adjustment)
Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB (sweet card, should have kept it)
HIS X1950 Pro ICEQ3 Turbo 512MB (received 2 bad Rev.1 Cards)
Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ Golden Sample (used it for 1 day so I could compare it to Gecube X1950XT)
Gecube X1950XT 512MB (Damned fast, but had it's issues)
XFX 7950 GT 512MB (excellent all around card,low power require.)

PCI-E
MSI HD 2900XT 512MB (My new favorite....for now)

Computers
(1986)
Toshiba T-1000 (The Terminator) Laptop / 8086 / 720K Floppy only/DOS 2.11 on 640k flash Drive
Zenith Supersport 286 Laptop / 20MB HD
No-Name Laptop 386 / 40MB HD
Pentium 133 Mhz.
Pentium 166 Mhz.
AMD K6 233 Mhz.
AMD K6-2 333 Mhz.
Athlon 800
AMD Athlon XP 1600+
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
AMD Athlon XP 2600+
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (fastest socket 754 CPU you could own, too bad it was the last)
Intel Core2Duo E6600 (favorite processor of all time, absolutely effortless overclocking)

Not really sure, but I think I'm missing some. It's been a helluva long time.
 
Wow, shoulda wore my boots to this thread.....


Cyrix 133
P5 166mmx
P5 200mmx
P5 233mmx
P2 266
P2 350
P2 533
P2 733
Athlon 1ghz T-bird
Celeron 2ghz
P4 2.4ghz
Sempron64 2ghz
E6300

First VC was a Trident 1mb upgradeable to 2mb, 4mb diamond, 8mb diamond, sli'd voodoo's, TNT, TNT2, Voodoo3, ti4200, 5700, 6800, 7600
Click to expand...


lol sli'd voodoos... didn't even know you could do that then, never would've thought to either
 
8086
386
Pentium 90
Pentium 200
PIII 450 + TNT2 (first one that was mine)
PIII 733 + TNT2 (440BX board didn't officially support 133 FSB, screwed up the AGP and PCI speeds)
PIII 733 + Geforce2
Athlon 64 2800 + Geforce FX 5200 (BIG jump, first computer after I got a job)
Athlon 64 2800 + GeForce 6600GT
Athlon 64 3200 + GeForce 7900GT (Defective motherboard from Abit, replaced with below)
Core 2 4400 + GeForce 7900GT

Soon:

Core 2 Q6600 + nVidia refresh GTS equivalent
 


You're are going to love the Q6600, overclocking potential on these is phenominal. When's the refresh coming? Anything definite yet?
 
1999 - AMD K-6 300 / Cirrus Logic 4MB (?) PCI

2002 - Duron 1400 / SiS 8MB (?) PCI

2003 - 1800+ Palomino / Geforce 4 MX

2004 - 2600+ Barton / 6600 AGP
2006 - Same XP 2600; got a 22" LCD and replaced the 6600 with a 7600 AGP

2007 - AMD 5200 X2 / 8600 GT


Going to step up to a 8700 GTS soon, and I figure I'll be set until Nehalem/GF 9x or 10x in 2009.
 
2000 - 450Mhz PIII/256Mb SD-RAM/TNT2 AGP (family comp)
2003 - AthlonXP 3200+/512Mb DDR/Radeon 9550 AGP (family computer for my dad's house)
2004 - P3 1.2Ghz/512Mb SDRAM/GeForce4 MX440 PCI(first comp entirely my own)
2004 - Athlon64 3400+/512Mb DDR/Radeon 9600 AGP (family comp again)
Early 2006 - AthlonXP 2800+/1GB DDR/X850XT AGP (2800+ was outdated, but picked up for about $10, and I based my first entirely built on my own computer around it and a mobo I got used for cheap)
2007 - Core2Duo E440/2GB DDR2/7900GS PCI-E (entirely my own)
 
1997 - P1 133Mhz + S3 Trio v6 1MB pci

2002-2004 (used my uncle's P4 2.4 GHz + Geforce Fx5200 )

current-
2005 - P4 3.0 GHz
2007 - x1950 pro
 
1996-2001 Pentium 90, 32megs ram, Number Nine graphics card?
2001 Duron 700, TNT2 8Mb, 64mb ram
2001-2006 Duron 700, Geforce 2 Pro 64m, 320mb ram
2007 laptop
2008 Q6600@3 (hopefully 3.6 soon), 4 gigs, 8800GTS 512 (in 2 days 😀)
 
1988 XT10Mhz EGA wonder 16colors out of pallet of 64.
1998 K6-2 400Mhz 8MB ATI on board later riva tnt 64MB pci
2001-02 Athlon XP 1800+ Gforce2ti later mx440 and 5900xt
2003-04 A64 3000 Asus A8V deluxe 5900xt
2003-04 A64 3200+ MSI NEO2 pl and 5600ultra later 6800vanilla
current:
Opty 170 MSI NEO4 pl and 1950pro
sempron 3100+ 1900gt over clocks on ECS s754 board
X2 4200+ MSI NEO4 SLI-F and 7900GS
 
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