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What would you rate as the most important GPUs?
- Thread starter Troezar
- Start date
Voodoo 1: First really fast 3d card
Geforce DDR: hardware tnl
Radeon 9700xt / 9600pro: direct x9 dominance
Gecorce 8800 : quantum leap in performance
Geforce 970 /1060: best value cards in a decade
Geforce 1080ti: the benchmark by which all GPUs were judged, which made the next gen from both AMD and Nvidia look poor value.
Geforce DDR: hardware tnl
Radeon 9700xt / 9600pro: direct x9 dominance
Gecorce 8800 : quantum leap in performance
Geforce 970 /1060: best value cards in a decade
Geforce 1080ti: the benchmark by which all GPUs were judged, which made the next gen from both AMD and Nvidia look poor value.
Last edited:
Good list, the 1080Ti is looking like a definite future classic. I've had a bit of a think and for me these ones stand out. I missed the era of the 8800 but have just secured a BFG 8800GTS for £5 just because
9700pro/9800pro big jump in performance and still affordable
5850 was very popular as again it was a great price/performance
480GTX just because it became such a hot topic on the forums (pun intended
)
Caporegime
Also GeForce 8800 GTX, first DX10 card
and, HD 5870, first DX11 card
Honourable mentions.
HD 4870, first GDDR5 card.
Fury X, first HBM card
RTX 3080, First GDDR6 card
and, HD 5870, first DX11 card
Honourable mentions.
HD 4870, first GDDR5 card.
Fury X, first HBM card
RTX 3080, First GDDR6 card
Caporegime
I like the GTX 970 for one of the best value cards ever.
I paid £270 for a Gigabyte Windforce X3 OC GTX 970
MSI Gaming X RTX 2070 Super, £480, this was pre crypto scalping.
I paid £270 for a Gigabyte Windforce X3 OC GTX 970
MSI Gaming X RTX 2070 Super, £480, this was pre crypto scalping.
Man of Honour
Agreed .
Associate
290X
www.youtube.com
AMD R9-290X Noise Test Quiet and Uber mode
Link to original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9J91Iq52BkSomething for the Nvidia Fanboys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeAdkH5hRNkThis video is just for...
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Soldato
8800gt - great performance at a great time, however mine melted itself, as did the 7900gt before it, and the 9800gt after it.
1060/70/80/80ti - the most reliable generation, cool, quiet, no rtx tax
1060/70/80/80ti - the most reliable generation, cool, quiet, no rtx tax
Soldato
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- 22 Nov 2018
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The most important GPU was the Voodoo because it started a revolution of 3D graphics. Games like Quake looked so much better when using 3DFX Glide.
GPUs like the 1080 Ti, 980 Ti etc didn't actually make games look better so I'm not sure how they're ground breaking. RTX makes games look better but you have to look closely and compare screenshots. The first 3DFX Glide games were a night and day improvement.
However, according to Nvidia, the Geforce 256 was the first GPU. Even though the term had been used as far back as the 80s.
GPUs like the 1080 Ti, 980 Ti etc didn't actually make games look better so I'm not sure how they're ground breaking. RTX makes games look better but you have to look closely and compare screenshots. The first 3DFX Glide games were a night and day improvement.
However, according to Nvidia, the Geforce 256 was the first GPU. Even though the term had been used as far back as the 80s.
Not many mentions of the two GPU cards, probably as they were so expensive and power hungry. Still, they were definitely memorable if you were trying to cool them!
7950GX2
3870X2
9800GX2
4870X2
6990
7990
GTX 590
5970
295X2
690
Titan Z
It's amazing to look back and see how small the early cards were, and hardly any cooling required compared with those monsters.
Voodoo 1, original GeForce and the nVidia 8000 series have to be in the list due to the jumps in technology - especially the 8000 series with the change to a unified shader architecture.
A lot of other cards were iterative on the cards before them.
The GX2 cards were at the same time both notable and forgettable as they didn't really change things much in the long run.
A lot of other cards were iterative on the cards before them.
The GX2 cards were at the same time both notable and forgettable as they didn't really change things much in the long run.
Associate
Voodoo 2 cards scan lined at that time, awesome for the day.
TNT2 as it was faster and tiny heatsink
GTX 4600Ti
ATI 970 pro
ATI 980 Pro had Nvidia but the short and curlys
ATI 1900XTX
Nvidia 8000 series were awesome
GTX 680 & 690
980 GTi
Vega 64
1080 Ti
Radeon VII The best card in a Mac Pro at that time.
Titan XP
3090
6900 XT AMD's come back king.
There has been many more and I enjoyed them all.
TNT2 as it was faster and tiny heatsink
GTX 4600Ti
ATI 970 pro
ATI 980 Pro had Nvidia but the short and curlys
ATI 1900XTX
Nvidia 8000 series were awesome
GTX 680 & 690
980 GTi
Vega 64
1080 Ti
Radeon VII The best card in a Mac Pro at that time.
Titan XP
3090
6900 XT AMD's come back king.
There has been many more and I enjoyed them all.
Soldato
GTX 460 (1gb version) - legendary card.
4870x2 bit of a monster
4870x2 bit of a monster
Voodoo 1 - new world of PC gaming for me
Voodoo 2 - like original but better
Geforce 4600Ti - big upgrade to what came before
Geforce 970 - great bang-for-buck
Geforce 1080Ti - great bang-for-buck (bought late into cycle when discounts were in play)
RTX 4090Ti - amazing card in 2022 for just £500.
Voodoo 2 - like original but better
Geforce 4600Ti - big upgrade to what came before
Geforce 970 - great bang-for-buck
Geforce 1080Ti - great bang-for-buck (bought late into cycle when discounts were in play)
RTX 4090Ti - amazing card in 2022 for just £500.
Associate
I really liked my TNT2 32MB card back in the day paired with AMD K-62 500 MHZ CPU. Favourite system was my 486 DX66 playing Duke Nuke'm £95 paid and beast of a system in its time
Man of Honour
Voodoo at the top by a mile. It was such a big leap in technology that it was effectively an entirely new technology. I went from Quake being rendered on a 486DX-66 (that was also doing everything else) to GLQuake being rendered on an Orchid Righteous 3D card. It was like going from a Lada to a Ferrari. Basically the same sort of thing, sure, but really not.
I showed a friend. He asked where he could buy one. He didn't ask how much it cost. I'm not sure I knew. It was that different to what had existed before. It created the whole market for 3D cards.
On the other side, ViRGE. The infamous 3D decelerator from when 3D cards were known as 3D accelerators. You did mention cards that were notorious. That one counts due to its lack of performance.
In terms of evolution rather than revolution, I think probably the 8800GT. That card was viable for ages, which made it unusually good value for money. For me personally, the MSI Gaming 8G 1070Ti I'm still using stands out for the same reason.
Still using mine
nothing worth upgrading for gaming wise until probably next year.still using a 4670k too but keep eyeing up a 12700k... won't bother upgrading my GPU though 980ti seems more than good enough still
Associate
I'd agree on the 970 if it wasn't tainted by nV's bald-faced lie about it having 4GB VRAM.
If we're defining "important" as transformative (and not necessarily positive) I'd say the first Titan. It was really the first card where nV tested the waters to see if the consumer market could handle an ultra high-end product that would ultimately pave the way for drastic price increases across the line up. The 7800 512mb could also be defined in this way, but nV really didn't capitalize on the new price bracket until years after.