Your GPU history tree and potential next card

[GamingRobioto]

I only started PC gaming properly in 2012, before that I just played older strategy games and Football Manager on PC and I was a console gamer otherwise. I slowly got fed up with how bad the performance was on the 360 and PS3, eventually I cracked.

- 2008 - Radeon HD 4550 (256MB) <£100 - bought to play Oblivion with mods while at University

- 2012 - Gainward GTX 670 (2GB) £300 - first gaming PC

- 2013 - Gainward GTX 670 Dual SLI (2GB) £300 each

- 2014 - MSI Twin Frozr GTX 980 Dual SLI (4GB) £480 each

- 2015 - MSI Twin Frozr GTX 980ti Dual SLI (6GB) £560 each

- 2016 - MSI Twin Frozr GTX 980ti (6GB) - dropped SLI

- 2020 - Nvidia FE RTX 3070 (8GB) £469 - wanted a 3080 but couldn't get one at MSRP, got a 3070 FE at MSRP in October 2020

- 2021 - MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3080 (10GB) £780 - found an aftermarket 3080 at around MSRP in Feburary 2021, sold my 3070 on ebay for nearly double what I paid (£910)

- 2023 - Gainward Phantom RTX 4090 (24GB) £1499 - Got a new much higher paid job last year, treated myself to this and a 4k monitor in August and it's been glorious.

You can probably tell I was hooked on upgrading and building when I first moved over to PC from console. I bought 6 GPUs in my first 4 years with a gaming PC (mad really, can't believe what I spent!). This was just after I finished University and got my first proper, well paid job. I got a lot of money back though as I did sell the GPUs on.

Next GPU, if it's less than £2,000, the RTX 5090. If not I'll wait

 

[PaulW]

Matrox Mystique (maybe)
Nvidia Riva TNT2
--Probably some other cards i can't remember here
Nvidia GTX 295
Nvidia GTX 780
Nvidia GTX 1070 (Work hand out)
Nvidia GTX 1080 FE (Work hand out) (current)
Nvidia RTX 5080 (next build 2025 and depending on price and specs)

 

[Claidheamh_Mor]

ATI 7000 Series (can't remember model number)
GeForce 3 Ti
GeForce 8000 GT
GeForce 275 GTX
GeForce 970 GTX
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (Current card)

I have a 7900XT and I'm happy with that card. When i upgrade, i like to see a massive jump in performance. I don't like incremental upgrades. I went from a 970GTX to a 7900XT. That's the kind of gains in performance i want when i upgrade a GPU.

Therefore, I'll wait for RDNA 6/7 or equivalent Nvidia card before purchasing my next GPU.

 

[Rob_B]

Jeez, I don't think I could remember my first card. Probably some Riva or S3 maybe, the first one I actually recall is a PCI Voodoo as I kinda remember the box, after that it was AGP all the way!

Also I recall: GF2 MX400, GTX260, 9800Pro, 9500GT, HD5850, HD7770, 7900GTO, GTX960, 980Ti, 1070 - unsure of order!

EDIT: Wow, writing down my card timeline makes me realise how much I've forgotten.

Currently on a 6750XT and pondering a 7800XT even though I really don't need it.

 

[Tykey]

I can only remember gpu's since 2015/16 :

nvidia 970 gtx - 2015/16 (iirc)
nvidia 1080 - 2017
nvidia 3090 - 2021 (iirc)
nvidia 3080ti - 2021
nvidia 4090 - 2022

Sold my 4090 about 3 weeks ago for £1195 within an hour of advertising it, next gpu will be a 5090 or the equivalent. Have had radeon prior to 2015 but can't recall the model, good cards good value but like nvidia as they are thought to have the slight edge in VR, no problems with any card i've owned.