Gaming Discussions

[Robbert]

Hi all!

Yet another day, yet another question, what was your first GPU? Mine was a Voodoo card, though we had PCs since the early 80s (I'm from 86)).

Looking forward to y'all's replies!

Robbert

[iLloydski]

Diamond Stealth 64

[chris1234]

matrox mystique

[bfoster68]

First Graphics card was a 3dfx card, The original Voodoo.

1980-81 Atari 800 was my first computer followed by an Apple IIc in 83 then Amiga 500 in 87 and finally an 386 clone with a processor made by AMD.

[M0T1VE8]

Right there with you.  Mine was a voodoo by 3dfx and paired it with a cyrix.  Remember buying it from circuit city.

[Zainal0]

Wow!  That was so long ago, lol.  I think my first card was an ATI Wonder. I was using computers in 1980, and was still a teenager, barely (19).  As the tech grew, so did my machine, as my friends and I kept up as much as possible.  I had relied on the built in video for so long, and as graphics and games started to become more popular, they started pushing the limits of the machines.

[excalibur2262]

Hey hey, got a first time Voodoo user here as well. Before that it was all EGA embedded graphics.

[Domingo314]

My first gpu I bought - matrox parhelia. Mostly used for video editing but also for triple screen gaming (gtr).

[Maritimer]

Voodoo 3DFX card.

[Darkness_Angel]

first few were S3 ISA cards, 3dfx voodoo 16mb (i still have one of the 2), ati rage 32.

[DanielPhett]

My first gpu would be a MX4000 or intergrated graphics for my amd 486 dx66 on the asus motherboard.

[ubergeek]

Do you mean PC  graphics card or are you specifically talking about "GPUs"?

CGA circa 1985 with those glorious DIP chips 

Or the Mach32 on the EISA bus 

Or the Rage Pro if you only want to count 3D card...

Yes, I'm that old.  Who remembers vector graphics?

[lvskiprof]

Back in my day they weren't GPUs, they were video cards that used discrete chips.  I am talking about the mid-70s.  Before that I used teletypes, a Memorex printer terminal, or (my favorite) an I/O Selectric Typewriter that was the system terminal for a DDP-24 mainframe that I had in my garage.

The DDP-24 was a 1960s era 24-bit mainframe that had 8K of core memory (double the normal size), high speed paper tape punch & reader, plus a 5-track vacuum column tape drive (field upgradable to 7-track).  It had a shipping weight of 1 ton, without the tape drive.  The company that made it was bought by Honeywell to get into the computer field.  It also had a drum memory that I never got working.  The I/O Selectric was a standard Selectric typewriter with solenoids attached to the keys to turn it into a printer.  It had an assembler and Fortran II as languages.

Yes, I am that old...

[jrronimo]

Not the first video card I ever had, but my first 3D accelerator was a Voodoo 5 5500 PCI. I still have it just in case I want to play Diablo II in Glide. 😂

The first AMD card I bought was a 9700 Pro, from a friend. Still an all-time favorite card in my heart.

[ScathArach]

VooDoo 2

[Krizonar]

From the first computer that was mine and not really 'for the family'... ATI Rage Pro!

[red5]

The first one I bought for the first computer I built from scratch was a Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB

[namx01]

Can't exactly remember the first but one of my best early ones was a Matrox Millenium paired with a Canopus Pure 3d Voodoo card.

[ssaradpon]

My first pc build out of high school, ATI Rage 1 

[ThreeDee]

Though I played with Voodoo cards in the late 80's .. MY first card was a Matrox Millennium G200 8mb AGP video card.

That bad boy was inserted into and ASUS P2B 440BX Chipset Slot 1 Motherboard with a speedy PII 350mhz and 128mb of SDRAM. Roomy 8GB hard drive to house Windows 98se,Tomb Raider games .. eventually Half Life .. and some online goodness via my trusty 56k ISA hardware modem to surf the interwebz and play Monster Truck Madness 2.

I eventually got into using SmoothWall™ and used my 56k modem in it to connect to the internet and then my PC connected via ethernet to it

...good times

[Richardbilous420]

My very  first gpu was ati rage II Thanks gerald for giving me a computers 🙂 I was the only kid in school with a pc 😛

[jdubs_83]

My first build had a Radeon HD 6570.  From there I bought an iMac (bad idea) then bought a laptop that has a green team GPU(160ti) I want to build an all red system but current state of the computer industry is keeping the cash in the bank.

[BrokecaR34]

First ever gpu anything was in a laptop with a Radeon Xpress 1100, then first ever build wasn't for a Loong time with an hd7850, then stayed team red forever going to a 7970>280>fury>currently on a 6800xt

[pckiller00]

First GPU purchased I believe was a XFX NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 😅

[Sfoo]

My first GPU was the HD4770! Served me well for a year before upgrading!

[Skebras]

Technically not that old because I just recently got into PC Gaming; but my first GPU was an RX580 which was a real trooper and is STILL kicking to this day!

[BilboTheGreat]

Wish I knew what my first GPU was, back in the 80's the machines didn't have them.  

[bosco]

My first video cards predate the GPU designation. That said, my first was the IBM CGA (color graphics adapter) in my first PC, circa 1982. But my first graphics card that actually impressed me with its performance was the ATI Wonder, circa 1986-ish.

I believe my first true GPU setup was a pair of 3dfx VOODOO2 SLI cards in ~1998 or '99.

[AgCN3]

3DFX Voodoo 2, followed by the Voodoo 3 3500 AGP.

Man, those were the days, eh?? 🤣

[DaveRiser]

I had a Tandy color computer I, from 1980 with an expansion kit that allowed you to use lower case letters. Actually I still have it, though I haven't powered it on in over 30 years.

[Vankirkprince]

I had the IBM, circa 1987.

[TechieGam3r]

Not sure it was the first, maybe the second or third, but the earliest I could find record of was the XFX GeForce MX 4000 with a whopping 64MB, and DDR!

[cryhavoc38]

I handled dozens of different "graphics cards" when I first started professionally in computers and server class hardware.

The first "GPU" would have been way back in 1987. Those were the likes of the ATI VGA Wonder card, and one I remember in particular was the Evergreen CGA card.

[trav4444]

First gpu for me was a 1060 3GB.

[maxxjag]

Define GPU, we talking 2d Accelerators, or just 3d?

2d, I think it was an S3 or something along those lines. Even had a VLB card at some point.
And 3d, I think it was an ATI Rage (pro?) 2 or so.

[sam_leo]

My first video adapter was a Trident TVGA9000 (ISA bus) on an AMD 486 DX2-66 in 1995. I know... That is not an actual GPU... 🙂

My first actual GPU with 3D acceleration was a "Number Nine Revolution IV" with 16 mb SDRAM on my Pentium II 233Mhz machine in 1998.

[q5ka]

ati rage

[mistered]

I bought my first computer in 1979 and had a number of computers since then. I bought my first PC compatible computer in 1995. I no longer have records of those computers so I don't remember what video cards they had. Here are the ones I still have:

Oldest GPUs I have:
ASUS V8200T2 GeForce3 Ti200 (AGP 64MB)
PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti4600 (AGP 128MB)
PNY Verto GeForce5 FX5900 (AGP 128MB)

Newest GPUs I have:
PNY GeForce GTS250 (PCIe 1GB)
ASUS GeForce GTX560 OC (PCIe 1GB)
ASUS Strix GeForce GTX1060 (PCIe 6GB)
ASUS Strix GeForce RTX3060 Ti OC (PCIe 8GB)

[Anubis845]

I had a Diamond Viper v330 it came preinstalled in my Gateway, that I later replaced with a 3DFX Voodoo 2.

[Icepop33]

My first was an ATI Rage XL 8MB 32-bit pci card with vga output.

My first AGP card was an Nvidia MX 400 or 440,. I can't remember.

My first gpu mod was a 256-bit PowerColor 9800 SE to the 9800 pro using a soft mod via Omega driver.

Won the hardware lottery that time.

My first PCIe card was an HD 2600 XT.  Not much to brag about.

My first crossfire setup used 2 HD5850s.  Good, but don't bother using more than 1 card today.  Not worth.

Take that money and buy a better single card.

My current card is an Nvidia 1660 Ti.  I will put that in a new rig and take a Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon R9 280X Tri-X OC 6GB 384-bit GDDR5 gpu I have lying around and put it in this typewriter.

I feel product lineup forced me into my current choice.  I prefer AMD as a company, but will buy what is best for me at the time.

I was lucky and purchased the card early last year.

Who knows when I'll be able to afford another mid to high tier GPU?  I won't buy from scalpers.

I will show my age by saying that I didn't build my first computer until later in life.

I hope this isn't double-spaced.  Sorry in advance if it is.  I don't know how to change it.

[SocratesGS]

1st GPU - the Riva TNT
2nd GPU - Geforce 256 DDR
3rd GPU - Geforce 2 Ti