Daily Archives: April 1, 2011

Video Card Nostalgia…

Video cards I’ve had/used since 1998

Voodoo 2 12 MB!!!!! – OMG $$$  (Thanks Dad!  The gateway worked for quite a while 🙂 )
Geforce 2 MX onboard – In my shiny Falcon NW talon system!  Well, it was actually pretty Beige…
8500 64 MB – $130 new clearance @ BB – different drivers for different games! Things have gotten much better since 2003, right?
9500 Pro 64 MB – $130 new clearance @ BB, used for almost 2 years!
9800 Pro 128 MB – $80 used, Doom 3 caused me to sell it after about three months.
6800 128 MB – NewEgg, not sure – It rocked Doom3, which I hated and only used as performance benchmark.
6800U 256 MB – $400 (!!!), NewEgg to go along with the fastest parts available at the time – 2x 36GB raptors in RAID0, 2.4 Ghz AMD 3700+, DFI Lanpart S754, and OCZ Powerstream 500w Power Supply, when plugged into the UPS I had it would blue screen as it was power starved.  Had to plug it right into the wall!
5900U 256 MB – $50 John Deere Swap Sheet (was in college and realized that I couldn’t afford the entire rig the 6800U was in  )
6600 256 MB – NewEgg, Passively cooled, ~$100 I think
7800 GT 256 MB – $345 new on launch day! 
6800 GT 256 MB – ~$200 fs/ft (sold it later for $170, was defective on delivery, had to eat $170 loss  )
6800 256 MB – ~$100 NewEgg
7900 GTO 512 MB – ~$230 NewEgg – used for almost a year!
3870 512 MB – $130 clearance @ BB (full circle!)
4830 512 MB – $70 fs/ft – used for almost two years!
4830 512 MB (xfire) – $60 fs/ft
5870 1GB – $200 Newegg

Marriage, the great man-hobby depresser 🙂  Kristin has saved me quite a bit of money in the last four years or so 😉

–Nat