The 22 Greatest Graphics Cards Of All Time

[qubit]

My 7950GX2 and 8800GTX are in there.

Meet The Most Legendary Graphics Cards

Can you remember the graphics engines we consider worthy of commemoration as the title holders of their time? We thought it would be fun to walk down memory lane and recount the most powerful GPUs. We'll start back in 1996 with a single pixel pipeline and make our way to the present day with modern monsters capable of handling over 3000 pixel shader operations per clock!

TH

EDIT

People are complaining of "why isn't card xxx there?!" Often they are mentioned in the text accompanying one of the featured cards. It's usually because they are revised versions eg GTX 285 or didn't make the cut eg HD 2900 XT.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

no ATi 9800 Pro??? Fail...

 

[qubit]

no ATi 9800 Pro??? Fail...

They do mention it in the 9700 entry. It was an enhancement of an existing design, which is why it's not the main item.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

but the fact is, hardly anyone remembers the 9700 - I remember the 9700, Because i still have one. Everyone knows the 9800, it was more popular then the 9700

 

[Outback Bronze]

Yer i had a 9800pro and i thought it would b in there and no x800pro or xt?:shadedshu

 

[Nick259]

The 8800gt was a really awesome card too. I mean not the most powerful card but near 8800gtx preformance for a fraction of the price.

 

[nick_1992]

no x850 xtpe?

 

[qubit]

no x850 xtpe?

Nah, I don't think that one was mentioned at all. Shame, it was a bit of a hotrod for its time.

 

[cdawall]

its just all of the performance leaders of their times...

 

[sneekypeet]

Here was my take....

I read these comments and it made me inquisitive so I clicked the link. I started the image stack and was like this is awesome. Leaders of the year and it starts off great. Then years get skipped, and then it turns into multi GPUs for card of that year, and ends up with a foursome or two to finish off the list? Looks to me like someone wasn't man enough to state an actual opinion of the top dog for each year, and became more of a well one of this half dozen is right for you isn't it?

At the end all I can say is lame, sorry

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I never got the popularity of the 9800 line. To me it seemed too expensive. I ended up with a 9600 XT.

 

[LagunaX]

I had a 7950GX2 - it was awesome but drivers were still a bit buggy for dual gpu cards back then.
Where are the x850xt's?
I remember following W1zzard's guide to flashing my club3d x800 gto into an x850xt - a budget pocket rocket with pixel pipelines unlocked from 12 to 16!
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/127

 

[HossHuge]

I've always thought that the HD4850 was a great card. A lot of power in the mid-range market.

 

[El_Mayo]

Wasn't the HD 4770 the shit back in the day cos it was 40nm and everything else wasn't?

 

[v12dock]

replace the 5970 with the 5870 and add the x800gto, 8800gt, 460gtx

 

[AsRock]

To me the great cards were the 3DFX voodoo, ATI's 9800 and the 8800.

 

[cdawall]

replace the 5970 with the 5870 and add the x800gto, 8800gt, 460gtx

i wouldn't add the 8800GT or 460. i would however argue the 8800GTS 512mb seeing how the card was reused 3 times for the 9800GTX, 9800GTX+ and GTS250

 

[Melvis]

4870X2 O yea

top 22 seems like an odd number?

 

[MRCL]

No FX5200?

 

[Jetster]

I had the ATI 9700 cuz I couldn't afford the 9800pro

 

[AlienIsGOD]

TH is BS anyways, EVERYONE knows that the 4850 redefined mainstream gaming at the $150-200 price range

and speaking from experience and current usage, 3 years later CrossFired 4850s are STILL somewhat viable gaming solution

 

[cdawall]

TH is BS anyways, EVERYONE knows that the 4850 redefined mainstream gaming at the $150-200 price range

and speaking from experience and current usage, 3 years later CrossFired 4850s are STILL somewhat viable gaming solution

they do have the 3870X2 and a pair of those still can play all modern games and is comparable to one to two modern cards depending on the game.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

the 4850 X2 is still pretty high on their list, but its good to see the 3870 X2 still holding its own

 

[Lionheart]

Instead of just naming my favorite video card I will mention the ones that I have owned

1. ATI All In Wonder Radeon 7500 64MB (Card was good but lacked pixel shaders but came with tv tuner)
2. Nvidia FX 5200 128MB(first video card ever bought and it sucked lol)
3. ATI X800Pro 256MB(Loved this old beast, finally play Doom 3 + HL2 properly)
4. Nvidia 8800GTS 320MB(I was amazed by the performance of this card when I owned it lol)
5. ATI HD4850 512MB(Another awesome card for the price)
6. Nvidia GTS 250 512MB(This card played games really well, similar to my HD4850)
7. ATI HD4870 1GB(Awesome card, didn't know GDDR5 memory would make such a difference compared to the HD4850)
8. HD5870 1GB(My fav card ever, need I say much)
9. HD5970 2GB(LONG powerful and buggy)
10. 2x HD5870 1GB(Much better then the HD 5970, less driver issues)
11. GTX 480 1.5GB (Great performer but ran to hot for my liking)
12. HD5970 2GB(Yep back to this card again, less issues though)
13. GT 240 1GB(Bought it for PhysX, plays most games at low res)
14. HD4350 512MB(Lol better then the FX 5200 at least)
15. 2x HD6950's 2GB(Best setup I've ever owned, I'm an idiot for selling them off but needed moneyz)
16. HD6950 2GB(Bought cheaply from a mate, woooooo!)
17. HD 6970 2GB(Another great performer but sounded like a leaf blower)
18. GTX 580 1.5GB(Finally last one and it RULEZ)

There's my life story of GPU's

 

[cdawall]

lol i tried making a list once and stopped at like 50 cards.