The 22 Greatest Graphics Cards Of All Time

[christian27]

9800 GX2?? Give me a break ..., they forgot Hd 4770, the very first 40 nm video card

 

[qubit]

9800 GX2?? Give me a break ..., they forgot Hd 4770, the very first 40 nm video card

That GX2 blew away the competition when it came out, but that doesn't matter here. What does matter is that it was the top end card from nvidia in it's time and is why it's included. Top end cards of each generation are what this article is about, which people seem to keep missing. :shadedshu

 

[Drone]

voodoo and riva are groundbreaking the rest is just meh ....

 

[newtekie1]

Grrr... you've missed the point, like so many others, lol. It's not the very top end card though, the 4870 was the top. This article is about the very top end of each generation.

No I'm not, I already stated that I get that the article takes the meaning of the term greatest as "best performance and feature set", you missed the point that I made that I don't agree with their definition of greatest.

it was definitely midrange

4850>4870>4890

No, it is high end, HD4800=High end. If it was mid-range it would be called HD4600. Just because it isn't the top performer that doesn't mean it isn't high end.

 

[qubit]

No I'm not, I already stated that I get that the article takes the meaning of the term greatest as "best performance and feature set", you missed the point that I made that I don't agree with their definition of greatest.

Ok, I've reread your first post on my thread and sure you disagree on the definition if "greatest", which is fine. However, the article defines it as the top end of each generation, which are the ones with the fastest frame rates and doesn't look at other criteria for "greatest", so we can only go by that.

If you were to make your own top 20 greatest cards using your own criteria on TPU, I'd be happy to have a look at that too.

 

[TheMailMan78]

X800xt.

 

[erocker]

Ok, I've reread your first post on my thread and sure you disagree on the definition if "greatest", which is fine. However, the article defines it as the top end of each generation, which are the ones with the fastest frame rates and doesn't look at other criteria for "greatest", so we can only go by that.

If you were to make your own top 20 greatest cards using your own criteria on TPU, I'd be happy to have a look at that too.

I guess we could all do that. This makes me think why Tom's Hardware's list is even relevant. I and it seems quite a few others don't think it's very credible.

 

[Iceni]

The Voodoo 5 should be on top of the Geforce 2, Even the top end GF2 cards had trouble keeping up with that card (frame rates GF2 was on top, graphics V5 owned). Added to that it's the First dual GPU card. The V5 also had far smoother graphics better antialisasing and the framerate was always steady GF2 spiked a lot, If you've ever played on a 3dfx glide game with a V5 you know exactly what i'm talking about. The card was revolutionary. Shame 3dfx were greedy and didn't sell the chip to all the companies making GF2's like gainward. Had they done this the company would probably still be with us, making Nvidia cry I still have a PCi V5 5500 just far amusement, Damn it should win an award for been the first card to take up 12" of case space!

GF3 is a little bit of a black sheep as well, While it was a good card the GF2 and V5 could run everything at the time and the GF4 came out early enough to make the GF3 an easy card to skip. The original Xbox also Runs a GF3. So it is one of the most produced GPU's of it's time.

The 9700 pro was a top card and i Agree it is placed correctly, The 9800 pro is just a rehash of that card, I got rid on my 9700 pro last year, But up to 3 years ago i still had it running in an everyday machine, Pumping out frames and making people look at me funny for not upgrading. The card was simple ahead of everyone.

 

[qubit]

I guess we could all do that. This makes me think why Tom's Hardware's list is even relevant. I and it seems quite a few others don't think it's very credible.

Heck, it may or may not be all that credible, but it sure gives us something to talk about!

 

[TheMailMan78]

The Voodoo 5 was epic. 64megs of MADNESS!

 

[qubit]

The Voodoo 5 was epic. 64megs of MADNESS!

I still have it. Do you still have yours? I wonder if they're worth money as collector's items now?

 

[TheMailMan78]

I still have it. Do you still have yours? I wonder if they're worth money as collector's items now?

Mine was the Mac edition. So no.

http://compare.ebay.com/like/230664532827?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y

 

[Iceni]

I actually had 2 V5's the original was the 4x agp model, I sold it a long long time ago. The one i still have is the PC-pci version. It still works, and it fits and works in a modern machine!! Much to my amusement.

 

[Jeffredo]

I had several of those late 90s ones, but the 8800 GTX I still own is the only one I'd describe as "great". Totally changed my gaming enjoyment (like doubling my FPS in Oblivion).

 

[eidairaman1]

i would say the Radeon 7000 n GF 4 MX4, still being made today,

Performance wise for me

Hercules GF 2 GTS Pro 64MB
ATI Radeon AIW 9700 Pro
Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro 512

 

[Deleted member 74752]

I had/have eight of them.

 

[20mmrain]

They did mention the 5870 in passing but not as a contender. Yes the card is a modern card.... but in terms of pure performance.... Nvidia was not able to respond to it for almost 8 months. When they finally did the GTX 480 barley surpassed the 5870's performance.... it also took way more power to run as well as you could cook an egg on it.
Honestly the 5870 should have been up there. If not the 5870 then the 5850 at least. There was a card that held second fastest card title for along time.... also was a card that was able to be flashed to a 5870 easily and if you didn't want to do that overclocking it to faster then a 5870 was easily done on most of them.
Now I understand ATI/AMD has had a shorter life span then Nvidia. So that is one reason for them to have more winners..... but it still seems to me that this was a very Favorited, fan boy, one sided competition.

Both of the cards listed above (even if the criteria was just performance) should have made the list. Let's face it.... 2010 was a ATI/AMD dominated year. It took allot longer for Nvidia to recover... then was let on. It just should of been right to mention this way just like the way they mentioned Nvidia's 8800 GTX reign.

Otherwise I agree with the rest of their suggestions and the rest of the review.

 

[Melvis]

They did mention the 5870 in passing but not as a contender. Yes the card is a modern card.... but in terms of pure performance.... Nvidia was not able to respond to it for almost 8 months. When they finally did the GTX 480 barley surpassed the 5870's performance.... it also took way more power to run as well as you could cook an egg on it.
Honestly the 5870 should have been up there. If not the 5870 then the 5850 at least. There was a card that held second fastest card title for along time.... also was a card that was able to be flashed to a 5870 easily and if you didn't want to do that overclocking it to faster then a 5870 was easily done on most of them.
Now I understand ATI/AMD has had a shorter life span then Nvidia. So that is one reason for them to have more winners..... but it still seems to me that this was a very Favorited, fan boy, one sided competition.

Both of the cards listed above (even if the criteria was just performance) should have made the list. Let's face it.... 2010 was a ATI/AMD dominated year. It took allot longer for Nvidia to recover... then was let on. It just should of been right to mention this way just like the way they mentioned Nvidia's 8800 GTX reign.

Otherwise I agree with the rest of their suggestions and the rest of the review.

You just gotta remember that there was 2 cards already out that out performed the 5870 when it first came out, the 4870X2 and GTX295 where faster more powerful cards, not by much but they where. But if we are talking about DX11 then yes the 5870 was the fastest till the GTX480 came along. Also newer drivers might have changed things also?

 

[Lionheart]

You just gotta remember that there was 2 cards already out that out performed the 5870 when it first came out, the 4870X2 and GTX295 where faster more powerful cards, not by much but they where. But if we are talking about DX11 then yes the 5870 was the fastest till the GTX480 came along. Also newer drivers might have changed things also?

HD5870 RULEZZ

 

[Melvis]

HD5870 RULEZZ

Agreed, id love to have one, if i cant get this 4870 card working good after i bake it then ill be looking for a used 5870 for sure or 5850.

 

[caleb]

I dont see Riva 128ZX. (Or missed it)
I remember how I got it to work with Quake2 my buddy was like WTFOMFG. I think it was that moment when voodoo2 died.

 

[Jetster]

The Voodoo 5 was epic. 64megs of MADNESS!

And the biggest card

 

[ucanmandaa]

my list would be like this:
3dfx Voodoo Graphics: It all started with this card.
nVidia Riva TNT: First true 2D/3D accelerator. 32bit color capable but it was unable to do it with acceptable FPS.
3dfx Voodoo 2: First multi-gpu capable graphics card.
3dfx Voodoo 4/5: Brought FSAA into the picture. Their AA quality is still comparable to modern cards we use today. It also had T-buffer cinematic effects, Depth of field, motion blur etc. though 3dfx went down too early to implement any of those effects in games.
Ati Radeon 9700Pro: It was a beast when it first released. First card that could really play with 4xaa and 8xaf at high resolutions. While first introduced in 2002, it could play new games from 2005 with decent performance (it was that powerful).
nVidia 8800 GTX: nVidia's 9700Pro. It was so powerful when first introduced, it crushed every card in the market. A pair of these can still play current games at medium-high settings.
Ati Radeon 5870: Maybe its still too early to say but this one will be joining the ranks of the 9700pro and the 8800 GTX in the future for having such a long lifespan. Mine is two years old yet it still kicks ass

 

[Peter1986C]

Ati Radeon 5870: Maybe its still too early to say but this one will be joining the ranks of the 9700pro and the 8800 GTX in the future for having such a long lifespan. Mine is two years old yet it still kicks ass

Sure, it still kicks ass just like my HD4850. Okay, I have to admit that yours is kicking ass much harder but I suppose you get my drift (3 years old and @ 720p-like resolutions it still handles D3D titles at medium or high settings* very well). The only weakness is it's power efficiency, modern cards with the same performance (e.g. HD 5750, HD6750) tend to consume (a lot) less.

*dependent on the desired frame rates.

 

[H82LUZ73]

The Voodoo 5 should be on top of the Geforce 2, Even the top end GF2 cards had trouble keeping up with that card (frame rates GF2 was on top, graphics V5 owned). Added to that it's the First dual GPU card. The V5 also had far smoother graphics better antialisasing and the framerate was always steady GF2 spiked a lot, If you've ever played on a 3dfx glide game with a V5 you know exactly what i'm talking about. The card was revolutionary. Shame 3dfx were greedy and didn't sell the chip to all the companies making GF2's like gainward. Had they done this the company would probably still be with us, making Nvidia cry I still have a PCi V5 5500 just far amusement, Damn it should win an award for been the first card to take up 12" of case space!

GF3 is a little bit of a black sheep as well, While it was a good card the GF2 and V5 could run everything at the time and the GF4 came out early enough to make the GF3 an easy card to skip. The original Xbox also Runs a GF3. So it is one of the most produced GPU's of it's time.

The 9700 pro was a top card and i Agree it is placed correctly, The 9800 pro is just a rehash of that card, I got rid on my 9700 pro last year, But up to 3 years ago i still had it running in an everyday machine, Pumping out frames and making people look at me funny for not upgrading. The card was simple ahead of everyone.

Nope not the first dual card The ATI 128 Fury Rage Maxx was ...Like a year before it.Look it up.