Rare GPUs / Unreleased GPUs

[THE_EGG]

Just pulled my Palit 8800 GTS 512 1GB Sonic. Been running strong all these years. This is an oddball card that I don't think they sold very many of. It was expensive and came out right before the 9800 GTX launched. Only can find one review of it (http://www.legitreviews.com/palit-geforce-8800-gts-1gb-sonic-sli-video-card-review_683). Palit was still doing their push into the NA market and threw their weight around by making the only 1 GB version of the 8800 GTS 512(MB) I've seen. Little confusing how nvidia named the card for the amount of memory it was supposed to have and this didn't match it. Another odd note Palit was giving a lot of nvidia cards red PCBs at the time. In addition to having 1 GB of memory they also reworked the memory traces so the memory clocked higher than any other 8800 GTS 512. The reason I bought it despite the 9800 GTX being weeks away from release was someone had done a clock for clock comparison between the 8800 and the 9800 cores and it seemed some latency issues made the 8800 slightly faster. That plus the faster memory on this particular card made me feel like it was a better buy, but I don't think many others followed this logic given its rarity. I haven't ever seen one on ebay before.

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Nice!
When I get back from Sydney I'll have to dig out my Palit GTX 260 SP216 1792mb edition. Another red PCB champ with double the ram of standard cards.

 

[T4C Fantasy]

Nice!
When I get back from Sydney I'll have to dig out my Palit GTX 260 SP216 1792mb edition. Another red PCB champ with double the ram of standard cards.

make sure to take a pic, and pop it in ur pc so i can see gpuz screenshot, i need the dev id and clocks

a pic at this angle

 

[THE_EGG]

Palit GTX 260 SP216 1792MB

Alright I'm back from Sydney but I don't really want to put my 260 in my PC as I will have to remove my ram and heatsink.

Perhaps next weekend I might put together a retro PC and put it inside to get a screen shot of GPUZ. I'll grab a photo of my Palit box for it too.

 

[Kanan]

HD 2900 XTX A0 Prototype
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HD 2900 XTX A1 Prototype
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best pics of each prototype youll ever find xD

Very nice, I miss that flashy red on ATI cards. Now they're simply black.

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

Been a while since I check up on you guys. Been busy with my own collection recently, got a couple new cards to share soon.

Buuuut... while browsing google images I stumbled across this thread & found the guy who ended up with the 1 and only Sapphire Radeon 9800 Maxx in existance.

He also owns a functional SiS XGI Volari Duo V8 Ultra 256MB as well which I thought was perfect to add to the list here. These cards are very rarely talked about. And are truely one of the last real challangers to the ATI/Nvidia duo back in the early 2k's. This thing looks about on par with a 9500 Pro from looking at the reviews listed below.

I also know there is XGI Volari V5 128mb single chip version as well, but I couldn't find any decent enough photos of one worth sharing.

Outlet Reviews here:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/755-xgi-volari-duo-v8-ultra-256mb/
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/volari-duo/index.html

I couldn't find a upclose of the die's. But this was the best high res image of the card I could find. Suitable for here I hope.

 

[T4C Fantasy]

Been a while since I check up on you guys. Been busy with my own collection recently, got a couple new cards to share soon.

Buuuut... while browsing google images I stumbled across this thread & found the guy who ended up with the 1 and only Sapphire Radeon 9800 Maxx in existance.

He also owns a functional SiS XGI Volari Duo V8 Ultra 256MB as well which I thought was perfect to add to the list here. These cards are very rarely talked about. And are truely one of the last real challangers to the ATI/Nvidia duo back in the early 2k's. This thing looks about on par with a 9500 Pro from looking at the reviews listed below.

I also know there is XGI Volari V5 128mb single chip version as well, but I couldn't find any decent enough photos of one worth sharing.

Outlet Reviews here:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/755-xgi-volari-duo-v8-ultra-256mb/
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/volari-duo/index.html

I couldn't find a upclose of the die's. But this was the best high res image of the card I could find. Suitable for here I hope.


View attachment 92979 View attachment 92980

We have both i just dont look at xgi often
Have most xgi aswel

 

[Fouquin]

We have both i just dont look at xgi often
Have most xgi aswel

Might want to edit the 9800 Pro Maxx to show single-GPU stats considering the current owner has tested and confirmed that it has no electrical traces present to the second GPU. It's just a dummy chip soldered to the PCB. Since it's the only surviving example of the card, and no production card was made with dual 9800 Pros, the database should reflect reality and show the actual specs.

 

[T4C Fantasy]

Might want to edit the 9800 Pro Maxx to show single-GPU stats considering the current owner has tested and confirmed that it has no electrical traces present to the second GPU. It's just a dummy chip soldered to the PCB. Since it's the only surviving example of the card, and no production card was made with dual 9800 Pros, the database should reflect reality and show the actual specs.

who has that card anyways i need better pics of it xD

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

who has that card anyways i need better pics of it xD

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=17341&hilit=seizure&start=8500

 

[T4C Fantasy]

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=17341&hilit=seizure&start=8500

thanks but with fan sinks on and not so dusty, where can i contact?

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

hmm maybe, sign up for those forums and see if he's still an active member. otherwise im not sure. He's from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

So while I wait for my more exciting recent purchase to arrive from the UK. I've been looking for a ATI Radeon 7500 64mb PCI card for a while to use in my P3/Win98 PC. And Ebay seem to have them listed for really stupid prices. Like upwards of $700USD ???

But I found this really nice Hercules 3D Prophet (Radeon) 9000 64mb PCI. It seems to have a much larger PCB than the AGP version, and the previous owner added a 40mm blue LED fan.

(Sorry no die shots yet, I forgot when doing these photos)

 

[Fouquin]

So while I wait for my more exciting recent purchase to arrive from the UK. I've been looking for a ATI Radeon 7500 64mb PCI card for a while to use in my P3/Win98 PC. And Ebay seem to have them listed for really stupid prices. Like upwards of $700USD ???

But I found this really nice Hercules 3D Prophet (Radeon) 9000 64mb PCI. It seems to have a much larger PCB than the AGP version, and the previous owner added a 40mm blue LED fan.

(Sorry no die shots yet, I forgot when doing these photos)

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Gloriously incandescent.

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

So back in 2002 I was a poor student, and when first layed eyes on the card below in a magazine. It was like love at first sight. Sadly, being $700AUD it was far from affordable. So I bought it's little brother the Asus Ti4800 SE.

I know this is already on the list, but meet the newest addition to my collection. The ultimate poster card for the geforce 4 era, the Asus V8460 Ultra Deluxe 128mb. (Ti4600 of course)

 

[Fouquin]

So back in 2002 I was a poor student, and when first layed eyes on the card below in a magazine. It was like love at first sight. Sadly, being $700AUD it was far from affordable. So I bought it's little brother the Asus Ti4800 SE.

I know this is already on the list, but meet the newest addition to my collection. The ultimate poster card for the geforce 4 era, the Asus V8460 Ultra Deluxe 128mb. (Ti4600 of course)

View attachment 93363

Very nice addition! I personally feel that LeadTek and ABIT had better looking cards, but the features ASUS packed into their GeForce4 cards was incredible.

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

Very nice addition! I personally feel that LeadTek and ABIT had better looking cards, but the features ASUS packed into their GeForce4 cards was incredible.

These ones? The Abit one is nice. But the leadtek looks, meh imo. The best looking of all I think is the triplex ti 4600.

 

[Fouquin]

These ones? The Abit one is nice. But the leadtek looks, meh imo. The best looking of all I think is the triplex ti 4600.

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Yes to the Leadtek. Those early heatsinks with multiple fans dotted around tickle me pink. Love the absurdity of it.

However for ABIT I was referring to the Siluro OTES design:


Quite forward thinking.

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

Sparkle also did a similar card to leadtek.

 

[Fouquin]

Sparkle also did a similar card to leadtek.

View attachment 93378

Oh yeah this style was the thing for awhile. 2002 - 2004 saw Soltek, Sparkle, Leadtek, Gainward, BFG Tech, Albatron, Chaintech and even ASUS put a bunch of tiny fans all over their cards.

The most insane of which was of course Albatron's Gigi GeForce FX 5950 Ultra:


Followed closely by The Gigi FX 5700 Ultra:


Which was followed in third by the Chaintech FX 5700 Ultra Apogee:


Honorary mention, and actually one of my favorites, Leadtek WinFast A350 TDH:

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

That Albatron FX 5950 is sexy, It's also the only FX card on my list to get. Maybe If I find a reference 5800 Ultra with the UV green cooler. But I was never a big fan of the FX series of cards.

 

[Fouquin]

For GeForce FX these cards are on my list:

ABIT GeForce FX 5900 Siluro OTES:


PixelView GeForce FX 5900 XT GL:


Oh and pretty much any GeForce PCX I can get ahold of. Have yet to get one.

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

Nice that PixelView one is mad. I'm asuming the readout thing is for overclocking and fan control?

This Leadtek ones nice too. Kinda retro rocketeer looking in a way. (just realized you linked it too)

 

[Fouquin]

Nice that PixelView one is mad. I'm asuming the readout thing is for overclocking and fan control?

Core temp and fan speed. They made a FX 5700 version too which I would certainly buy if one were for sale.

 

[Fouquin]

@Modzy Since we were talking GeForce4, here's a rare variant of the GeForce4 Ti 4600:



XBIT Labs had one in for review and found it pretty lackluster, but it certainly looks out of place for a GeForce4. Full-cover shroud, blower, and a backplate. Couldn't find much information about whether it was released or not, but EVGA's own site shows this design as a "mock up".

 

[Cutting-Edge Retro]

well the thing is the entire GF4 line up in general were kinda lackluster. The R300, 9500/9700 Pros were just utterly dominate. The scores below are from what I've tested so far on my 3.6Ghz P4 northwood. Even the FX line up struggled to compete with the ATI cards back then. It took the 6800 series to finally get nvidia back the crown.

3DMark01SE
GF3 Ti 500 - 9918
GF4 Ti4200 - 11471
GF4 Ti4600 - 13216
9500 Pro -14274
9700 Pro - 16408
9800 Pro - 17616
9800 XT - 18802

3DMark03
GF3 Ti 500 - 1558
GF4 Ti4200 - 1663
GF4 Ti4600 - 1992
9500 Pro -5265
9700 Pro - 6891
9800 Pro - 7634
9800 XT - 8222