Most satisfying graphics chipset launch to date? [Archive]

JF_Aidan_Pryde

19-Feb-2003, 23:35

R300.

R300 is really just a simple yet wonderful peice of technlogy.

Absurdly fast in today's games, yet so fully featured for future games.

Very well done.

It just makes a lot more SENSE than the darn NV30!

Johnny Rotten

20-Feb-2003, 00:04

So easy. 3dfx voodoo.

Freak'n Big Panda

20-Feb-2003, 00:21

Freak'n Big Panda

20-Feb-2003, 00:22

BRiT

20-Feb-2003, 01:20

Very close call, but I had to go with the 3dfx Voodoo1 over the ATI R300. It revolutionized the entire industry and gave performance and visual improvements that were out of this world!

Tagrineth

20-Feb-2003, 02:50

Voodoo2.

The performance jump from Voodoo Graphics to Voodoo2 was 300%... and to Voodoo2 SLI was 500-600%.

That's only been matched by R200 -> R300 with FSAA on...

Blade

20-Feb-2003, 02:59

I feel tempted to say Voodoo2 as well. It cost around $600 at first, but if you could afford to have SLI.. ;)

Let's just say that Tagrineth wasn't exaggerating. V2-SLI murderizes Voodoo1..

Reverend

20-Feb-2003, 03:16

Maybe we should also do a poll about when folks here started getting interested in 3d accelerators. I'll bet a number here wasn't during the lifetime of the Voodoo Graphics.

As for my vote, well, not vote but I had written in my now-defunct R300 review :

"Not since the original Voodoo Graphics have I been as satisfied with a video card"

MrB

20-Feb-2003, 06:10

r300 because ATI was full of confidence in this one and the launch presentation was great.

oh yeah the card is nice too.

Nagorak

20-Feb-2003, 06:17

It took them 3 generations, but ATi finally got everything right with the R300. Actually they got everything right on the R200, it's just the R300 blew the doors off. Kind of like the Voodoo2 in comparison to Voodoo1.

THe_KELRaTH

20-Feb-2003, 06:17

I have to go with Voodoo 1 - The difference from running 2D cards to 3D was just one big "Wow" effect.

TheMightyPuck

20-Feb-2003, 08:57

Tough one. V1, V2, R300. I bought a v1 when it came out. Then I bought a v2 because the v1 was struggling with unreal on my p200. Then I realized that it was the p200 that was bottlenecking my system so I got a c300 which I overclocked off the charts. And so on and so forth (I shudder to think how accomplished a guitar player I'd be today if I never saw a V1 ;)). I picked the r300 because it is the first graphics card I've bought (and I've bought alot) that hasn't disappointed me in any way. Plus I downloaded the UT2003 demo today and damn it looks sweet at 11x9x4aax16af at fast framerates.

*edit: but having said all that I have to put in some props for the v5 which stayed in my box--surviving short replacement by r8500 and gf4ti4600--for a record 30 months.

davefb

20-Feb-2003, 10:12

voodoo1.. gotta be :).

Had a tseng4000 ( or something like that). Got a diamond s3 thing and the '3d' was such a disappointment (2d was good though). To then get the voodoo1 in there it was an amazing revelation! . The v2 WAS faster but it was 'incremental' rather than a massive change. Then managed to acquire a v3 , then bought a v5 which has pretty much lasted until i've just bought a r300 (9500pro)...[ except for the 'free' kryo II which i blagged from work ;) ]
But definately the most satisfying is v1...

-dave-

martrox

20-Feb-2003, 12:31

Really tough choice..... V1, V2, or R300? After the disappointing ATI Rage and Rage II, I put a Voodoo 1 in my box, and was blown away - remembering my first glimse of Laura....hehe! V2 was, well, just that much faster.... BUT, The R300 actually made me forget my V5, something 4 different nVidia cards couldn't do......

I have to say here that the Voodoo 5 was the largest change in graphics - You just can't appreciate just how much FSAA changed how immersive the gaming experience was if you never had the chance to use one. While the V5 has been replaced(in my computer) by 4 different nVidia cards (GTS Pro, GF3, GF3 500TI & GF4 TI4600) I was never satisfied - I still longed for experience I remembered with my V5 FSAA. The day I replaced my GF4 with the 9700PRO - I knew the experience was back - only it was SO much better. I got more of the things that nVidia gave me coupled with more of the immersive qualities of my long lamented V5.

pascal

20-Feb-2003, 12:31

Voodoo1 - I had one and it was a great :)

After that comes the original TNT, fast, 32bits

BoardBonobo

20-Feb-2003, 13:09

I'd go with the V2 and SLI. It took the wow factor of the V1 and capitalised it. WOW!

But where are the TI chipsets? They were probably the first 3D capable ones I ever used\bought ans still have... somewhere, probably in the same box as the oak, Tseng labs, and my Paradise cards :)

Tagrineth

20-Feb-2003, 14:50

Oh, another thing about Voodoo2...

Can any other video card say it's still viable after some 5-6 years on the market? :) GLide compatibility here we come!

John Reynolds

20-Feb-2003, 15:45

Here we go with the chipset thing again. <grumble, grumble> :lol:

Tough decision for me: V1, SLI, V5, or R300. Hmmm, I'd say V1 and its bilinear filtering visually wowed me more than anything except for the V5's FSAA, but the V1 also ushered in 3D graphics so it gets the nod. If I were to list the 3D boards I've actually owned, I'd say:

V1
9700 Pro
V5
SLI
GF4 Ti4400
GF3 Ti500
V3
GF2 Ultra

LeStoffer

20-Feb-2003, 19:18

I voted for this Radeon 9700 Pro, but I guess that's mainly because I came a bit to late to the party to get a V1. :o

My first 3D card was a Riva128 that had great reviews at launch but was such a pain to get working with Unreal and QuakeII that I finally had to get a Voodoo 2 (non SLI). I was also fairly happy with the original GeForce DDR, but this Radeon 9700 Pro is just a damn fine piece of enginering!

Silent_One

20-Feb-2003, 19:44

V2 SLI
My first card was a V2. After the initial wow factor (and wife's $300 shock factor!) I went out and did it again for SLI (and another $300 shock factor!).

Nick[FM]

20-Feb-2003, 22:10

Definately Voodoo Graphics! I remember the day when my friend called me (he worked at a shop that sold computer stuff) and said that they had just got a couple of V1's in. I didn't really care, but when I went over and saw what it was capable of.. man! I thought it was it. No need for anything better... Oh, how little did I know! :wink:

But that started my "3D Career". If I would have to choose 1 more, it would be TNT1. It was something so new, so different, so .. ahead of its time. Kind of..

antlers

20-Feb-2003, 22:44

TNT was cool but it was a little disappointing because they had thought they could clock it higher

AzBat

20-Feb-2003, 23:23

Maybe we should also do a poll about when folks here started getting interested in 3d accelerators. I'll bet a number here wasn't during the lifetime of the Voodoo Graphics.

Reverend,

That sounds like a great idea. Maybe we should use a timeline based on when the products shipped? We could use the Accellenation diagram (http://accelenation.com/?ac.id.123.1) as a model? I suspect once we see the results that almost all people reading and posting now will have started getting interested in 3D accelerators when the GeForce first came out. Myself, I've been around since the 3D Blaster VLB. :D

Tommy McClain

Sxotty

21-Feb-2003, 01:10

I liked the TNT 2 ultra, but perhaps that was because I was no exposed to hype. All I heard was wow the vodoo is so cool..., and then some friend said hey check out the TNT2, I did and it was awesome, still have it in fact, but the fan is going bad and the card vibrates so bad, it is put to rest in an anti static bag somewhere in here.

gkar1

21-Feb-2003, 08:05

Without a doubt the V1. I bought one the day it came out(Diamond Monster 3d 4MB). Oh, how i loved that card. I then moved on to a Voodoo3, TNT2 Ultra ,Voodoo5, Radeon 8500 and currently a 9700Pro.

Simon F

21-Feb-2003, 08:48

I voted for the PCX1 because it personally brought me a lot of satisfaction.

Captain Chickenpants

21-Feb-2003, 10:21

Where is the Neon 250!

As working on the drivers was the first fulltime job I ever had, it brought me some satisfaction.

CC

Joe DeFuria

21-Feb-2003, 12:42

I voted for the PCX1 because it personally brought me a lot of satisfaction.

:D

Psikotiko

21-Feb-2003, 15:42

My list:
-Original Tnt ( great games at the time )
-PCX1
-Geforce256
-Radeon9000 ( great cheap chipset )
-KyroII ( tech satisfaction )
-Savage4
-S3 virge ( yes, i know!!!! )

dee

21-Feb-2003, 15:52

Would have been the V1 were it not for the fact that it the only games worth playing for most of the time I owned it were tombraider & q1 (& the pxc1 was better with tombraider anyway).

V2-SLI, though, was something else & I don't think there's been solution since (or likely will be again) that was just so far ahead of everything else.

slaterat

22-Feb-2003, 00:28

My all time fav was my Blaster Banshee.

I went from an 64 bit , 4meg, S3 Virge dx, that cost me $120 installed.

Four months later I bought a 128 bit, 16 meg , Banshee for $130 and installed it myself.....and thats how it all started

The Blaster Banshee was easily the best bang for the buck, I ever spent on my computer

binmaze

23-Feb-2003, 02:40

If it were the most revolutionary or something like that, it's definitely V1.
But considering it's the most satisfying...it'd be R300...
I never had any need for 3D acceleration capabilities at V1 era.
3D at that time seemed too crude for my taste...

Tompa

23-Feb-2003, 11:48

8) He he voted for the Apocalypse.....I still haven't been so satisfied as I was at the time when I booted up Ultmate Race the first time on that chip....the very first time I actually felt the "arcade" feeling on a PC-game (IMO).. and that on a good old P120 MHz ......well maybe when I played Unreal with the 3dfx Voodoo1...that was also one of "the" moments in my beginning of HW 3d on the PC.

// Tompa

Ante P

23-Feb-2003, 20:09

ugh, where's the FX?!?!

:lol:

thop

23-Feb-2003, 22:00

i voted for g400. i still use it today and it was at its time the best card around, especially in 32bit mode. the quality was also top notch, not to forget dual head etc.

however i almost voted voodoo1, because bilinear filtering was a quantum leap and the voodoo really started the whole business. i was quite excited when i saw turok the first time.

Demonio

24-Feb-2003, 00:07

3dfx Voodoo2 without a doubt.....

The R300 is great but you can't compare it to the grahpics quality+speed jump the V2 made......

The V2 gave more then I ever expected since you wasn't use to anything even close (I never saw the V1 unfortunately but b4 that there was..no 3D for the consumermarket).
Marketing wise they kinda even I think...

Wang

24-Feb-2003, 05:53

snip
(I never saw the V1 unfortunately but b4 that there was..no 3D for the consumermarket).
Marketing wise they kinda even I think...

The Rendition V1000 I bought for VQuake came out maybe 4-6 months before Voodoo1 did. Later I bought the Voodoo1 for GLQuake. :)
(used to play CTF with Zoid here in Ottawa using VQuake)

Hmmm hard poll. I've owned most major 3D cards.... but from retrospect none of them 'til the R300 were really satisfying. i.e. I still wanted more power, more usable AA/AF.

haha I used to overclock the crap outa the ol V1 modded with P1 hs/fan.
Ahhh the ol days... sigh.

Demonio

24-Feb-2003, 21:50

Well I forgot all about the rendition but The V2 at the time was the most satisfying groundbreaking card......

Try play a full Directx9 game(when it comes out) and you will see The R300 won't be very fast it can't even run doom 3 much over 30fps :lol: and that is still DirectX8.

The V2 on the other hand was fast enough for quite a long period.

Tagrineth

25-Feb-2003, 00:46

The V2 on the other hand was fast enough for quite a long period.

IIRC, Quake3:Arena is really the first game to choke on a (12MB) Voodoo2, simply due to aggregate size of textures used - one notch below max textures, it runs perfectly. Haven't tested on SLI though - the situation should be the same, anyway...

And V2 is still viable for GLide compatibility. It has to be the most long-lived video chipset (ha! I can say it re:V2!) of all time.

Blade

25-Feb-2003, 02:32

Tag:

And V2 is still viable for GLide compatibility. It has to be the most long-lived video chipset

Definitely. I'm actually using one myself. Albeit, I never seem to have a use for it.. but it was cheap and when the rare occasion presents itself.. I can play Glide-only games! ... *sigh* Pretty much every app has been updated for D3D/OGL..

Humus

25-Feb-2003, 23:54

Maybe we should also do a poll about when folks here started getting interested in 3d accelerators. I'll bet a number here wasn't during the lifetime of the Voodoo Graphics.

I voted R300.
When I first got into hardware rendering the V2 was already out, so I never really saw the V1->V2 transition. If I had, maybe I would have voted otherwise. The V2 was certainly a kickass card which at its time had no drawbacks really. The r300 has been pretty much that too.

Radea

26-Feb-2003, 16:15

Definatly the R300/9700 Pro (Actually even the 9500NP was quite succesfull from the mods :))

Everyone was expecting a somewhat large performace increase, and ATI just blew the doors off everyone's expectations. I still remember seeing that JK2 chart, where the R300 came just shy of 5 times the performance (ti4600 = 19, R300 = 101)

My jaw just dropped right then :)

Edit: I mean, the Ti4600 came in as just shy of 5 times slower :)