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A History of 3D Cards From Voodoo To GeForce

Ant sends us to Maximum PC for an account of the history and current state of 3D video cards (single print page). "Try to imagine where 3D gaming would be today if not for the graphics processing unit, or GPU. Without it, you wouldn't be [trudging] through the jungles of Crysis in all its visual splendor, nor would you be fending off endless hordes of fast-moving zombies at high resolutions. For that to happen, it takes a highly specialized chip designed for parallel processing to pull off the kinds of games you see today... Going forward, GPU makers will try to extend the reliance on videocards to also include physics processing, video encoding/decoding, and other tasks that [were] once handled by the CPU. It's pretty amazing when you think about how far graphics technology has come. To help you do that, we're going to take a look back at every major GPU release since the infancy of 3D graphics. Join us as we travel back in time and relive releases like 3dfx's Voodoo3 and S3's ViRGE lineup. This is one nostalgic ride you don't want to miss!"

16 of 320 comments (clear)

  1. I bought a whole box of them... by DarkProphet · · Score: 4, Funny

    at best buy a couple weeks ago... too bad the box was supposed to contain a Nvidia 260... s3, 3dfx, all kinds of old ass graphics boards in the box.. but no 260...

    --
    What could possibly hurt the security of the American people more than giving our own government the ability to hide its
  2. 7th Guest by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Had beautiful graphics and ran on a 386sx with a 128 MB VGA card and a 2D GPU.

    So I call Bullshit- the only reason a high powered GPU is necessary is because game programmers have become LAZY.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    1. Re:7th Guest by GunFodder · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not to mention the added luster of nostalgia. I was showing my mom Fallout 3 and her comment was like "wow, it looks almost as good as Myst!"

  3. Visual Splendor? by D+Ninja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Without it, you wouldn't be [trudging] through the jungles of Crysis in all its visual splendor

    Hmmm...is anybody able to play Crysis in all its visual splendor?

    1. Re:Visual Splendor? by laiquendi · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, but if I try to run my microwave at the same time it trips the breaker.

  4. There were some early kick ass 2D graphics cards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    But the market never accepted them because no matter how thin they made the peripheral slots, the damn things would just fall through the case.

  5. Re:Graphics and Stuff by snarfies · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait, Fallout 3 had a story? I thought it was just pointless wandering and about two hours worth of fetching stuff for your father.

  6. GeForce FX 5800? by wondershit · · Score: 4, Funny

    Am I missing a joke or is it an error that the description of the GeForce FX 5800 features the image of a vacuum cleaner? I mean... not that a vacuum cleaner with 15 million transistors is not impressive...

  7. Thats why I buy the ones rated in Bungholiomarks by Atomic+Punk · · Score: 5, Funny
  8. Re:I don't miss it by Narishma · · Score: 2, Funny

    Good luck finding Vista drivers for them!

    Some might see that as a feature.

    --
    Mada mada dane.
  9. Re:Graphics and Stuff by revlayle · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was a very fetching story

  10. Re:Matrox Millenium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's a shame there's no '+1 Nostalgia' moderation option.

  11. Re:Ugh, s3 Virge... by Ecuador · · Score: 2, Funny

    WTH are you talking about? S3 is the manufacturer of ViRGE. There is only S3 ViRGE, and it is the "regular" ViRGE.
    Since you seem at an automobile analogy comprehension level, I will make it even easier: "Regular" Prius is also "Toyota Prius".

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  12. Re:SLI only by Jaroslav.Tucek · · Score: 4, Funny

    >The V2 could only hit 1024x768 in SLI

    Well, the V2 was perfectly able to hit other places besides that, like London...

  13. Re:Thats why I buy the ones rated in Bungholiomark by auLucifer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Looks like that can do SLI too! I want 2 just so I can play Duke Nukem 12: Your mum says Hi

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    If I was witty I'd put something funny here but, as it stands, I am not and have just wasted seconds of your life
  14. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Luxury, when I were a kid we'd get up at 5 am and get the punch cards out and have to rearrange them into the right order after some idiot would play 4000 card pick up. before 7 am then our dad would whip us soundly before we spent 9 hours down the coal pit.