The Top 10 Greatest Graphics Cards of All Time

Graphics. A term used to describe computer-generated imagery, most commonly associated with videogames. It’s a term that conjures up a film reel of memories in our minds of game visuals over the years, often the ones that shocked and amazed us when they were first seen. Graphics have been an ever-evolving standard in videogames, from the early days of gaming infancy in the mid-70s, on up through the 2D days of the proceeding decades, but never has that evolution been more fervent than when 3D gaming landed in full-force, and the story of how that came to be is just as fascinating as any book you’ll find on your e-reader.

[Venoxn4g]

Geforce Ti 4200 FTW!!!

[JsonHenry]

^^ I've owned 3 out of the 5 and the Ti4200 with 64megs of VRAM lasted me the longest out of all of them. Except for my current 5870. The lifespan of that is yet to be seen.

[LightofDarkness]

It's all about the 4200, lasted me a good 3 years before I got an x800SE.

[Theonetheonly]

I bought one of these on ebay a long time ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

lol Sucker was almost as loud as my 6970 @ 100% but all the time.

[malol]

GTX 560 ti

[Pikajew]

I am getting that one for my first rig :)

[buddymagoo]

GTX 460

[caseh]

Nvidia TNT-32Mb FTW

[Ramas]

what you think about Nvidia GTX 460 overclocked? from ASUS ?

[tdrules]

Factory OC cards are a great way of getting a lot of power for the money, just make sure reviews for them are positive.

I blindly bought the XFX GTX260 Black Edition OC which had some poor user reviews and I had a lot of problems

[iamgoatman]

I've never seen the point in factory overclocked cards, they normally offer such a small OC that the premium you pay isn't worth it.

When I bought my first ASUS 5850 early last year there were numerous models with factory overclocks, most of them increasing the clocks from 725/1000 to 775/1100 and slapping an extra £20-30 on the tag. That's a hefty premium for something that literally takes less than a minute to do in the CCC overdrive function, and doesn't require any bios or volt modding, just moving a slider.

What makes things worse is that most of the stock cards will hit 800Mhz on stock volts easily unless you got a really bad one. For those willing to increase the volts can reach much higher speeds, I myself have hit 1025/1250Mhz on one of my cards, although these speeds are certainly not guaranteed. That's an increase of 300Mhz for free if you can handle the extra heat and power needed, or £30 for 50Mhz which would make little to no difference in the real world.

Some factory overlocks are better than others, I only used the example on that specific card because I've had experience with it. But in the end the only reason I can see for getting a factory OC card is that you want a mild OC but don't want to run the risk of using a OC utility yourself in case it voids the warranty. But that's just my 2 cents.

[tdrules]

most factory OC cards have way better cooling systems, which many see as something to pay extra for.

[iamgoatman]

That is true, although using a different cooling system often requires a new PCB which can hamper any further overclocking past the initial factory OC as manufacturers tend to use cheaper board parts. Also using a non stock PCB often removes any volt modding features, for example any non stock designed 5850 card is missing the voltron chip so voltage can't be increased, essentially making any benefit from a new cooling system useless.

[Vip3r]

NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT FTW.

[kramun]

Yeah that was a great card, did wonders for playing Doom 3 at the time when I switched from a 9800 pro (also a great card for its era).

[iamgoatman]

My favourite has to be my old 8800GT, that thing was brilliant. Sure it ran as hot as hell and was pretty bloody noisy, but for it's time it was a beast. Still runs all but the very latest games at acceptable levels, still higher than what the consoles can manage.

[Ramas]

i had that card too, but it broke after 4 years of servise, so i bought gtx460 2 months ago

[RevXM]

Geforce 8800... not complete without it.

[Dragonlord112]

geforce GTX 560 ti

[ATi_Elite]

although the list is full of Nostalgic cards I think it needs a few modern ones plus it left off some very important nostalgic cards but still a good list.

ATi X1900
HD 4890
GTX 295
HD 5970
GTX 460

[TitanUp]

agree with your list but i would switch gtx 460 with the 480. but i can see why you would choose gtx 460 the price point and going sli.

[TitanUp]

i have been into pc gaming since 2005 have owned at least 6-7 different graphic cards 4 from amd 2 or 3 from nvidia. the gpu that got me most excited was the amd 5970 and it performed better than any gpu i ever have bought before. magnificent piece of hardware.

another great card was the 8800gtx when it first came out i was talking about it to my mom and step dad and never would stop talking about it. mom finally caved and bought me the gpu,and it became the 2nd greatest christmas present that i have ever received