Up For Debate - What was your first ever graphics card?

Written by Chad Norton on Sat, Apr 10, 2021 5:00 PM

We’re feeling a bit nostalgic here at Game Debate for some reason, and so we’ve decided to reminisce on the good ole days considering that no one is actually able to buy a brand new graphics card at the moment at a decent price, since prices have risen once again due to the global chip shortage currently going on.

So that got us thinking: what was your first ever graphics card? Was it a beast at the time? Or on the lower end of the spectrum as you tested your foot in the water? Was it a GPU already in your family’s machine? What was it? And what was the first one you bought yourself?

I think it’s fun to look back at these things, especially now as we live in an era where 24GB of video memory is a normal thing. Back in the old days just 1GB of VRAM was considered a lot, so it’s really interesting to see how far we’ve come (and fun to think about the future of video games and graphics hardware, which will undoubtedly reveal a GPU with 1TB of VRAM. As crazy as it sounds, it will eventually happen).

For instance, my first ever PC had a measly GTX 650 inside. That was pretty okay for low-end gaming back in 2013 when I built the PC (I was a console boi up until then), and it packed 1024MB of GDDR5 VRAM with 384 CUDA Cores and a TDP of 65W.

That’s a far cry from Nvidia’s enthusiast GPU the RTX 3080, which boasts a whopping 10GB of GDDR6X VRAM, 8704 CUDA Cores and a TDP of 320W.

I only put the comparison there to show how far we have actually come since my first ever graphics card. I don’t actually own an RTX 3080 and at this point I’m pretty sure no one does. But either way, those are the specs and it’s insane to think that’s where we are now 8 years on.

So what about you? What was your first ever graphics card? Do you remember the specs of it? How much VRAM did it have? And was it your own first GPU, or was it someone else’s before you got your own? Did you build your first PC? Get it pre-built? Or inherited it from someone else? Let us know!

How much VRAM was your first GPU?

When did you buy your first graphics card?

Did you build your first PC? Or got it pre-built or inherited?

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12:09 Apr-14-2021

ATI Radeon 9250(128mb, 64bit)

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junior admin badge
06:54 Apr-17-2021

It's been a while since I heard that brand name.
Is it still kicking around?

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09:41 Apr-17-2021

AMD bought ATi in 2005-6.


Otherwise they wouldn't be able to make GPUs due to licensing, just like intel couldn't.

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junior admin badge
16:30 Apr-17-2021

I'm aware.
It's just been a while since I heard anybody mention ATI, that's all.


P.S.
The question was regarding the GPU, not the brand. My previous post didn't accurately convey my question (dangers of typing at night )

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75
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11:35 Apr-14-2021

R9 270, still have it, gonna make a 'retro' gaming PC lol

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junior admin badge
06:42 Apr-17-2021

Basically every game from 1990 till 2010 will be playable on the "retro" gaming PC.

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09:42 Apr-17-2021

I'd say every game up to 2017 is playable on a r9 270.

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junior admin badge
16:39 Apr-17-2021

I'm pretty sure every game from 2010 will benefit more if played on the RX 480, hence my cap at 2010. But you're right, R9 270 could easily play most game from 2017. Hell it's probably capable of playing more recent (2018 - 2021) games as well.

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19:06 Apr-12-2021

My first card was GeForce2 MX400, I believe it was 32 MB card.

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18:10 Apr-12-2021

My very first gpu was a GeForce 7200 GT

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17:28 Apr-12-2021

The first GPU i have was from my cousin pc, that was a GT6200 256mb AGP graphics card, then i upgraded that to a GT 6600 512mb AGP, after that the iGPU of the i5 4430 and then i bought a Sapphire r7 265 Dual-X

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16:46 Apr-12-2021

Hmm,


my first GPU was Intel GMA 950 in laptop.



  1. Intel GMA 950 (laptop)

  2. ASUS GT 630

  3. Gigabyte GTX 660

  4. GTX 770

  5. ASUS Strix R9 270x 2GB

  6. ASUS Strix R9 280x 3GB

  7. ASUS Strix GTX 1070 8GB

  8. GTX 1060 3GB (laptop)

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15:30 Apr-12-2021

The first GPU I bought with my own money was the HD5770.
The first GPU I ever had in a computer was ATI Radeon 8500.
The oldest GPU I've used ati 38800.

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13:49 Apr-12-2021

3DFx Voodoo 3 16MB AGP that I bought in 2000 was my first GPU. Good times.

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13:13 Apr-12-2021

His Radeon X1900 xt 512mb vram, great card, it failed after six years and was replaced with an EVGA GTX570 1280mb vram, single fan card which ran very hot 90c+.

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13:21 Apr-12-2021

After the GTX 570 sli, then they were replaced with an Sapphire RX580 8GB nitro +, so i could play Battlefield 1, that was bought in April 2017.
It still works

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07:26 Apr-12-2021

XFX 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition (April 4, 2008).

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02:17 Apr-12-2021

8800GTX with 768MB VRAM.

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01:37 Apr-12-2021

AMD Radeon HD 6670 2GB DDR3
to
NVidia GT 710

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02:54 Apr-12-2021

wait from hd 6670 to gt710?
why, 6670 died or something?

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19:51 Apr-12-2021

yep! it did. Burnt from TV HDMI. TV was in warranty.

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00:58 Apr-12-2021

These are the 3D cards I've had in my primary PCs:
Rendition V2200
GeForce2 MX400
GeForce4 Ti 4200
GeForce 6600 GT
GeForce 9800 GT
GeForce GTX 275
GeForce GTX 660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB


Laptop GPUs:
Radeon 9600M
GeForce GT 330M

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22:46 Apr-11-2021

First Dedicated GPU: Geforce 9400GT (I was so happy with it, until I realized it was a low-end card. Witcher II Assassins of Kings almost killed it.) First ever GPU was an integrated one from the 90s and 4mb VRAM. A "beast" of a card! I was able to play Diablo II and FIFA 2002 though! Nice memories!

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22:50 Apr-11-2021

And as a list of purchased cards:



  1. Gigabyte 9400 GT 1 GB

  2. Gigabyte GT 440 1 GB

  3. EVGA Superclocked GTX 750 ti 2 GB

  4. Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini

  5. Zotac GTX 1080 Mini

  6. EVGA 2080 ti XC Ultra


So 100% Team Green for me. :)

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20:59 Apr-11-2021

since everyone is posting all of their gpus why not.
1st- MSI Radeon 9250 128mb
2nd- Inno3D GeForce FX 5200 128mb
2nd- Radeon HD 6450 1gb
3rd- Windforce GeForce GTX 960 4gb
4th- Asus Strix Geforce GTX 1080 Advance

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20:11 Apr-11-2021

GTX 460 1GB back in 2011.

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19:33 Apr-11-2021

ATI Rage Pro 8MP. Got got it in 1997.

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01:36 Apr-12-2021

Boomer

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19:04 Apr-11-2021

Wow, we got a lot of PC veterans out here.


1st- Zotac GTX 750 1gb
2nd - EVGA Superclocked Gtx 960 4gb.
3rd - XFS XXX AMD Rx580 8gb - Man the price of this nowadays is scary...

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18:19 Apr-11-2021

1st-Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128mb
2nd-Nvidia GeForce 610m 1gb (laptop)
3rd-Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050m TI (laptop)
4th-Nvidia Geforce RTX 3070 8gb

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18:35 Apr-11-2021

i am glad you could got rid of virgin gtx 1050m ti (i have one and i am stuck with it because of shortage). That card wasnt even enough even when it was released

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17:40 Apr-11-2021

Here is my graphics cards from oldest to newest:



  1. Nvidia GeForce 256 64mb

  2. Nvidia Quadro4 900 XGL 128mb

  3. ATI Radeon X1600 256mb (literally catched on fire once)

  4. ATI Radeon HD 5770 1gb

  5. AMD RX 580 4gb

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Can They Run... |

| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Core i9-9900K 8-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra 32GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i7-11700K 8-Core 3.6GHz Radeon RX 6600 8GB 16GB
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Radeon RX 570 MSI Armor 8GB 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i5-9600K 6-Core 3.7GHz GeForce RTX 2060 Super 8GB 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i5-10400 6-Core 2.90GHz Radeon RX 6600 8GB 32GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i5-10400 6-Core 2.90GHz Radeon RX 6600 8GB 32GB
| Ultra,
Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra 16GB
| 60FPS, Medium, 1080p
Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core 3.7GHz Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5500U 6-Core 2.1GHz GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Medium, 1080p
Core i7-3770 4-Core 3.4GHz GeForce GTX 960 Gigabyte WindForce 2X OC 4GB Edition 8GB
Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core 3.7GHz Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1440p
Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core 3.7GHz Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5500U 6-Core 2.1GHz GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile 16GB
| 60FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5500U 6-Core 2.1GHz GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core 3.7GHz Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB 16GB
100% Yes [2 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Core i5-3470S 2.9GHz GeForce GTX 1660 8GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5600 6-Core 3.5GHz GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB 32GB
APU A6-6400K Dual-Core Radeon HD 8470 (OEM) 4GB
Core i5-3570 3.4GHz GeForce GTX 750 Ti MSI Gaming 2GB Edition 16GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1440p
Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core 3.8GHz GeForce RTX 3070 Asus Dual OC 8GB 16GB