Once we consider the greatest graphics playing cards this present day, GPUs just like the RTX 4090 or the RX 7900 XTX come to thoughts. Nonetheless, for these beastly playing cards to have the ability to run, some a lot older GPUs needed to crawl, after which stroll, to get us to the place we’re in the present day.
Trying again, the historical past of graphics playing cards reveals us just a few landmark GPUs that redefined graphics know-how. Let’s make a journey again to 1996 and subsequent years to discover the graphics playing cards that made a distinction, had an influence, and had been smash hits with lovers throughout the globe.
3dfx Voodoo
The 3dfx Voodoo marks the daybreak of client 3D graphics acceleration. This graphics accelerator, outfitted with a modest 50MHz clock pace and 4/6MB of reminiscence, to not point out a 500nm course of node, might not sound like a lot. Nonetheless, it opened up gaming to an entire new market when it launched in 1996.
The cardboard was primarily designed to cater to avid gamers. Its capability to render complicated 3D environments was groundbreaking on the time, even when the specs sound laughable by in the present day’s requirements. The titles that supported Voodoo’s Glide API delivered an unmatched visible expertise in 3D, at resolutions reaching as much as 800 x 600, or 640 x 480 for the decrease spec.
Nonetheless, the 3dfx Voodoo (sometimes called Voodoo 1 in a while) was not with out fault. Since this was a 3D graphics accelerator, those that purchased it nonetheless had to purchase a separate 2D card. With out the 2D card, the 3dfx Voodoo wouldn’t be capable of present any video in any respect, so this was extra of an answer for lovers. Like many of the graphics options of these instances, it additionally struggled with warmth.
Because of the launch of this accelerator, Voodoo Graphics turned a market chief for a number of years, though the corporate later went on to launch one of many worst GPUs of all time, the 3dfx Voodoo Rush. Finally, whereas its improvements had been monumental and formed the graphics panorama, 3dfx Interactive didn’t survive the risky GPU market of the late Nineties and the early 2000s. Nvidia purchased out most of its property in late 2000 — principally to safe the mental property rights.
ATI Radeon 9700 Professional
Just some years later, in 2002, ATI’s Radeon 9700 Professional was the king of graphics for some time — and it definitely had significantly better specs than the 3dfx Voodoo. Primarily based on a 150nm course of node, it had a core clock of 325MHz and 128MB of DDR reminiscence throughout a 256-bit interface. It may help resolutions of as much as 2,048 x 1,536.
Extra importantly, it was the primary graphics card to help DirectX 9.0, however that’s not all. That is the GPU that popularized anti-aliasing (AA) and anisotropic filtering (AF). Previous to this card, these options had been probably not mainstream, however this GPU made it doable. It additionally outperformed its opponents, comparable to Nvidia’s GeForce4 Ti 4600, by as much as 100% with AA and AF enabled.
ATI’s early adoption of DirectX 9 allowed it to face out in comparison with Nvidia’s GeForce4 Ti collection, which didn’t provide {hardware} help for DX9. This was a time period when ATI, later AMD, dominated Nvidia like by no means earlier than, releasing a technology of graphics playing cards that defeated Nvidia with ease. The Radeon 9700 Professional was adopted by the Radeon 9800 Professional, which was additionally an enormous success amongst avid gamers and reviewers alike.
ATI went on to commerce blows with Nvidia for just a few extra years, till it was acquired by AMD in 2006. The ATI model identify was killed off in 2010, however Radeon nonetheless stays within the names of AMD’s graphics playing cards.
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX
We’re shifting on to 2006, when the battle between Nvidia and ATI (later AMD) was at its peak. That is when Nvidia launched the GeForce 8800 GTX, an enormous (on the time) graphics card that spearheaded a key GPU structure that’s nonetheless in use to today. Launching as a part of two flagships of the GeForce 8 collection, the 8800 GTX was an enthusiast-level GPU with some fierce gaming capabilities.
The whole lineup was fairly distinctive for its time, however the 8800 GTX is remembered as a monster flagship with some fairly intense specs. It clocked at 575MHz and featured 768MB of GDDR3 VRAM throughout a 384-bit reminiscence bus. It may deal with resolutions of as much as 2,560 x 1,600. Extra importantly, it launched unified shader textures, propelling the GPU into a brand new period of graphics capabilities with unparalleled efficiency for that point.
Previous to the GeForce 8 collection, graphics playing cards used separate shaders for various kinds of processing, comparable to vertex and pixel shaders. The unified structure, which remains to be utilized in trendy GPUs, mixed these right into a single, extra versatile pipeline. This opened up GPU sources and made for extra environment friendly processing.
Furthermore, the 8800 GTX was the primary to make use of DirectX 10, and that was an enormous improve in comparison with the earlier model. All in all, it was a success upon launch, and it caught round for years even when newer GPUs hit the market.
AMD Radeon R9 290
When AMD launched the Radeon R9 290 in 2013, the graphics panorama was already vastly totally different from what we noticed within the late Nineties and the early 2000s. It featured a clock pace of as much as 947MHz and 4GB of GDDR5 reminiscence throughout a 512-bit bus. For comparability, Nvidia has a model of the RTX 3050 that additionally sports activities 4GB of VRAM (and a 128-bit interface), though that’s GDDR6. The R9 290 may additionally deal with resolutions of as much as 4K, so it’s so much nearer to the highest GPUs we’re seeing as of late than any of the earlier playing cards on this record.
Because of the spacious 512-bit reminiscence interface, the R9 290 may present excessive reminiscence bandwidth, and that unlocked high-end gaming. It additionally supported AMD’s Mantle API, which was an early try at making a low-level graphics API that later influenced the event of Vulkan. Some additionally declare that DirectX 12 was additionally influenced by Mantle in a roundabout way. The Radeon R9 290 was additionally one of many first instances we’ve seen devoted audio processing {hardware} on the GPU facet.
The legacy of the AMD R9 290 lies not simply in new options, however within the delivery of AMD’s performance-per-dollar method. It was a graphics card able to delivering high-end efficiency at a way more reasonably priced worth ($400) than lovers had been used to on the time. As mentioned on this Anandtech overview, the R9 290 was in a position to ship 106% of the efficiency provided by the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 — and at $100 much less. Let’s not neglect that it was virtually as highly effective because the R9 290X, all of the whereas being $150 cheaper.
The high-end gaming GPU market was by no means low cost, though as of late, it’s pricier than ever. However with the R9 290, AMD confirmed the lots that it’s completely doable to make a premium GPU and worth it in a means that had Nvidia scrambling to supply reductions. Let’s have extra of that in 2024, please.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Ah, the GTX 1080 Ti — the cherry on prime of Nvidia’s wonderful Pascal structure. That whole technology of GPUs aged so nicely that they nonetheless rank excessive within the month-to-month Steam {Hardware} Survey, and I personally solely removed my GTX 1060 only a few months in the past. And sure, I do play AAA video games.
Nvidia’s flagship, launched in 2017, got here with a most clock of 1,582MHz and an enormous (on the time, and even in the present day) 11GB of GDDR5X reminiscence throughout a 352-bit bus. With 3,584 CUDA cores and help for as much as 8K decision, this GPU nonetheless holds up nicely to today, simply outperforming older funds graphics playing cards.
To today, I believe that the GTX 1080 Ti was considered one of Nvidia’s best achievements. At simply 250 watts, the GPU wiped the ground with the Titan X Pascal. That’s not all — when Nvidia launched the Titan Xp someday later, it was only some p.c quicker than the GTX 1080 Ti. At $1,200 for the Titan and $700 for the 1080 Ti, it was an apparent alternative as to which card to select.
At its peak, the GTX 1080 Ti was each gamer’s objective, and utilizing two of them by way of Nvidia’s SLI was the dream that some lovers splurged on. Whereas SLI is just about useless now, and utilizing two 1080 Ti GPUs was by no means value it, the cardboard was a powerhouse that redefined the concept of high-end gaming. If solely we may get that sort of relative efficiency for simply $700 as of late. After all, the $700 stung extra in 2017, when GPUs had been typically cheaper.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
Nvidia’s RTX 3060 Ti is now not top-of-the-line graphics playing cards. It’s largely been changed by the RTX 40-series, or, on the funds facet of issues, by AMD’s RX 7000 collection. Nonetheless, it’s such a very good GPU that I’d nonetheless advocate it over many current-gen choices — offered you could find a very good deal on it.
The RTX 3060 Ti marks one of many first playing cards that provided affordable ray tracing efficiency at a mainstream worth. Priced at $400 at launch, the GPU has a max clock pace of 1,665MHz, 8GB of GDDR6 reminiscence, a 256-bit bus, and 4,864 CUDA cores. In comparison with the disappointing RTX 4060 Ti, the RTX 3060 Ti is typically quicker than its successor, and even when it’s not, it retains up. Contemplating that the RTX 4060 Ti arrived two and a half years later, it speaks volumes concerning the potential and capabilities of the RTX 3060 Ti.
This was additionally one of many first GPU releases the place upgrading from the GTX 1080 Ti even made any sense. It’s a testomony to the facility of Pascal that the RTX 3060 Ti is just about 15% quicker than the 1080 Ti — however it provides entry to all of Nvidia’s RTX software program stack, together with the ever-impressive DLSS.
The influence of the RTX 3060 Ti could seem smaller now that we all know that Nvidia in a while launched DLSS 3, accessible solely on RTX 40-series playing cards, which crushed DLSS 2. Nonetheless, even when the RTX 3060 Ti didn’t introduce any standout options all by itself, it was a landmark GPU for its technology, providing entry to AAA gaming on a funds throughout a time when the GPU scarcity ravaged the whole market. To today, it’s the fifth-most standard graphics card within the Steam {Hardware} Survey, and it’s nonetheless an possibility that is sensible to purchase for a funds PC construct. That’s saying so much for a GPU that was launched on the finish of 2020.
Editors’ Suggestions