Early 3D cards: Cirrus Logic, Trident, S3, Matrox, 3DFX, ATi, NVIDIA

Posted by aussiepunkrocksV2-0@reddit | retrobattlestations | View on Reddit | 6 comments

This may bring either pleasant or unpleasant memories depending on which card you had back in the day. Going through some boxes: Cirrus Logic Laguna3D, Trident 3DImage 9750, S3 Trio 3D/2X, Matrox G200, S3 Savage4, ATi 3D Rage, 3DFX Banshee, NVIDIA RIVA 128, RIVA 128ZX, RIVA TNT.

Laguna3D was pretty bad, kept it because of its interesting RAMBUS memory. Trident 3DImage also was a disappointment back in the day.

Good times with RIVA 128, Banshee!

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xnotx2@reddit

now you have to benchmark them all and post results!

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diegopx@reddit

I had that same Cirrus Logic Laguna3D Graphics Blaster for a while back in the day. That thing sucked so much you were better off using software rendering.

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SergeantRegular@reddit

Damn, I was fresh out of high school when I bought my very first dedicated video card - a TNT2 M64. Compared to onboard video, it was a beast, and I loved it.

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Muted-Scientist7900@reddit

So cool, you reminded me of my old Riva TNT2 wich I tought it was so cool until I figured it was a model 64 and got me kinda angry, lol.

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Ninlilizi_@reddit

It was exciting times watching this all grow out of the ashes of the final death throe of VGA.

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Shotz718@reddit

I have most of these cards still as well. Have mixed feelings about some.

Laguna3D. Don't have one currently. Only had brief experience with one. Not a very good card if memory serves.
Had both the 9750 and 9850. Basically 3D decelerators but the 9850 had built-in MPEG decoding which was nice. They were fine for fast GUI accelerators.
S3 Trio 3D was just awful. It was really just the ViRGE with AGP bolted on. Usual excellent 2D quality, but hopeless 3D.
Matrox G200. I have this exact same card somewhere. I never had good luck with it. Aside from the excellent image quality for desktop, the 3D was always lackluster.
3Dfx Banshee. I never was impressed with this card. It was very fast for 2D but DOS applications lacked direct support for such a new card. 3D performance was average at best, despite using a Voodoo2 graphics core. I think it was just not able to live up to the hype around it.
Savage4. Not a card I would've run, but I was always impressed with its performance for the price. Especially as a motherboard solution or mobile chip. Number Nine had fallen from grace at that point, becoming just a board partner.
ATI 3D Rage. This card was a turd. I'm glad they came out of this slump. Maybe a little better than a Virge or another super early 3D card, but pretty much a non-starter.
RIVA 128. Whats there to say that hasn't been said. One of the first 2D/3D card worth having. Good performance (not the best) out of both modes. Along with the Rage Pro, it brought 3D gaming on PC out of the Glide era and into the DirectX era.
RIVA 128ZX. Just a speed and memory bump on the standard 128.
The RIVA TNT. The card that scared 3dfx. Could outrun a Voodoo2 with equal image quality and built-in 2D. I didn't use the original TNT too much, but ran the TNT2 for years in older systems and office PCs.