Maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration, saying that you needed a $600 card. However, I can tell you that my HD4850 was fantastic at first, but struggled to keep up with the newest games after about two years when DX11 was starting to get used, and at that point (2010ish?) I could not get the same bang for the buck. I was also broke at the time and couldn't afford to be in the $250-$300 range, but the $100-$150 cards weren't powerful enough to justify the cost. I remember that you guys helped me build my first PC in 2006 or 2007, but I didn't have a huge budget, so I started with a single core CPU and a so-so video card. I had plans to buy an 8800GT when those were hot, but by the time I had the money, the HD4850 was newer and a better buy, given that I was also upgrading my mobo and CPU (to the ones I have now, and I made much smarter choices because I'm still able to use them today, 7 years later). Both of those cards I mentioned were great cards but priced under $200, but after that, taking an equal step up, the entry-level high end cards was $250+. I wasn't operating in the $250 range. Also, I had just graduated from college, I was broke and having trouble finding work, so I could have maybe managed the $150 high end cards of previous years, but even that was pushing it. Of course, there was a recession during that time. Inflation maybe made the prices go up? I just remember that I would have only been able to afford a mid level GPU, and the performance difference wasn't a big enough step over my current card to justify the cost. I also remember games that used DX11 being problematic and not scaling down well on my 4850, so I eventually had a throw my hands up moment and said this is costing me too much. I had a new Slim PS3 that I had gotten cheap the year before by trading in a ton of trash at Gamestop. Its starting price was $299 and i chopped most of that off through trades. It was there, it was easy and didn't require any more investment. So I exited PC gaming and just used my PC for Facebook and Photoshop. So its partly because I made some poor decisions in my first build, and its also because the cost of entry level versions the high-end cards had jumped up by about $100 over previous generations.
There's a price/performance sweet spot with every video card gen. Go too high and you will be paying a huge premium for marginal gains in performance. Go too low and you will be overpaying for low levels of performance and dealing with outdated hardware that will need to be replaced sooner. The 4850 was a low mid-range card that offered Geforce 8800 GT/GTS level performance, except it came out almost 2 years after the 8800 cards. It probably seemed like a good value at the time, but the problem with dirt cheap budget cards like that is that you will be upgrading again in a year because the thing was already dated when you bought it. The best bang for the buck is usually somewhere in the $200-400 range.
Hawk's not too far off. Multi-card systems were super hyped in 2008-2009 with SLI/Crossover. The GTX260/280 was the 'it' card and would cost you right around $600 2x SLI. I actually got 3x 260's and sold one because the whole SLI thing turned out to be a scam, as far as I could tell.
I am absolutely positive that you are incorrect. The spread was about 6 months between the 8800GT/GTS vs the HD4850, and the 4850 matched their performance but with lower power consumption, better at AA and a lower price. Also, these were not low end cards. They were upper mid level/lower high level cards at the time. The only cards more powerful were the HD4870 and the 8800GTX. The 9800 series was released around the same time, but there was almost no change in hardware over the 8800 cards other than SLI stuff and a higher price tag. After that, the cards seemed to get more expensive with less gains. I remember this because I obsessed over numbers back then trying to figure everything out because I was just starting to understand hardware. Also, Supersonic is correct, SLI and Crossfire were being marketed heavily, and now that I think about it, I think the PR benchmarks might have factored into my frustration, because I was still new to PC hardware..
GeForce 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX release date November 7 2006 Radeon 4850 release date June 19 2008 Almost two years apart just like I said. I know because I bought an 8800 GTS not long after launch pretty much as soon as Newegg got them in stock because I knew the 8800 was going to be amazing and a total game changer. You are confused by the 8800 GT, a cheaper refresh that came out in late 2007 about a year after the original 8800 cards. It offered GTS performance for a lower price. And I always said SLI was a scam. You could probably dig up posts on OG PVC from 10 years ago where I said it was a waste of money.
SLI back then was no different than what it's like now. It was heavily marketed but it was well known that it all depended on driver support. Also, you would only dive into it if you had that disposable income especially having to buy a mobo that supported it back then. Single card performance was still super strong. The Radeon 4850 was a great card, but it wasn't the performance card. It was known for its price to performance ratio for that $200 range. That's why it got so popular. I, myself, got the radeon 4870 1GB instead. Looking at my newegg order history, it was $209 in feb 2009 when I bought it during the radeon/geforce price wars.
I wanna play! Newegg orders since 2005. I assume there were rebates on most of these as well. 2005 X800XL $304 2006 X1800XL - died 2006 X1900XT $441 2007 8800GT $306 2010 5850 $280 2013 GTX 780 $550 2016 1070 FTW $435
@bfun Didn't you own a 2900XT, or maybe I'm thinking of someone else? I think we've all made a video card buying mistake at some point. I made the mistake of buying a launch R9 290X. Thing sounded like a leafblower and I ended up selling it very quickly to a litecoin miner for slightly more than I paid. The hardware review sites dropped the ball on that one. They emphasized the great performance at a competitive price, while glossing over or not mentioning that the stock card was one of the hottest and loudest video cards ever produced, that it throttled to slower speeds, and that aftermarket cards had mostly been delayed for 6 months while AIB partners struggled to figure out how to tame such a hot and noisy card. It's weird because launch reviews for the 290/290X were super positive, but it is now regarded as a huge flop due to the heat, noise, and throttling issues, and played a big role in AMD totally losing the high-end this generation to nVidia. Later on Fury flopped and it was abundantly clear AMD had lost the high-end. It seems like some of the cards that flopped horribly like that have become collector's items. I know someone on HardOCP was looking for a Geforce FX5800 Ultra "dustbuster," and willing to pay good money for it.
I did and I returned it. I also didn't buy the X1800XL from New Egg. I'm not sure where I got it from but I know I had it and it died within a month.
I kinda wish I never read this thread now. I noticed that I bought the evga geforce 6800gt back in 2005. I remember that thing dying on me a little over a year later so I just went and bought the geforce 7800gt and just scratched the 6800gt off as bad luck and timing. Bad memories came rushing back in because I remember 5 months after i bought that geforce 6800gt, evga launched their lifetime warranty coverage program and only made it retroactive back to products purchased in june 2005. so salty to this day. i also bought it from monarch computers. i just noticed that place shut down. i got my geforce 7800gt from buy.com which got bought out by rakuten. mwave is still around but no one even knows who they are anymore. long live newegg?
Actually, we were both technically right. They revised the GTS in December 2007. It probably could have been given a completely new name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_series
My history is boring. 2007 - 7900GS - $140 2008 - HD 4850 - $160 This is the card I'm still using today. Long overdue for an upgrade.
That name gave me a flashback. I checked my email for Monarch Computers and found a 2006 invoice. AMD Opteron 165, Dual Core, 1.8Ghz, 939pin, 110W, 2 MB Cache OEM - $146
Looking back at my history, I guess I actually upgrade a lot. Geforce 256 DDR (2000) - no idea what it cost on its own, came with a Gateway I bought Geforce 3 (2001) - Free. A frat bro gave this to me to repay him for a favor. Radeon 9700 Pro (2003) - $330 Radeon X800 Pro (2004) - $399 Geforce 8800 GTS (2007) - $330 GTX 460 (2010) - $235 Radeon R9 290X (2013) - $579 - crappy card. Sold almost immediately to a litecoin miner. GTX 780 Ti (2013) - free gift GTX 980 (2014) - $579 GTX 1070 (2017) - $405 There were some old shitty things from the 90s too that I don't remember that well now. Riva TNT. TNT2. Some Matrox thing. Wanna buy a lightly used GTX 980 Strix?
1998 voodoo 2 $150? 1999 voodoo 2 (for sli) $? 2000 geforce 2 gts $gift 2003 radeon 9700 pro all in wonder $? 2005 geforce 6800gt $370 2006 geforce 7800gt $? 2009 radeon 4870 1GB $209 2012 radeon 7770 $155 2014 geforce 770 $330 2016 geforce 980ti $600 2016 geforce 1080 $650 some of these had mail-in rebates too but hell if i remember which ones. it's actually quite hilarious going between cmdr's list and mine. we bought in other's off years except for 2003 with the radeon 9700 pro which was one of the greatest ati cards of all time.
Who was that ultra hardcore PC fanboy on the original forum that had the radeon 9800Pro. He was like the ultimate graphics nerd. He knew a ton about video cards but he never updated that card. It was like nothing new could ever match how great it was.
I know who you're talking about but can't remember his name. He would constantly post Far Cry screenshots.