Agreed with the 9600 opinion. I had one of those and it performed quite well on my AMD system (Athlon XP I think).

For ms-dos, I would vote for TSENG ET4000/6000 I never had one of those but they have a very solid reputation.

I had a 9600 Pro for a number of years, and it was really one of the better post year 2000 cards I owned. I'd probably still be using it now if I hadn't bought a laptop as a desktop replacement. I had a nice passive cooling kit installed on it too.

I am also a big fan of cards based on ATi Mach64 and ET4000W32P.

8800GT for me. Tremendous longevity- nearly 3 years on and you can still play the latest games at respectable settings.

2nd would be the 4600Ti, which like the 8800GT had a useful lifespan way past expectation.

Radeon 9600 Pro? The 9600 line didn't even outperform the 9500 line it replaced. Best card ever was the 9500 Non-Pro if you were lucky enough to get one with pipelines that could be unlocked. (which I did). Some of them were defective 9700's with bad pipes, but when demand exceeded supply ATi put good 9700 chips on them and just locked the pipes in software.

Another good one was the X800GTO and X800GTO2 with the R480 core that you could unlock into a X850XT or X850XTPE. There weren't a lot of those, though. As soon as the unlock started becoming popular, ATi changed the core in the GTO reference design to one that had nothing to unlock.

The Radeon 9500 line was indeed faster then the 9600, but had active cooling. I'd prefer a 9800 over a 9500 since both have active cooling and both ran hotter then the 9600.
I'd still like to have a 9500 though, since it wasn't on the shelf for very long.

@AC
What did you like about the Mach64? I've been contemplating using one in one of my systems for a while but can't find an excuse..I mean a reason to prefer it over the Virge

My contenders (for 3D cards)

Voodoo Graphics
Radeon 9700 Pro
GeForce 8800 GTX (or another variant if you like)

Ah yes! The Geforce 8800 GTX is one special super gem! Sold it for my current 2x 9800GTX SLI. I miss it now.

In terms of dos and PCI, I prefer a simple S3 64V+ or a Virge DX.

For VLB, ET4000.

I've owned or used just about every single model of Mach64 that existed. In all the years that I used them I never ran into compatibility problems, they provided excellent clarity, excellent performance in windows, and usually pretty decent performance in DOS too (depends somewhat on RAM type). The frequency of driver release wasn't the greatest, but I personally never had any problems with their drivers until after the Mach64 era. S3 and ATi were pretty much equals back in the day when it came to quality and performance, so I'm not sure if there's reason to recommend one over the other. Perhaps I was just biased because ATi was a local company.

ET4000W32P is also one of my favourites, but those were heavily geared for DOS, while ATi and S3 had more well rounded products.

Nostalgia: Hercules monochrome graphics 😀
Otherwise: 8800GT

It has really taken a beating, lasting quite a few years and brought back to life in the oven.

My vote goes to the 4850. Amazing card, bought two years ago for 150 euro and it still plays anything I want at high details.
Another one would be the 8800GTX. It's almost 4 years but it can still play all games on at least medium details.

I'd have to go with 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics and the 8800GT. My kids currently run the 8800GT, and for a card that's a few years old it still holds up quit reasonable with today's games.

I do love my GTX 260 though, I've had it almost 2 years and it doubles the prowess of the 8800GT. Of course after playing STALKER Pripyat, I'm ready for a new GTX 460.

The Virge is totally underrated. 😁

Tetrium wrote:

I'm sure this would be as interesting as the "Worst video card ever" thread Worst video card ever […]
Show full quote

I'm sure this would be as interesting as the "Worst video card ever" thread
Worst video card ever

My best video card would be the Radeon 9600 Pro.
I've had it in a 3200+ Barton system for years 😀

My only objection to Radeons is their inability to do SSAA. Those cards only support MSAA, which is not compatible with certain old games. Otherwise, they should make it to the best list.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

I'm sure this would be as interesting as the "Worst video card ever" thread Worst video card ever […]
Show full quote

I'm sure this would be as interesting as the "Worst video card ever" thread
Worst video card ever

My best video card would be the Radeon 9600 Pro.
I've had it in a 3200+ Barton system for years 😀

My only objection to Radeons is their inability to do SSAA. Those cards only support MSAA, which is not compatible with certain old games. Otherwise, they should make it to the best list.

So whats your favorite video card of all time? ;D

Edit:
I forgot to mention, for all it's 3D goodness, the R9600 doesn't require a molex connected to it. One more thing this godly 😅 video card has going for it 😁

...Am I starting to sound biased? hehe 😜

Tetrium wrote:

So whats your favorite video card of all time? ;D

Hmmm.... Can't decide. Voodoo5 5500 can do FSAA for early 3D-accelerated games, as well as GLide games, so it is definitely on the list. GeForce 6800GT supports Windows 98, so it is on the list too. GeForce 7950GX2 Quad-SLI is the only GeForce that can do Quad-SLI in Windows XP, while Radeon 5xxxx series can do Super Sampling AA (finally!), so they are on the list as well.

For oldies it's the Voodoo5 for sure. That FSAA in old Glide games is so beautiful that me heart skips a beat for every third frame rendered! 😁

swaaye wrote:

For oldies it's the Voodoo5 for sure. That FSAA in old Glide games is so beautiful that me heart skips a beat for every third frame rendered! 😁

Problem is: not all GLide games can run on Voodoo5. There are certain "Voodoo1-only" (or "Voodoo2-only") that cannot run on Banshee core or above. 😢

By the way, anyone know how to run Archimedean Dynasty on Voodoo5?

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

swaaye wrote:

For oldies it's the Voodoo5 for sure. That FSAA in old Glide games is so beautiful that me heart skips a beat for every third frame rendered! 😁

Problem is: not all GLide games can run on Voodoo5. There are certain "Voodoo1-only" (or "Voodoo2-only") that cannot run on Banshee core or above. 😢

By the way, anyone know how to run Archimedean Dynasty on Voodoo5?

So then you put a Voodoo 5 in your AGP slot and a pair of Voodoo 2's in SLI in your PCI slots. 😁

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Problem is: not all GLide games can run on Voodoo5. There are certain "Voodoo1-only" (or "Voodoo2-only") that cannot run on Banshee core or above. 😢

Yeah but there aren't many. Some of those old games will work on a Voodoo5 too. I had Carmageddon 1 working and wow was it ever running smooth compared to with a Voodoo1! Voodoo3 works with it too. The extra speed of V3/5 is definitely desirable with that game.

Agree with prevous posters regarding the GF8800GT.
Use to have two of these in SLi mode in my current rig up until 6 months ago and I'm still amazed by the performance they gave me.

2nd runner up is the Radeon 9800XT and 3850

The 3850 still has some punch to run games as Crysis and high settings