Was there a 32mb gpu available in 1999?

[PKr]

Until recently I thought I had a voodoo gpu back in 1999. But then I noticed something. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3dfx_Interactive the first voodoo gpu that had 32mb of memory was released in 2000. And I could've sworn that in 99 I was playing Half-Life on a 32mb gpu...

 

So, is my memory failing me, is the wiki page incorrect/incomplete or was there some other gpu with 32mb available back in 99?

[PsychEyeball]

The Geforce 256 launched in 1999 and had 32 MB of memory.

[PKr]

15 minutes ago, PsychEyeball said:

The Geforce 256 launched in 1999 and had 32 MB of memory.

Damn, that's strange... The form factor and it having both vga AND dvi ports seem to further confirm the fact it was indeed the gpu I had back then. But I have no memories of upgrading from voodoo 2 to Geforce 256 whatsoever.

 

Do you know by any chance if there were any modifications of previous voodoo gpus that expanded memory to 32mb?

Edited November 28, 2022 by PKr

[Jello]

There was also the Nvidia RIVA TNT 2. I didn't get one until 2000, but they were available in 1999, and they were available with 32MB VRAM.

[roadworx]

1 hour ago, Jello said:

There was also the Nvidia RIVA TNT 2. I didn't get one until 2000, but they were available in 1999, and they were available with 32MB VRAM.

damn, the 3dfx voodoo i have rn only has 4mb, and it was only made two years prior to that. tech was advancing like crazy back then, wasn't it

[Herr Dethnout]

4 hours ago, roadworx said:

damn, the 3dfx voodoo i have rn only has 4mb, and it was only made two years prior to that. tech was advancing like crazy back then, wasn't it

My man in 2016 the biggest thing in PC Gaming was 8gb ram and 2gb GPU (not really accurate), now in 2022 is 16 gb and 4-5 gb GPU.

I even remember when the iX intel CPU was a "big thing" back then first came out (long before Ryzen things came out). Tech is advancing like a goddamn F-Zero ship. O.o

[Graf Zahl]

11 hours ago, Herr Dethnout said:

My man in 2016 the biggest thing in PC Gaming was 8gb ram and 2gb GPU (not really accurate), now in 2022 is 16 gb and 4-5 gb GPU.

 

Actually, 16 gb / 4-6gb GPU is not state of the art anymore - for that you already need 32 GB RAM and at least an 8 GB GPU... :P

[HavoX]

5 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

 

Actually, 16 gb / 4-6gb GPU is not state of the art anymore - for that you already need 32 GB RAM and at least an 8 GB GPU... :P

And, if I had a dollar for a dollar, someone would've told me that 32GB RAM was overkill three years ago. My, how time flies by..

[Jello]

11 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

 

Actually, 16 gb / 4-6gb GPU is not state of the art anymore - for that you already need 32 GB RAM and at least an 8 GB GPU... :P

Yeah, pretty much this. I bought my last PC in 2014 and I thought I was "future proofing" it for at least 4 years because I got 16GB of RAM, and an i7 4770, and the GPU and PSU didn't really matter because I was planning on replacing them when they were cheap.

 

Aside from putting in a new PSU and GPU, and SSD back in 2016, and replacing the 760 GPU with a Geforce 1660 Super with 6GB VRAM in 2019, it's the same computer. The CPU is the same, the RAM is the same. And I'm still using the original HDD as a storage HDD. And it still works really well, and when I check with Canyourunit, apparently I can still run 98% of PC games at least at minimum specifications. That being said, it's getting really long in the teeth, so no, cutting edge at this point would probably be closer to 64GB RAM and a 10 or 12GB GPU.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Jello

[Chealien]

i've had a laptop all my life lol

[Redneckerz]

4 hours ago, Chealien said:

i've had a laptop all my life lol

I am glad you signed up to write this.

[TasAcri]

In 1999 i got a brand new Voodoo 3 with 16MB.

 

Maybe you had 32MB of main RAM and you remember it wrong? 32MB in 1999 was low but a 32MB VGA in 1999 would be too expensive.

[PKr]

2 hours ago, TasAcri said:

In 1999 i got a brand new Voodoo 3 with 16MB.

 

Maybe you had 32MB of main RAM and you remember it wrong? 32MB in 1999 was low but a 32MB VGA in 1999 would be too expensive.

Nah, it shouldn't be the case. The thing I remember vividly is how well half-life ran on that video card and how I had an edge over my friends in lan deathmatches because of 100+ fps... Something doesn't add up though. I doubt it was an Nvidia 256 either, as it was extremely expensive. I wonder if there was some unknown Chinese voodoo-knockoff that I might've had back then. Should've kept that pc instead of selling it in 2000s. :(

[vyruss]

https://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/feature-hardwarezones-10th-anniversary-1998-1999-era/gpu-scene-1999

 

According to this article there were a few, actually.

 

As an aside, I would have to look but I think I have an old PCI Voodoo card floating around somewhere in my hoard of antique computer hardware... Not even sure when, where, or why I bought that.  I think I may have another GPU from that era in my stash as well, I think it might be a Riva TNT2.

[Kityn]

Check out this list: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/?released=1999&memsize=32 MB&sort=name

[PKr]

5 hours ago, vyruss said:

Not even sure when, where, or why I bought that.

Okay, at least I am not the only... 😆

 

I remember that I had a voodoo 2. Then... Something powerful with 32mb that could run half-life @ 100 fps. Later I upgraded that something to radeon 9800 pro while waiting for Half-Life 2. Honestly though, the more I read about the gpus that were available at that time the more confused I get, as none of these options seem feasible.

[Chealien]

15 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

I am glad you signed up to write this.

indeed.

[Chealien]

15 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

I am glad you signed up to write this.

i definitely signed up to write that :/

[HavoX]

22 hours ago, PKr said:

 Later I upgraded that something to radeon 9800 pro

The PowerColor Radeon 9800 Pro was my first graphics card! So many happy memories..
At the time, it was a BEAST of a card, and it ran Doom³ without a hitch. I practically had the fastest card on the block!

...that was until one day the cooler bit the dust after the card began artifacting while I was playing Serious Sam, and after changing the fan to no avail, the card was ultimately replaced by a shittier one a Radeon X700 Pro. It was fun while it lasted though.