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The first of a slow rollout of a new series

Tech spot just dumped an article on old graphics cards. It’s interesting!
TechSpot
But, or the horror of modern tech pubs and the ignorance to the retro market.
And how integrated it is in today’s world.
They focus on $500-$2000 cards so I’ll do the same here. Based on original pricing.

3Dfx.
AGP. 16MB.
Original price:$699-$999.
Current price $499-$1299.
The first prosumer 3D card. Two cores. EDO.

Then? 3D games and CAD/CAM.

Today, dedicated block chain and 3D printing.

Voodoo Rush (1st gen) and Wave
PCI. 8-24MB ram. 512KB to 2MB buffer.
Original price $299-$799
Current price $99-$599.
Added a DAC and ADC controller. Secondary I/O card link.

Then? Often used in early MMS computers. It’s ability to link with and control capture cards and sound cards mad it a must for early demo work. Screen capture with sound output to a display. Mirroring.

Today. Kiosk displays.
These cards can be found in thousands of embedded systems in use today. From voting machines and ATMs to digital vending machines and coffee and shake dispensers. Movie rental machines. Airport digital pay phones. All of these using original era cards.

3DO blaster set.
ISA/AGP/PCI 16MB ram.
Original price $999 without drive) $1899 with 2x CD-ROM.
Current price $50-$3000

Then. Included a 3DO blaster creative card in ISA or PCI. And an AGP video card. Multi format CD support including Bridge and Green Book. 3DO, VCD/AVCD, PhotoCD, CDi, etc.

Today? This is a rare one for this list.
The 3DO cards are highly sought for. With at least 12 different cars variations... the pricing is without sense or reason
The obvious starting point is retro gaming and computing. With a combination of software options the 3DO blaster is a fine choice for retro use. 3DO and CDI games are obvious, but also Amiga, Sega, Atari.
The card combined with the branded drive made up the most reliable of the 3DO systems.
With the card and a RLD or ALD drive (Recordable/Archive Laser Disc) you open up retro Home A/V. Just add A-D tuner amp and enjoy.
The onboard MPEG chip can handle TS, BS, and PS streams in hardware. Our use the analogue pass through for rich analog sound. Firmware Hacks exist for video bending.
These cards can be found all over the world in use today. Often in dedicated machines. They run satellite video receiver distribution (eg hospitals, hotels), demo loops in stores like walmart. Internet radio players for businesses. They find use in retro Indy game publishing. High-end home theatre computers as a hardware controller box. ...
he most common use is to drop it in an external breakout box as a secondary processor card. Often over FireWire, Lightning, SAS, or SCSI.

Hercules
ISA. 64KB-1MB ram. Custom cards with up to 4MB exist.
Original price $1999 or less
Current price $10-$5000

The godfather of graphics.
Hercules is a brand, a format, and an era.
The name is big with retro gamers but means nothing on its own. You can find a card from Tandy or IBM the produces Hercules graphics. Or a card from Hercules that doesn’t.
The actual first card chip and the format namesake is a Motorola 6k with 32KB ram with trinary colour or 20 shades of grey. Released for $498-$799.
The cards used 8KB ram chips and had etched lands to add more than the base.
Use care when buying ANY HGC ISA card with over 1MB or ram as it is user added.
HGC was the first large production run graphics card.
Generic off-brand compatible cards with 32KB ram can be found for as little as $10.
But actual HGC card can run many many thousands to collectors when working.
Most HGC cards are still in use today in hundreds of thousands of computers around the world.
There’s a good chance the corner store with the dos computer from 1985 for inventory database use has an HGC in it. And your bank.
HGC cards from 82-86 run in the low $1000s. Find one in a proprietary architecture such as for the IBM post AT systems or HP, Compaq, etc... you can move into the 10s of thousands.
Just keep an eye for card branding. Generic compatible cards are never above a few hundred dollars.

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