Those of us who have been around the computer world for many years have had the misfortune of choosing on more than one occasion the part that ultimately let us down. It used to be a very common evil because we didn’t have the enormous amount of information that the internet offers today, although unfortunately it hasn’t been completely overcome yet thanks to myths, prejudices and false information circulating the web.

Today I’d like you to tell us the worst PC component you’ve had, either because you bought it or because you got it as a gift from a relative or friend, but what else surprised you in the end. good. As always, I get wet first and leave you with my choice, although the truth is that it was hard for me to decide because I was torn between the GeForce FX 5200 and the S3 Virge 3D.

In the end, I prefer the S3 Virge 3D because It was the one that raised the least expectations when buying, and the one that ultimately offered me the most value after upgrading to 4MB (I bought it with 2MB and decided to upgrade soon after). Most veterans will already know what graphics card I’m talking about, it was one of the first 3D accelerators “for the poor” back in the day who couldn’t buy a 3DFX Voodoo and couldn’t afford something better like a Rendition Vérité or Matrox. Mystique.

There is a 2MB version on the front and a 4MB version here.

S3 Virgin 3D offered a very basic acceleration via Direct3D, so basic that it was unable to render transparency and caused occasional texturing errors in some games. It was not serious considering its price (at the time it cost me about 10,000 pesetas, about 60 euros) and compared to the Voodoo, which, if I remember correctly, cost between 40,000 and 50,000 pesetas, between 240 and 300 euros. .

I didn’t have high expectations when I bought it, but in the end I was pleasantly surprised because of the seemingly bad component I was able to play titles like Motoracer, Resident Evil 1 and 2, and Final Fantasy VII in Direct3D modeand I managed to significantly extend the life of my then PC at minimal cost.

Resident Evil 1 and 2 were playable, performance was surprisingly good even without the transparency effects and minor texturing errors that come and go in Resident Evil 2. In Final Fantasy VII, the scouting performance was acceptable, but there were moments in combat where it was very choppy. Despite everything, I finished the game and put about 100 hours into it.

Now it’s your turn, what was the worst part you had and what surprised you the most? Read in the comments.