R9 290 - last GPU before 20 nm disaster (not mentioned in the topic, it wasn’t Kepler that got parity in terms of tech process, it was that ATi lost its edge when 20nm didn’t bear fruit)
9500 non pro (L-shaped memory bank) - a fairly good chance to unlock it to 9700
N21 varieties (it’d be the first but mining craze killed it)
Cypress - another Khan like success that forced nV to start to play dirty (mGPU frametime “analysis”, GameWorks, PhysX etc), wood screw-augmented “Thermi” flagship in Jen-Hsun hands
R580 - another glimmer before the big disaster (history certainly repeats sometimes) and an example of quick recovery after so-so R520 (and terribad medium/low-end parts)
My list:
R9 290 - last GPU before 20 nm disaster (not mentioned in the topic, it wasn’t Kepler that got parity in terms of tech process, it was that ATi lost its edge when 20nm didn’t bear fruit)
9500 non pro (L-shaped memory bank) - a fairly good chance to unlock it to 9700
N21 varieties (it’d be the first but mining craze killed it)
Cypress - another Khan like success that forced nV to start to play dirty (mGPU frametime “analysis”, GameWorks, PhysX etc), wood screw-augmented “Thermi” flagship in Jen-Hsun hands
R580 - another glimmer before the big disaster (history certainly repeats sometimes) and an example of quick recovery after so-so R520 (and terribad medium/low-end parts)