Ah, those youngsters have no idea what expensive means :)
Back in the early 90s a half decent SVGA card could set you back $900 easily (e.g. ATI's 1MB Graphics Ultra from 1991).
And that's 1992 dollars, mind you. So about $1,900 adjusted for inflation.
Heck, a SoundBlaster Pro sound card was $300 back then (~$670 adjusted for inflation) - the base model for $170 was considered a steal at that price :D
And that thing couldn't do half as much as even the cheapo ALC897 sound chip in a basic motherboard.
Hence why I was big into flight simulators up to when they started asking for 486/ 4MB as baseline, it was over for me, as I had other things in life more relevant to spend the money.
Heck, a SoundBlaster Pro sound card was $300 back then (~$670 adjusted for inflation) - the base model for $170 was considered a steal at that price :D And that thing couldn't do half as much as even the cheapo ALC897 sound chip in a basic motherboard.