Ugly GPUs

erek said:
was the default renderer OpenGL or D3D?

the NV30 / NV35 was good at OpenGL, but i can't recall if ut2003/4 defaulted to D3D in Windows.

i was using Linux with my NV35 (FX 5900) back in the day
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UT2003/2004 were designed for high-end Direct3D 8 hardware, and the default renderer was D3D8 through and through. There was an OpenGL renderer provided but it was relatively barebones and mostly intended for testing as I recall. There were some improvements made to it for Linux compatibility, but that was the better part of 20 years ago and I don't remember the details very well any more. It seemed to do alright on a Pentium 4 running Slackware with a Geforce2 Pro I had kicking around.

Later a Direct3D 9 renderer was added, but it made very little difference in practice and I *think* they removed it in a subsequent patch. Epic also added the Pixomatic software renderer, which was single-threaded but allowed the game to run a hell of a lot better on systems with crappy integrated video if they had the CPU performance to drive it. That was a lifesaver in the days when Intel graphics were worse than slow.

Outside of a few titles where they performed measurably worse than the GeForce4 Ti series they were intended to replace, the FX series were generally competent Direct3D 8 cards. The big issue at that point was waiting for driver optimizations to land, and for them to balance quality and performance in the process. My 5900XT pulled a lot of duty in UT2004... Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
 
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Yeston. The only company that dares to make something that doesn't look like a Michael Bay Transformers wannabe.
 
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rgMekanic said:
So erek collects rare GPUs and that's very cool. I kind of want to get my hands on some ugly GPUs... like ain't got no alibi U G L Y.

Why? Meh, cheaper than rare cards, and to me more interesting. Anyone have any suggestions?

Like this 660 ti

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b664/colorful-igame-gtx-660-ti-wcg-edition

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Or perhaps a Zogus GTX 770

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b2568/zogis-gtx-770-superclock-4-gb

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rgMekanic said:
Setting an alert on ebay for that wireless bastard. That is lovely.

THis GTX 680 is in need of a spot on my shelf too

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oh man that i game and that colorful are BEAUTS!! in fact a few cars form this first page are awesome! the bat car gpu is ugly af though.
 
My vote is for one of the GTX 750 variants made by Asus.......cooler isn't doing it for me....:yuck:
 

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I'm not gonna lie, I kinda like it the old designs, maybe because I'm too attach to the past LOL. One thing for sure. Companies used to put a lot of efforts when designing the boxes. I remember XFX and MSI
 
A vast majority of the Nvidia 3000 series cooling designs the OEMs came up with are tacky and just plain fugly. Not really less aesthetically displeasing than anything posted in this thread already. Again, why do we need triple slot air cooling designs? No wonder gpu water cooling has gained popularity lately.

The exception to the rule being the 3000 series Founders. That design is so damn sexy.
 
While those are valid points, they still seems overkill for most skus.
 
Gainward_GeForce4_Ti4800SE_GS_128MB.jpg


Back when men were "men", women were "gals", and we all bought Fry's combos that included an ECS board which was immediately tossed/given-away..

- This thread is lacking in old school Gainward (just sayin)
 
Absalom said:
While those are valid points, they still seems overkill for most skus.
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Now you refuse to accept the reasons.
I dont see how you can say that when you had to ask why they are so big.

The alternative is much louder fans with smaller heatsinks, or higher temps.
Higher temps reduces life and reliability by a large factor.
Which do you prefer?

Slower cards would be another alternative but companies are in competition to produce the fastest cards, so they are pushed to the limit otherwise market share is lost.
 
erek said:
this needs combined with the diamond set

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I bought a couple sets of those in gold just for the bling factor. Once this mining craze dies down I want to fill a room full of yeston GPUs for kicks.
STEM said:
Actually, these look far worse:

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I love these, don't know what's wrong with you guys. I'm planning on doing a goldmember build once I find enough matching parts. Need to figure out if I can set the RGB to always stay on yellow too.



Found these GPU stands on ebay. And another hideous 4870.
 

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Zotac usually has disgusting color schemes.
 

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To me, ugly were the old gold/yellow colored PCB on the GeForce 2 GTX variants. It didn't blend with anything on the market back then At least ATi gave us red PCB cards just had to fight to make it work most times.
 

NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2​

i
MgVwl.jpg

i remember it when i see it first time on local pc store.I go there with the hope to drop the price ...after years in the same shop the sold it in the clearence basket for 12 euros....
normal sound noise the fans ( yeaaa right :D)
and that from old time again
post-1377-1416072502,2285.jpg

" what cooler should we use?"
"screw one metal plate"
"there i fix it"
cant remember brand but it was NOT Ati
 
Sir Beregond said:
Anyone remember these?

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Also as someone who had some 5770's back in the day, I was never a fan of the ones with the egg coolers from a looks perspective.

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I can’t say I really mind the egg cooler - basic design, relatively easy to replace the fan or jerry-rig a new one on in a pinch. But that abomination at the top is audio terrorism, the kind of thing you take to a LAN party to get blacklisted and leave everyone with a shrill migraine, wondering if they’re going to start smelling burnt toast. What the hell were they thinking?
 
Halon said:
I can’t say I really mind the egg cooler - basic design, relatively easy to replace the fan or jerry-rig a new one on in a pinch. But that abomination at the top is audio terrorism, the kind of thing you take to a LAN party to get blacklisted and leave everyone with a shrill migraine, wondering if they’re going to start smelling burnt toast. What the hell were they thinking?
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Oh I agree from a maintenance perspective, the egg cooler was nice.

As for the other, "audio terrorism", I am going to use that line, thanks!

Nenu said:
I've still got a working 5770.
Its not pretty.
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Me too. Have two of them, a Sapphire reference model and an XFX.
 
Sir Beregond said:
Oh I agree from a maintenance perspective, the egg cooler was nice.

As for the other, "audio terrorism", I am going to use that line, thanks!
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Yeah, any time. After thinking about it for a second I do know what they were thinking: it's a variation on a 1U/2U server cooling setup, where small fans push air through heatsink baffles. It's workable in a server closet, but dire in a place without hearing protection. Just awful.
 
revenant said:
Yup, Soltek too... I have one of those btw... couple of bulgy caps but otherwise looks new.
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Bought my first Soltek nForce2 flamer after reading Kyle's [H]ard review. Overclocked the crap out of that one. Still have a last revision (AP) with the better Japanese caps and two extra USB ports. Bought new and only saw power briefly about a year ago.
 
Susquehannock said:
Bought my first Soltek nForce2 flamer after reading Kyle's [H]ard review. Overclocked the crap out of that one. Still have a last revision (AP) with the better Japanese caps and two extra USB ports. Bought new and only saw power briefly about a year ago.
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Yeah the [H] review of that board was great. That and the MSI K7N2 variants are such great NF2 boards.

edit: oo I also have Geil Golden Dragon DDR now that were talking about golden themed hardware lol.
 
Mchart said:
Oh god


Sorry, now turning into the ugly mobo thread.
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You think that's bad. Soltek made a few purple versions like golden flame above at very end of production run. I still want one. :D

An ugly mobo thread is not a bad idea.

purple.FRN2.jpg
 
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