Whatever happened to cool physical graphics on the graphics cards themselves?

[IceDigger]

Whatever happened to cool physical graphics on the graphics cards themselves?

They used to have hot chicks and stuff on the actual coolers and stuffs....

 

[Araxie]

Im just glad they dissapeared.... they always looked childish and unnecessary.

 

[Brian_B]

Can always DIY

 

[IceDigger]

Can always DIY

I like where you are going!

 

[Averox]

We found it. We found the guy who liked the weird tacky robots and cg women and frogs and stuff.

 

[another-user]

and thank god theyre gone.

 

[cybereality]

I liked them too. I had this Geforce 6800, one of my favs.

Also, what happened to the Nvidia demos they would release for new cards (Dawn, Nalu, etc.)?

 

[wizzi01]

The last card I had that had graphics on it was a msi 8800 gt

 

[oldmanbal]

and thank god theyre gone.

I'll always say they are better than the LED obsession I see that have replaced them on cards.

I liked them too. I had this Geforce 6800, one of my favs.

Also, what happened to the Nvidia demos they would release for new cards (Dawn, Nalu, etc.)?

Nvidia has grown substantially since their early days, and now they essentially release full games as their demos ie: shadow of the tomb raider, metro exodus, and bf5. It locks buyers into their ecosystem without wasting money on free demos.

 

[VanGoghComplex]

I'll always say they are better than the LED obsession I see that have replaced them on cards.

Username checks out.

Man, I bet that card in cybereality's post would look great in my short-bus mermaid themed build.

 

[pendragon1]

I just pulled one of these out of a garbage tower

 

[GoldenTiger]

I just pulled one of these out of a garbage tower

View attachment 109014

Neat! I always loved the graphics on older cards.

 

[TheMadHatterXxX]

I liked them too. I had this Geforce 6800, one of my favs.


Also, what happened to the Nvidia demos they would release for new cards (Dawn, Nalu, etc.)?

Screw the demos I paid 1300 for a new card and they dont even come with free games anymore. WTF

 

[VanGoghComplex]

Screw the demos I paid 1300 for a new card and they dont even come with free games anymore. WTF

"Buy an RTX 2080ti, and a free copy of every game that currently supports Ray Tracing is included!"

 

[N4CR]

Well funded, encouraged and paid degeneracy representing a small fraction of the population?

But to be honest some were tacky as fuck from smaller GPU manufacturers, but the graphics and cooler designs were at least more interesting aesthetically than what we have today. At least Nvidia has the Star Wars cards, I do like the later AMD reference blowers also, especially the Yin Min blue Vega FEs.. I'll have to collect one of those when they get cheaper.

 

[Zepher]

I have this still, sitting in a box somewhere in the garage.

I can't remember what this card looked like though,
Might have had that box image on the card.

 

[craigdt]

When I was in jr high, I specifically wanted the nVidia card with the mermaid on it.

Clearly, it was the best.

 

[pippenainteasy]

I liked them too. I had this Geforce 6800, one of my favs.

View attachment 108974

Also, what happened to the Nvidia demos they would release for new cards (Dawn, Nalu, etc.)?

#MeToo happened

 

[Averox]

No those graphics on cards disappeared well before MeToo.

 

[SamirD]

I just pulled one of these out of a garbage tower

View attachment 109014

Man, I could really use this for upgrading an old lga775 system. I want junk towers near me.

 

[RamonGTP]

I enjoyed the box art. Made getting a new card more exciting for me.

 

[cdr_74_premium]

Man, I could really use this for upgrading an old lga775 system. I want junk towers near me.

Damn, where do they have those damn garbage towers? LOL!

 

[pendragon1]

this one came from a client. wasn't seeing the hdd on first boot or two. got there and could feel the heat radiating from the tower. popped off the side panel and it was the north bridge chip hitting 106C! mobo was full of blown caps too. they were going to recycle it so I took it home. grabbed a q6600, 4GB ddr2-800, the 9600 gso and an 8-10 month old 450w psu.

 

[SamirD]

Nice! I don't have any clients so I can't do that, haha.

 

[FrgMstr]

Whatever happened to cool physical graphics on the graphics cards themselves?

They used to have hot chicks and stuff on the actual coolers and stuffs....

And to think, I used to like you.

 

[AlphaQup]

The hotter the chick on the box art, the faster the card right?

Now with everything grey/black/red, how am I supposed to know which card is better? I'm so confused.

 

[IceDigger]

The hotter the chick on the box art, the faster the card right?

Now with everything grey/black/red, how am I supposed to know which card is better? I'm so confused.

Exactly!

 

[MATRIXSHARK]

I'd say right about here was the beginning (of the wild graphics)


And here is the beginning of the end (of 3dfx):

 

[Krenum]

I'd say right about here was both the beginning (of the wild graphics)
View attachment 114476

And here is the beginning of the end (of 3dfx):
View attachment 114479

Sweet, Still have my Viper 770.

I do miss the box art that cards had in the early 00's.

 

[Gavian]

The BFG Tech 200 series art was cool.

 

[AltTabbins]

It would probably all be anime now a days anyways. Good riddance lol.

 

[Krenum]

Had this one,

Still have this one

The 3D Prophet series always had good box art, some of my favorites

Ati had some good ones too,

I miss the graphics on box art. No creativity goes into marketing anymore, back then some people bought a card just for the box art, the card might suck but hey atleast the artwork on the box is killer

 

[Derangel]

I don't miss them. I always hated that stuff making shrouds look so tacky and dumb. I much prefer that area be used for fans or simple, clean, designs that look nice. I prefer minimalist design, I don't need my parts to scream "I'm a gamer" or, in the case of those of those ridiculous shroud graphics, "I'm a horny 13 year old child". Even the "gamer" looking cards now days still look miles better than anything with a stupid, or edgy, shroud graphic.

 

[FrgMstr]

Using cheesy graphics to draw people in is so 20th century....

 

[FrgMstr]

I was going back and looking, this is the first review I can find with box art in it...and we commented on it.

 

[Krenum]

I don't miss them. I always hated that stuff making shrouds look so tacky and dumb. I much prefer that area be used for fans or simple, clean, designs that look nice. I prefer minimalist design, I don't need my parts to scream "I'm a gamer" or, in the case of those of those ridiculous shroud graphics, "I'm a horny 13 year old child". Even the "gamer" looking cards now days still look miles better than anything with a stupid, or edgy, shroud graphic.

They're still butt ugly.

Gigabyte RX 2080

EVGA

I'd rather have some cool artwork to look at than a company logo plastered like a billboard all over my computer.

Do we really need company logo's on the fan blades?

 

[VanGoghComplex]

They're still butt ugly.

Gigabyte RX 2080
View attachment 114635

EVGA
View attachment 114637

I'd rather have some cool artwork to look at than a company logo plastered like a billboard all over my computer.

Do we really need company logo's on the fan blades?

Still looks better than the janky, uncanny valley-invoking 90's rendered prepubescent man-child fap material that used to be all over graphics cards.

I wasn't a functioning member of society with disposable income when those cards were in vogue, and I was a prepubescent man-child, and I still would have been embarrassed to bring one of those boxes to the checkout aisle.

 

[Krenum]

Still looks better than the janky, uncanny valley-invoking 90's rendered prepubescent man-child fap material that used to be all over graphics cards.

I wasn't a functioning member of society with disposable income when those cards were in vogue, and I was a prepubescent man-child, and I still would have been embarrassed to bring one of those boxes to the checkout aisle.

Heck not me, That's right, I'm buying a box with a three headed Hell Hound on it, got a problem? Or a chick with huge tits, still a problem? Your problem not mine

 

[FrgMstr]

They're still butt ugly.

Gigabyte RX 2080
View attachment 114635

EVGA
View attachment 114637

I'd rather have some cool artwork to look at than a company logo plastered like a billboard all over my computer.

Do we really need company logo's on the fan blades?

I like the GBT and think that eVGA is ugly as sin.

 

[Master_shake_]

the last flashy videocards i owned were a couple of hd6970's

ever since then it was the Nvidia aluminum shrouds with the green lettering. until just recently with rgb evga 1080's

The BFG Tech 200 series art was cool.



View attachment 114581View attachment 114582View attachment 114585View attachment 114586

the gtx 295 to me, always looked like a vhs tape.