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Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

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Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#111

Post by alex43578 »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #95
alex43578 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just bought a RTX 5090 at MSRP. While expensive, it's also a radically more complicated product that plays a more important role in a modern computer than old GPUs did years ago. Compared to my CPU (9950X3D), it's got a massive monolithic die measuring 750mm2 with over 4x the transistor count of the entire 9950X3d package. Beyond the graphics, it's got tensor and RT cores, dedicated engines for video decode/encode,…

Do yourself/me a favor, and give your 5090's power plug/socket a little jiggle test. I'm a retired data center electrician, and my own GPU's has been "loose" at least more than once . Really make sure that sucker is jammed in there /latched.

Yeah, 12VHPWR is a mess unfortunately.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#112

Post by GaryBluto »

abtinf wrote: post #14

I would guess part of the reason for this was box art used to matter because most of these cards were sold through dedicated electronics retailers like Fry's Electronics, Microcenter, and CompUSA. There was basically no such thing as online ordering for this sort of thing. People were physically browsing goods on shelves.

I miss electronics retailers. Any hardware project nowadays requires me to wait several days before I can actually start as I am forced to order online.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#113

Post by GaryBluto »

zdw wrote: post #11

Unusual designs are still a thing in some markets (mainly china) - for example, a cat themed cooler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGGKaX1D9Zo and various anime themed backplates on cards are available from Yeston: https://yestonstore.com/collections/graphics-card

> anime themed backplates on cards

Anime is certainly weird, but I wouldn't say in the right way.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#114

Post by GaryBluto »

Mawr wrote: post #10

Please stop reminding me of how soulless and watered down everything has become :( Games are no different, in Morrowind gods ripped each other's penises off and used them as spears; in Skyrim you fight dragons.

Why play modern games? There is an almost infinite backlog of experiences for you to indulge in from the late 90s/early 2000s alone.

They're also great value; a couple months back I went to a local store and bought 100 or so "old" game CD/DVDs for less than $35, none scratched. For the price of one triple-A game, I'd probably have been able to get 250 at least.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#115

Post by rsynnott »

pjc50 wrote: post #72
jakebasile wrote: post #2

I miss when gaming in general was less mainstream and more weird like this. Now the silicon manufacturers hate that they even have to sell us their scraps, let alone spend time on making unique designs for their boxes. I bought a small press book with a collection of this art and it was a fun little trip down memory lane, as I’ve owned some of the hardware (boxes) depicted in it. For anyone else interested: https://l…

> I miss when gaming in general was less mainstream and more weird like this. To me, this is a continuum with the box art of early games, where because the graphics themselves were pretty limited the box art had to be fabulous. Get someone like Roger Dean to paint a picture for the imagination. https://www.rogerdean.com/ The peak of this was the Maplin electronics catalogue: https://70s-sci-fi-art.ghost.io/1980s-mapl…

Huh. I hadn't actually realised Maplin was gone entirely. They closed in Ireland a while back, but I put that down to a general trend of marginal UK high-street retailers (Argos etc) pulling out of Ireland, but still existing in some form in the UK.

Weird shop; they never really got rid of any stock that was even theoretically useable, so it was at least partially a museum of outdated gadgets.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#116

Post by fennecbutt »

Gigachad wrote: post #29
jakebasile wrote: post #2

I miss when gaming in general was less mainstream and more weird like this. Now the silicon manufacturers hate that they even have to sell us their scraps, let alone spend time on making unique designs for their boxes. I bought a small press book with a collection of this art and it was a fun little trip down memory lane, as I’ve owned some of the hardware (boxes) depicted in it. For anyone else interested: https://l…

On the plus side, PC gaming hardware seems to last ages now. I built my gaming desktop in 2020, I had a look lately at what a reasonable modern mid tier setup is and they are still recommending a lot of the parts I have. So I'll probably keep using it all for another 5 years then.

I still have a 1080ti which does swimmingly. There just aren't enough AAA/"AAAA" games coming out that I care to play. Oblivion remaster almost tempted me into upgrading but I couldn't justify it just for a single game.

The only reason I'd upgrade is to improve performance for AI stuff.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#118

Post by ProllyInfamous »

alex43578 wrote: post #111
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do yourself/me a favor, and give your 5090's power plug/socket a little jiggle test. I'm a retired data center electrician, and my own GPU's has been "loose" at least more than once . Really make sure that sucker is jammed in there /latched.

Yeah, 12VHPWR is a mess unfortunately.

...12VHPWR alone justifies purchasing a thermal camera.

Re: Look at how unhinged GPU box art was in the 2000s (2024)

#119

Post by standardly »

Gigachad wrote: post #74
MaxikCZ wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a double edge sword. Yes, back then 2 year old computer was old, but at the same time every 2 years a new generation of games came out that were like never seen before. Each generation was a massive step-up. Today, a layman couldnt chronologically sort CoD games from past 10 years from looks/play/feel, new Fifa and similar is _the_ same game but with new teams added to it, and virtually every game made is a "copy…

This is fine? Today’s games look beautiful and developers are hardly restricted by hardware. Games can innovate on content, stories, and experiences rather than on technology. Feels similar to how painting hasn’t had any revolution in new paints available.

> "copycat with their own twist" with almost 0 technical invention.

I think he meant the software side (game-systems wise), not hardware innovation

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