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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)

#81

Post by crote »

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.

On the other hand, you're also stuck with design mistakes for ages.

The AM5 platform is quite lacking when it comes to PCIe lanes - especially once you take USB4 into account. I'm hoping my current setup from 2019 survives until AM6 - but it seems AMD wants to keep AM5 for another generation or two...

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

#82

Post by Discordian93 »

boppo1 wrote: post #80
Gigachad wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

AAA games suck compared to 10 years ago though.

I disagree, AAA games started nosediving with the seventh generation 20 years ago and only recently have they started to tentatively show signs of recovery.

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

#83

Post by Wurdan »

pjc50 wrote: post #69
Wurdan wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just the mention of pieces of hardware we don't really need anymore (sound cards, modems, etc) triggers a flood of nostalgia. I used to spend DAYs poring over PC part catalogues dreaming of my ideal rig. And brands like Hercules, Creative, Matrox all trigger the same feelings. Crazy contrast to me having spent the past weekend wondering if cloud gaming services like Geforce Now are matured enough that I can fully mov…

The technology works, but the business model doesn't, so there's the eternal risk that it might get shut down at short notice with no way to export your saves.

Yeah, that's definitely a worry. Also, the fact that you're dependent on them for adding support for future games, and that (like any cloud service) it might not be available right when you want it.

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

#84

Post by Yokolos »

crote wrote: post #81
Gigachad wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

On the other hand, you're also stuck with design mistakes for ages. The AM5 platform is quite lacking when it comes to PCIe lanes - especially once you take USB4 into account. I'm hoping my current setup from 2019 survives until AM6 - but it seems AMD wants to keep AM5 for another generation or two...

Aren't they waiting for DDR6?

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

#85

Post by arethuza »

pjc50 wrote: post #67
brokenmachine wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But your stuff from 2020 probably isn't AI "enhanced"!! Throw it in the garbage!

I was planning on hanging on to my Win10 PC, which was perfectly fine except that Microsoft were both pestering me to upgrade and telling me it wasn't possible, but the death of its SSD after 7 years put paid to that.

I have a PC that is probably at least 10 years old but works perfectly well for browsing, spreadsheets and the occasional lightweight game but MS has decided, in its infinite wisdom, to say that it can't be upgraded to Windows 11.

So I will probably install Linux (probably Debian) and move on and forget about those particular games... (~30 years since I first installed Linux on a PC!).

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

#86

Post by Nextgrid »

Wurdan wrote: post #83
pjc50 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technology works, but the business model doesn't, so there's the eternal risk that it might get shut down at short notice with no way to export your saves.

Yeah, that's definitely a worry. Also, the fact that you're dependent on them for adding support for future games, and that (like any cloud service) it might not be available right when you want it.

Yeah that's the issue - nobody wants to just rent you a gaming PC in the cloud, they all want a cut of game sales/licensing. But if someone were to do it, the technology is absolutely there.

You don't even need to create any internal tech - Steam Remote Play already has everything you need, and I successfully used it to play Battlefield from an AWS GPU instance (was even good enough for multiplayer).

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

#87

Post by daveidol »

nunez wrote: post #34
MoOmer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just chiming in here, but at least two of the generations of cards there are from ~2005-2008 and we old farts definitely bought (or convinced our parents to buy) things from Newegg at the time!

100%. Used Newegg and Tigerdirect a bunch during that period. Shipping took forever.

Oh wow Tigerdirect. Forgot all about them.

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

#88

Post by xethos »

yourusername wrote: post #68
vladvasiliu wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3) MSRP meant something I'm not in the market for a 5090 or similar, but the other day I was looking at a lower-end model, an AMD 9060 or Nvidia 5060. What shocked me was the massive variation in prices for the same model (9060 XT 16 GB or 5060 Ti 16 GB). The AMD could be had for anywhere from 400 to 600 euros, depending on the brand. What can explain that? Are there actual performance differences? I see models pre…

> What can explain that? Looks. I'm not joking. The market is aimed at people with a fish bowl PC case that care about having a cooler with a appealing design, a interesting PCB colour and the flashiest RGB. Some may have a bit better cooling but the price for that is also likely marked up several times considering a full dual tower CPU cooler costs $35.

Hey, c'mon now - some of that is flooding the market so hard that it's ~8:1 nVidia:AMD on store shelves, letting nVidia be the default that consumers will pay for. That's without touching on marketing or the stock price (as under-informed consumers conflate it with performance, thinking "If it wasn't better, the stock would be closer to AMD").

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

#89

Post by Gud »

pavlov wrote: post #75
pjc50 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

This great interview with Roger Dean about his career in games was recently posted: https://spillhistorie.no/2025/10/03/legends-of-the-games-ind... Turns out that the Psygnosis developers in the 1980s used him as a kind of single-shot concept artist. They would commission the box art first, then use that as inspiration for designing the actual game to go inside the box.

Reminds me of the Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe 12” cover:

https://row.rarevinyl.com/products/anderson-bruford-wakeman-...

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