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[BuddhaRockstar]

Sigh. The stock cooler on this thing is pathetic. I have two of these exact cards and can't stress them or else they overheat after a few minutes. I also can't seem to get the front plastic part off (even after removing the screws)...it's like it's superglued.

It does have like a sticky tape, you gotta pry it off pretty hard. But defintely get a different cooler, lowered my temps like 40C with one.

 

[TheExodu5]

Sigh. The stock cooler on this thing is pathetic. I have two of these exact cards and can't stress them or else they overheat after a few minutes. I also can't seem to get the front plastic part off (even after removing the screws)...it's like it's superglued.

Not surprised. That cooler is about as good as is put on low-midrange cards like 6600/7600/8600gt back in the day. Should only be suited to cooling a card that doesn't have any extra PCI-E connectors, and even then, just barely.

 

[kamspy]

One thing I noticed in this thread: red pcbs on nVidia cards are freaking immoral.

 

[Guardian Bob]

Man, i miss buying graphic cards. Its exciting. One of the downsides of having a mac.

 

[BuddhaRockstar]

Edit: Double post.. that's what I get for posting using the Steam built in browser.

 

[SonOfABeep]

probably has to do with most of these products being designed by engineering outfits without any artists/marketing/graphic designers on staff.

 

[brain_stew]

Of course most of these are terrible, but the frog is awesome!

Touché, Frobot defence force assemble! I had him on my last card, sad to see him go.

 

[Scrow]

it's funny, i was talking to friends about this a few weeks ago.

GPU boxart almost always looks awful. It's not really important, but it's just funny.

 

[CitizenKang]

Laughing at the terrible art is part of the fun of buying PC hardware. I'd be kind of sad if they all stopped doing this.

 

[Andronicus]

lmao i had that same msi 4200 back in the day:lol

 

[SonOfABeep]

they do all kind of look like really bad free-to-play chinese/korean MMOs.

Or like was said, 1995-era CG.

 

[Xal-Shoota]

I'm lolling my ass off right now. This is one of those things I always noticed but never thought about. Who the HELL makes these boxes, really! Half the time the models on the fronts aren't even that impressive, and the cards inside could do something better, ironically.

 

[forrest]

The people who buy gfx cards based on box art think that the art is awesome.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Sigh. This thread makes me want to put together a PC rig after being tied down to a mid-range laptop + consoles for several years.

 

[Zombie James]

Vodoo3

3D Gaming @ 60fps :lol :lol

That was a big deal for a 1999 budget card.

 

[Victrix]

I never really thought about this, because seriously, have you seen the retail markup on GPUs? I feel sorry for people who buy these cards in stores

 

[kamspy]

I never really thought about this, because seriously, have you seen the retail markup on GPUs? I feel sorry for people who buy these cards in stores

Microcenter will pricematch Newegg if you bitch enough. They pricematch Newegg on CPUs outright now. I'm digging it. I got my MSI 4770 there right when they came out for $99.

 

[CadetMahoney]

The people who buy gfx cards based on box art are wozzles/

fixed and yea. . . I mean nevermind specs just go for that dragon-zombie-cyborg on the cover.

 

[jon_irenicus]

The only videocard box art that didn't make me burst out in wild hysterical laughter:

 

[Cipherr]

I don't think anyone who's an enthusiast actually cares what the box looks like, thus just care about the card's specs. The art is just to get the idiots who go "ZOMG WOW ISN'T RUNNING WELL I NEED MOAR CARDS HAY THIS CHICK IN LATEX/GUY IN ARMOR WITH A SWORD/ FROG LOOKS HAWT I'LL GET THAT ONE".

:lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[BlueTsunami]

Vodoo3

3D Gaming @ 60fps :lol :lol

I wouldn't laugh! A decade later and we're still struggling to get 3D games at 60fps :smug

Edit: Oh wait, somehow forgot this about PC gaming. Oh the plight of a console gamer.

 

[-COOLIO-]

I wouldn't laugh! A decade later and we're still struggling to get 3D games at 60fps :smug

Edit: Oh wait, somehow forgot this about PC gaming. Oh the plight of a console gamer.

60fps is the sweet spot. if devs arent struggling to just barely stabilize at 60fps they arnt pushing the graphics hard enough.

 

[gokieks]

The ones with boxart which are really... out there tend to be the ones from the Taiwanese OEMs, and are usually never actually seen on a product shelf. By comparison, the ones you'd be able to find at Best Buy, Fry's Electronics or CompUSA/Circuit City (before they went out of business, obviously), like BFG, XFX, PNY, ATI/AMD, VisionTek, etc are more subdued. XFX is probably the only one of the bunch that I can remember seeing that strange boxart on, and they're one of the more recent entrants into retail cards (and they're also actually a division of an OEM, I think).

But keep posting those pictures, because I've always found them (along with many of the taglines seen on OEM manufacturer's product boxes) hilarious.

 

[Aquavelvaman]

While still pretty tacky, my ASUS 4850 could have been a lot worse.

I've got a new cooler on it now, so it's no biggy. Not that it really is in the first place, unless you have a window on your case :lol

That's my card too. I think it's really weird that they put art on a card that you'll pretty much only see when you are installing hardware.

 

[BuddyC]

i thought this was going to be about the microscopic art on the gpu itself

that's a real thing, you know!

 

[The Invisible Man]

 

[The Invisible Man]

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Looks white or mixed to me.

fix your contrast. or meet more black people.

 

[PflargBlarg]

Well I'm disappointed. I tried to look for terrible box art for my current card (GTX 280) and I couldn't find anything that was really bad. PNY actually had a very stylish box for it.

 

[hateradio]

^ I was just about to post my PNY 250 GTS, it's actually a bit ... classy shall we say

 

[Kaako]

A normal day at the GPU design offices:

Subject 1: "Ooo I got it, let's put a hot chick in front of the box!"

Subject 2: "Yea, ok. Hot chicks are always cool on gpu covers."

Subject 1: "But I'm not finished yet, hear me out on this one...let's give her some big cleavage and exotic hair. I'm thinking firey passion, fire. Let's set her hair, no...her hair IS the fire!"
"And let's have her hold a sword, but not just any sword. One that glows. Ooo."
"To top it off, let's also give her some awesome dracula/big ass bat wings. It'll maker her seem mysterious and dangerously exotic."

Subject 2: *hand claps*

 

[anachronous_one]

i thought this was going to be about the microscopic art on the gpu itself

that's a real thing, you know!

Heh ... same here. If not that, I figured some artist had created something from a bunch of old GPUs.

Needless to say, I feel let down and demand a refund from the OP, ASAP.

 

[careful]

The FTW on my card sold it to me. FTW FTW!!!

 

[Chip N Chance]

This one had me saying "wtf" the most.

 

[Platy]

How can that not be awesome?

OMG !!!!

There is a JURASSIC pc 2d fighting game wich has a character that is a blue version of this char =O

It was puppys that transformed into cybernetic machines .... i will never remeber the name of that game =/

edit : posted on "Games you remember, names you don't" =P

 

[adelante]

What better reward for your 3D modelling project assignment than to have it featured on a GPU box! Good motivation for students

 

[kamspy]

i thought this was going to be about the microscopic art on the gpu itself

that's a real thing, you know!

Do share.

 

[vocab]

The XFX dog theme back in the day had me laughing a lot.

 

[matrix-cat]

This thread makes me disappointed that I never seem to get cards with stupid art on them. My last few cards have been from HIS, who don't seem to have an art division. They do pack in these bitchin' combination torch, screwdriver and spirit level tools, though, which more than makes up for it.

 

[Houston3000]

EVGA keeps their boxes pretty tame I think

I did have a XFX Geforce 7900GS in the past though with that kick ass wolf-man on it :lol

 

[Salacious Crumb]

Palit's FroBot disapproves of your remarks.

I love the FroBot so much I bought two of these, except mine are the 1GB version,

But that was before I knew the FroBot was a frog-robot and not:

 

[ghst]

a tradition more important than christmas, funerals and weddings rolled into one.

i'm thinking of starting up some three way fairground ride/pinball table/video card boxart design business.

 

[Stinkles]

What I have learned in this thread:

Graphic card art is horrific.
Graphics cards are bigger than my actual PC.
Some people have a funny idea of what "subtle and understated" mean.
You can't build a gaming PC for less than $700 after all.

 

[scotcheggz]

This thread is making me all nostalgic for beautiful GPU boxart. I haven't built a rig in years.

I remember, back when I was 16, I loved this boxart.

It seem's crazy that they haven't really moved on in all this time, in some cases they seem to have regressed :lol

 

[WickedCobra03]

Yeah, some of it is kind of weird but I think it is/was supposed to show off graphical capabilities. I remember they had that 3 headed dog in a lot of the demos for the Radeon 9700 back in the day and then it was on the box when I bought it. My latest was that nVidia 9800GTX or whatever with that turbo which was kinda cool I guess.

Ati Radeon 9700 Pro

 

[m3k]

lol i always wonder about these when i walk into a computer store and who buys into it

 

[BishopLamont]

Mine:

 

[voodooray]

This thread title reminded me of these:

The hidden art inside microchips

 

[njean777]

you know when i built my pc i was wondering the same thing, but there is a point to where the only people even looking at gpu's are mainly pc builders. So they know what they want, they wont care how the box looks. When and if pc building ever becomes normal to the public then they probably will take more the 5 seconds to create a good looking box.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

Times sure have changed.