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prettiest graphics cards reference designs?

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
This is an infintessimal part of a GPU these days seeing how much more they're capable of (and what you generally use them for), but sometimes i like to take my GPU out of my PC case and just.... look at it. Maybe it's out of disbelief of the fact I own one, maybe it's because these dumb cards always catch my attention. GPUs are kind of cool looking, especially in the past 10 years

Nvidia's pascal cards in 2016-2017 are honestly some extremely striking GPUs. The metallic design and grills make it feel less like you're holding a GPU and more like you're holding a car part. It's a really beautiful reference design and it still sticks in my head half a decade later because of how well made and beautifully crafted it is. Too bad it's a blower style card though

5330600cv15d.jpg


the RTX 3080 also looks fine, but personally it lacks a bit of the personality and clean smooth badass design the older designs had. in comparison it's a boring looking GPU

6429440_sd.jpg


one of the reference designs i REALLY like are the 6000 series... I think they look nice, though in terms of how they look they're not much more complex than the ampere Nvidia cards. I just think it's organized in a way where they end up looking nice, especially with the giant metallic R in the front, looks on brand and official. They'll never compare to the Pascal cards, but they're damn good looking on their own

amd-radeon-rx-6700-xt-reference-card-front.jpg


Continue the discussion because I'm bored and like making weird small topics like these
 
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poodaddy

Member
Intel's new cards are amazing looking, but I really prefer clean, slick, almost semi professional looking designs for parts. I like my PC to look more like an elegant piece of furniture than a "gaming rig".
 
i love Nvidia reference cards!

my first nvidia card (gtx 1070) was an MSI one but once i saw the nvidia reference card i was in love with it. i know this is a 1070 Ti but same thing really....

card1.jpg


so i made a point that my next card would be a reference one. i upgraded to a 2080 FE and the founders edition looks like this (again i know this is a Ti version):

nvidia_geforce_rtx_2080_ti_founders_edition2_-_tejar.jpg


it looked so cool and futuristic but when the 3000 founders card came out i was in love and the 2080 design started to look a bit dated. i would have bought a 3080 if they were easy to get:

iu


i just installed my new RTX 4080 Founders Edition card today! it's much bigger than a 3080 and i'm not a fan (heh) of the curved edges but honestly? in my case it doesn't look as big as i was expecting it to be and the curves aren't as bad either!

IMG-0603.png


the cables are mess right now because i need to use the awful adapter which needs 3 vga cables. i'm waiting on a new PSU with a 16 pin psu cable so it'll look much cleaner soon.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Nvidia's cards have gotten too fat since the 30seriee (4090 is a joke).

The Vega Frontier wasn't amazing (and noisy af).. but it looks great!
76826-radeon-vega-frontier-gpu4-1260x709.jpg
what an evil looking graphics card. it looks like it's about to hop out of the PC and blow me to death with the fan

3080fe for sure.
Because I have it. It is very heavy, don't sag at all and it's quite small which is nice!
1080 is really really nice too

w0gRMY2.jpg

hC6elWG.jpg
Nvidia sure does know how to make a great unboxing experience that's for sure. they manage to make unboxing that stuff really hype

also, what are those headphones in the first image?
 
iu


It improved slightly over the 3080 FE design.
as posted above i have the 4080 which is basically the same design. what do you think it improves upon over the 3000 card?

i wasn't sure of the curves but they aren't bad. i also wish they kept the angled power connector. the power cable sticking out the side of my 4080 is damn close to the side panel. it would be so much better if they kept the angled design.

both these things aren't huge issues but if i could get a 4000 card with the exact same design as the 3000 cards i'd prefer that.
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
3080 FE is a thing of beauty. Not even sure we can call it reference board anymore? It’s not the actual reference board they send to AIBs. They’re ahead of everyone else with the board design.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
what an evil looking graphics card. it looks like it's about to hop out of the PC and blow me to death with the fan


Nvidia sure does know how to make a great unboxing experience that's for sure. they manage to make unboxing that stuff really hype

also, what are those headphones in the first image?
Takstar pro82
 
same size, too. that thing is a fucking behemoth
i don't mind how big it is. i think my 4080 looks awesome. the only issue is how close the power cable comes to the side panel and i think i have quite a wide case. the card is huge but i really don't think Nvidia can get away with pushing these cards any further unless PC cases get bigger (maybe there are bigger ones than mine) and/or if they go back to angled power connection or a right angle psu cable. as for case sizes, well they pushed for ATX 3.0/PCIE5 psus so if they can do that they can push a new case standard! not that i want it....

what an evil looking graphics card. it looks like it's about to hop out of the PC and blow me to death with the fan


Nvidia sure does know how to make a great unboxing experience that's for sure. they manage to make unboxing that stuff really hype

also, what are those headphones in the first image?
i don't know what unboxing a 3000 card is like but i was impressed with the unboxing of my 4080.

the box (not the product box) it came in was well designed. it slides up and then out to the sides. the product box it self is hollowed out. at first it kinda blew my mind because i was thinking hold on where the fuck are they storing this shit? for a second it was like black magic lol.

edit: watch 0:17 to 0:58 of this video

 
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definitely the A7 770, absolutely the most tasteful reference card.

article-1280x720.989b8fee.jpg


AMD cards are fucking ugly for the most part.

Nvidia designs are very hit or miss, the 30 series cards were pretty nice.
i like that one too. shame it's not that powerful. hopefully intel can match AMD soon and then maybe nvidia lol
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
definitely the A7 770, absolutely the most tasteful reference card.

article-1280x720.989b8fee.jpg


AMD cards are fucking ugly for the most part.

Nvidia designs are very hit or miss, the 30 series cards were pretty nice.
the Arc cards are really stylish with their blue design. then again blue is my favorite color so it might just be bias lol. i dont think theyd look as good in any other color
 

Ulysses 31

Member
as posted above i have the 4080 which is basically the same design. what do you think it improves upon over the 3000 card?

i wasn't sure of the curves but they aren't bad. i also wish they kept the angled power connector. the power cable sticking out the side of my 4080 is damn close to the side panel. it would be so much better if they kept the angled design.

both these things aren't huge issues but if i could get a 4000 card with the exact same design as the 3000 cards i'd prefer that.
The curves and the fan size is slightly bigger. Yeah, the angled power connecter is better on the 30X0 FE cards.
 

hinch7

Member
The RTX 3090
geforce-rtx-3090-product-gallery-full-screen-3840-2.jpg

The curved and industrial design not only looks great but also works on a practical level as well, as it exhausts quite a lot of heat outside.
 

Kadve

Member
I'm even more old school , the reference card I like the most are those red PCBs radeon with semi translucent shroud

DSC04338.JPG
Yea ATI and Gravis were the only ones doing those pretty red PCB's. Must have been a Canadian thing.

The X1950 was another beautiful one.

7-1080.1804576144.jpg
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
I'm even more old school , the reference card I like the most are those red PCBs radeon with semi translucent shroud

it looked so cool and futuristic but when the 3000 founders card came out i was in love and the 2080 design started to look a bit dated. i would have bought a 3080 if they were easy to get:
honestly the 2000 series design wise looks like such a fucking downgrade in comparison to the 1000 series. you have this beautiful, futuristic polygonal design that looks slick as hell... and then you remove the futuristic polygonal part of it. you're left with a shiny metallic card. It looks better than 3000 series IMO but its such a downgrade in comparison
 

Rickyiez

Member
The 7800GT looks pretty cool too , there is just something nostalgic about looking all the capacitors naked . Btw this thread would last longer if its not only limited to reference card though .

1755-6-1.jpg
 
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Celcius

°Temp. member
Some of my all time favorite designs include the Radeon x800 XT and Pascal Founders Edition GeForce cards.

I also really like the all gold titan v:
titanomachy_678x452.jpg


The titan z was cool too:
2575-front.jpg


as was the gtx 690:
361-front.jpg
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Some of my all time favorite designs include the Radeon x800 XT and Pascal Founders Edition GeForce cards.

I also really like the all gold titan v:
titanomachy_678x452.jpg


The titan z was cool too:
2575-front.jpg


as was the gtx 690:
361-front.jpg
those titan cards are genuinely beautiful, truly works of art. Nvidia really knew how to make stunning cards
Btw this thread would last longer if its not only limited to reference card though .
true, but i find a lot of third party cards end up looking generic and don't really look as unique as the original reference designs
 

winjer

Gold Member


And before you ask, yes, this is a real video made by nvidia engineers poking fun at the 5800 Ultra.
 
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