[Verge]Remembering the lost art of the graphics card box

[NTMBK]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/9/9274915/graphics-card-boxes-weird-art

Bring back Frogmech!

 

[Blue_Max]

Here's one not many ever got to see.

 

[SPBHM]

the ATI cards had some nice boxes

 

[mohit9206]

Oh why can't we have cool and weird graphics card box again? All these modern graphics card box arts are super boring. Tired of the same Sapphire girl box art that has been unchanged since years now.

 

[MajinCry]

When I was a wee blighter, I assumed the character came with the card; textures and all.

 

[ViRGE]

By and large those boxes sucked. And half of them were blatant T&A fests too.

 

[n0x1ous]

And half of them were blatant T&A fests too.

They were meant to grab your attention at B&M stores and they did that for their primary demographic quite well I would say. With graphics card purchases being primarily e-tail these days, its no longer an area of focus for the AIB's

I did always like the 3dfx ones.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

As graphics cards have taken on a more important role in the professional and prosumer space, and as computer gamers from the 90's have grown into adults, the box art has taken a similar turn in attempting to look more mature and less like a 12 year old's wet dream.

And the e-tailer theory. I don't have any stats but I like that one too.

 

[Stuka87]

Don't forget the Devil box:

The box my Sapphire 7950 came in was still felt like it was pointed towards teens:

Oh, and I had this box back when I bought my 9800 pro, such an amazing card:

But I agree that since almost everybody buys their cards online, it could come in a plane cardboard box and it would make no real difference.

 

[KingFatty]

Here's one not many ever got to see.

WAIT - look, could it be that Video card box art inspired actual legitimate artist/musician art!?

I've seen that image again more recently:

 

[poofyhairguy]

My favorite of cards I owned:

My favorite card for its actual looks is the Doom 3 - GeForce 6600 GT:

Probably just because of nostalgia though, my Evga 970 with its backplate looks pretty sweet.

 

[soccerballtux]

my friend's brother thought mine was a blow-up doll. 'is that a blow up doll? albatron g-force 6800GT edition?'

 

[sm625]

I never understood the boxes.

This box would probably be cheaper and far more handy:

 

[Blitzvogel]

Those old boxes are so nostalgic in the way that they tease such an idea that you'd see those kind of graphics with that graphics card inside the packaging. As distasteful as they are, at the same time they gave you an air of ambition and capability regardless of how cheesy it actually was.

 

[lyssword]

I really liked voodoo boxes as a kid

 

[godihatework]

this was my first video card. not my pic, but the box is long gone...

http://www.building-your-own-computer.com/gainward_geforce3_ti_200_retail_box.jpg

 

[f2bnp]

my friend's brother thought mine was a blow-up doll. 'is that a blow up doll? albatron g-force 6800GT edition?'

Man that sure brings back memories. The ones around this era (Nvidia 6xxx and 7xxx) are the most memorable for me by far.

I also remember going to a store and looking at the shelves back in 2004 and seeing some 9800 Pro and XT boxes with a Half-Life 2 coupon (anybody else remember this?). I'm pretty sure they carried that coupon over to the X series once they got released. I used to drool for the 9800 Pro and XT so hard.

I had the misfortune of owning both a Celeron 2.4 and an FX 5600 XT, two gigantic POS that somebody else set up for me since I was way too young. I grabbed a second hand Northwood 2.8 and a Gainward 7600GS AGP Golden Sample, which brings me to my next point.

That Gainward card kicked ass! Here's the box:

and here's the card itself

which had a very unique design. Looking at it now I cringe at the thought of the fan speeding up .
This box brings back so many memories, I was so excited when I was buying this card, it was the first GPU I ever bought with my own money.

Turns out, I made the right choice, the Golden Sample part used GDDR3 memory, much like the 7600GT, unlike most cards that went with the cheaper but far slower DDR2. I managed to clock this baby up to 7600GT or very close at least, played a lot of Elder Scrolls Oblivion that week :biggrin:.

 

[MongGrel]

Didn't find the Original Monster.

Was the first SLI rig I think.

Had one set up that way att with a "HUGE" NEC CRT.

I had to cut the back of the computer desk out and take the monitor off the base to even get it to fit.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Yeah, that old box art sure is fun to reminisce about. It sure was colorful and it did grab your eye when it was sitting on the shelf. However, I probably have to agree with prior posters, people don't buy videocards retail anymore, I'm lucky to have both Fry's and Microcenter within 30 minute drive from me, and those two are the only stores that carry anything faster than nvidia 960/radeon 270. And even then, it's usually one or two brands. There is little point in creating colorful box art if it doesn't get exposure in the retail store.

Here is some of the more colorful box art that I've had in the past.

A frigging dinosaur, how can you not buy a card like that?

Cyborg, a little lame but at least it's not a generic box.

Inca warrior riding a dragon, whoa! And this is 8800GT, we've had this kind of box art as recently as 8 years ago! I guess when you're a small player like ECS you have to stand out somehow. Too bad that card died on me twice, and too bad ECS screwed me out of the warranty the second time. But the box art was cool.

 

[BHZ-GTR]

This is My First VGA : NVIDIA TNT2 Model 64

 

[kami]

Behold the amazing box art for my first ever 3D card

I was pretty young and remember getting it delivered COD and using rolls of quarters for some of that payment to the UPS guy.

First time playing GLQuake on that card remains my favorite gaming moment.

 

[ultimatebob]

Man... Mechfrog is awesome! I want my next video card to have that guy on the front of it.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Lol I remember this one. Advertising 32bit color for Quake 3

Here's a crazy one . Has an real 90s kid feel.

 

[Blue_Max]

Behold the amazing box art for my first ever 3D card

I was pretty young and remember getting it delivered COD and using rolls of quarters for some of that payment to the UPS guy.

First time playing GLQuake on that card remains my favorite gaming moment.

I remember that card!! I wanted the fancier version of the first 3DFX Voodoo1 that had 6MB... the Canopus Pure3D.

Out of stock everywhere I looked.

The one you quoted was almost half the price though. Fun experience!

 

[Blue_Max]

Heh... in the search for the previous card, I came across a couple HIDEOUS ones worthy of sharing.

Garish colours that make my head hurt;

Or those "!!!" which just don't belong... and the guy on the box is just as flabbergasted as the proofreaders.