Speaking of Ati x1xxx,

Connect3D Ati Radeon x1800/x1900/x1950 xt/xtx

TESTED The Connect3D fan sticker hides the original Ati sticker. Easy to remove with a bit of heat.

I hate to break it to you, but most EVGA cards follow the reference design, and can use generic third party coolers and waterblocks.

I think you are confusing reference design with vendor, all gpus i have seen respect the basics of the reference design, then they apply modifications to frequencies, coolers etc. but it's basically the same card.
I usually search for the best version based on reference, in some cases i was lucky enough to find collaborations between asus and zalman that mounted better coolers but besides that i want a working card and don't really care if the cooling has been modified if done well.

With exact reference design I mean not only the board layout but also the heatsink and its graphics, as they appear in ati/amd and nvidia's own advertising, presentations, etc. So no custom graphics, no custom pcb colors. Basically the "founders editions" plus all the cards that look exactly like those, stickers aside. EVGA uses lime ports, custom color PCBs.

Founder editions and the likes is a much newer concepts, for stuff like the geforce 256 there's no founder card or specific reference design, all and i mean all GF 256 have been produced by third parties in different ways.
I think for most retro GPUs those details are not exactly of the utmost priority.

Yo, some people put graphic cards on shelves with glass cases and trippy LED strips. Trust me they don't want them to look like this:

https://i.imgur.com/svzLtjZ.jpeg

They want them to look like this. With the nvidia's own graphics.

https://i.imgur.com/uX2dnqz.jpeg

Unless they are special edition cards, that is.

(EDIT: I am not saying anyone should do that to the evga 6800 ultra. You probably want to keep the evga sticker given that it is quite a rare card.)

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-09-03, 20:31:

Yo, some people put graphic cards on shelves with glass cases and trippy LED strips. Trust me they don't want them to look like […]
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Yo, some people put graphic cards on shelves with glass cases and trippy LED strips. Trust me they don't want them to look like this:

They want them to look like this. With the nvidia's own graphics.

Unless they are special edition cards, that is.

If the cards are dead, like completely dead, then i would probably use them for showcasing, personally i have a decent collection of GPUs , rare and not so much, i added custom zalman or arctic GPU coolers on all of them.
The OG coolers are a death sentence for most retro GPUs (9000 series radeon and 8000 nvidia for an example), they are absolutely ineffective, loud and sometimes ugly, people that want to use those GPUs for real in an active system usually spend time to change the OG cooler.

iraito wrote on 2024-09-03, 20:05:

Founder editions and the likes is a much newer concepts, for stuff like the geforce 256 there's no founder card or specific reference design, all and i mean all GF 256 have been produced by third parties in different ways.
I think for most retro GPUs those details are not exactly of the utmost priority.

Actually, most GPUs have some kind of reference PCB layout. It might not be the most common one, but it exists. Even for the mentioned GeForce 256. This is the reference GeForce 256 SDR https://www.anandtech.com/show/391/2 for example

To each their own. Hence the warning in my original message. Some prefer to keep a stock but fragile Ferrari in their garage, while others like to engine swap Honda VTEC engines into old Ferraris and paint them purple.

Also if I want to do retro gaming I will use a 5 dollar x600, not a pristine 9700 pro that has a bad cooler and that is likely to die like you said. I am only one person I don't need to use all my cards all the time. They are collectible items. If I want to do retrogaming I can use any random card that is cheap, quiet, etc.

This is my opinion though. But I am not alone in this. Off ebay nobody ever buys cards with aftermarket coolers or silly appearance, unless they are special editions from well established brands. There are geforce 256s on ebay with the Counter Strike Zalman passive cooler. They've been listed for years and nobody wants them, because they want an original looking geforce 256, preferably boxed, and so on and so forth...

And finally, GF1s have a reference design, which explains why all the GF1s look basically the same.

I find it funny a company thinks its worth the few cents to even bother adding a sticker if it has the original underneath as you can't even see it inside a computer.
It's more useful when they hit the second-hand market and scrolling down search results.

and not sure what EVGA were thinking with the that 6800?
How can we make our cards more desirable than the competition? I know let's replace the sexy mermaid with an ugly troll!

chinny22 wrote on 2024-09-04, 01:13:

I find it funny a company thinks its worth the few cents to even bother adding a sticker if it has the original underneath as yo […]
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I find it funny a company thinks its worth the few cents to even bother adding a sticker if it has the original underneath as you can't even see it inside a computer.
It's more useful when they hit the second-hand market and scrolling down search results.

and not sure what EVGA were thinking with the that 6800?
How can we make our cards more desirable than the competition? I know let's replace the sexy mermaid with an ugly troll!

It's also from Nvidia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqZUZyquoco Cursed.
The mermaid one is much more famous https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwxSPDWjThc ...... and pleasant to watch 🤣.

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-09-03, 21:42:

To each their own. Hence the warning in my original message. Some prefer to keep a stock but fragile Ferrari in their garage, wh […]
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To each their own. Hence the warning in my original message. Some prefer to keep a stock but fragile Ferrari in their garage, while others like to engine swap Honda VTEC engines into old Ferraris and paint them purple.

Also if I want to do retro gaming I will use a 5 dollar x600, not a pristine 9700 pro that has a bad cooler and that is likely to die like you said. I am only one person I don't need to use all my cards all the time. They are collectible items. If I want to do retrogaming I can use any random card that is cheap, quiet, etc.

This is my opinion though. But I am not alone in this. Off ebay nobody ever buys cards with aftermarket coolers or silly appearance, unless they are special editions from well established brands. There are geforce 256s on ebay with the Counter Strike Zalman passive cooler. They've been listed for years and nobody wants them, because they want an original looking geforce 256, preferably boxed, and so on and so forth...

And finally, GF1s have a reference design, which explains why all the GF1s look basically the same.

You are confusing radiator for engine, people have been changing the stock cooler since ever (or zalman wouldn't have so many models) and people have been buying cards with custom coolers forever (every single GPU with a good zalman cooler goes for way more money and gets sold faster, trust me), it sounds like you think the substance of the card is changed (engine) while the form is the only thing getting an upgrade (radiator)
It's all in your head, all GPUs will die, i try my hardest to let them survive at their best while enjoying their use.

havli wrote on 2024-09-03, 21:04:

iraito wrote on 2024-09-03, 20:05:

Founder editions and the likes is a much newer concepts, for stuff like the geforce 256 there's no founder card or specific reference design, all and i mean all GF 256 have been produced by third parties in different ways.
I think for most retro GPUs those details are not exactly of the utmost priority.

Actually, most GPUs have some kind of reference PCB layout. It might not be the most common one, but it exists. Even for the mentioned GeForce 256. This is the reference GeForce 256 SDR https://www.anandtech.com/show/391/2 for example

Was it ever sold? a reference design might exist (like a voodoo1) but then what goes into production is made only by third parties.

Yes, I am sure brands like Creative, Manli, InnoVision and many others didn't bother to design their own PCB and used the reference one. With some stickers or writings, sure... but it is reference PCB.

And speaking of Voodoo 1, plenty of manufacturers used the reference design and just slapped their name on it. Actually, looking at pictures of VG - pretty much all of them except Orchid, Canopus, Miro, and maybe few others.

iraito wrote on 2024-09-04, 07:08:

Was it ever sold? a reference design might exist (like a voodoo1) but then what goes into production is made only by third parties.

The Geforce 256 "founders edition" is Creative, since Creative built all their prototypes and it was one of the first investors in nvidia. Creative 256 was also the first on the market, 6 months ahead of Elsa and Hercules IIRC. But Creative is not necessarily the most desirable 256 in my opinion. I think all the other GF1s except the Asus and the Canopus, can be considered exact "reference designs". (Again I have nothing against Asus or Canopus or any special edition or OC cards and in fact I collect some myself)