Why is computer hardware looking more like toys?

[trog100]

no "toys" in here just some mean looking machinery and loads of big thick power cables.. he he

trog

 

[stinger608]

Some of the early hardware was more "toyish" by far than a lot of today's hardware.

For example; The Gigabyte GA-7VAXP: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=1391#ov

Blue, purple, green, yellow, off yellow.........Just to name the main colors on the board.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Another reason for the bling is because there basically are only two GPU makers, AMD and NVIDIA. So for example, when NVIDIA makes the GTX 980, to make their cards stand out, EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI etc., have little option but to add flash. Contrary to what some believe, that flash (look and feel) has absolutely nothing to do with quality, however.

It is similar with PC cases. To support all the computer hardware out there, the PC case MUST comply with the ATX Form Factor standard. So case makers are limited to what they can do to make their cases standout. They can add filters and sound deadening materials, but those are not aesthetic things. So many add fancy facades and flashy lights. I avoid those preferring conservative looks and great function.

 

[Sasqui]

To quote David Lee Roth "It's not if you win or lose... it's how you look"

Disclaimer: I don't often quote David Lee Roth

 

[micropage7]

the main reason is plastic
plastic cover, plastic shroud, plastic retention kits, etc

 

[Bill_Bright]

the main reason is plastic
plastic cover, plastic shroud, plastic retention kits, etc

I believe that is true but those plastic shrouds serve a practical function too - they channel the cooling air flow over, then away from critical components. But that does not mean they have to have psychedelic decals or paint jobs applied to them to perform their function.

 

[alucasa]

Some hardware do have toyish look to them. Higher end mobo and GPU do in some cases which I generally avoid.

But GPU do look much professional overall nowadays. GPU from late 1990 to mid 2000 were awful. Some badly rendered chicks on them ... Aww

 

[EntropyZ]

I disagree wholeheartedly I think PC components look better than ever, well at least those that came out after 2010 (I miss my MSI Twin Frozr GTX 460), plus it's mostly Mid-High end that gets the severe visual treatment nowadays.

I remember going over the old PC hardware and close up shot threads on TPU. Can't believe people thought clear... fri**in clear colored plastic shrouds look nice. World was gone insane I thought, that most definitely looked like a toy IMHO, like some sort of cheap water gun attached to it. (I hear my childhood screaming at me right now).

I do like some LEDs here and there, but I can live without them now, cause I have this smexy NZXT S340.

I'm new btw, this is one my all time favorite PC tech sites, it has everything I could ever want from a community. Hopefully I won't be a pain in the you know what.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I disagree wholeheartedly I think PC components look better than ever

There are good looking "toys" - the point being the thread is about looking "toyish". That is all subjective of course.

The question becomes, what do you want your computer to "look" like? A toy - something to play with? Or a professional tool - something to make me more productive? I prefer the latter.

 

[cdawall]

I will say cases have gotten more childish looking, but there are still ones that look "professional" it is in both markets. Companies have to sell things people want and some people want bright, shiny and obnoxious.

 

[EntropyZ]

There are good looking "toys" - the point being the thread is about looking "toyish". That is all subjective of course.

The question becomes, what do you want your computer to "look" like? A toy - something to play with? Or a professional tool - something to make me more productive? I prefer the latter.

I guess a little bit of both, being open-minded helps, but I will take the clean professional looks any day though.

While I'm still trying to sell my CM HAF 912 Plus, I thought I needed to put my PC components somewhere. So I look my old dad's case from circa 2005 which housed a P4 Northwood and an Asus Deluxe mobo and modded it, the case is grey, slim has two blue led's at the front sides, had a left panel that had clear blue plastic window where a fan could be screwed in, but the hardware was running hot, so I cut out a circular hole in the front plastic covering where the power button and LEDs were and screwed on a 80mm fan so it was an intake, it was quite effective, but looked like a whole lotta ghetto, that belongs in the ghetto mod thread though. The point is, I rarely care about PC looks, I prefer the PC running cool and silent. But because I had the option to pick a new case, I went with something different this time.

I gave up on the HAF 912 because of it's size, it had very, very good airflow but after switching to Intel from AMD Phenom II X4 960T which I unlocked to a stable 1605T X6 @ 4GHz (sold it for like 55 euro), I thought I didn't need that much space and airflow anymore. People refer to my current PC as "monolith" so I named it after that because now it looks so simple, clean and professional.

 

[silentbogo]

About them toys and nostalgic flashbacks.

That's what I've been using in '06:


This is what I have in '16:

Except for MSI Gaming Series logo dunno what looks sillier...

Overall almost everything looks either the same or better to me, with the exception of hi-end boards with ridiculous plastic/ covers. Bu those have purpose too - not only those look cool on the testbench or open case, but can also prevent damage to small passive components during installation (at least that's what makes sense to me personally).

 

[Bill_Bright]

The thing is, how often do you sit around and gaze in awe and wonder at the internals of your computer case? After a new build and I am done "dressing" back the cables, I like what I see. But then I'm done. I don't really want see or hear from my case again. I pay attention the performance and what is displayed on my monitors. After all, does a fancy "looking" graphics card with pretty decal help performance? Can you even see it once installed? Nope and nope.

 

[EntropyZ]

The thing is, how often do you sit around and gaze in awe and wonder at the internals of your computer case? After a new build and I am done "dressing" back the cables, I like what I see. But then I'm done. I don't really want see or hear from my case again. I pay attention the performance and what is displayed on my monitors. After all, does a fancy "looking" graphics card with pretty decal help performance? Can you even see it once installed? Nope and nope.

Since I use my rig for gaming most of the time and some model editting this is an important part.

I do have a window in my current case and it sits on my table, I do see the GPU, and since I do not have a second monitor I cannot keep track of when the GPU fans are spinning, so I glance at the GPU and there I see the LED indicators that tell me what's going on, I cannot hear the GPU fan most of the time since the CPU fan is way louder than I want to be, even with a customised SpeedFan setup. (I wish the GPU had a dynamic temp indicator, but I am asking for too much)

I have games that crash when I Alt+Tab so I can't go to Afterburner to check temps and such. Also the OSD can interfere with graphical mods on games.

I do think about the internals quite a bit, because I don't take my personal items for granted, only recently I have been able to upgrade my PC to be on par with what most call an average gaming PC.

I digress, getting off-topic here I think.

 

[silentbogo]

BTW, 10 years ago is probably the worst timeframe that could be selected for non-flashy hardware, because that's the period when it all actually started.

I still have some of the remnants from that era(2004-...) laying around and many of you would definitely remember TT Big Typhoon with giant orange fan and speed regulator on the fan itself, TT Orb and DuOrb which were the very definition of flashy, Zalman CNPS-series coolers with brightest LEDs on the market, Antec PCI slot blowers and HDD fans made out of transparent blue plastic, flex-fans with LED backlight (I used one for RAM cooling); various cases with lights, LCD panels, fan controllers, side windows, 10+ multi-colored fans and other stuff.

That was my personal favorite: XG Viper 2

I bought the red one for $30 on sale back in '06 w/o PSU, but it was like new. Had several thermal probes, fan connectors, and LCD panel that shows current time/temps/RPMs and a cool-looking viper face.
My PC looked like a Christmas tree, and its innards produced so much noise - it sounded like a helicopter. An overclocked Athlon 64 x2 4200+ and Radeon X1900GT produced so much heat, that during winter I had to shut off valves on the heating radiator in my room.


EDIT: ...and we can't forget about MACs (Power Mac G3/4, iMAC G3, iBOOK)

 

[EntropyZ]

BTW, 10 years ago is probably the worst timeframe that could be selected for non-flashy hardware, because that's the period when it all actually started.

That was my personal favorite: XG Viper 2

I bought the red one for $30 on sale back in '06 w/o PSU, but it was like new. Had several thermal probes, fan connectors, and LCD panel that shows current time/temps/RPMs and a cool-looking viper face.

This! I had my AMD Sempron 3800+ housed in a similar case, had all sorts of doohickeys and indicators and LED's, had a door to open up the view of 5'25 optical drives. Thought it looked so sick, but it had awful cooling performance, it costed £30 so what did I expect, came with a ***tty 450W chinese PSU that would make the PC shut off itself when I ran Crysis with a GTX 460. So glad I got the CM HAF 912. I made big mistakes when I tried to build a new rig and even upgrade the oldest one I had.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I do have a window in my current case and it sits on my table, I do see the GPU, and since I do not have a second monitor I cannot keep track of when the GPU fans are spinning, so I glance at the GPU and there I see the LED indicators that tell me what's going on

I don't see what having a second monitor has to do with monitoring your fans but not really the point. I have a window on all my cases too but I use them to peek a look inside to look for dust build up, and spinning fans. Not because I like to gaze into my case.

As for sitting on your desk, I am sure you can see your GPU, but unless the computer is sitting real high and your chair is real low, I doubt you can see the fancy decals on the card's shroud. And BTW, lit LEDs do not mean the fan is spinning.

BTW, 10 years ago is probably the worst timeframe that could be selected for non-flashy hardware, because that's the period when it all actually started.

Huh? What started 10 years ago? Did you mean flashy because "non"-flashy hardware happened from day one of the PC when ugly beige was the only color computer cases, keyboards, monitors and even mice came in. And that was way back in the 80s and 90s. Even my old Commodore 64 came in a beige case.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

I think the premise is fallacious. Most devices are still relatively uniform, and they aren't nearly as gimick driven as a decade ago. A quick perusal of newegg and amazon yield most cards and devices being relatively uniform, with only minor differences existing to indicate branding.

Where the question should be focused on is why people spend extra money on things, for aesthetics. There are people out there who will pay more money to have a GPU with a specific colored shroud, which makes no sense if performance was the primary motivation. Thing is, it hasn't been for a while. During the best years of the PC boom you'd upgrade things every 18 months, because the performance would be better. With such a high turn-over rate, you couldn't really ask for huge sums of money. As the money was focused on performance, we got things like the Nvidia and AMD mascots. They cost relatively little, and differentiated brands with a picture emblazoned on the shroud.

Now we don't upgrade nearly as often. If you're going to keep a card for 3+ years the aesthetics matter. People are willing to shell out more up front, to make their PC look how they want it to look, because they're stuck with it much longer.


If you'd like to diverge and cover basic tech devices, I think aesthetic changes are made because the uniform platform is finally present. Everything mobile related seems to now use a flavor of USB, whereas a decade (or a little more) back we had unique chargers. As USB has become ubiquitous, people try to differentiate with the stupid little things. A single can USB cooler would have been stupid a decade ago, but today it's a thing.


People look to differentiate themselves in all things. When performance isn't really a place to differentiate your hardware, all you've got left is function and aesthetics. Vendors can't alter function on most of these devices, so they create aesthetics. It's simply trying to sell an otherwise relatively similar product with something that makes it "unique."

 

[silentbogo]

Huh? What started 10 years ago? Did you mean flashy because "non"-flashy hardware happened from day one of the PC when ugly beige was the only color computer cases, keyboards, monitors and even mice came in. And that was way back in the 80s and 90s. Even my old Commodore 64 came in a beige case.

Let me rephrase that: 10 years ago it was harder to find non-flashy high-performance consumer hardware, because modding became popular and HW manufacturers started to make "enthusiast" hardware themselves. Because of that I had to buy a CNPS9700 LED because non-LED model was nowhere to be found.

 

[EntropyZ]

I don't see what having a second monitor has to do with monitoring your fans but not really the point. I have a window on all my cases too but I use them to peek a look inside to look for dust build up, and spinning fans. Not because I like to gaze into my case.

I feel similar way about that. But I want to remember the fond times I had with hardware. Yes you can say I am far too attached, but that's what you get when you become an anti-social outcast.

As for sitting on your desk, I am sure you can see your GPU, but unless the computer is sitting real high and your chair is real low, I doubt you can see the fancy decals on the card's shroud. And BTW, lit LEDs do not mean the fan is spinning.

I like to play in the dark... (not what you're thinking, lol) So it's mostly the LEDs on the GPU that kind of have a blinding effect. And I do know how the LEDs work on the Gigabyte model of the R9 380, Silent/Stop only comes on when the BIOS tells the GPU to start fan slow-spin or turn them off completely.

We can take this discussion somewhere else if you want.

Just looked at your system specs, I wonder how your Microsoft Keyboard+Mouse combo is doing, my comfort 3000's are still going strong since getting them in 2009, I love the design. I wish there was a keyboard that was good and comfortable but had more gaming oriented features like mechanical keys. Keyboards with rubber domes are OK for me, I don't really know what the difference would be for me, since everyone usually perceives their version of "better" accessories differently.

One would also say changing a lot details of what makes a keyboard draws too much of the original design away.

I hope I'm making sense.

 

[erocker]

Coolers on GPUs have been stylized for years... They've just gotten larger. Mobo's have more/larger heatsinks on them. They still make hardware that looks like it did 20 years ago if you want to go the cheap route. Idk... Stylized hardware is nothing new.

 

[Niteblooded]

^What others above me said about stylized hardware being a thing for years. That is part of why I loved my DFI Lanparty board so much.

Besides what's wrong with form and function?

Function always dictates what I buy but given two similar products with similar prices I pick the option that looks better.

The best part about building a PC yourself is your building something. You put your personality into whatever you build. Even the guys who build with a plain case and shove it out of sight. I love looking at case mods because you see someone without being constrained by pre-fab'd parts.

Oh I love having a window on my case. I saw my water cooling blow as it happened and managed to unplug my machine before any other parts followed suit. Early days it was activity lights and always been useful monitoring dust levels. The case (Enthoo Luxe) I'm about to build in 95% of my decision was for the features and system builder friendly features but I paid $10 over the Pro to get 2 extra features and the LED lighting scheme. I have no problem admitting I like style with my function.

I will say though, the bullet motherboard is just silly.

 

[peche]

well I think that motherboards and GPU's are the most notable in changes, they are like following a scheme according market that's all, for getting people interested in great looking parts, also for showing off their stuff, I do like more the way gigabyte slowly changes their famous Windforce 3x, I never liked the one on 600 series but the 700 series came up with a slightly changed scheme, colors and also fans, then the 900 series came with a great looking one,

as bill said, Nvidia and radeon makes the reference models pretty plain, then aftermarket coolers or custom coolers by different brands like gigabyte, MSI and plenty other makes their own ones to match their customers and also for new ones, that’s just a market world that always changes and try to get more and more customers,

everything is changing, for a reason, to improve and then improvement also has a little space for a new scheme or look, why still on the same design with a new cooler, fan, heatsink, fins or whatever they improve and still boring when you could re-design everything and give a newer look?

the same for cases, is not going to be good for a company to sell the same model with minor changes, that’s why everything changes and now days, showing of the computer, parts and mods is something pretty coool! a hobby for ones, a desire for others and a job for some others…

just my two cents… also i love the hardware and new schemes and designs...on everything, old hardware seemed to be a little boring,

 

[Tartaros]

I have been doing some cleaning today and I found the motherboard of my first custom pc, 13-14 years ago. Its color emphasized what it was: a turd.

Very mature from Asus, indeed

 

[xvi]

I think the higher end cards were a bit more serious.

I loved this card but it was sooo expensive
ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 PRO $450

I have one sitting on my shelf at home. I'd happily sell it to you for half that.
Come to think about it, I have no idea how I was able to afford it back then. I think I RMA'd my 9800 Pro and they gave me an AIW back?