What just happened? The GPU has a long history. So long, in fact, that it could fill a museum. Such a fantastical idea has now become a reality, with Chinese hardware manufacturer Colorful announcing the world's first GPU History Museum in partnership with Nvidia.
The museum, located in at Shenzhen New Generation Industrial Park where Colorful recently located, contains a visual history of the Graphics Processing Unit's evolution, starting from the 1980s up to the present day.
The museum includes some of the industry's most significant products, including Nvidia's first-ever GeForce card, the GeForce 256---check out this Lego version---which the company called the "world's first GPU." Some of team green's earlier cards can also be found at the museum.
Tech fans will find pre-AMD ATl cards, including the Rage Fury Maxx that featured a pair of Rage 128 PRO GPUs on a single board---its first dual GPU product. There are also graphics adapters developed by IBM, 3Dlabs, Intel, S3, Trident, 3Dfx, and others, all sorted by year, judging from the images.
Visitors will be able to do more at the museum than learn about GPUs. There's also a section dedicated to China's e-sports history and achievements---Colorful's iGame sub-brand was established in 2008 to promote the development of e-sports in the country.
Fans of modern-day graphics cards will be able to experience the best of today's hardware using an advanced racing simulator featuring multiple 8K displays and a full racing setup, including a chair, wheel, pedals, and force feedback. There's also an "advanced VR cockpit" for visitors to enjoy some of the latest virtual reality games.
Colorful writes that the GPU History Museum will be available for visitor registration soon.
If the idea of such as museum appeals to you, check out our multi-part History of the Modern Graphics Processor feature, the Top 10 Most Significant AMD GPUs of All Time, and 3Dfx Interactive: Gone But Not Forgotten.