If you can't afford an NVIDIA GPU, try getting one of its new trading cards

The hardware market is going wild; users are furious because they can’t afford components, and NVIDIA is releasing… trading cards. The company just announced GeForce Trading Cards Series 1, a free collection of 14 possible card designs celebrating different eras of GeForce history.

The set spans nearly three decades of GeForce hardware and culture. Given the set is labelled as "Series 1," NVIDIA probably has more cards in store for the future.

Here are some of the most notable designs:

• NV1: The blueprint
• GeForce 256: The world's first GPU
• GeForce 3: The first GPU with Programmable Shaders
• GeForce 7800 GTX: Full-Throttle Graphics
• GeForce 10 Series: 10: Gaming Perfected
• Bubble, Chameleon and Medusa: Classic real-time demos
• The Way It's Meant To Be Played: A GeForce gaming signature
• GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Cyberpunk 2077 Edition: Night City goes #RTXON
• Checklist card: A nod to collector culture

NVIDIA will hand these out for free through special events and giveaways. Which still means you can’t just go online and buy a set. One such giveaway is NVIDIA’s upcoming Summer of RTX event. You can find more info about it here. The cards will also be handed out in person, during events such as Bilibili World, QuakeCon, and gamescom.

Initial reactions to the release of these cards are mixed. While the cards will certainly find their audience amongst the hardcore gamers and fans of the company, a lot of people are criticizing NVIDIA for giving them merch instead of fixing some of the underlying issues, like bug-ridden drivers and pushing AI further into its products.

Make no mistake, as the world’s most valuable company, NVIDIA’s resources are nearly unlimited, so releasing these trading cards has about zero effect on the company’s ability to tackle driver issues or other problems users are complaining about. This is merely a marketing campaign.

What would be ironic is if NVIDIA’s trading cards turn out to be popular and develop a market of their own. Even if the cards are handed out for free, not everyone has access to them, which introduces somewhat of an exclusivity element. So, don’t be surprised if the cards start selling online at a certain price in a few years. Imagine if the price of a single card reaches the levels of an actual GPU, just to complete the irony.

Source: NVIDIA