Palit has published a teaser video on Twitter, showcasing new graphics cards that feature a colour-shifting finish. The new GamingPro Chameleon Series are described as “custom modded with vibrant metallic paints,” but more importantly, to tie in with our headline, “the colour shifts at different viewing angles and varies with lighting conditions”.
— Palit_Global (@Palit_Global) August 25, 2021
The description of these graphics cards as a series (the Chameleon Series) and as ‘custom modded’ is a bit confusing – so it is hard to know whether the Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GamingPro, as featured in the video, is going to be a mass-produced item of we are just looking at a truly custom one-off. Even without language barriers, firms can get this terminology mixed up.
I’ve looked closely at the video and was disappointed that the observed hues of the black and blue base note graphics cards doesn’t vary very dramatically, as the camera pans through various angles. When I first saw the graphics card name/video title, I was expecting something a bit more snazzy or clever.
My first thought was that the graphics card colour would vary depending on heat, like those thermochromic pigment infused Hypercolor T-shirts that were popular in the 1990s. Another thought was that the finish might be made from a 3D lenticular print, but definitely not. Lastly, I own a Samsung Galaxy Note10 with Aura Glow colour shifting back which uses nano-pattern films under the surface for prism-like dramatic colour shift reflections – but the Palit Chameleon Series doesn’t colour change so dramatically as this, either.
What the finish applied on the Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Chameleon Series seems to be is just simple Colour Shift metallic paint, like this type supplied to crafters and upcyclers by Folk Flirt.
Whatever the finish is, I’m sure this Chameleon Series is going to be snapped up very quickly, and of course some will be destined for dark satanic crypto mines, so it really doesn’t matter what sparkles the likes of Palit adds. That would be a bit sad, but not quite as bad as seeing loads of rare Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 Gundam Edition GPUs being stuffed into mining farm machines.