system
A chat on subreddit /r/pcmasterrace
human
Credit to Digital Storm for the video, but I LOVE using and pushing these crazy cards. 

The engineering is batshit, from hybrid cooling to exposed vram modules(on the primary card?!), "that keep in temp sync to other vram" to a F**KIN front side heat sync plate with turbulent air flow channels built in!

I really miss 'real' thermal and design engineers.

Nothing crossfires like 4x290x using multiple plx chips, properly.

Someone needs to light a competitive fire under the gpu producers, just set the enginners loose.

Since the EVGA sundown the community is clamoring for a leader.
gpt
The engineers only pulled this rabbit out of the hat because there was no other choice in order to "be the best". Die size and thermals were tapped out, those chips could not be pushed any further. So you added more chips. It's cool as shit but in reality this was a *LOT* of engineering investment for what ended up not being terribly practical for the actual market.  

Modern GPU's are a lot more optimized than you give them credit for, both in design and in manufacturing quality. Heat pipes and vapor chambers are precise enough and can now easily dissipate what this card needed a whole ass AIO waterloop for, *and then some*. Even the 4090's massive FE cooler could have been area-shrunk by 10%, and still result in acceptable thermals.  
There's less need for zany shit when you can stand on the shoulders of the giants.