FalconFly's Marketplace subforum is a good place to watch or indicate your interest:

http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=market

Good question. I'm wondering where all the proof of the higher end models went. Yes, the one with 4 GPUs and 128MB of ram. Supposedly they were prototypes with a few revisions; some had trouble with certain drivers IIRC.

Also curious how many members here have the voodoo 4 4500. Don't care what anyone says but the card didn't really suck. It was just a very high quality card that seemed professional, even if it wasn't the fastest. Some versions have DVI IIRC.

Mini Voodoo 4 4500 review:
Voodoo 4 4500 is not mentioned much here which I'm suprised about. It does seem to be kind of rare now... Was 3DFX's best single gpu card and could outpace Voodoo 2 SLI, added 32-bit color, and had the best anti-aliasing (only 2x antialiasing but was like Nvidia's 4-6X antialiasing at the time; worked great with classic games stuck at 640x480). Recieved negative reviews back in the day, but reviews mostly compared speed to Geforce cards. RAMDAC was 350mhz and 2D couldn't look much better via dsub; impressive in other words (up to 2048X1536 @ 85hz). Despite using 16-bit color, it actually would output something like 22-bit color. Not sure if it was dithering or driver trick but was impressive; Quake 3 looked very good with highest settings in 16-bit color @ 1024x768 while running 40-60+ fps with compressed textures. Only thing bad, 320x200 modes had an artifact bug that resembled pixel crawling-overclocking artifacts on pixel edges; didn't look too bad but it was noticeable. Glide worked in realmode DOS (carmageddon comes to mind), but not all versions IIRC.

VSA-100 Tbuffer effects was very interesting even today IMO (definitely something else besides TNL). Can't help but notice a resemblence between tbuffer effects and pixel-vertex shaders. Tbuffer had motion blur, depth of field, and something else I'm sure. It's funny Nvidia bought 3DFX and ended up releasing the first GPU with pixel-vertex shaders at that time... Geforce 3. Programmable vertex-pixel shaders that have standardized graphics up to this day. Did 3DFX standardize shaders, or Nvidia...? Makes you wonder what else Nvidia might do. If Nvidia, really is Nvidia.

rick6 wrote:

I would love to get one, preferably not for a price of a small car!

It gives infinite miles per gallon. Doesn't burn fuel at all. 😉.

Holering wrote:

Did 3DFX standardize shaders, or Nvidia...? Makes you wonder what else Nvidia might do. If Nvidia, really is Nvidia.

Oh that's a really nice point! I once wondered that myself. Seems like the Geforce 3 timing and innovation was too spot on. I have a Geforce 3 TI200 128mb, maybe that's what the Voodoo Rampage should have been?
As for the Voodoo 5 6000, they will flood the web sometime in the future (for a brief time i guess) when hoarders decide to sell them once and for all.
I mean, some people have several of them! ARGH!!

Also, does anyone here have a working Voodoo Rampage? Those are much rarer than any voodoo that ever existed i think.

Also akula65, thank you for the link!

There's a rumor that 3Dfx assets worked on the GeForce FX line of cards. Never heard anything about the GeForce 3 again. Not only is the time frame too narrow, it wasn't 3Dfx or Nvidia that standardized shaders. Microsoft's specifications for DirectX 8.0 demanded that.

The Voodoo 4 was compared to the GeForce 2 MX, a generally cheaper and significantly faster card. Sure, most of the times the signal quality took a dive and AA was a hassle, but they had the better product and people bought it. Most people didn't care about Glide games in 2000 and AA was too new. Not to mention, 2x AA on Voodoo 4 is very slow, unless you're running older 640x480 games as you mentioned.

I really like the Voodoo 4. The official V4 AGP also works at AGP 4x which is pretty cool.

I've got 3x PowerColor V4s (1 normal AGP, 1 normal AGP + video out and then the L model one).

I've got a boxed 3dfx V4 PCI and then another 3dfx V4 PCI that I actually use.

I would really like to get an official 3dfx AGP v4 and then I think I have enough 😁

Keen to get another V5 PCI at some point too, I have a couple of AGP ones and then one Mac PCI one (with DVI).

The Voodoo 4 is a really nice card.

I remember seeing one a few years ago for a little over a grand, but haven't seen one since. They are quite rare (I've heard speculation that there are less than 500 total examples, all of which are pre-production boards, and not all of them are functional). Expect to pay through the teeth as well; most people who have them know exactly what they have. Rampage is even rarer - there's maybe a handful of bring-up boards known to exist, which (as far as I'm aware) are nothing approaching functional as a daily-driver. They reportedly all have issues with their DAC outputs, power I/O, and the drivers are extremely rough (they're bring-up boards, after all). Very much a collectible curiosity than anything else.

As far as DVI on Voodoo4/5, the Mac editions come with DVI, and according to what I've read *can* be flashed to a PC BIOS and run under Windows or Linux. They're relatively rare in their own right though (but not unobtanium). I don't think there are Voodoo5 6000s with DVI - but I could be mistaken.

Here's an example that's on eBay right now:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3dfx-Voodoo-5-5500-PC … =item4d1d870bb9

I don't know what the DVI output capabilities are like though; as far as I'm aware it's an "either/or" situation with the two outputs, and it probably doesn't support massively high resolutions via DVI (like many other DVI-equipped cards from that era).

Some more information about 6k and Rampage:
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/3dfx/pro_v6k.htm
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/3dfx/rampage.htm
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/3dfx/rampage_2012.htm
http://www.x86-secret.com/articles/divers/v5- … 00/v56kgb-6.htm
http://www.rashly3dfx.com/products/rampage.html
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/3dfxtribute/index.html

As far as the 3dfx-nVidia connection, my understanding is similar to F2Bnp's in that Geforce 3 was far too new to have had 3dfx IP/engineers influence it. It takes a very long time to design new chips/boards, and the time gap between the 3dfx acquisition in late 2000/early 2001 is far too narrow for any of the 3dfx "stuff" to have made it into NV20. I've read speculation that GeForce FX reportedly implements at least some ideas that were on the drawing board for Mojo (the "next gen" after Rampage - would have likely been a GeForce 4 or later competitor). Reportedly some of the 3dfx engineering folks/ideas also wound up at ATi, according to Wikipedia. The geometry processor as an AGP interface/bridge concept explored in the above linked ixbt article isn't dissimilar from a real-world 3DLabs product, the REALiZM, which came out a few years later. I'm not sure if there's a real connection there or not though.

As far as T-Buffer, it isn't like TnL or programable shaders, it's more similar to the arcade/simulation systems that 3dfx had been building for years, in that it uses multiple GPUs (or multiple rendering pipes) to "stack" and generate effects like motion blur. You can read about it here:
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/66/
And here:
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/67/

Programmable shaders on modern GPUs can implement most of those effects in some manner (that is, the end result is similar enough), but it isn't the same from the hardware or API's perspective.

I have a prerelease Geforce3 card with a GPU marked 0050A2. The RAM chips are 0045 and 0046 dated. Based on the 0050 GPU marking, NVidia surely had working Geforce3s by the time they acquired 3DFx. From what I've read online I guess they didn't reach the final chip revision until several months later but the 0050A2 does work. I've never noticed anything faulty about it, and my nephew played games on it for a couple years, but I can't say for sure that the pixel shaders were ever stressed.

I've never paid attention to the market for Voodoo 6000s, but I'd love to have even a common 3DFx card. I've never had the pleasure of using one. I have some TV tuner model (3500 I think?) which requires some proprietary dongle which I've never seen.

I found this card for sale down where I live on our Ebay equivalent.
It's advertised (about US$12) as a Voodoo 5, but I can't tell which model. Evilking?

That is a standard Voodoo 4 4500 32mb with TV out. Doesn't work at 1.5volts by default like the 3dfx cards.

I have a couple, here is a photo without the video out:
http://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/File:Powe … odoo_4_4500.jpg

I remember seeing one back in 2012 but the seller backed out and wasn't a working card. Before that I had seen two or three over the few years prior and one went for 2500 euros and the other 1500 before the big hype. Beyond that the few remaining samples were sold between collectors and not on ebay. Only 200 cards were made and only half that worked, some were lost and some died in use leaving only a few dozen working cards. The big problem is the HINT bridge going bad and some boards can easily brick the card despite having native 3.3v agp. The reference 4500 is 1.5v native and is slightly newer than the 5500, there was a batch of 5500 that has 1.5v support but only for one gpu so no sli unless in a 3.3v slot. Overall vsa era cards are getting rare.

Last Ebay sale were a Voodoo 5 6000 AGP Rev 2600 in 2010 I believe. It sold for 2450 US dollars (source)

Other Ebay auctions I was able to find through Falconfly.de:

The auction ended on 9/15/08 at 3:27PM CT for 802.99 GBP (~$1,500 at the time) [Item# = 230288632317]
razr_x won his card on 06/18/08 for 2,019.99 EUR. [Item# = 230260194710]
V5 6000 Rev 3700 08.02.10 1875 USD

Here is a world list of known 3DFX Voodoo5 6000 cards: http://www.voodooalert.de/board/index.php?pag … &threadID=16806

Then you have guys like trevormacro on that site who has 13 Voodoo5 6000's...

There is one person who has at least 10 V5 6000's at last count. His hoard may have grown since the last time I heard anything about his collection which would explain the lack of them for sale recently. I believe it's Gary Donovan.

Even if one did come up for sale, the big question is can you afford it? They don't sell cheap and many of them don't even work so paying thousands of dollars for a non-functional card isn't very smart even if it is rare.

sliderider wrote:

There is one person who has at least 10 V5 6000's at last count. His hoard may have grown since the last time I heard anything about his collection which would explain the lack of them for sale recently. I believe it's Gary Donovan.

Even if one did come up for sale, the big question is can you afford it? They don't sell cheap and many of them don't even work so paying thousands of dollars for a non-functional card isn't very smart even if it is rare.

I agree with you on the economics thing - $2000+ for a 10+ year old prototype that may or may not even be functional or compatible and, if we're being entirely honest, will get over-run by a $20-$30 run of the mill GeForce 3/4 card, just doesn't seem reasonable. At least from the perspective of wanting working hardware to play games on (or whatever); if the goal is just to collect 3dfx stuff, that's another story. 😀

I find it very frustrating that there are V5 6000 hoarders. I can understanding having 2-3 in case one fails or something, assuming they are being used, but there is no reason to have the cards in a display case or to have every single revision just for the sake of it. There seem to be a few people that have like 10. The only reason I ever wanted a 6000 was to play Voodoo games with good FSAA. Not for prestige or decorating.

Cheers

The people who have 10+ probably got them from an insider at 3dfx before it closed, or at an auction of 3dfx junk after I was purchased and dumped. Same way people have multiple Commodore C65's, they were just in the right place at the right time or knew people.

I loved 3dfx cards when they were new, purchased a Voodoo1 Righteous 3d mail order before they even hit the stores and waited for drivers to Play Tomb Raider and Quake in DOS. My collection has a few Voodoo 1's, 12MB 2's in SLI and some spare 8MB, 3000 PCI, 3500 AGP (the one with the TV and video capture ), 4000 PCI, and 5500 AGP boxed with the free mousepad they gave away because they were late to ship. Also have some of the earlier 2d/3d combo cards. Outside of the models I purchased new I wouldn't pay much for the rarities or prototypes, the people who have them are waiting for a big payout like the people who snagged Apple I boards in the last decade. I am more of a user then strict have to have every model collector.

Unknown_K wrote:

The people who have 10+ probably got them from an insider at 3dfx before it closed, or at an auction of 3dfx junk after I was purchased and dumped. Same way people have multiple Commodore C65's, they were just in the right place at the right time or knew people.

I loved 3dfx cards when they were new, purchased a Voodoo1 Righteous 3d mail order before they even hit the stores and waited for drivers to Play Tomb Raider and Quake in DOS. My collection has a few Voodoo 1's, 12MB 2's in SLI and some spare 8MB, 3000 PCI, 3500 AGP (the one with the TV and video capture ), 4000 PCI, and 5500 AGP boxed with the free mousepad they gave away because they were late to ship. Also have some of the earlier 2d/3d combo cards. Outside of the models I purchased new I wouldn't pay much for the rarities or prototypes, the people who have them are waiting for a big payout like the people who snagged Apple I boards in the last decade. I am more of a user then strict have to have every model collector.

They weren't hoarded all at once but rather one or two at a time over a long time, some people who worked at 3DFX kept some of the cards when they left and sold them on eBay a few years later. It takes ages to build a collection like that and enough money to buy a new BMW, some came from other collectors so the huge collections got larger. Overall average folks like us and those in between will not get to own one of these cards unless knowing the right people and having the money at the right time. Few of these cards work and they are fragile so only in good hands do they ever get used. The Rampage cards are some of the rarest cards in existence now that is in a league beyond the V56K.

crash. wrote:

I can understanding having 2-3 in case one fails or something, assuming they are being used, but there is no reason to have the cards in a display case or to have every single revision just for the sake of it.

Don't say that too loudly around here, especially not about sound cards! 😜

Here in the netherlands the 4500 is just as hard to find. I search daily (but i am not an ebay user) and they just never come up.

I guess the v4 just wasn`t popular and to be honest i never even considered one myself back in the day, the geforce2 mx was MUCH more attractive for the gaming i did.

From every version of the 3dfx series i have one up to the 5500`s in both pci and agp so i really want a v4 to complete the series 😀 The 6k just isn`t worth the money imho, i am a user and i would be scared everytime i fired it up.......

I got my voodoo 4 4500 from a locat flea market.