I have bought and sold a lot of 3dfx hardware the last years as i was very fortunate to beeing able to buy a lot of cards when prices were fairly low. My collection is fairly consistent now at around 55-60 cards.. i just love having a lot of spares for my systems as i know stuff will be harder and harder to find.

My problem today is this: Which of those Ebay prices are actually real SELLING prices? I personally think they are insane now and i really wonder if anyone actually payed those prices lately?

Here in The Netherlands there are hardware collectors too (a lot of them on Vogons also) but i never see them pay the insane prices that are on Ebay, for any hardware.

But even here, 3dfx hardware keeps increasing in price. I don't think it will get to the insane Ebay prices tough. And i don't even mean the highest absurd prices, just the ''normal lower ones'' are pretty crazy.

Same goes for Highend Nvidia agp cards, they are sometimes even more extreme on Ebay. I don't get it, and i really wonder if anything ever sold at those prices.

In my country 3dfx cards are ridiculously expensive, voodoo 3 are listed on a price range of R$250 to R$400( US$1 = R$4 by the time of this post), and a single voodoo 5 5500 AGP is listed for R$1200.
No other 3dfx cards are listed for sale.
I have my voodoo 3 3000 on my pentium 3 but i rarely use it because i don't wanna risk breaking it, just like my dx4 build.

Hardware dies, unless reporoductioins are made, the longer it is out of production, it's only a matter of time before current examples in the wild (working or not) become impossible to find. Accidents happen, components fail, interfaces change (e.g. at some point, finding a system with PCI might become difficult), people not familiar with the demand and throwing things out etc... The number of working examples will reduce over time so as time goes on, there will be fewer and fewer examples and the ones that exist will proabaly eventually be used for nothing more than display/collections.

Hardware emulation through software is the future imo.

blurks wrote:

Sure, but that doesn't keep me from buying stuff and admiring it in the cabinet. […]
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Baoran wrote:

I know that when I die one day all my retro pc stuff will most likely go to e-waste because nobody who I know would understand their value.

Sure, but that doesn't keep me from buying stuff and admiring it in the cabinet.

Duouk2000 wrote:

In regards to the OP, that boat has sailed I'm afraid.

Not so sure about that. I see parallels to the NES situation, where the price peak has already passed and collectors are loosing more and more interest in it. I suspect the NES to be very affordable in a few years again when all the collectors have woken up from their collecting craze and realize they need to materialize before the crash is incoming. That is very similar to 3dfx stuff. Currently all the nice cards and boxes are spread in collections. Those collections will vanish. Like I say, no collection is forever. Most collectors are in their mid 30's or 40's and I assume, they have no intention to keep PC hardware until they die. In about 5-10 years 3dfx stuff will become more available again, provided that not many of the current survivors get trashed over the next few years.

As someone who loves the NES and still has the odd expensive game I never got round to buying nothing would make me happier 😀

Unknown_K wrote:

I snagged a few Voodoos ages ago when nobody really cared about them. The 4500's were never that common even then. The only reason I have a 4500 was because it was in a junk PC somebody gave me.

Guess my boxed 5500 AGP is worth what I paid for it new back in the day (which I find kind of funny).

Check local recycling shops in your area.

I don't remember where I got my Voodoo 4 from, but these were always hard to find.
Voodoo 5 was easier to get, these typically went for something like €75 or so.

I even got Voodoo 1 and 2 cards for free or a pack of beer, nobody wanted them. Voodoo 3 prices were at €5 or so, though here in The Netherlands the AGP version seemed to be much more common, and most Voodoo 3 PCIs being the 2000 variant. It was good times.

Also I never stop being amazed at the rise in prices the last couple years. If I had a say in it, I'd rather have prices affordable to anyone interested in actually working and using the real parts, instead of viewing them as some sort of stock exchange item to be put away in a vault of a showcase.
I wouldn't mind prices massively dropping, even though I don't really need anything for myself anymore.

But to me great pleasure there is one thing developed that I actually like to see: That these old items are considered less as throwaway items and more like items that are worthwhile to repair and receive some TLC instead of the "Oh its broken! Well I just toss it in the bin and buy a new one!" which used to be much more common in the older days.

meljor wrote:

I have bought and sold a lot of 3dfx hardware the last years as i was very fortunate to beeing able to buy a lot of cards when p […]
Show full quote

I have bought and sold a lot of 3dfx hardware the last years as i was very fortunate to beeing able to buy a lot of cards when prices were fairly low. My collection is fairly consistent now at around 55-60 cards.. i just love having a lot of spares for my systems as i know stuff will be harder and harder to find.

My problem today is this: Which of those Ebay prices are actually real SELLING prices? I personally think they are insane now and i really wonder if anyone actually payed those prices lately?

Here in The Netherlands there are hardware collectors too (a lot of them on Vogons also) but i never see them pay the insane prices that are on Ebay, for any hardware.

But even here, 3dfx hardware keeps increasing in price. I don't think it will get to the insane Ebay prices tough. And i don't even mean the highest absurd prices, just the ''normal lower ones'' are pretty crazy.

Same goes for Highend Nvidia agp cards, they are sometimes even more extreme on Ebay. I don't get it, and i really wonder if anything ever sold at those prices.

I could be mistaking, but I haven't really seen retro PC hardware take off as massively as I have seen old consoles take off in The Netherlands.
If there is any Dutch site that would be any serious, my guess would be tweakers.net would take the cake. It's pretty much a given that many of the Dutch folks here at least frequent tweakers.net with at least some regularity. I sure have 😊

But the plus side of this is that, with less interest, there is also less demand and lower prices. Or at least this remained the case on tweakers for a very long time.

I think you did very well on your 3DFX collection, beating me by a large margin even though I had started wayyy earlier! 😁

I would say that 3DFX cards have almost reached their peaks in values. A working Voodoo 5 card is worth (if properly advertised) somewhere in the region of € 200 - 300, add another € 100 - 150 if it’s complete or new. That’s the kind of range where most enthusiasts start to drop out (this rule applies for many hobbies that do not include vehicles or women 😉 ).

I have noticed that prices for 3DFX cards are also converging to certain levels where most people agree on. Voodoo 1 and 2 cards remain relatively affordable because (as far as I know) are most common and they are only good enough for the earliest 3D games.

Tetrium wrote:

I wouldn't mind prices massively dropping

The prices will drop eventually, but not before todays’ enthusiasts start to become older, start to lose interest, the cards start to fail in large quantities and no one can or endeavors to repair them. The same thing is happening in the vintage radio community.

Tetrium wrote:

I could be mistaking, but I haven't really seen retro PC hardware take off as massively as I have seen old consoles take off in […]
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meljor wrote:

I have bought and sold a lot of 3dfx hardware the last years as i was very fortunate to beeing able to buy a lot of cards when p […]
Show full quote

I have bought and sold a lot of 3dfx hardware the last years as i was very fortunate to beeing able to buy a lot of cards when prices were fairly low. My collection is fairly consistent now at around 55-60 cards.. i just love having a lot of spares for my systems as i know stuff will be harder and harder to find.

My problem today is this: Which of those Ebay prices are actually real SELLING prices? I personally think they are insane now and i really wonder if anyone actually payed those prices lately?

Here in The Netherlands there are hardware collectors too (a lot of them on Vogons also) but i never see them pay the insane prices that are on Ebay, for any hardware.

But even here, 3dfx hardware keeps increasing in price. I don't think it will get to the insane Ebay prices tough. And i don't even mean the highest absurd prices, just the ''normal lower ones'' are pretty crazy.

Same goes for Highend Nvidia agp cards, they are sometimes even more extreme on Ebay. I don't get it, and i really wonder if anything ever sold at those prices.

I could be mistaking, but I haven't really seen retro PC hardware take off as massively as I have seen old consoles take off in The Netherlands.
If there is any Dutch site that would be any serious, my guess would be tweakers.net would take the cake. It's pretty much a given that many of the Dutch folks here at least frequent tweakers.net with at least some regularity. I sure have 😊

But the plus side of this is that, with less interest, there is also less demand and lower prices. Or at least this remained the case on tweakers for a very long time.

I think you did very well on your 3DFX collection, beating me by a large margin even though I had started wayyy earlier! 😁

Maybe not ''massively'' but as soon as an interesting item shows up (mostly on marktplaats) there are more than enough people willing to bid good money. Just by far not as crazy as some of the Ebay prices.

For example: I've sold 3 agp voodoo5's in the last 2 years or so for 100 euro a piece and now that's considered cheap (instead of ''ok''). Voodoo2 went for 35 euro or so most of the time and now they reach 45-50 pretty often. They are still climbing here.

The prices these days are indeed pretty high and have been going up for the past few years especially where I live. 😐

I got lucky back in 2011, when I got a Diamond Monster 3D for about 5€. A year later it was even better at a yard sale where I bought another one for less than 1€, untested of course, but I swapped the older one in my 233MMX and it worked flawlessly. About a year ago I also bought a Voodoo 3 for anothe 5€, but it was dead sadly.

All in all, I completely agree with the idea that the best way to get 3dfx or any rare component is to go out and try your luck in yard sales or local sites, hoping that the seller has no idea what they're selling. You might get lucky, but after 20+ years there are bound to be dead ones too.

SpectriaForce wrote:

I would say that 3DFX cards have almost reached their peaks in values. A working Voodoo 5 card is worth somewhere in the region of € 200 - 300, add another € 100 - 150 if it’s complete or new. That’s the kind of range where most enthusiasts start to drop out (this rule applies for many hobbies that do not include vehicles or women 😉 ).

I have noticed that prices for 3DFX cards are also converging to certain levels where most people agree on. Voodoo 1 and 2 cards remain relatively affordable because (as far as I know) are most common and they are only good enough for the earliest 3D games.

Are those the same peaks we talked about in 2013 when prices went up? There simply is no telling what happens and up to now it keeps surprising me.... I remember calling people crazy for paying a 1000+ dollars for a voodoo 5 6000. I would probably take two now.... 😎

But I don't think a voodoo 5 is worth 200-300 (maybe a pci one is 200? As it is much more rare). I know of a boxed, working AGP one that can't sell for 300 euro. Now I know that they are more expensive on Ebay but just because people ask that sort of prices doesn't mean a much cheaper one won't come along.

But I also don't see a voodoo2 as relatively affordable anymore as you probably have to pay around 125-150 for a working matching sli set (on Ebay).
Voodoo3 is still the best deal but it is also going up, up, up..

I'd also like to add that it's very obvious that we're in a nostalgia wave and have been for some years now. Look at youtube channels like LGR reaching 1 million viewers now. I've experimented by browsing items on ebay the moment LGR puts up a video and over the next few days and I watch those items sell out. Somebody paid me $50 + shipping for a Sony Mavica camera I bought in 1997~ which I posted right after LGR made a video on it, before that I couldn't move the same item for $10. Now prices have slowly started going back down. Another example is the Acer Vi15G socket 3 motherboard, those were selling instantly on ebay after he made a video about building a 486.

Unfortunately, Voodoo cards are dying in droves again now that they are being used by tens of thousands of "retro gamers". I doubt most people are strapping a fan to their voodoo3 😜. So I suspect the $5-10 prices we were seeing in 2010 are now gone forever. Every youtuber makes videos about Voodoo cards so the advertising is insane for them.

BeginnerGuy wrote:

I'd also like to add that it's very obvious that we're in a nostalgia wave and have been for some years now.

Makes me really wonder why nvidia refuses to revive the 3dfx brand. I wouldn't even mind a stupid entry level GeForce rebranded as 3dfx card with a Glide wrapper builtin the driver. But aesthetics (box, name, etc...) should match.

blurks wrote:

BeginnerGuy wrote:

I'd also like to add that it's very obvious that we're in a nostalgia wave and have been for some years now.

Makes me really wonder why nvidia refuses to revive the 3dfx brand. I wouldn't even mind a stupid entry level GeForce rebranded as 3dfx card with a Glide wrapper builtin the driver. But aesthetics (box, name, etc...) should match.

If somebody comes to market with a "retro" product that generates tens of millions of dollars, then the degreed marketing teams that work for the big time companies will possibly take note.

I would love to see limited runs of Socket 3 CPUs, Socket 3 motherboards, glide cards in pci and agp, etc, but things like that are built using an economy of scale. It wouldn't make sense to do it even with the potential market (I believe).

There's no reason NOT to include a glide wrapper with a modern card though, that would take no effort at all and increase the size of the driver by what, 100k ? 😎

I believe Creative recently slapped the old E-MU on a recent audigy though, so that's a thing.

meljor wrote:

Are those the same peaks we talked about in 2013 when prices went up? There simply is no telling what happens and up to now it k […]
Show full quote

Are those the same peaks we talked about in 2013 when prices went up? There simply is no telling what happens and up to now it keeps surprising me.... I remember calling people crazy for paying a 1000+ dollars for a voodoo 5 6000. I would probably take two now.... 😎

But I don't think a voodoo 5 is worth 200-300 (maybe a pci one is 200? As it is much more rare). I know of a boxed, working AGP one that can't sell for 300 euro. Now I know that they are more expensive on Ebay but just because people ask that sort of prices doesn't mean a much cheaper one won't come along.

But I also don't see a voodoo2 as relatively affordable anymore as you probably have to pay around 125-150 for a working matching sli set (on Ebay).
Voodoo3 is still the best deal but it is also going up, up, up..

The higher the price, the fewer people can afford the item. A peak does exist, the question is where, but looking at other hobbies, such as classic Nintendo game cartridges, limits do exist.

Sold prices depend on a lot of factors.

I think you really need to set your sights more on what you can afford vs. what you want. Voodoo 5s and Voodoo 2s seem to be the ones going for the most, so you may need to accept and embrace the less-expensive Voodoo, Voodoo Rush, Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo 3 cards.

However, we are fortunate that there were Glide wrappers then and now that allow most games to work using that API. You are almost certainly not without a way to play most of your favorite games from the period.

I wanted them (Voodoo's) as well a couple of years ago. And I found my self not using them at all, because I did not want to wear them down. So I did a hard choice, selling them, while people was still able to aford them. Because ulrimately they a invented to be used, right?

It was not to make money, it was simply to get them out to someone that wanted to use them more than me. And in return, I through the money after Amiga stuff and C64 stuff instead. I am actually using those more, than I used any of my Voodoo's. Shure I kept one, just for the fun of owning one. So I still have my Orchid V1. And I need it specifically for NFS2-SE. Anuthing else can run happily on GF2-GTS and faster if needed. Like GF4-ti4200.

It hurts knowing this, as I had a brand new in box Voodoo 2 or 3 (cant remember), that was bought well over a decade ago by a family member, which didn't fit their PC, so gave it to us and .... we didn't have an AGP port either, so it sat unused in its box. No idea what I did with it, cant find it in the usual places. Something tells me I probably sold it for peanuts 🙁

Only Banshee, Voodoo3, 4 and 5 were also for AGP slot.

I think that it sometimes just takes patience. I saw someone local selling a Pentium 4 PC w/ a Voodoo 2 for $80 CAD and he threw in a few random bits and pieces too. And I'm in a Facebook 3dfx group and occasionally, someone will post about a $5 Voodoo they found either on eBay or Craigslist, and the seller knew what they were selling. Sometimes, you'll just find someone who wants someone to enjoy what they're either done with or have excess of. Like I said, just takes some patience. 😀