If you need to ask, no - like 99% of other retro stuff... But for nostalgia reasons you most probably should 🤣

The main reasons to use an original Voodoo card is:

1) If there are specific 3Dfx-accelerated (Glide) games you wanted to run that don't have other 3D acceleration options available. IIRC, there are maybe a couple dozen titles that fall under this category.

2) To recreate the experience of what it would have been like to own and use a Voodoo graphics card.

If you are pragmatic, then it doesn't make sense to get one as there are glide wrappers which can run virtually any 3Dfx game with much better results than the original albeit with some tinkering. If you are a purist then may be. But with the current prices of 3Dfx cards, it makes little sense.

I'll probably sell mine, prices make no sense,

They are a bit nuts right now; but that seems to be the case for most retro kit these days.

SPBHM wrote on 2023-04-02, 16:41:

I'll probably sell mine, prices make no sense,

It isn't worth it. I have 3Dfx Voodoo 2 on my PIII and never use it. I bought it for like €2.

Not worth it with the current prices.

Prices might come down soon, the buying has slowed and market forces should take hold, someone will be eager to dump their's fast. There are so many deals right now that I can't keep up.

Glide looks great and you mentioned you wanted one earlier in life so I think it's worth you getting one:

DOS only - Voodoo1 (compatibility)
Win 95/98 - Voodoo2 or Voodoo3 (raw bungholio marks)

My question is : is it there a good reason to pick up a Voodoo card over a TNT/GeForce/Rage card ? (for someone new to 3Dfx that is)

If you want to make something like "Dawn of 3D acceleration" build with Pentium MMX/K6-II - yes. 3Dfx cards and Glide are usually better suited for slow CPUs.
If you just want to play with all the bell and whistles - authentically old Pentium III+ system with GeForce 4 Ti/Radeon 8500 performance level GPU can provide better experience with Glide wrapper/emulator. Glide "exclusivity" problem was effectively solved 20 years ago, so now it's also retro to emulate it.

andychak wrote on 2023-04-02, 17:02:

They are a bit nuts right now; but that seems to be the case for most retro kit these days.

SPBHM wrote on 2023-04-02, 16:41:

I'll probably sell mine, prices make no sense,

It’s like that on the whole retro market…I have some sixties watches (who wants a Constellation Pie-Pan?) and the prices are stupid and going up since 10 years, like x3. Coming back to the retro-IT recently after a 15 years hiatus I’m baffeled by 3dfx and other items prices now..it’s simply stupid to even think paying these prices and fuel this market. As I posted elsewhere I had 2 working Voodoo 5 6000 at one point, paid them 1000€ at the time. Last time I checked they were still in France. The last one sold on eBay for 15k…

Bottom line: use a glide wrapper if you are sensible. Buy one if you have an emotional attachment to it.

Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-04-02, 18:19:

Bottom line: use a glide wrapper if you are sensible. Buy one if you have an emotional attachment to it.

No, that does not work for me. I fancied one so I could get SIV to report it and to sensibly do this I need the real thing.

Just wait.
Look for local ads. Garage sales. Some day one will be available for a decent price.
I started my collection with 2001-2005 hardware. So 3Dfx was not in my scope. When i expanded my interests to earlier things, i bought cheap parts first and improved my parts step by step.

In 2020 or 2021 i found a Voodoo banshee, mis-labeled as an SiS 315 for 20€ in a local second hand website.
In 2022 I bought a lot of two Voodoo 1 for 40€
A few month later I was given a Voodoo2 12Mb for free.

Only after that, I paid good money to get a second matching Voodoo2. This is the only one I paid 100€+. And only because i wanted a matched pair (Orchid Righteous 3D II 12Mb)

So. As an advice. Just wait and look for the deals.
By the meantime, there is a lot of fun to have with cheap parts you probably already have.

I actually bought a faulty Voodoo 3 2000 (it appears to have bad RAM, ordered new IC's to replace the old ones)

But right now even faulty parts are getting expensive; in major cities its getting near impossible to find bargains

acl wrote on 2023-04-02, 19:17:

Just wait.
Look for local ads. Garage sales. Some day one will be available for a decent price.
I started my collection with 2001-2005 hardware. So 3Dfx was not in my scope. When i expanded my interests to earlier things, i bought cheap parts first and improved my parts step by step.

I'm of the opinion get an original Voodoo and a Voodoo5 5500 - everything else in between - skip unless you're a collector or trying to build a nostalgic or period correct machine. Be on the lookout for deals - the most prevalent are from people who don't know/don't care what they have and just throw them up for sale.

The Voodoo 5's are crazy expensive right now; I've attached a screenshot of prices from eBay

Meatball wrote on 2023-04-02, 21:15:

I'm of the opinion get an original Voodoo and a Voodoo5 5500 - everything else in between - skip unless you're a collector or trying to build a nostalgic or period correct machine. Be on the lookout for deals - the most prevalent are from people who don't know/don't care what they have and just throw them up for sale.

I had a chance to buy a voodoo 5500 PCI for 200$ some years ago and I passed. Probably should have got it as an investment, but oh well. I don't regret it, because the voodoo 5500 is really only better than a geforce in a few very specific scenarios. When that card was released D3D has completely taken over and the exclusive features aren't that important. I guess a voodoo 5500 is always better than a voodoo 3000 though (accept for price 🤣).

I have a couple voodoo2' that I spend close to 200$ each a couple years ago. Voodoo 2 cards are neat because they can be made to work with most (but not all) voodoo 1 exclusive DOS games, and they can also play windows glide games just fine at lower resolutions. I don't know how much a matching pair voodoo 2 12mb cards go for these days, but I also am not looking to sell. So worth I guess? I don't use them very much but I like owning them, so for me that is worth it.

At the end of the day it's a hobby. What you value and how you choose to spend your money is a personal questions. Can you play glide games without voodoo cards? Yeah. Arguably better too. It's up to you.

andychak wrote on 2023-04-02, 21:23:

The Voodoo 5's are crazy expensive right now; I've attached a screenshot of prices from eBay

voodoo5prices.jpg

Meatball wrote on 2023-04-02, 21:15:

I'm of the opinion get an original Voodoo and a Voodoo5 5500 - everything else in between - skip unless you're a collector or trying to build a nostalgic or period correct machine. Be on the lookout for deals - the most prevalent are from people who don't know/don't care what they have and just throw them up for sale.

Yep. Like I said, be on the lookout. About a month ago, I bought one on eBay for $35 and I just happened to be perusing the site when it was listed. I understand this is a lightning strike, but it happens - likely one will show up in the $150 - $250 range soon rather than later on eBay. Another member, cyclone3D, I think, picked up a working unit in a pile of scrap for a steal around the same time.

Otherwise, either pay the $300-400 when one shows up around that price and enjoy life (time is more valuable than money - you can always get more money... always). Or go to emulation. They won't be getting cheaper.

Is it "worth" it? Both the Voodoo3 and Banshee are great Win98 accelerators with great late-90s compatibility and excellent 2D dos image quality. They are worth it even without considering the 3dfx brand. The V5 is probably not "worth" the price - for it's era, it was eclipsed by other cards and it lacks support for earlier glide titles. Voodoo 1/2 are "worth" it as they allow you to easily mix in another 3D accelerator or 2D card, and open support for the earliest of glide titles.

So yes, they are all "worth" it, except for the V5, which is still nice to have but objectively not "worth" the price. Also, forget the Voodoo Rush, it wasn't worth it in it's heyday.