Like many other things... trashed. Collectors grabbed what was left or grab what comes to sale sites...

But other brands are still fairly easy to find, like Diamond, STB and Number Nine. And to be honest, it seemed like back in the day, Hercules was everywhere. If anything, I'd expect Hercules to be easier to find on ebay than the other brands, based on how many of them lined the shelves in the computer and electronics stores back then.

I think it may be because Hercules always had a good reputation. A bit better than Diamond
Also many cards have that large Hercules print/artwork. A tad nicer than your average Diamond card.

Cards in my interest era (ISA, VLB) are all pretty rare to find, no matter the brand.

Maybe in USA Hercules was a big brand, but in Europe Diamond ruled for sure.
I have lots of card from Diamond Multimedia, and I think they made good quality products.

Looking at PC roundups in early to mid 90's it looks like far more OEMs were using Diamond cards than Hercules. so it could be that way more Diamond cards have been produced than Hercules.

It also helped that Diamond cards often came mildly overclocked. That's why they performed well in contemporary reviews against other brands.

Hercules Dynamite VL Pro is my favourite VLB card ever though..

@mpe I think you nailed it with the OEM angle. Another weird one is Number Nine. I hardly ever remember seeing that brand in retail stores yet today that brand is easier to find on ebay and sells for less than the Hercules brand (at least in my limited browsing/buying on ebay).

I recently acquired a Hercules Prophet 4000XT, KYRO 1 32MB, which was not to bad around $45. Though it was very hard to find. Did a worldwide search on eBay.

I have two cards made by Hercules in my collection without specifically buying them. Back then, my first Voodoo Rush-based card was also from Hercules. However, I can't really agree that "back in the day, Hercules was everywhere". I was under the impression that Hercules was never very successful or present with their cards.

DrSpock233 wrote on 2020-01-20, 13:02:

I recently acquired a Hercules Prophet 4000XT, KYRO 1 32MB, which was not to bad around $45. Though it was very hard to find. Did a worldwide search on eBay.

Can't say the same at least for the German market. I keep passing up on the AGP variant because I already have two without TV out and one with that feature.
I think I haven't got the PCI variant though.
Most have failed electrolytics so it's always a repair job after buying one.
At least in Germany there's no need to pay more than 15€ for the regular AGP 3D Prophet 4000XT.
Right now on regular Ebay there are two avaliable (with TV out) for 29,99€ or 35,00 (or best offer). Both have been avaliable for quite some time.

They were hugely popular around mid-80's when their HGC became de-facto industry standard second only to IBM designs. They sold tons of HGC and HGC+. Many more were sold by clone makers. Starting in 90's they were just another graphics maker building cards based on chips made by S3, Tseng, etc. But even those cards were not quite reference designs and often had special tweaks or features. That's why these cards are significant for collectors.

Doornkaat wrote on 2020-01-20, 13:35:

Most have failed electrolytics so it's always a repair job after buying one.

Yes, so true!
I bought one Prophet 4000XT from ebay a while back for really cheap in bundle with another card.
At arrival I saw the caps were in a very bad shape, never had the guts to try it on.
I started the project by removing the old cap and buying new ones, but my soldering skills are lame so left it be for the moment.

But otherwise, I've had a 9800 Pro from Prophet that worked really good.
I liked the Blue theme they were after.

I bought a 4000XT recently only because it said it was in box... only to receive it without box because it was "falling apart" according to the seller... now I have two 4000XTs without box ^^

imho hercules is not a lot less or more common on ebay than diamond or others, but of course there might be geographical differences.

Blue theme I like also with their cards. Mine seems to be in good order. Nothing blown. Good output no issues thus far touch wood.

Tbh, I come across Hercules cards pretty regularly, almost as often as STB, Asus and MSI cards from similar era. Of course there's a bias here - you spot the blue cards a mile away - but even then, they seem to be a good 5% of mid AGP-era cards, particularly GF2MX.

I'm using one now - the Radeon 9000 I had in my main test system died on me (possibly due to abuse - this card was swapped in and out a LOT and may not always have been static safe when disconnected). I've now replaced it with a nice blue Hercules GF2MX. Will probably replace that too, as it doesn't have DVI, which is useful to test DVI & HDMI screens.

Guys, I'm specifically talking about DOS-era cards through about 1997, based on ET4000, ET6000, ArkLogic, and S3 8xx, S3 9xx, Trio, Virge series chipsets. Those guys are nearly impossible to find in the Hercules brand. The newer stuff with the blue PCBs I agree aren't as hard to find.

clueless1 wrote on 2020-01-21, 17:56:

Guys, I'm specifically talking about DOS-era cards through about 1997, based on ET4000, ET6000, ArkLogic, and S3 8xx, S3 9xx, Trio, Virge series chipsets. Those guys are nearly impossible to find in the Hercules brand. The newer stuff with the blue PCBs I agree aren't as hard to find.

There are a few on eBay right now - only listing ones that aren't stupidly priced like the VLB one that the asking price is $180:

ISA 8-bit with a hole drilled through it. looks repairable:
[link removed]

PCI ARK PV1000 - only $15 plus shipping:
[link removed]

PCI ALI based card:
[link removed]

ISA 8-bit CGA:
[link removed]
[link removed]

PCI 3D/GL:
[link removed]

ISA 8-bit:
[link removed]

Nice. I remember seeing some S3 968 Hercules board going for close to $200 awhile back. Good to see a few options priced reasonably. I actually just bought the Ark1000PV and Avance Logic cards. 😀 Someday I'll add them to my DOS benchmarks in my signature. Thanks! Good to see a few in circulation. Would love to get a Dynamite Pro and Power (ET4000/6000) some day.

I got a dynamite VL out of a scrap box once ^^ but it arrived as a puzzle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eY7snn5NsM
(as in the seller was selling them as seperate lots, but I got both ^^)

I also have several hercules S3 cards, so yeah, they're really not that rare imho.