The mighty FX5950 Ultra. I have the same one, such a nice card for pre-DX9 gaming.

But I'm pretty sure I'll trade all of them for a XGI Volari Duo.

I woudn't. While it certainly has interesting monetary value, it's practically useless for anything. Horrible chip with horrible drivers.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-31, 04:30:

But I'm pretty sure I'll trade all of them for a XGI Volari Duo.

I woudn't. While it certainly has interesting monetary value, it's practically useless for anything. Horrible chip with horrible drivers.

But I do remember the hype buildup until release and the flock of zealots hailing it as the ultimate video card. Even I was caught up in the hype train at one point.

Then it was released as a hillarious 🤣-a-thon.

For the simple fact that it was a bigger market troll than the FX5800Ultra I would trade my FX5800Ultra for an XGI Volari Duo.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-01-31, 08:25:

But I do remember the hype buildup until release and the flock of zealots hailing it as the ultimate video card. Even I was cau […]
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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-31, 04:30:

But I'm pretty sure I'll trade all of them for a XGI Volari Duo.

I woudn't. While it certainly has interesting monetary value, it's practically useless for anything. Horrible chip with horrible drivers.

But I do remember the hype buildup until release and the flock of zealots hailing it as the ultimate video card. Even I was caught up in the hype train at one point.

Then it was released as a hillarious 🤣-a-thon.

For the simple fact that it was a bigger market troll than the FX5800Ultra I would trade my FX5800Ultra for an XGI Volari Duo.

I wouldn`t... The FX5800ultra is the ONLY card missing in my ''high-end Nvidia versions'' collection: the top dog from every series.. I have the NV1, Riva128,TNT, TNT2 Ultra, Geforce256 DDR, Geforce2 Ultra, Geforce3 ti500, Geforce 4 ti4600, FX5950 Ultra, 6800 Ultra, 7800GS, 7800GS+ Gainward Golden sample with 7950GT core,7900GT and 7950GT all in agp (except ofcourse for the NV1 and the Riva128, they are pci). I also have the FX5800 vanilla but the one I can not obtain is the Fx5800 Ultra.... (and way to expensive for me on Ebay).

I wouldn`t care about the Volari V8 Duo. A few months ago I almost bought a boxed Volari Duo but I jumped ship at 150 euro (it sold for that). Same seller offered me a card without a box (but working) for 75 euro and I declined as well. It's not a great card and I would never use it. Hope to find a cheap FX5800 Ultra some day.

meljor wrote on 2020-01-31, 20:28:

but the one I can not obtain is the Fx5800 Ultra.... (and way to expensive for me on Ebay).

What is so special about that card? Is it worth this kind of money?

It's extremely rare, and quite historic as a very famous misstep from nvidia, that they later corrected.

kolderman wrote on 2020-01-31, 21:00:

It's extremely rare, and quite historic as a very famous misstep from nvidia, that they later corrected.

What is extremely rare? How many were manufactured?

I can think of many things that are old and rare, but not worth much.

The fact that you can find 2 on ebay in a 5 second search, at a random moment in time, tells me it might not be that rare.

I understand that it has a fancy (and noisy) cooler for its time (first dual slot consumer graphics card?) and it's quite a bit faster than the regular FX5800, but that doesn't convince me that it's potentially worth >€1000.

SpectriaForce wrote on 2020-01-31, 21:13:

What is extremely rare? How many were manufactured? […]
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kolderman wrote on 2020-01-31, 21:00:

It's extremely rare, and quite historic as a very famous misstep from nvidia, that they later corrected.

What is extremely rare? How many were manufactured?

I can think of many things that are old and rare, but not worth much.

The fact that you can find 2 on ebay in a 5 second search, at a random moment in time, tells me it might not be that rare.

I understand that it has a fancy (and noisy) cooler for its time (first dual slot consumer graphics card?) and it's quite a bit faster than the regular FX5800, but that doesn't convince me that it's potentially worth >€1000.

3000 is WAYYYY to much money but they have sold for around a 1000 dollars (which is still WAYYY to much for me to justify). It is basicly all about the cooler because it was way to loud. It is rare because Nvidia actually pulled it from the market and replaced it fairly quickly with the fx5900.

Weren't the FX5800 Ultra cards known for dying?

The cooler design was nicknamed "The Dustbuster". That should tell you something.

What is extremely rare? How many were manufactured?

The card itself is not rare, because normal FX5800 and FX5800 Ultra are identical. Not to mention Quadro FX 1000 and 2000 variations, which are still commonly sold one ebay. Everyone are going crazy for the infamous cooler and authentic Ultra stickers.

I bought one on E-Bay probably around 2010 or so and payed 100 dollars Canadian with shipping. It was almost new because the owner bought the 5950 ultra because of the noise it made. My systems loud to begin with so it doesn't really bother me, and to be honest it's really is not that bad, even under load. I have used it sparingly for some bench marks, but it is my favorite card in my collection and I can't ever see getting another one for cheap so I am very happy to own it. Its performance is not the greatest with newer games, but is very good for older games and compatible with very old games, although with a 3.06 P4 Northwood it plays Doom 3 at 52 frames a second at high settings at a resolution of 1024 X 768. I would like to use it more often, but I don't want it burning out knowing my luck. It keeps its heat down very well even when loaded, about the highest temperature reaching 52 degrees, but I still worry. I might one day trade it for a few other high end AGP cards, but that I will have to think about. Right now it just sits on my shelf in an anti-static bag. I would like to make a display case out of plexiglass, although by the time I get around to it I will be old and gray. I personally think it is the best card for a retro Northwood system, but with the price you might be better off with the 5900 Ultra.

Tommaso Petrella

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-01-31, 21:29:

Weren't the FX5800 Ultra cards known for dying?

I have a box full of dead (or at the very least artifacting) GPUs from 2000-2004 - they ALL have fans on them but still died (likely from overheating) so something tells me the cooling solutions back then were still in its infancy ... . Of all my hardware, graphics cards from 2000-2010 are both the most fragile and the most expensive parts to get online (relatively speaking). A mid-high range graphics card can easily cost you €100-150 despite being 10+ years old and you never know what you're buying - the ones I bought all died pretty soon.

Ah HD 3850 AGP 512MB was a nice, last gasp upgrade from shader model 2.0 for my Athlon 3400+ / X800 256MB machine. By that time we were using as a guest PC for LAN gaming. At one point we got it working to (barely) play GTA IV.

I remember having to upgrade the power supply and then having quite a challenge fitting such a long card in the Mini-ATX case. Ended up having to remove the hard drive bay to get it to fit.