VOGONS


First post, by Tevian

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Hey all! I'm hoping to document yet another retro build for everyone. Like we need more, right... 🙄

This first post is about a pair of BlackMagic Voodoo 2's I picked up on eBay. Some of you might have even seen them for sale and I want to leave a post showing the progress of restoration.

These are the units in question...

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Card 1: STB BlackMagic Voodoo 2 12MB (1X0-0782-006) 1999 (12 RAM chips)
Card 2: STB BlackMagic Voodoo 2 12MB (1X0-0649-306) 1998 (24 RAM chips)

These were both for parts/repair at the time I purchased them and definitely had signs of damage. As for right now, I'm happy to say they both work!

Card :1 Had some damaged pins on the right TMU 500-0010-01 IC. Unfortunately, the damage was severe enough that one pin was broken off right at the packet edge!

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Last edited by Tevian on 2024-08-09, 09:33. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 1 of 36, by Tevian

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Luckily I was able to clean it and get a small amount of solder to attach the the exposed copper!

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The top side of the same chip had to other pins the were pulled off the PCB!

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That was the extent of the damage on Card 1 I'm so far it's been a successful repair!

Reply 2 of 36, by Tevian

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Card 2's damage involved a few broken-off capacitors. This card showed signs of physical damage and might have been tossed around by its previous owner! 😥 One of the electrolytic's was pulled off the PCB and another was nearly hanging on! The card was also covered with some oily residue! I'm not sure what that's about, but it had attacked a load of grim that worked its way into all the crevasses. Cleaning with ISO left a strange yellow-colored residue on everything.

On the back was a popped-off ceramic and I easily replaced that one.

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Testing so far has gone smoothly and I'm glad I could give these cards a good home. I'm slowly gathering the parts for a build and will post pics as I go. One issue I have is the motherboard I want to use.

I have two currently, an ASUS TXP4 and FIC VA-503+. Both are smaller socket 7 motherboards and the VooDoo 2's hang over the CPU socket. I'm wondering if there is a good low-profile CPU cooler solution. I'm able to move the current heatsink over a bit and allow both cards to be installed. It's super close though and need to find a better solution.

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I'm waiting on the SLI ribbon to do SLI tests, but either card works in glQuake at the moment so I'm assuming they should work together.
I'm having some other weird motherboard problems and I might post questions later.

Updates will be forthcoming! 😁

Reply 3 of 36, by alphaTECH

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Very cool!

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Reply 4 of 36, by boggsman

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Ayy! That's great that you saved a couple of them.

Reply 5 of 36, by Tevian

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Ya! Super excited! Was thinking about making these for the pair!

Red illuminated Quake logo SLI Bridge! 🤘🤘

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Reply 6 of 36, by H3nrik V!

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How much clearance is there above that cpu?

Would it make sense to move the cards so they aren't in adjacent pci slots, using a longer SLI bridge?

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

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Reply 7 of 36, by Tevian

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Well, on the Asus, I could possibly span the two middle PCI and just clear a heatsink with a little maneuvering. But, I really don't like the look! I want the two Voodoo2's to be next to each other.

The FIC VA-503+ is even worse! If I slide the cooler down, it just barely touches.

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The FIC VA-503+ is a more modern socket 7 and I'd like to keep it, (aside from its weird issues).

I'm not against modifying a custom cooler, and I really don't want to spend the money on a full-size ATX socket 7 mobo.

Reply 8 of 36, by H3nrik V!

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Tevian wrote on 2024-03-09, 07:46:

I'm not against modifying a custom cooler, and I really don't want to spend the money on a full-size ATX socket 7 mobo.

So, maybe modifying some heat pipe cooler, with block and pipes on the cpu and the actual radiator angled away?

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 9 of 36, by PcBytes

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If I can suggest, I'd be looking into an ATX Socket 7 board - something along the lines of ASUS TX97-XV, P5A, AX59 Pro. That way you won't have to deal with the CPU socket being in the way. While I didn't encounter this issue in the same way (with V2s, the only one I have is beyond salvation, shame as it was a 12MB card.), my encounter with the issue was with a Matrox Millenium MGA-MIL/2N.

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Reply 10 of 36, by Tevian

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Maybe... I really like this smaller board though. If I can't find a suitable solution though...

Sad about the V2 "beyond salvation". Must be bad! 😥

Reply 11 of 36, by Shadzilla

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You could swap the board out for a Gigabyte GA-5AA, which has a better layout of expansion slots and CPU socket whilst still being Baby AT size. It also has AGP, handy for a 2D card like a Matrox.

Reply 12 of 36, by PcBytes

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Tevian wrote on 2024-03-09, 10:58:

Sad about the V2 "beyond salvation". Must be bad! 😥

Indeed. One of the TMU is gone and I have no way to source another to fix this card. It's the one closest to the TI TVP3409 DAC chip.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 13 of 36, by Tevian

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Shadzilla wrote on 2024-03-09, 11:50:

You could swap the board out for a Gigabyte GA-5AA, which has a better layout of expansion slots and CPU socket whilst still being Baby AT size. It also has AGP, handy for a 2D card like a Matrox.

😑 Any of the better socket 7 boards are really expensive! I'll keep my eye's open, but these boards are getting close to $300!

Reply 14 of 36, by allesclar

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Thats some really good work there.

I assume the cards were sold as untested? Thats shocking the state and the price they asked for, but they again that is what you get when you add eBay and Retro together.

Great work.

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Reply 15 of 36, by H3nrik V!

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PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-09, 12:09:
Tevian wrote on 2024-03-09, 10:58:

Sad about the V2 "beyond salvation". Must be bad! 😥

Indeed. One of the TMU is gone and I have no way to source another to fix this card. It's the one closest to the TI TVP3409 DAC chip.

https://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php … ighlight=voodoo

Might be an option

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 16 of 36, by Cosmic

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H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-03-09, 08:42:
Tevian wrote on 2024-03-09, 07:46:

I'm not against modifying a custom cooler, and I really don't want to spend the money on a full-size ATX socket 7 mobo.

So, maybe modifying some heat pipe cooler, with block and pipes on the cpu and the actual radiator angled away?

I don't recall where I saved this image from, but your post reminded me of someone who did exactly this. :)

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Reply 17 of 36, by Intel486dx33

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Many years ago I purchased a few
Voodoo cards NOT working hoping I could fix them. So far I have been able to fix 3 out of 6 of them.
Some had simple problems like Graphics artifacting which was an EASY fix by re-flowing the RAM chips with
NO-Clean flux. I just poured some No-Clean Flux on the RAM chip legs and set the heat gun to the melting temp of the solder which was about 250-degrees F and heated the chip legs until flux evaporaterd. Was an EASY fix.

I fixed (3 ) Voodoo-3-3000 this way.
The other Voodoo cards had the MOSFET over heat which caused the Capacitors to burst and leak fluid onto the PCB which caused the traces
To ruin. So I need to figure out how to repair the PCB traces. But its a BAD PCB layout were the MOSFET is to close to the capacitors so when the MOSFET get hot it causes the capacitors to over heat and burst and leak fluid.
So I don’t want to fix only to repeat this problem.
So I may never fix these cards.

I would say don’t buy broken Voodoo-3 ( PCI ) cards with a MOSFET because these have a Bad design. ( PCB layout )
AGP Voodoo-3 cards are okay and usually EASY to fix.

But you need GOOD eye sight and a steady hand to fix
Get the right tools like Heat gun and a needle tip solder iron.
Use allot of Flux when soldering. Let the Flux do all the work in soldering.
Work outside or in a well ventilated space with good lighting.
Wash off excess Flux with soap water when done and let though dry.

Don’t try to bake cards in oven. This method is NOT a good fix and almost never works. You will over heat the capacitors
And cause them to burst and leak fluid on to the PCB which will ruin it.

Link to my post:
Re: Voodoo-3 repair

This might be a good project if someone wants to recreate the Voodoo PCB and sell a kit to rebuild your Voodoo card.

Reply 18 of 36, by boggsman

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Tevian wrote on 2024-03-09, 06:43:
Ya! Super excited! Was thinking about making these for the pair! […]
Show full quote

Ya! Super excited! Was thinking about making these for the pair!

Red illuminated Quake logo SLI Bridge! 🤘🤘

Screenshot 2024-03-08 223544.jpg
Screenshot 2024-03-08 223531.jpg

SO SICK!

Reply 19 of 36, by Tevian

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boggsman wrote on 2024-03-10, 23:25:
Tevian wrote on 2024-03-09, 06:43:
Ya! Super excited! Was thinking about making these for the pair! […]
Show full quote

Ya! Super excited! Was thinking about making these for the pair!

Red illuminated Quake logo SLI Bridge! 🤘🤘

Screenshot 2024-03-08 223544.jpg
Screenshot 2024-03-08 223531.jpg

SO SICK!

I know right!? I'm posting these in the Video section, but check this out!

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