VOGONS


Is 3DFx stuff losing liquidity?

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Reply 20 of 28, by leileilol

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Unknown_K wrote on 2024-12-04, 07:50:

Both the Verite and PCX cards were important in the history of 3D gaming. The Matrox M3d (PCX2) can be used with other cards and scale well with faster CPUs. The Kyro I/II cards are also interesting to have.

There's some who hunt the pcx cards because it's the chip before the one the dreamcast had and some weird fantasy about dc games that never came out (or exist) that official dreamcast magazine would make up rumors about because windows ce clearly is the same windows as 95, right /s

The looking different is all in the lack of blending functions and depth buffers. Tile rendering was only 'ahead of the time' because it's a practical method held down by a patent.

as for 3dfx....... 90s 3dfx rarity is a facade. It's often forgotten how ubiquitous they were, it'd be like calling a Sound Blaster 16 rare.

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Reply 21 of 28, by Unknown_K

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Most people just tossed their 3dfx cards when they upgraded, progress was lightning-fast back then. In the 2000's you could buy any of the basic 3dfx cards for a few dollars.

While I don't think there is a rarity in 3dfx, I do think there are more buyers than sellers, so prices go up.

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Reply 22 of 28, by complain77

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Voodoo cards are nowadays manufactured by hw enthusiast with hdmi/dvi output. Its costy, but except voodoo chip itself, everything is new.
But what will really shoot down price of old hw probably is expanding capabilities of fpga machines. its able to reproduce hw one to one, including bugs. And for many younger fans of old sw it will be easiest way how to experienci it truly one to one

Reply 23 of 28, by VivienM

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leileilol wrote on 2024-12-06, 05:24:

as for 3dfx....... 90s 3dfx rarity is a facade. It's often forgotten how ubiquitous they were, it'd be like calling a Sound Blaster 16 rare.

But... 3dfx cards were enthusiasty things, no one ended up with one without actively seeking it. Whereas Sound Blaster 16s, or at least OEM ones, were in a ton of ordinary systems...

Overall, I think enthusiasty/gamer types kept their systems a lot less long, were more likely to try and sell parts rather than just storing an old computer in a basement somewhere, would have removed the Voodoo card before giving an aging system to their grandmothers, were much younger (i.e. much more likely to move and throw out old stuff when moving), etc, so I would guess a lot more Sound Blaster 16s survived...

Also, 3dfx cards were a thing for what, 3 years at most? 1996 to 1999? Sound Blaster 16s had a longer life than that - there were still some turning up in systems built in like 1998 (I found some Gateway systems with SB16s when looking for late socket 7, early-mid PII systems to make a DOS machine from. Really surprised me actually to see discrete sound and it being an SB16 that late...), and it launched in 1992.

Lots of things were absolutely ubiquitous, but that doesn't mean anything for their survival rate if they all got e-wasted 20-25 years ago. And it feels like surviving 3dfx cards were all snatched up by collectors like, a decade ago...

Reply 24 of 28, by Unknown_K

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Some 3dfx cards like the Quantum 3D Obsidian X-24 that were dual Voodoo 2's on one card were rare even when new, and they were collectable even when other 3dfx cards were being trashed.

Sb16's were OEM'd by a few companies for a while until built in audio chips took over. The cards before the SB16 are not as common and I am not sure how many SB32's and 64's exist.

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Reply 25 of 28, by CharlieFoxtrot

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Unknown_K wrote on 2024-12-07, 22:14:

Most people just tossed their 3dfx cards when they upgraded, progress was lightning-fast back then. In the 2000's you could buy any of the basic 3dfx cards for a few dollars.

While I don't think there is a rarity in 3dfx, I do think there are more buyers than sellers, so prices go up.

V1-V3 cards are still not something that should be called rare and they pop up for sale even locally regularly and still go for high prices when in auction. They aren’t hard to find or obscure by any means. I sort of get the popularity with V2 or even V1 as they represent the golden age of 3dfx and when glide was more or leas de-facto API. But with V3 onwards you can get better alternatives. For example, so far my V3 3000 hasn’t found a permanent home in any of my builds. Later 3dfx cards are even more shadowed by better performing cards that nowadays cost a fraction of the price unless you get extremely lucky.

Reply 26 of 28, by StriderTR

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Nostalgia ... it's one hell of a drug, and as a geek in his 50's I can say, there's no known cure. 😀

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2024-12-03, 23:22:

The prices will likely stabilize and only go higher naturally, with inflation. It won't go down though.

This sums it up nicely. Like others said, even more so when considering the hardware will only get older, degrade beyond repair, and make them even more rare.

Makes me wish there were readily available FPGA Voodoo alternatives.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-12-04, 03:23:

CDs, too, apparently. My Gen-Z niece has a CD collection, and I've teens at the local thrift shops and music stores buying CDs.

I have considered doing this for my favorites.

My wife just commented recently, the online DRM world can really suck, you own nothing and rarely works offline. At least you can own physical media and use it whenever you please, and they still make players. We still have a small CD/DVD collection, but not like we used to have.

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Reply 27 of 28, by Unknown_K

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The thing with CD's is that the quality is better than anything else (tape, radio, record) and you get the whole recording which might have songs you like that were never popular on the radio. Odds are there will still be working CD players around for a long time.

Sure, there were plenty of better D3D cards around when 3dfx failed but even with wrappers a real GLIDE card is hard to beat for the it just works and looks correct crowd. And I have a bunch of Voodoo cards anyway so why not use them.

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Reply 28 of 28, by Mandrew

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Some collectors are clinically insane and would pay anything to get the next piece of the puzzle. I know people who'd rather skip a meal than miss out on a desired hobby item. I know people who got in debt because of their collection. Those people will keep resellers in business forever and prices of certain stuff high. People are buying beanie babies and baseball cards for top $$$, it is the same with 3dfx cards, some people will always get overly excited when they see one for sale. I feel the same way about 80's monochrome monitors, my mind goes blank and I just want it even if I have to drive long hours to get it. Everyone has that weakness.