If nobody answers, I'd remove C61, and maybe others nearby, measure them, and get similar values for C64 and C69.

Did you manage to replace the RAM chips? Hopefully that solves it.

The fact that it's missing the heat sink makes me think it was removed (by a human or by the forces of nature...) in a violent way, which probably damaged the BGA contacts on the chip. I've seen videos of people fixing BGA chips by reflowing them using a heat gun and some flux but I've never had any luck with it, so far.

Aladim wrote on 2025-03-04, 22:08:

Hello folks, I'm a 3dfx fan since the original relase. Still have my Voodoo 3 3000 AGP boxed bought back in 1998 safely stored. […]
Show full quote

Hello folks,
I'm a 3dfx fan since the original relase. Still have my Voodoo 3 3000 AGP boxed bought back in 1998 safely stored. Back during the mid 2000's I got a Voodoo5 AGP and another Voodoo 3 3000 for little money.

I recently rescued a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI (got it for like US$ 50), I knew the card was booting and the seller warned me of 2 issues:
1) Missing capacitors C64 and C69
2) Some image corruption. It is easily to spot on the naked eye, harder to see on pictures. Running a benchmark makes it more visible.

I recall a site that had some detailed information on Voodoo cards capacitors (not only the electrolitic), perhaps voodooalert.de or 3dfxzone.it, I'm sure I bookmarked it but somehow just cannot find it anymore.

The card seems to be in good shape, no major physical damage, no corrosion. It needs a heatsink on the GPU, which I will source asap. I won't run the card without proper cooling.

Can anyone please help with the values for C64 and C69? Do you think that he image corruption is due to faulty memory chip (or perhaps colder solder)?

I thought about sourcing the memory chips meanwhile (km4132G1120). I could not source it yet (hard to find), but there are other cards with such memory chip from this time and I can get one to cannibalize the ram.

Any hints or feedback highly appreciated.
Thanks

PS: C64 and C69 are just above the GPU

For a memory donor, you can look at the ATI Rage Pro Turbo cards which are usually pretty cheap, specifically the Dell 41MJU / 041MJU cards, they use the same 4x SGRAM configuration and I've used RAM from them with my MS6168: Re: MS-6168 rev 2 - Vram upgrade
You can use VMTCE to test for memory faults, there's probably one memory data line (of 128) that's not working and causing those lines. It'd be interesting to see what VMTCE detects as a fault on your card: Accurately troubleshooting video memory faults with VMTCE

But in my experience, RAM faults are *rarely* a fault of the ram itself on a Voodoo 3 and instead it's the BGA connections of the GPU - your one is especially likely to be a BGA problem because the heatsink has been pried off. Maybe that was removed following the development of the memory fault but equally the force required to remove the heatsink could easily damage a trace on the PCB or a connection between a solderball and the PCB.

Those two missing capacitors look like little bypass caps that potentially came off along with the heatsink 😀 100nF or 10nF 0603 is likely to be what they are and it's not always necessary to be very specific since bypass caps are usually installed in groups so losing one doesn't cause much of a problem.
Interestingly, there's an old schematic for a very similar card design to the Voodoo 3 PCI SGRAM, but it's labelled as being "banshee 2" which as far as I can tell is the voodoo 3. You can get that here: http://vgamuseum.info/images/doc/3dfx/h3_pci_51_01.pdf - do be aware though that I don't think the value of c64 matches what's on your card. It may be useful later for tracking down where the memory fault is though

In regards to fixing the memory fault if it's not something obviously wrong like a loose leg on one of the SGRAM chips, say it's a bad connection / damaged trace - you could test by squeezing the chip at each corner to see if the lines go away, if so then perhaps that could be fixed with a reflow, but BGA especially from the mid 90s needs a ton of precautions and equipment to avoid damaging the BGA chip or the PCB.
Osckhar / Oscar Barea would be able to diagnose and fix the card by pulling the BGA and repairing the damaged pad, reballing the chip and resoldering everything but that's a lot of work - I fixed mine with some wire: Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

tauro wrote on 2025-03-08, 21:22:

If nobody answers, I'd remove C61, and maybe others nearby, measure them, and get similar values for C64 and C69.

Did you manage to replace the RAM chips? Hopefully that solves it.

The fact that it's missing the heat sink makes me think it was removed (by a human or by the forces of nature...) in a violent way, which probably damaged the BGA contacts on the chip. I've seen videos of people fixing BGA chips by reflowing them using a heat gun and some flux but I've never had any luck with it, so far.

I removed the capacitors in a similar position from a V3 3000 without GPU and measured them at 100nF (0603). I used this donor board to harvest the 2 missing capacitors. Meanwhile the larger C71 was cracked, I replaced it was well (220nF 0805).

As for the ram chips, I'm still sourcing them. It will take a while to get them here (3-4 weeks I would say). Thanks

Thermalwrong wrote on 2025-03-09, 02:24:

For a memory donor, you can look at the ATI Rage Pro Turbo cards which are usually pretty cheap, specifically the Dell 41MJU / 0 […]
Show full quote

Aladim wrote on 2025-03-04, 22:08:

Hello folks, I'm a 3dfx fan since the original relase. Still have my Voodoo 3 3000 AGP boxed bought back in 1998 safely stored. […]
Show full quote

Hello folks,
I'm a 3dfx fan since the original relase. Still have my Voodoo 3 3000 AGP boxed bought back in 1998 safely stored. Back during the mid 2000's I got a Voodoo5 AGP and another Voodoo 3 3000 for little money.

I recently rescued a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI (got it for like US$ 50), I knew the card was booting and the seller warned me of 2 issues:
1) Missing capacitors C64 and C69
2) Some image corruption. It is easily to spot on the naked eye, harder to see on pictures. Running a benchmark makes it more visible.

I recall a site that had some detailed information on Voodoo cards capacitors (not only the electrolitic), perhaps voodooalert.de or 3dfxzone.it, I'm sure I bookmarked it but somehow just cannot find it anymore.

The card seems to be in good shape, no major physical damage, no corrosion. It needs a heatsink on the GPU, which I will source asap. I won't run the card without proper cooling.

Can anyone please help with the values for C64 and C69? Do you think that he image corruption is due to faulty memory chip (or perhaps colder solder)?

I thought about sourcing the memory chips meanwhile (km4132G1120). I could not source it yet (hard to find), but there are other cards with such memory chip from this time and I can get one to cannibalize the ram.

Any hints or feedback highly appreciated.
Thanks

PS: C64 and C69 are just above the GPU

For a memory donor, you can look at the ATI Rage Pro Turbo cards which are usually pretty cheap, specifically the Dell 41MJU / 041MJU cards, they use the same 4x SGRAM configuration and I've used RAM from them with my MS6168: Re: MS-6168 rev 2 - Vram upgrade
You can use VMTCE to test for memory faults, there's probably one memory data line (of 128) that's not working and causing those lines. It'd be interesting to see what VMTCE detects as a fault on your card: Accurately troubleshooting video memory faults with VMTCE

But in my experience, RAM faults are *rarely* a fault of the ram itself on a Voodoo 3 and instead it's the BGA connections of the GPU - your one is especially likely to be a BGA problem because the heatsink has been pried off. Maybe that was removed following the development of the memory fault but equally the force required to remove the heatsink could easily damage a trace on the PCB or a connection between a solderball and the PCB.

Those two missing capacitors look like little bypass caps that potentially came off along with the heatsink 😀 100nF or 10nF 0603 is likely to be what they are and it's not always necessary to be very specific since bypass caps are usually installed in groups so losing one doesn't cause much of a problem.
Interestingly, there's an old schematic for a very similar card design to the Voodoo 3 PCI SGRAM, but it's labelled as being "banshee 2" which as far as I can tell is the voodoo 3. You can get that here: http://vgamuseum.info/images/doc/3dfx/h3_pci_51_01.pdf - do be aware though that I don't think the value of c64 matches what's on your card. It may be useful later for tracking down where the memory fault is though

In regards to fixing the memory fault if it's not something obviously wrong like a loose leg on one of the SGRAM chips, say it's a bad connection / damaged trace - you could test by squeezing the chip at each corner to see if the lines go away, if so then perhaps that could be fixed with a reflow, but BGA especially from the mid 90s needs a ton of precautions and equipment to avoid damaging the BGA chip or the PCB.
Osckhar / Oscar Barea would be able to diagnose and fix the card by pulling the BGA and repairing the damaged pad, reballing the chip and resoldering everything but that's a lot of work - I fixed mine with some wire: Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Thanks for the suggestions. Meanwhile I learned about the Matrox G400 being an alternative and grabbed 2, which will take a while to arrive. I intend to harvest one and keep the other one.
The hint about the ATI/Dell Rage Pro Turbo is really good, I just checked and found some at reasonable price (in the same level I paid). I would definitely get them if I need more.

Concerning the Voodoo 3 RAM faults not being due to RAM itself, I had a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP with original cooler and everything that went bad without any apparent reason. I turned the computer on and those lines appeared. I tried replacing the ICs like Bits and Bolts did on a Youtube video, didn't work but that's on me, I should have done one IC at a time.... and tried using a heating table that heated more than I wanted.

I will check VMTCE to avoid changing chips by trial and error. I have better hardware and much more experience now, things should turn better this time. I just saw your thread, that's a lot of learning and good stuff there.

I will try running the card and pressing the ICs and see what happens. Yes Oscar is an alternative I could try at the end.

Thanks again for the insights and suggestions.