VOGONS


Are GeForce 256 DDR cards that rare?

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Reply 20 of 318, by r00tb33r

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In 2004, still on shoestring budget of a HS junior I was piecing together my 2nd gaming rig. For my money, which was close to zero I was looking at getting a dual-GPU Voodoo 5 5500, GeForce 2 or 3... Both of those ran about $30-40 on eBay. GeForce 3 was already last-gen and Voodoo 5 5500 although looking impressive would have no future support. Fortunately for me I scored a Radeon 8500LE 128MB for $20, complete with a Half-life + CS bundle (which I later registered on Steam as HL Gold Pack with a bunch of other HL-based games). Probably the best $20 I ever spent, just in time for release of Doom 3, which although we don't remember very kindly was impressive at the time.

Back then eBay was full of all of those Voodoo and early GeForce cards, and I was like "meh". These things are like collectible now.

Reply 21 of 318, by dexvx

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Out of curiosity, besides eBay, what is the way to get old computer items that are likely being recycled? I've checked government surplus websites, but they are not the type to have any "high" end gear. Mostly just OEM computers (Dell/HP).

But yes, this isn't about performance. If it were, then I think the majority of the people wouldn't be tinkering with vintage computer equipment. However, cost is certainly a factor.

Reply 22 of 318, by deleted_Rc

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dexvx wrote:

Out of curiosity, besides eBay, what is the way to get old computer items that are likely being recycled? I've checked government surplus websites, but they are not the type to have any "high" end gear. Mostly just OEM computers (Dell/HP).

But yes, this isn't about performance. If it were, then I think the majority of the people wouldn't be tinkering with vintage computer equipment. However, cost is certainly a factor.

try your local computer shops, national 2nd hand websites, flea markets and friends, family and colleagues and ofcourse work place.
My work currently has some very old stuff lying around (adapters dating back to early 80's). Keep your eye out thats what most of us do.

Reply 23 of 318, by Rhuwyn

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This question seems to come up every time someone one searches for one. They are in fact getting harder and harder to find even more so then most Voodoo cards, but that could be partly because there isn't a whole lot of practical reasons to use one. The Voodoo's crop up on ebay because people want them so people list them on ebay to get as much money out of it as they can. A geforce 256 is a great card, but anything you might use an original Geforce for newer cards do better. Even the Geforce 2 MX is arguably better and runs a lot cooler.

I do think supply is limited because not nearly as many were sold. Supply is probably on par with the Voodoo5 except more Voodoo 5s have survived because we have known for a very long time that it was going to be the last 3DFX card. Lots of folks were stil holding out for 3DFX to take it's crown back but it wasn't obvious that was never going to happen until after the Geforce 2 line came out and once the Geforce 2 MX came out you could get better performance then a regular Geforce in a much cheaper package.

Reply 24 of 318, by swaaye

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GeForce 256 had supply issues even when it was new. So yeah I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't many of them out there to begin with.

I'm not sure they should be sought after. I have a GF 256 DDR and whenever I've used it I've noticed that it doesn't produce very fluid rendering. The frame rate is fine but the play is choppy. I should mess around with it again sometime. You're definitely better off with GeForce 2. Though I would really say go GeForce4 because it has EMBM support, fixed texture compression, hugely better bandwidth efficiency, etc.

Reply 25 of 318, by deleted_Rc

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swaaye wrote:

GeForce 256 had supply issues even when it was new. So yeah I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't many of them out there to begin with.

I'm not sure they should be sought after. I have a GF 256 DDR and whenever I've used it I've noticed that it doesn't produce very fluid rendering. The frame rate is fine but the play is choppy. I should mess around with it again sometime. You're definitely better off with GeForce 2. Though I would really say go GeForce4 because it has EMBM support, fixed texture compression, hugely better bandwidth efficiency, etc.

had choppy gameplay with the higher demanding games on my PII with my 256 aswell, only with Dungeon Siege though (highest demanding game I play on the rig) and only ocassional not even continuesly.

Reply 26 of 318, by swaaye

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I put together a nforce3 system with a DDR GF 256 last night and played some games. Driver 45.23.

With Lithtech games like AVP2 and NOLF you need to disable the game's triple buffering or it will stutter pretty badly. Seems likely to be a 32MB RAM issue.

Elite Force seems get get stuttery at 800x600x16 even on Normal quality. I enabled vsync in the efconfig file. I think these stutters are just caused by insufficient performance combined with double buffering dropping frame rate to fractions of the refresh rate. Running without vsync was too awful to bear though (probably blame my LCD). NV didn't add OpenGL triple buffering until like driver 77.76 and I didn't feel like getting into driver testing last night.

Reply 27 of 318, by dexvx

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I think my best bet would be getting an OEM GeForce 256 DDR, as they should be produced in greater quantities. From the MaximumPC article, looks like Dell sold systems with Dell branded GeForce 256 DDR's. They even had a custom 64MB version (this is jogging some memories)! I've been trying to get the part numbers, but have had no luck so far.

https://books.google.com/books?id=HAIAAAAAMBA … %20plus&f=false

Reply 28 of 318, by swaaye

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dexvx wrote:

I think my best bet would be getting an OEM GeForce 256 DDR, as they should be produced in greater quantities. From the MaximumPC article, looks like Dell sold systems with Dell branded GeForce 256 DDR's. They even had a custom 64MB version (this is jogging some memories)! I've been trying to get the part numbers, but have had no luck so far.

https://books.google.com/books?id=HAIAAAAAMBA … %20plus&f=false

I have a Silicon Graphics OEM version of it. With DVI. Never know what you'll come across.

The DVI on GeForce 2 / Quadro 2 and older is only workable with monitors that are 1280x1024 or less though.

Reply 29 of 318, by dexvx

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I found a Creative GeForce 256 32MB SDR on eBay. A bit overpriced, but I'm only interested in the DDR version. This is part of reason why finding these cards are a PITA... they are simply unknown to the sellers, so their descriptions are not as descriptive as it could be.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-CT6960- … d-/272607721189

Reply 30 of 318, by vetz

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http://page15.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t502363834

Use buyee and get a DDR for very cheap 😀

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Reply 31 of 318, by PhilsComputerLab

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I feel only collectors are chasing these cards. I hardly see people on forums or social media talk about it, or use it in their actual builds. They just disappear in a display case or drawer and that's it. For gaming there are so many other GeForce cards to consider.

I'm guilty of this, I think I have 3x GeForce 256 cards that I will likely never properly use 😊

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Reply 32 of 318, by dexvx

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vetz wrote:

http://page15.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t502363834

Use buyee and get a DDR for very cheap 😀

Whoa what is that site? I need to check it out.

Edit: Looks like the card is untested as-is (probably translation issue, but they rate it "complete junk"), so with shipping from Japan to USA, probably not worth it for me. But looks like I'll be wasting hours on this site.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

I feel only collectors are chasing these cards. I hardly see people on forums or social media talk about it, or use it in their actual builds. They just disappear in a display case or drawer and that's it. For gaming there are so many other GeForce cards to consider.

I'm guilty of this, I think I have 3x GeForce 256 cards that I will likely never properly use 😊

They must be in demand... that eBay auction for the CT6960 (Creative GeForce 256 SDR) just got bought out. Which one of you was it!

Reply 33 of 318, by vetz

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dexvx wrote:
vetz wrote:

http://page15.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t502363834

Use buyee and get a DDR for very cheap 😀

Whoa what is that site? I need to check it out.

Edit: Looks like the card is untested as-is (probably translation issue, but they rate it "complete junk"), so with shipping from Japan to USA, probably not worth it for me. But looks like I'll be wasting hours on this site.

Yes, it is untested. Shipping from Japan can be resonable compared to international shipping from Australia or the US, which both has ridiculous prices. If you use Buyee and registered airmail, shipping will be around 1000 yen which is 9 USD

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Reply 34 of 318, by PhilsComputerLab

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dexvx wrote:

They must be in demand... that eBay auction for the CT6960 (Creative GeForce 256 SDR) just got bought out. Which one of you was it!

Of course it sold, IMO it was a good price, could / should have been much higher.

Some of us have been around longer and remember the days of a cheap Voodoo card. Or cheap Super Socket 7 ATX boards. Or Roland MPU cards. I remember people complaining how expensive everything was, and the figures were similar amounts, and it's the same now. But the thing is prices aren't going to drop, they will only go up 😀

And the other argument about price is time. Some have lots of time on their hands. Good for them. Others don't and when you put an actual dollar figure on your time spent looking for something, it puts things into perspective.

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Reply 35 of 318, by vetz

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PhilsComputerLab wrote:
Of course it sold, IMO it was a good price, could / should have been much higher. […]
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dexvx wrote:

They must be in demand... that eBay auction for the CT6960 (Creative GeForce 256 SDR) just got bought out. Which one of you was it!

Of course it sold, IMO it was a good price, could / should have been much higher.

Some of us have been around longer and remember the days of a cheap Voodoo card. Or cheap Super Socket 7 ATX boards. Or Roland MPU cards. I remember people complaining how expensive everything was, and the figures were similar amounts, and it's the same now. But the thing is prices aren't going to drop, they will only go up 😀

And the other argument about price is time. Some have lots of time on their hands. Good for them. Others don't and when you put an actual dollar figure on your time spent looking for something, it puts things into perspective.

I agree with Phil. I've been in this hobby since 2012. I can't think of anything that has not increased in price. I remember the days of NEC XR385 (clones of the Yamaha DB50XG MIDI daughterboard) being sold on Ebay for 20 dollar buyout. Now they go for 100. Or how very few people wanted the Diamond Edge 3D.

Still there are good deals out there, just have to be patient and know how and where to search.

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Reply 36 of 318, by PhilsComputerLab

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Man don't remind me of the NEC XR385...

I got two, one died, and the other one I killed 😵

I also remember that US seller with 100s of Compaq V3 3500 cards. I got 6 because I just knew that V3 will be a hot card down the road. There there was this German seller with the K6-2+ or III+ CPUs. He had like a thousand or something silly.

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Reply 37 of 318, by appiah4

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I've been looking for one to use in my 1999 build and I'll be damned if it was ever sold where I live, but the market is full of TNT2 M64 cards (which I may settle with, or go with a GF2MX instead..)

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Reply 38 of 318, by Rhuwyn

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appiah4 wrote:

I've been looking for one to use in my 1999 build and I'll be damned if it was ever sold where I live, but the market is full of TNT2 M64 cards (which I may settle with, or go with a GF2MX instead..)

TNT2 M64 is not a bad card for what it is but it's majorly crippled when compared to pretty much any other TNT2 variant or newer card. Any Geforce 2,3 or 4 model would be a great card for you.

Reply 39 of 318, by Tetrium

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appiah4 wrote:

I've been looking for one to use in my 1999 build and I'll be damned if it was ever sold where I live, but the market is full of TNT2 M64 cards (which I may settle with, or go with a GF2MX instead..)

Better stock up on these too before their prices go explode through all the roofs of sanity 🤣

So that German seller finally ran out of those 400 ATZ's? Must've taken years! 😕

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