VOGONS


First post, by diablonet

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Hello, I own a 3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 AGP which I want to repair, inspecting the board I found the following missing parts, can anyone please share the values of those caps?

C504
C541
C513
C525
C538

Thank you so much, I love that card, it belongs to my childhood, please help.

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Reply 1 of 6, by SirNickity

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Those are decoupling caps, meant to condition the power going to the GPUs. It should work even without them -- they're there to stabilize the rails when the GPU pulls large, short spikes of current during clock transitions. If it doesn't even POST without those caps, adding them is not likely to be what brings it back to life.

It's also hard to say what values they were, without removing one and measuring it -- then you're still assuming others are the same. A reasonable guess is 100nF to 1uF. The exact value is not critical. Those are probably on a low-voltage rail, but using 16V rated parts (or better) wouldn't hurt.

Reply 2 of 6, by diablonet

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Thank you very much for helping, it post without those caps, but I get some graphical glitches, msdos text its ok, but on any other graphics it show horizonal lines, I will post picture of that soon.

Reply 3 of 6, by SirNickity

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That could also be RAM or a bad GPU. I don't see any bent pins around the RAM chips, but you might want to examine those closely. Also, it looks like someone (you?) did rework around the main power section. This board did not use through-hole electrolytic caps, just SMD cans. They're notorious for failing (mine have not -- yet). If you're any good at soldering, and particularly if you have good tools -- a heat-controlled iron and, even better, also a hot-air station -- then here's what I would do:

Remove one of those little ceramic caps like the ones you're missing, and measure them. If you don't have a capacitance meter, and aren't interested in picking one up (I like the kind that look like tweezers with an LCD), then maybe go for a middle-of-the-road 220nF as a wild guess. Those kind of look to me like 0603 size. That's 0.6mm by 0.3mm, if you want to measure. Get some replacements and repair those missing caps. It's probably not your main (or only) issue, but it's a good start.

Then, tackle the large SMD cans. Replace those with a good brand -- e.g., Panasonic, Nichicon, Rubycon. Get a part that is low-ESR, or use something like Digikey's parametric search to find the capacity, voltage, size of the one you're replacing, and choose the one with the highest ripple current rating at 1kHz. That'll make sure it's suitable for switching regulator use. Make sure to clean that area of the board thoroughly after removing the old parts -- they leak, it's partially conductive, and it corrodes the copper on the board.

If this is all way out of your league, someone may be willing to take on the repair for you. There are lots of places online that do that kind of thing, or members here might be up for a night of breathing solder fumes. Just make sure you trust them and their work before sending off a rare(ish) part.

Reply 4 of 6, by diablonet

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Hello, thank you for replying, I changed just 2 capacitors but then I stopped and decided to come here and ask first, I attached a pic of the capacitors I replaced. In DOS text are ok, but games are glitched, windows same scenario, do you know a trusted hero who can fix the card for me? thank you in advance.

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Reply 5 of 6, by meljor

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Try contacing Osckhar, he repairs these cards and also does mods to double the memory, replace complete chipsets even on voodoo 6000 etc. etc. He has a good reputation.

https://picclick.fr/seller/osckhar

Don't know if the link works. Just google his name with 3dfx added and you will find him somewhere, think he is on Ebay as well.

Good luck!

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