VOGONS


First post, by Cga.8086

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I found a nice voodoo3 2000 PCI
those are rare to find and i want it to last as long as possible.

i tried it for some minutes of gameplay, then i turned off the pc and touched the small heatsink, it almost burned my finger.
The AGP version of the card had a bigger heatsink than this one. But if i use it constantly, is there any risk of failure because of heat?

i saw people freezing the card to take the heatsink off with force, but i don´t want to risk it.

Reply 2 of 5, by gerwin

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Cga.8086 wrote:

i tried it for some minutes of gameplay, then i turned off the pc and touched the small heatsink, it almost burned my finger.

The Voodoo 3 PCI seems to be the card with the hightest temperature of all the hardware I have tried. Though it is not its graphics-chip that takes the crown, it is the Voltage Regulator in the corner.
I attached a bigger heatsink to this VRM and downclocked the card through BIOS modding. The AGP variants of the Voodoo3 don't have a VRM.

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 3 of 5, by chinny22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Voodoo's are hot running in general, so while it may be fine I usually set up a fan to increase airflow around the card.

Reply 4 of 5, by EdmondDantes

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

My own Voodoo 3 PCI recently developed issues due to overheating (search through my threads) and I was only using it on a 700mhz system. If I got another working one I would add heatsinks to every heat-sinkable part of the device (And a fan) before any extensive uses.

In all fairness my card lasted almost a decade (bought used) before developing issues, but if I had properly cooled it, it would still be with me.

Reply 5 of 5, by RaverX

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

A big fan set to blow some air under the card or at the side of the card should be enough. I have tested and used quite a few 3dfx cards, Voodoo2, Voodoo3 and Banshee tend to get very hit, especially on systems wih fast CPUs (and when I say fast I mean anything faster than 300 MHz). V3 PCI in a PIII system will be too hot to touch for more than 1-2 seconds (as you noticed), it probably has more than 60-70C. If you add a fan to blow air under it it should feel only warm, I'd say that it should be under 40C.