I never played much with V4 4500. If you select 16-bit colors, does the image look like V3? But then again why would you settle for less 😉

PS:
If you don't want to exchange it, I will 😁

retep_110 wrote on 2025-12-12, 08:53:

I was asked my an buddy if I am interested in giving away my voodoo 2 2000 agp in exchange for vodoo 4 4500. […]
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I was asked my an buddy if I am interested in giving away my voodoo 2 2000 agp in exchange for vodoo 4 4500.

The guy is more collector than a gamer and for some reason he finds the voodoo 3 2000 agp more appealing. Never mind I am more the game player.

The v3 is running on my a ASUS CUV4X-CM with pentium 3 800 mhz which is sone going to be replaced with 1 ghz coppermine cpu. I use it for win98se games only for the years 1997 to 2000.

What do you guys think would a upgrade make sense from a pure gaming perspective? I am ware of the bennefits the v4 has over the v3.

Like 32 bit color and better FSAA I have nothing to complain how about the games look on voodoo 3 look though. It might be an aquired taste but I love the v3 look.

So what do you guys think from a pure practical point of view?

I'm not aware of any situation where a Voodoo 3 2000 would be more desirable than a 4500. It is faster (sometimes much faster), has twice the VRAM, supports 32bit color and lets you experiment with any Voodoo 4\5 specific stuff that's out there.

There are lots of great comparisons between Voodoo cards here:
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/3dfx-voodoo- … ut-project.html

Also... I'm not sure if you realize this, but the V4 4500 is quite rare and is significantly more valuable than a Voodoo 3 2000 AGP. Make sure you're both aware of that... and then, absolutely take him up on the offer unless he changes his mind. 😀

... also, if the 4500 is PCI rather than AGP, I believe that would make it even more valuable and useful for systems without a free AGP slot.

@Ozzuneoj Thank you for the reply. Yes, I also had the impression that the V4 is way more desirable than the V3 for collectors’ purposes, so I was also confused. But after double-checking the info, it makes more sense. My buddy got a still-working V4 4500 a few months ago for collecting. Then he had to check out some old PC parts he got gifted from some of his relatives who had no idea about it. One old PC had another Voodoo 4 4500 sitting there all those years—a very rare and lucky find. Since he only needs one V4 card and the V3 is still missing, he made that offer.

And also a big thanks for the interesting link. It reinforced my decision to take the offer.

retep_110 wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:33:

@Ozzuneoj Thank you for the reply. Yes, I also had the impression that the V4 is way more desirable than the V3 for collectors’ purposes, so I was also confused. But after double-checking the info, it makes more sense. My buddy got a still-working V4 4500 a few months ago for collecting. Then he had to check out some old PC parts he got gifted from some of his relatives who had no idea about it. One old PC had another Voodoo 4 4500 sitting there all those years—a very rare and lucky find. Since he only needs one V4 card and the V3 is still missing, he made that offer.

And also a big thanks for the interesting link. It reinforced my decision to take the offer.

Ah, sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade then! Definitely take it! 😀

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:35:

retep_110 wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:33:

@Ozzuneoj Thank you for the reply. Yes, I also had the impression that the V4 is way more desirable than the V3 for collectors’ purposes, so I was also confused. But after double-checking the info, it makes more sense. My buddy got a still-working V4 4500 a few months ago for collecting. Then he had to check out some old PC parts he got gifted from some of his relatives who had no idea about it. One old PC had another Voodoo 4 4500 sitting there all those years—a very rare and lucky find. Since he only needs one V4 card and the V3 is still missing, he made that offer.

And also a big thanks for the interesting link. It reinforced my decision to take the offer.

Ah, sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade then! Definitely take it! 😀

Yes, I would say so. I have nothing bad to say about the V3 I own now. It served me well, but I am a gamer and not a collector, so I would have no hard feelings about replacing it with a more powerful Voodoo card, since I want to play only. The V4 is also a neat card; I am just researching about it. Worth picking up for sure under the great circumstances I am in now.

retep_110 wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:42:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:35:

retep_110 wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:33:

@Ozzuneoj Thank you for the reply. Yes, I also had the impression that the V4 is way more desirable than the V3 for collectors’ purposes, so I was also confused. But after double-checking the info, it makes more sense. My buddy got a still-working V4 4500 a few months ago for collecting. Then he had to check out some old PC parts he got gifted from some of his relatives who had no idea about it. One old PC had another Voodoo 4 4500 sitting there all those years—a very rare and lucky find. Since he only needs one V4 card and the V3 is still missing, he made that offer.

And also a big thanks for the interesting link. It reinforced my decision to take the offer.

Ah, sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade then! Definitely take it! 😀

Yes, I would say so. I have nothing bad to say about the V3 I own now. It served me well, but I am a gamer and not a collector, so I would have no hard feelings about replacing it with a more powerful Voodoo card, since I want to play only. The V4 is also a neat card; I am just researching about it. Worth picking up for sure under the great circumstances I am in now.

The first 3D accelerator I bought for my own PC (not counting the Rendition Verite 1000 my brother had) was a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI which went into my Gateway G6-400. So, I have a bit of a soft spot for them, but I would absolutely use a V4 in its place if given the opportunity. Also, I would suggest making sure you have decent airflow in the case, since you definitely want such a valuable card to be "comfortable" while gaming. The V4 does use a fan too, so it may need cleaned and oiled.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:52:

retep_110 wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:42:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-12-12, 13:35:

Ah, sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade then! Definitely take it! 😀

Yes, I would say so. I have nothing bad to say about the V3 I own now. It served me well, but I am a gamer and not a collector, so I would have no hard feelings about replacing it with a more powerful Voodoo card, since I want to play only. The V4 is also a neat card; I am just researching about it. Worth picking up for sure under the great circumstances I am in now.

The first 3D accelerator I bought for my own PC (not counting the Rendition Verite 1000 my brother had) was a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI which went into my Gateway G6-400. So, I have a bit of a soft spot for them, but I would absolutely use a V4 in its place if given the opportunity. Also, I would suggest making sure you have decent airflow in the case, since you definitely want such a valuable card to be "comfortable" while gaming. The V4 does use a fan too, so it may need cleaned and oiled.

Thanks for the info. This no problem. Since the v3 can also get very hot, I got myself a case with plenty of airflow. already. so the v4 should feel right at home without a danger of overheating.

I will also check the fan as recommended.

From the perspective of running only Glide api games... no, not really. The Glide api use in games was ending by the time V3 and V4 was coming out in favor of OpenGL and DX.
If you are wanting that Glide experience then the V3 is perfectly fine.

And from the perspective of OpenGL and DX, there are much more powerful/faster cards that are cheaper than either a v3 or v4 you can put into a retro pc.

Matchstick wrote on 2025-12-13, 03:34:

From the perspective of running only Glide api games... no, not really.

How is upgrading to a faster card that can do everything the other one can do, plus more, not worth an even trade? The cost is literally zero unless the V3 has sentimental value or he wants a fanless video card.

Matchstick wrote on 2025-12-13, 03:34:

The Glide api use in games was ending by the time V3 and V4 was coming out in favor of OpenGL and DX.
If you are wanting that Glide experience then the V3 is perfectly fine.

And from the perspective of OpenGL and DX, there are much more powerful/faster cards that are cheaper than either a v3 or v4 you can put into a retro pc.

A V3 2000 will not provide flawless performance (meaning, capped at refresh rate) at max settings and resolutions unless you're playing games from like early 1997. I do a lot of gaming and testing on cards from this generation and contemporary games (1998-2000) run much smoother at 800x600 with moderate settings because the V3 is just at it's limit, even if it was one of the best performers of the time. Having a 15-70% performance increase with no downsides is kind of a no brainer. Especially since he will be upgrading to a 1Ghz PIII.

If you want to play OpenGL and DX games and don't care about what kind of video card you are running, yeah, just get a dirt cheap FX5200 128bit or Geforce4MX 440 and it'll probably be fast enough to keep up with an 800Mhz PIII in most things the PIII can do well. You can even just run a wrapper if you want to play Glide games. If you like the experience of running real 3dfx hardware though, why not upgrade for free?

I am aware that there might be better options if it's just about running OpenGL or Direct3D games, but as @Ozzuneoj said, it's about the experience of running real 3dfx hardware. In that regard, trading the v3 for the v4 is a good pick.

For the ultimate late Win98SE, I have something different in mind. Got myself already the Asus TUSL2-C mainboard that I will turn into Tualatin system at some point next year. will take some time until i get all the parts at a good price. A Intel Pentium III-S 1,4 GHz system with geforce 4 4200 ti or one of the fx cards should make the perfect late win98se system.