Hey all 

Since I only do retro PC Builds just to keep the retro days alive and well this is where my main interest lays when it comes to PC hardware & PC Games  mainly the classic  Flight sims alike.
So for the past 3 years I been trying to find a Voodoo5 55000 PCI Macintosh with PC Bios 1.18_DVI and it seemed I could buy back the one I sold to a friend from Adelaide, South Australia.
His friend also recapped the card with Polymer Capacitors they look like ceramic caps but the polymers seem to be much better, and I have to admit it the stability of this card is amazing, it's from week 29 year 2000, 3dfx gave 10 year warranty on it, now being 11 years beyond that is just amazing.

And I know there is a guy doing these replica's but for me personally I really prefer 3dfx originals only, even it's some great stuff he is dong,. that way others too can kind of experience the performance of twhat the originals gave in some ways. But I do wish his project all the best I am sure he will find some buyers the happiness they seek.
His  S.U.X. 6000 PCI should have an AGP connector as most at x-3dfx do think since all Voodoo5 6000's used an AGP connector to maintain the 66Mhz Bus which was required for most optimal performance.
But oke here I come with a PC flashed V5 PCI Mac myself and I do admit if using FSAA x4 at 1024x768x16/32 I really do notice the strain the 33Mhz gives, if having a 66Mhz Bus, I'd get  around 8% more performance so yea there is that.

But the advantage of these PCI cards is if you have a 64 Bit PCI-X Slot you can run them at 32Bit PCI with bus speeds of 66Mhz, with this, the results offer the same performance to what an AGP card would give, so that is a nice feature for a later project I also will be attending to.
In total I paid about 250 Eur for the card + 100 Eur for the recap, so for 350 totals I think I did a good deal with this one,  much better than what scalpers ask for their cards that are not even reworked some even ask 800 Eur + for these and those card's conditions are often poor.
Okay! Enough rambling from me there Here the reworked V5 PCI Mac this card was also from my first 3dfx collection from 2002 to 2007  :)

3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh 64MB Rev.A1 2900 + PC Bios 1.18_DVI
Polymer Capacitor Rework &  Burnt Copper Rear Placed Heatsink Mod Applied by a friend of SWZSSR.


As you can see here the card has a 15 pin D-Sub SVGA Connector and a 20+ 1 Pin DVI-D for Flat panels like S-IPS or S-PVA Panels.
Super nice to have that on a V5, it's controlled via the Silicon Image chip the V5 has.


here the 4 pin Molex power connector can be seen and more of the Polymer capacitors that were all placed on the card to lengthen its life span
And the pic on the right shows the burnt copper heatsinks, this helps extract heat big time.


System Name & Specs:

Sveta 2002

AMD AthlonXP 2200+ Thoroughbred-A, 1 Core @ 1.8Ghz
EPox EP-8K7A+ AMD 761 Chipset with Via 686B SB
2x 1GB PC-2700 Kingston @ PC-2100 266Mhz DDR
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh 64MB 256 Bit SDR Rev.A1 2900 + PC Bios 1.18_DVI
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro
Mitsubishi Electronics LS-120 F200 Super Floppy Drive
1x Seagate Barracuda V 80GB 7200 RPM Main Disk
1x Seagate Barracuda V 120GB 7200 RPM Game Disk
Belkin 5 port NEC USB 2.0 PCI Card
3-Com 3C905C-TX-M PCI Ethernet Adapter 10/100Mbit
LG HD-DVD Drive 16x / 40x
BTO Plusdeck 2c Cassette Tape Convertor/Player/Recorder Drive
Antec True Power 550 Watt PSU
Addtronics 6896A Entry Level Server Tower
Compaq S710 17" Blackshade CRT from 2001
Reso @ 1024x768x32 ! 85Hz | 0.22.5 Dot Pitch
1995 Roland E-14 Keyboard
Reggy the EPoX Mascot

Win 2KPro UK + SP4
Latest 3dfx Tools for V5 PCI Mac

Here my two Camping tables which I use when I Build & test retro hardware or make a new retro gaming build  :)  They are easy to store as I don't have much room in my apartment, dad & I came to the idea to use camping tables for this hobby  :)
Here in the main system of the V5 PCI Mac on the right and the new under construction 1999 Athlon 700 Slot A Build, more on that in an other thread  :)

And yea works great! Anything is better than working on the floor, trust me rofl

Here the artworks I applied on the 1999 Addtronics 6896A Entry Level Server Tower I sue for the V5 PCI Mac:
Left the Pyro-GX from Descent 2 and right three starships from Freespace 2: Shevan Strike Cruiser, Vesudan Assault Dreadnaught & Terrain Hercules Mark III Starfighter:


Here the insides of the V5 PCI Mac system, it's kind of a mess atm, I do plan doing major reworks once I go Dual AMD AthlonMP 2200+ or something in that range.
The side fan manages to take in air from all the creases in the case this seems to be efficient enough for it to do it's job, so luckily I didn't had to harm the Freespace2 side art
Pic on the right shows the fan removed:


Left pic shows a closeup of where I placed the V5 PCI Mac, in the coolest part of the case, this helps keep it cool as well.
right pic is Reggy the EPoX Mascot, this is my T.rex toy I bought in 1987, it was made by Imperial Toys in Hong Kong back in 1985!
it's holding an original rubber EPoX Maiboards logo that I got with an EPoX EP-BX3+ back in 1999, just perfect xD Go go go Reggy!


3dfx Digital & 3dfx FSAA tabs; once you get the 3dfx Digital tab, then you know the Bios flash from Mac Bios to PC succeeded!
This does not always work so I'm glad this was done by me with the guidance of gsdonovan back in 2006.


Here the wallpaper I made since my V5 PCI Mac was in Australia for about 3 years.
It's reworks happened there this wallpaper made perfect sense for the system.
Pic on the left is the wallpaper, while the pic on the right is this wallpaper in use on the system with my scale 1:200 diecast Ansett Australia Limited B747-312 (Ex-Singapore Airlines).
The VH-INJ with the Sydney 2000 Livery from 1999-2002 from JC Wings:
 

Enjoy the photos the Athlon 7000 Slot A System goes under the name of Project Irongate the name of the system will be Nighthawk, in dedication to the Lockheed F-117A  Nighthawk of course, but that is for an other topic 
So hereby you can have a glimpse on what I have been doing lately.
Retro PC Hardware & Retro Gaming 4 Life, yea that's far more my kinda thing, reliving the old times and preserving the golden era of PC gaming.

Rock on and stay safe EVGA friends

rjohnson11
I just love these old retro builds. To see an old Voodoo graphics card still working is also awesome. 

Hey thanks man and anytimes!

But yea well, she's about 21 years old now, but that Polymer recap surely did the the job big time tho.  Here the card before the recap:


And here it after it:

atfrico
You still surprise me gold leader those are vintage items you have excellent job dude 😎👍

Well it has been a while I did anything really since all the new-gen stuff is out of stock and unavailable this was a good chance for me to go back to the retro hardware instead, got plenty of contacts and resources to by the parts I am seeking and yea this is tons of fun too really.

My interest for new-gen hardware also died off, the hardware maybe great, but terrible garbage operating systems like Win10...brr leaves me ice cold that one *Shruggg*
3dfx never bores me nor do the 90's classics gamesor classic Operating Systems.
 
After the Slot A system I Might do a Vintage 486-DX2 66Mhz or 80Mhz build, that with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups, DR Dos 6.2, Shell 3.0, X-Tree Gold 3.1 & PC Tools 8.1.
Something in that direction, just all plans for now but good idea's always come with good planning.

So yea livin' the Retro Hardware Life and I have to admit, it's fantastic

rjohnson11
Some great memories here. 

Well always  hoping to maintain them with these retro builds, much more to come though, always willing to expand 
it's affordable and it's fun as well

Very retro..............

 
Good job

Not sure what to think of this build, its certainly unique.

What a blast from the past! Nice retro setup! 

austin86
Hay gold leader how often do you rebuild your PCs? Ether way those are some nice looking fans on your 5500.

Hey thanks man  :)

Well depends on the rarity of the parts this build as this topic goes about was a 4 year process, the Athlon 700 was a 3 year process, that one you can check out here:
https://forums.evga.com/FindPost/3442458
And to answer how often , there is no number for that really, I try to rebuild PC's of certain era's, eras where PC games were really at their best, especially gameplay quality wise.
So mainly from the years 1997 to 2003, even I would love to rebuild a nice 486 DX2 or DX4 from 1992 - 1994 as well.
For now I am happy with what was made in the past 7 years, the rarity of the parts is one thing, the quality of the parts is the other.
it's very hard to find parts in new state, but so far I think I did pretty much okay with that

A complete retro build all with new state parts isn't easy especially in 2021 and later upcoming years, but that is all part of the challenge really.
As for cost these Retro PC's can cost more than your high end 2021 Gaming PC, so it's not like cheaper for most, but thanks to all my contacts within the 3dfx & Retro gaming COmmunities I amanged to get my parts for very acceptable prices and that too makes it all worth it