Hi EVGA friends,
 
It has been quite a while that I posted something from my 3dfx days, something none of you have really read about, and since I have been in contact with my x-3dfx buddies and crew, I really wanted to spare time to tell you my experiences with the 3dfx people, Crew and entire 3dfx community.
Back then I made some very large milestones but also I continued supporting 3dfx communities even after the fall of 3dfx to like 2009, mainly where it came to the Napalm based boards, the Voodoo5 series which used the VSA-100 meaning Voodoo Scalable Architechture-100, 100 being the first in it's kind.
 
The boards I was interested in most was the Voodoo5 line, mainly the never released Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB & never released Voodoo5 5000 AGP & PCI.
The Voodoo5 6000 AGP was the Quad Chip SLI High-end Voodoo5, as where the Voodoo5 5000 AGP/PCI were the low end Voodoo5 boards.
3dfx worked on the Voodoo5 6000 for a good 55 weeks+, it never made it to the market, all because it was far too complex for it's time, even that ex-3dfx Engineer Hank Semenec made a fix for it in 2002, named PCI-Rework, that was like 2 years after the demise of 3dfx it's self; most of the 3dfx techies took home their work and worked on it until they really solved it, the 3dfx community was still active in 2002 and many people started buying these Engineering Samples, not only for their collections but mainly due to pure interest and curiosity, just to find out what they missed out on, what could these cards do and what could be improved driver wise.
 
So I thought before entering this unique world, I decided to study what is known and just question these people and these left over ex-3dfx Engineers, programmers you name it, the entire bucket list of questions, doubts thoughts everything fell in to place, eventually.
 
After I acquired my 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A 3700 on December 17, 2005, I started to ask around who else had this card, who else had idea's to make it run stable with what driver I was making a list that showed all the people who had this particular card and that also showed the amount of revisions the owners had and what country they live in.
And I did this list to about May 12, 2009 something like that, so all what you are about to see is from May 12, 2009, so it may be somewhat inaccurate as owners go, but the amount of boards found is pretty close to accurate even today same as the amount of Defective and functional boards go.

Before I start showing the lists & research, here a video of the 3dfx Oral History Panel with the original Founders from 3dfx Interactive it's self, interviewed by Shayne Hodge on July 29, 2013 in Mountain View, California, X6887.2013
Computer History Museum


From left to right:
   
Gary Tarolli - founder & CTO
Scott Sellers - Executive VP Engineering, CTO, co-founder, member Board of Directors
Ross Smith - founder
Gordon Campbell - Chairman of the Board and Founder

"3dfx was a pioneering consumer computer graphics company best known for its Voodoo Graphics accelerators for PCs. Their graphics products also found their way into popular arcade games such as San Francisco Rush and NFL Blitz. 3dfx's cards and their Glide API were arguably the most popular and important products of their era. Despite their early dominance in the computer graphics industry, 3dfx went from industry leader to bankruptcy in just a few years' span. In this oral history, the four original co-founders discuss the history of 3dfx, lessons learned, and anecdotes from their careers in technology.

Visit http://www.computerhistor...ections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral Histories Collection."


As my 3dfx past goes, mainly during the days after 3dfx Interactive was applied by NVIDIA cooperation on December 15, 2000, Itoo went my own way, had goals to collect 3dfx VGA cards and explore them research them even.
And help the 3dfx Community to apply them knowledge of the never released Engineering Samples so Icould give them a better view of what untold secrets 3dfx had with these Lab Cards.

So here is something I did for the entire 3dfx community, something no one else could do, yet i had all the contacts with probably the largest group of 3dfx collectors from 2002 to 2009, the data I have here is from 2005 to  2009, as the world owner lists go of the Voodoo5 6000's & 5000 Engineering Samples.
 
The World Voodoo5 6000 List

Listing of defect cards:

V6K Different type amount | Revision | PCB Date | V6K Total amount


«» 3 | Comdex, Rev.A0, Rev.A1 | 4499-41, 0700, 1500 | 3 «» omega_supreme
«» 1 | Rev.A0 | 0700 | 1 «» gdonovan
«» 4849 | Rev.A0 | 0700 | 1 «» Kyle Bennett
«» 1 | Rev.A2 | 2600 | 1 «» Nightbird
«» 1 | Rev.A3 | 3400 | 1 «» Simon3D
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Tim
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» GrandAdmiralThrawn
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» cUsLs
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» "Hutzeputz"
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» "Psycho666"


Comdex 4499-41's: 1
Total Rev.A0 0700's: 3 **
Total Rev.A1 1500's: 1
Total Rev.A2 2600's: 1
Total Rev.A3 3400's: 1
Total Rev.A 3700's: 5
Total Rev.A 3900's: 0


** = One of these is a blank PCB, thus listed as defective.
Total amount of defective cards: 174175

Listing of functional cards:

V6K Different type amount | Revision | PCB Date | V6K Total amount

«» 5 | Rev.A0, Rev.A1, Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 0700, 1500, 2600, 3400, 3700 | 7 «» gdonovan
«» 4 | Rev.A1, Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 1500, 2600, 3400, 3700 | 8 «» osckhar
«» 4 | Rev.A1, Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 1500, 2600, 3400, 3900 | 4 «» omega_supreme
«» 2 | Rev.A2, Rev.A | 2600, 3900 | 2 «» G1nX
«» 2 | Rev.A3, Rev.A | 3400, 3700 | 228229 «» Nightbird
«» 2 | Rev.A3, Rev.A | 3400, 3700 | 236237 «» SiRtA
«» 2 | Rev.A2, Rev.A | 2600, 3700 | 2 «» rottentreats
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 3 «» Markus
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 «» Murfi
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 «» Lt.Com.DATA
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 «» SnaG
«» 1 | Rev.A2 | 2600 | 1 «» Rolo01
«» 1 | Rev.A2 | 2600 | 1 «» SK1
«» 1 | Rev.A3 | 3400 | 1 «» feinripp
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» GrandAdmiralThrawn
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» m14radu
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» razrx
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Corsworth6K
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Max_R
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» neurocrash
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» rimshaker
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Ricednet
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Goriath
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Mikepedo
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Amigamerlin
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» OcTaGuNs
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Backfire
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Raff
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» exxe
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» gtxe
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» masterj85
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Raziel
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Tweakstone
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Chosen_One
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Fish
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» guenter.f.68
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Hiero
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Zilch
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Voodoo_Freak
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» dborca
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Torch
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Tomcat
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Surrimugge
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» xr4y^
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» zzyzzyxx
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» yjfy
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Wang Fei
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» cUsLs
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» ALT-F13
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» KokoHemmo
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» roflkopp aka Mr.LoLMan
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» ps47
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Corn
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» erekevga
«» 1 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Linus Tech Tips

Total Comdex 41-4999's: 0
Total Rev.A0 0700's: 1
Total Rev.A1 1500's: 4
Total Rev.A2 2600's: 7
Total Rev.A3 3400's: 5
Total Rev.A 3700's: 61
Total Rev.A 3900's: 2
 
Total of functional 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 AGP's: 80

Total of all cards with all functional Voodoo Volts:

V6K Different type amount | Revision | PCB Date | V6K Total amount | Large Legacy 120W VV | Small Legacy 80W VV | Late 60W VV
«» 6 | Comdex, Rev.A0, Rev.A1, Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 4499-41, 0700, 1500, 2600, 3400, 3900 | 7 | 2 | 726727 «» omega_supreme
«» 5 | Rev.A0, Rev.A1, Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 0700, 1500, 2600, 3400, 3700 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 «» gdonovan
«» 4 | Rev.A1, Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 1500, 2600, 3400, 3700 | 8 | 2 | 3 «»  osckhar
«» 3 | Rev.A2, Rev.A3, Rev.A | 2600, 3400, 3700 | 3 | 2 | 1 «» Nightbird
«» 766767 | Rev.A2 | 2600 | 1 «» G1nX
«» 2 | Rev.A3, Rev.A | 3400, 3700 | 780781 | 782783 «» SiRtA 
«» 784785 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 | 2 «» Murfi
«» 794795 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 «» Lt.Com.DATA
«» 802803 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 «» SnaG
«» 810811 | Rev.A | 3700 | 2 «» cUsLs
«» 818819 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1 «» rimshaker
«» 828829 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1 «» 666psycho
«» 838839 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1 «» Tim
«» 848849 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1«» razrx
«» 858859 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1 «» exxe
«» 868869 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1 «» KokoHemmo
«» 878879 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 | 1 «» zzyzzyxx
«» 888889 | Rev.A0 | 0700 | 1 «» Kyle Bennett
«» 1 | Rev.A2 | 2600 | 1 «» Rolo01
«» 1 | Rev.A2 | 2600 | 1 «» SK1
«» 1 | Rev.A3 | 3400 | 1 «» feinripp
«» 1 | Rev.A3 | 3400 | 1 «» Simon3D
«» 928929 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» GrandAdmiralThrawn
«» 936937 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» m14radu
«» 944945 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» neurocrash
«» 952953 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Corsworth6K
«» 960961 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Max_R
«» 968969 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Ricednet
«» 976977 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Mikepedo
«» 984985 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Amigamerlin
«» 992993 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» OcTaGuNs
«» 10001001 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» roflkopp aka Mr.LoLMan
«» 10081009 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Backfire
«» 10161017 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Goraith
«» 10241025 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Chosen_One
«» 10321033 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Wild_Bill
«» 10401041 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» gtxe
«» 10481049 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» masterj85
«» 10561057 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Raziel
«» 10641065 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Tweakstone
«» 10721073 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Fish
«» 10801081 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» guenter.f.68
«» 10881089 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Hiero
«» 10961097 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Raff
«» 11041105 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Zilch
«» 11121113 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Voodoo_Freak
«» 11201121 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» ALT-F13
«» 11281129 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» ps47
«» 11361137 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Torch
«» 11441145 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Tomcat
«» 11521153 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Surrimugge
«» 11601161 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» xr4y^
«» 11681169 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Corn
«» 11761177 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Markus
«» 11841185 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» dborca
«» 11921193 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» yjfy
«» 12001201 | Rev.A | 3700 | 1 «» Wang Fei

Total Comdex 41-4999's: 1
Total Rev.A0 0700's: 4
Total Rev.A1 1500's: 6
Total Rev.A2 2600's: 7
Total Rev.A3 3400's: 6
Total Rev.A 3700's: 66
Total Rev.A 3900's: 2


Total of 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 AGP's: 12661267
Total of V6K People: 12701271

Listing of Voodoo Volts:

VV Different type amount | Large Legacy 120W VV | Small Legacy 80W VV | Late 60W VV | Total amount VV

«» 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 «» gdonovan
«» 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 «» omega_supreme
«» 2 | 2 | 13121313 | 5 «» osckhar
«» 2 | 2 | 13201321 | 3 «» Nightbird
«» 1 | 2 | 2 «» Murfi
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» rimshaker
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» 666psycho
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» Tim
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» razrx
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» exxe
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» KokoHemmo
«» 1 | 1 | 1 «» zzyzzyxx

Total Large Legacy 120W VV's: 3
Total Small Legacy 80W VV's: 6
Total Late 60W VV's: 20

Total of 3dfx Voodoo Volts: 29
Total of VV Owners: 12
 

Here a pic of the Large & Small Legacy Voodoo Volts + the Late Voodoo Volts just to get the idea :)


The Voodoo5 6000 Motherboard List

Compatible Mainboards for V6K's
Abit Sa7 (SiS645dx) Rev. 1.2 (latest BIOS) compatible Rev.A 3700
SIDENOTE: If 98SE is used, the latest Raziel Evolution Driver is needed, Amigamerlin + Reference Drivers will cause the System to lock up in 3D Apps (no further drivers tested). No Problems under XP with reference drivers, Amigamerlin, SFFT, none further tested
Asus P4S533-E (SiS645dx) Rev. 1.04 (BIOS 1006 and 1008Beta tested) compatible Rev.A 3700
ASUS P3B-F (i440BX, v1.04): compatible (tested BIOS up to 1006, higher BIOS versions result in no-vga beep) Rev.A3 3400
EPoX EP-BX3 Rev.A2 2600, Rev.A3 3400, Rev.A 3700 & Rev.A 3900 compatible
EPoX EP-8K3A Rev. 1.0 - 1.2 Rev.A0 0700, Rev.A1 1500, Rev.A2 2600, Rev.A3 3400 Rev.A 3700 & Rev.A 3900 compatible
EPoX EP-8K3A+ Rev. 1.0 - 1.2 Rev.A0 0700, Rev.A1 1500, Rev.A2 2600, Rev.A3 3400 Rev.A 3700 & Rev.A 3900 compatible
EPoX EP-8K5A2+ Rev. 1.2 Rev.A2 2600 & Rev.A 3700 compatible
EPoX EP-8K5A3+ Rev. 1.1 Rev.A2 2600 & Rev.A 3700 compatible
EPoX EP-8KHA VIA Apollo KT266(A) compatible Rev.A 3700
Intel OR840 (i840, v701, v702, v703, v704): compatible
(v702 tested extensively, tested BIOSes include IBM and Intel original BIOS v225, v235, v248 and v255 versions (255 got a bug with FSB133 stability though, 248 recommended)) Rev.A3 3400
Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P Rev: 1.0 Rev.A 3700 compatible
SOYO KT333 ULTRA DRAGON compatible, Rev.A 3700
Tian Ji Motherboard 815 ET Rev.A2 2600 compatible Tested by Edmundoab in Kuala Lumpur in a computer store. specs of this mini ATX P3 mobo here:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/230676…ard_815_ET.html

Partly Compatible Mainboards for V6K's
ASUS P3C-E (i820): partly compatible (runs, but HB1-SE66 heats up abnormally during POST and operation, confirmed to pose a real danger to the bridge chip! Do NOT try! If you absolutely have to, using a heatsink for the HB1-SE66 bridge chip is a must!) Rev.A3 3400 & Rev.A 3700
MSI KT3 Ultra2 (KT333 CE) partly compatible Rev.A 3700
Tyan Tiger 760 MPX Rev.A2 2600, Rev.A3 3400 & Rev.A 3700 partly compatible
Tyan Thunder K7X Pro Rev.A2 2600, Rev.A3 3400 & Rev.A 3700 partly compatible

Incompatible Mainboards for V6K's
ABIT BX6 (i440BX, v1.0): incompatible (no POST) Rev.A 3700
ABIT BE6-II (i440BX, v1.1): incompatible (no-vga beep) Rev.A 3700
ABIT ST6-RAID (i815EP, B0 Step): incompatible (no-vga beep) Rev.A 3700
ASUS A7A266-E incompatible, Rev.A 3700
ASUS A7M266-D Rev.1.01 incompatible, Rev.A 3700
ASUS TUA-266 Rev. 1.01 Rev.A 3700 incompatible
ASUS A7V333-R Rev. 1.02 & 2.00 Rev.A 3700 incompatible
Soyo 6BA+IV (i440BX): incompatible (no-vga beep) Rev.A 3700

The Voodoo5 6000 Research

Okay, first before I go all nitty-gritty on the Vodoo5 6000 parts and all here a list of all the revisions 3dfx went through to make this Crazy idea even thinkable to like possible...
Lets take a walk down memory lane of the 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 program :)  Thanks to all the contacts I have obtained within the entire 3dfx community I was  able to apply all the photo's of these lost legends.
 
So the fist card made was the Voodoo3 1000 AGP Voodoo Volts Test Board, this card was made to test what power would be needed to power the Voodoo5 6000:


 
Here an other one with lesser components on it:

 
Some had heatsinks, some didn't, they used what they had, some ran core/mem 100Mhz to 143Mhz.

Several of these were made, since they needed to determine how much power a V6K would really need, in the end they all seemed to be overkill rofl. These are true Lab cards, these are cards you'd normal never see as common people.
These cards are Rev.A0 3699, that being the Voodoo5 6000 program was started in week 36 of year 1999...
It ended in week 39 of year 2000, but we will get to that pit a little bit later

The first Voodoo5 6000 3dfx made was a dummy card, this was needed to keep the "dog and pony show"rolling at the Comdex 1999. Many leaks of the Voodoo5 6000 were spread around like this famous picture many of you may have seen:

 
or this one:


So due to that they made a dummy board at the 1999 Comdex Show this is what you normally saw from a distance:
1. 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 TV AGP x2 32MB Proto:


2. 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP x2 64MB Proto:


3. 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 2x2 Proto aka de Voodoo5 6500:

 
The Voodoo4 4500 AGP + TV 32MB is actually a 3dfx Voodoo3 3500C AGP +TV-Out 16MB Rev.A 4699, which is this card:


 
All the did is remove the heatsink and paste a 3dfx VSA-100 sticker on the Voodoo3 chip, this was enough to trick the crowd for it to be a Voodoo4 4500 AGP 32MB + TV-Out, even I fell for it back then rofl, we were all very surprised that it was 3dfx 355 Avenger based card and nothing else heh. 355 Avenger is the codename for Voodoo3 & Velocity 100/200 series.
 
The second picture shows the only true VSA-100 based product the 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB Rev.A0 4699, no one has ever acquired this card yet, the one that comes close to it is the Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB Rev.A1 0900, which is this one:



The third card is indeed a Voodoo5 6000, but with a 2x2 layout of 3dfx 355 Avenger chips that were used for the Voodoo3 3500 TV AGP & Voodoo3 3500C AGP + TV-Out 16MB ! 3dfx labeled these also with 3dfx VSA-100 stickers to trick the crowd.
 
That card looks like this:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
Look carefully and you see no traces at all and that the graphics chips are from a Voodoo3 3500, the number 3500 is on them, this indicates them as Voodoo3 3500 graphics chips
One of my best contacts and friends within the 3dfx community is Omega_Supreme, he has 7 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 Engineering Samples, also the 2x2 Comdex 1999 Voodoo5 6000, which he renovated back to the Comdex 1999 style with the 3dfx VSA-100stickers,here his result:

That looks cool or whatta!  :yahoo:  :jump:  :sparta:
 
3dfx already had an idea for the Voodoo Volts, or say the external power supply to power these Quad chip monsters.
As you can see the Comdex 1999 2x2 Demo card has a place for an external Molex connector just above it's D-Sub connector :) The exact same solution 3dfx gave them Voodoo3 1000 AGP 8MB Voodoo Volts Power Circuit Boards.
 
But since they already had plans for a 4x-1 model they created a Voodoo Volts with a 4 pinned power plug, and some Previewers also made a photo of the 2x2 card with the new Voodoo Volts:

 
So as the new year came , 3dfx wanted to make a working Voodoo5 6000, this made them create and make a design with a 4x1 layout, only disadvantage is that the PCB size needed would be 30.5cm or say full size, the same size as a Radeon HD 7990 and 6990 or the Geforce 7900 GX2 for those that know what I mean :) It was massive especially for it's time, although none of these Rev.A0 0700's saw daylight, they were purely for study, research and 3dfx really had lots of tinkering to do, their core/mem speed was also only 100Mhz for safety reasons.
 
the 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB was born, and these did function but had massive FSAA  issues on various motherboards and the graphics chips did not allow faster clocks than 125 Mhz.
The Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A0 0700 looks like this:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
Omega_Supreme also made a reunion shot of the Comdex 2x2 and the Rev.A0 0700, also to show the size difference:

Even that the 2x2 model would of been possible in theory, it was far too complex for it's time and the cost would also be far too high as more PCB layers would of been needed and not only that more parts also, they didn't have any better layout than the 4x1 so they stuck to this design to the very last revision.  The Rev.A0 0700 used a Late 4 Pinned Voodoo Volts which gave the card 120 Watts of power.
 
The Revision that fixed many issues also speed wise was the 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A1 1500, which was this card:
Top:


Rear:

 
The Rev.A1 1500 ran cores/mem from 143Mhz to 167Mhz, these were lots faster and more stable than the Rev.A0 0700's, but still they had issues operating with some VIA based chipsets like the famous VIA Apollo Pro 133A for example, their Intel PCI-PCI Bridge chips caused issues, thus a change was needed to fix this, that would mean a new revision.
 
Here one of two Rev.A1 1500's Omega_Supreme has:

 
The Rev.A1 1500 used also a 4 pinned late Voodoo Volts, these gave the cards 80 watts of power.
 
3dfx then made the Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A2 2600, this one was the first of it's kind to have a different PCI-PCI Bridge Chip, which was  made by HiNT, the PLX PCI-E Bridge chips seen on many Radeon X2 & GeForce GX2 designs has a very similar function.
The Rev.A2 2600 ran @ cores/mem 167Mhz, some could run 183Mhz, but 167 was always the chosen default speed, for all the Voodoo5 6000's, 183Mhz was the goal speed for the product's release, shamefully the Voodoo5 6000 never reached that stage, we all hoped for that heh.
Here the 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A2 2600 scans:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
Here Omega_Supreme's Rev.A2 2600;
 
Top:

 
Rear:

 
This is also my favourite Voodoo5 6000 made, since it was the first that could run stable without crashing, not all of them ran stable but a few did, the PCI-Rework which Hank applied to a few cards in 2002 was the fix to all worries, but back in week 26 of 2000 this fix did not even exist, they were still struggling to get it stable with all FSAA modes, this was still a main problem to work on, also higher clock speeds like the goal speed of 183 Mhz did not function on all cards, as where 167Mhz ran fine, they would need a new revision to make higher clock speeds stable, well they thought this anyways, so they went for a new revision. The Rev.A2 also used the same Voodoo Volts as the Rev.A1 1500's, but they only needed 60 watts to function.
Here a Rev.A2 2600 with a Voodoo Volts attached:


And here two nice detailed pics of SK1's Rev.A2 2600:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
This new revision was named 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A3 3400, these also had different backplates, the part we called the mounting bracket , backplate is also the official naming for it.
The power regulation area was changed, since a smaller Voodoo Volts was used which only gave the card 60 watts instead of 120 and 80 watts

Here the scans of the Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A3 3400:
 
Top:

 
Rear:

 
3fx applied these cards with Capacitors C15 and C17 to stabilize the card at higher speeds beyond the 167Mhz Cores/mem, some even reached 191Mhz, most could run @ 183Mhz but for very short periods of time, it seemed that the VSA-100 graphics chips hit a limitation speed wall of 180Mhz to 183Mhz for short periods of time, but their most stable speed was still 167Mhz., so to finalize this 3dfx needed to make an other new revision.
 
Here Omega Supreme's Rev.A3 3400;

 
The Rev.A3 3400 is a true gem to have, these are the most wanted of the HiNT based cards , they are also amongst the rarest of all Voodoo5 6000's to obtain. I am glad my friend has a very neat version of this card. Many thanks to Omega_Supreme for helping me with the pics and info I needed to complete my research. the Rev.A3 3400 used the all new single pined late Voodoo Volts which delivered the card a neat 60 watts, here Omega Supreme testing his Rev.A3 3400 with it's external PSU, the Late Voodoo Volts:

Due to the card's long size, he had to use a mini saw in his case to mod it so the card would fit haha  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
 
So to finalize the Voodoo5 6000 for a Pre-Production Prototype they made the Final Revision and named it
3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A 3700, here the scans of this card:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
This card finalized the cores/mem speed of 167Mhz, it was stable and it made sure that the card would not crash at this speed, the only problem it faced was like with all the others, all the FSAA modes could make it crash, FSAA x2  was a mode that could make this card crash but also FSAA x4, as for FSAA x8 this mostly always worked.
 
Here the card which I had:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
3dfx decided to make one more revision, a card with a 12 layer PCB and capacitors C15 & C17 reapplied, with this card they wanted too give it a final go, to make the Voodoo5 6000 stable at 167 and 183Mhz with all FSAA modes, they hoped that the Rev>3700 was their fix to all issues, well at least the motherboard issues was solved since the Rev.A3 3400, that was a good leap forward, but every revision they had to make cost them loads f money, and each new revision also meant a new delay, the Rampage was supposed to come after the Voodoo2, Voodoo3, 5 and later Voodoo4 was made to close the waiting gaps.. this too cost them lots of money and this is how they bled themselves to their doom.
Here my Rev.A 3700 in my test setup:






Specs:
AMD AthlonXP 2700+ Thoroughbred-B @ 2167Mhz
3x 512MB PC-2700 CL2 @ DDR-333Mhz
EPoX EP-8K3A+ Ver 1.1 With VIA Apollo KT333 Chipset
3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A 3700
Intel Pro 100S Server Ethernet Adapter
ASUS 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
EIZO FlexScan T662-T 20"CRT 1600 x 1200 x32 @ 85 Herz
Enermax Modu 520+ 525Watt PSU
AddTronics 6896A Entry Level Server Tower
 
Windows 2000 Professional USA + Service Pack 4
AmigaMerlin 3.1 R11
The system wasn't that of a clean build, since I mainly used t for testing as for cable management I never heard about that back then haha  :lol:  :grin:
 
So to give the Voodoo5 6000 program a final shot, they made their last revision for the card, hereby hoping to try aim get 183Mhz working stable, like 167Mhz did. they named this card 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A 3900, the Rev.A 3900 most 3dfx experts and enthusiasts like me call them, only a handful were made and only two are in existence, they both are functional as well, my friend Omega_Supreme of course has one, he also made a really nice scan of it's rear side, the top side is just a high quality photo, so here they come:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
The Rev.A 3900 like Rev.A3 3400 & Rev.A 3700 all used the same Voodoo Volts, they all had a power output of 60 watts, in 2002 when Hank Semenec applied the PCI Rework, he was able to fix the issue 3dfx was facing, with this fix all FSAA modes worked on many motherboards but even so, there are still a limited amount of motherboards that supports the Voodoo5 6000, you can check them out here:
http://dtaskforce.forumot...vga-cards-research#616
Just under them world owner lists.
 
PCI Rework Background
Background- The V5-6000 has a fundamental flaw in the board design; When the PCB was laid out, the internal routing for the PCI bus traces were run against the VSA-100 2.9 V core voltage plane. The PCI bus refers to the internal network that the VSA-100 chips and HiNT chip passes data back and forth. The PCI traces do not have reliable signal return, it is like transmitting signal on a single wire without a ground reference. The most noted issue was board instability when running in anti-aliasing modes, the noise on the bus would cause crashes and lockups. One attempted fix was to lower the VSA-100 speeds from 183 mhz to 166 mhz, unfortunately this still did not address the issue and the problem remained .  The "PCI rework" as it is known is a fix by ex-3dfx engineer Hank Semenec to bring stability to the V6K so it can function in all modes. The rework applies to PCB versions 210-0391-001-A and 210-0391-001-A3, it also might work on other revisions but has not been tested. The fix was not suitable for production use as it disables a circuit that compensates for process shift in the VSA-100 silicon from production lot to production lot. It changes the PCI clock alignment with respect to control and data signals from the HiNT bridge to VSA-100's, it gives more setup time for the signals.   The actual hardware changes involve adding 4.7k resistors at locations RR540, R589, R717, R714 and changing the 22ohm resistors to 0 ohm resistors at the following locations – R734, R743, R735, R745. Hank indicated it took him about 60 hours of time over a 3 month period to come up with the fix and walks a fine line between working and not. Hank indicated another shift in the PCI clock as small as 1 nano-second would render the board non-functional.
 
 
The Three different Voodoo Volts looked like this:

 
To give you all idea on how long the Voodoo5 6000 was, here an old photo of a Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB Rev.A 3700 with a NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti-4600:

 
And here I made one with an EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GTX Duo, EVGA's 7900 GX2 Super Clocked Ediiton in basics:
Top:

 
Rear:

 
Also I ran lots of games with it just to see how nice it's FSAA and image quality was, and still it's the most beautiful I ever seen, it's hard to bring in as jpegs, but you will get an idea at the least :)
 
 
Here the system info tab in the 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 driver Control panel:

 
Here the SLI & FSAA x8 setting tab in the 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 driver Control panel:

Single Chip disabled SLI, Fastest performance is Quad SLI without FSAA, the FSAA setings are always done when Quad SLI is enabled

Unreal Tournament Game of The Year Edition 1999 @ 1280 x 1024 x in 16Bit Glide + Super Sampled Rotated Grid FSAA x8:



UT GOTYE 1999 @ 1600 x 1200 x16 in Glide + Super Sampled Rotated Grid FSAA x4:


 
And some games I ran just to see if they would work with a little help of MesaFX Opengl32.dll 6.2.0.2 A Linux OpenGL binary we used so we could emulate certain missing aspects via the CPU.
This is how I got Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy running for example:

 
Freelancer @ 1024 x 768 x32 + FSAA x4:



 
Call of Duty United Offensive 1.51 @ 1600  x1200 x32 no FSAA High Details:



 
And I ran Descent 3 ver 1.4 without the need of Mesa FX, without FSAA though, just wanted to see how smooth it would run on the 6000 @ 1600 x 1200 x16 and yeah man it ran like a dream



Anyways that is roughly all I know about the Voodoo5 6000 program and what I learned from having one myself, shamefully I had to let go of mine due to money issues and I still miss my pride everyday.
 
But now that i am collecting 3dfx VGA cards again, hopefully my Voodoo5 6000 will return to me one day, there is always hope they say
 
If you want a more technical detailed document of the Voodoo5 6000, you can take a read of this:
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/3dfx/v6k_faq.htm
 
I too took part of providing information for that Voodoo5 6000 FAQ Page as Obi-Wan Kenobi hehe, Gold Leader is just an other name I use on many hardware websites.


To be added to my Wold V6K Lists I will need some small info from your card(s) so hereby this quick guide that will show you how to identify your Revision and PCB date of your Voodoo5 6000 video card(s) :)

To find the Revision on your card you'll have to seek the Rev location which is mostly on the topside's tails end which sits above the 2000 3DFX INTERACTIVE inprint; just above the TIVE part of that phrase over here:


Which looks like this enlarged:

This counts for all cards.

The Revision can also be found on the rear of the cards some near the 3dfx logo near the backplate and some others on the rearside of the tail's end. All revisions are placed behind a card PCB number, with a Rev.A 3700 for example the Rev is located here:


Which looks like this enlarged:

The "A" is the Revision of the card which reads that this is a Rev.A ;)

The Revision on a Rev.A0 0700 is found elsewhere just on the rear side of the card's tail's end and it's printed in dark green, so you'll need a sharp eye to spot this


This is what you must seek :) very big scan photo!


The same counts for the Rev.A1 1500 cards, only their revision is printed in light olive green so it's easier to spot.
which can be seen here:


For all the cards that are Rev.A2 2600 to Rev.A 3900 the Revision is placed near the backplate as shown with the Rev.A 3700 :)
here an example with a Rev.A2 2600 from Omega_Supreme:

As you can see the Revision is A2 on this one which is placed behind it's PCB part number.
As for the PCB dates this is a different issue, a PCB date on a Voodoo5 6000 is placed in a separate order first the week date number then the year date number.
As for that Rev.A2 2600 it's PCB date is located on the rear side of it's tail's end as you can see it reads 2600 week 26 of the year 2000.

This counts also for the Rev.A1 1500 and the Rev.A0 0700 , only this last mentioned card has it printed in white, which can be seen here:


It's very small but readable and looks like this as shown on gdonovan's blank PCB'ed Rev.A0 0700:


As for the Rev.A3 3400, Rev.A 3700 and Rev.A 3900 the PCB date is placed near the backplate, the 3400 is the only one where the PCB date is located slightly closer to the backplate like so:


It's just under the Pc2A 94V-0 white inprint, Which reads 3400 week 34 of the year 2000. :)

And for the Rev.A 3900 it's located here very big scan photo!:


For the Rev.A 3700 it's located here:


Which looks like this in an enlarged format:


Well today was very interesting, as I did some research on the Rev,A0 0700, Rev.A1 1500 and Rev.A2 2600 cards,I found out that these also have a U509 and that them Intel boards the Rev.A0 0700 and Rev.A1 1500 have not only a U509 but also a U508!!

I can show you also ;)

Look closely:

here the rear side of Omega's Rev.A2 2600 right :)


Here is where I found it's U509, I circled it!:


The Rev.A0 0700 and Rev.A1 1500 are more intersting these have not only a U509 chip ... but also a U508 chip!!!!
Look here!!!

Omega's Rev.A0 0700


Here I circled U508 and U509 on Omega's Rev.A0 0700:


Here a Scan of a Rev.A1 1500:


Here I circled U508 and U509 on that scanned Rev.A1 1500 8)


Since the rear layout of the Rev.A3 3400, Rev.A 3700 and Rev.A 3900 are identical, here I show you where U509 on these three can be located:

It's that long narrow chip just left from the 3dfx logo.

Here the H 509 of the Rev.A3 3400:


Here the U509 of the Rev.A 3700:


Here the U509 of the Rev.A 3900:


And there you have the Voodoo5 6000 Research I did and know hows of all the different revisions made :)

3dfx Voodoo5 5000 World Owners List & Research
 
Anyways I wanted to add this part before anyone posted, but I guess this will have to do it :X
as I have made several reviews of the Voodoo5 5000 AGP I thought might as well tell you all how I got my 5000 AGP running and a list of all 5000's known xD

And since I have made the world V6K Lists on 4 major 3dfx sites and that they were a great success.
So I wanted to make a World list of all the Voodoo5 5000's just to reveal their real amount and how many have there really been found as built. 
 
V5K Different type amount | Revision | PCB Date | V5K Total amount

«» 2 | Rev.A0,Rev.A1 | 0900, 3700 | 3 «» gdonovan
«» 2 | Rev.A0 | 4899, 3700 | 2 «» osckhar
«» 2 | Rev.A0, Rev.A1 | 0900, 3700 | 2 «» Rolo01
«» 1 | Rev.A1 | 0900 | 1 «» edmundoab
«» 1 | Rev.A1 | 0900 | 1 «» guenter.f.68
«» 1 | Rev.A1 | 0900 | 1 «» DeadEye
«» 1 | Rev.A1 | 0900 | 1 «» Kyle Bennett
«» 1 | Rev.A0 | 3700 | 1 «» Nightbird
«» 1 | Rev.A0 | 3700 | 1 «» Murfi
«» 1 | Rev.A0 | 3700 | 1 «» G1nX
«» 1 | Rev.A0 | 3700 | 1 «» Torch

Total PCI Rev.A0 4899's: 1
Total PCI Rev.A1 0900's: 6
Total AGP Rev.A0 3700's: 8

Total Voodoo5 5000 PCI's: 7
Total Voodoo5 5000 AGP's: 8

Total Voodoo5 5000's Overall: 15

gdonovan has 2 Rev.A0 3700's and 1 Rev.A1 0900, which explains that he has 3 cards in total ;)

Here some information about the 3 Voodoo5 5000 variants, which can be read here:

So some of you may think 3 types of 5000's what in the world? heh well I'll explain that here:

3dfx Voodoo5 5000 PCI Rev.A0 4899



The first ever built 3dfx Voodoo5 5000 was a PCI Variant which is a Rev.A0 4899 [week 48 , year 1999]
This card is packed with hand done reworks and it runs cores/mem 100Mhz.

The card's Bios is 1.00a and it boots only in single chip showing that the card only has half of the total  32768KB / 32MB of ram which is 16384KB/16MB.


osckhar is the only person in the world with this card:
The cool thing is that this card used to be from Guru Of 3D :) since it was tested here:
http://guru3d.com/tech/cebit2000/index3.html

here some pics of it:

"The Voodoo 5 above is based on the version A0 VSA-100 silicon, it still has some bugs in it and it can't run on the speed that it's supposed to do. The final Silicon (which is going into mass-production quite soon) will run on 166MHz compared to the 100 MHz A0 version that was presented to me."


I also found this driver for the Voodoo5 5000 @ Guru Of 3D
http://downloads.guru3d.c....04b-download-151.html

3dfx Voodoo5 5000 PCI 32MB Rev.A1 0900



The Rev.A1 0900 [week 09, year 2000] is the second PCI variant of the Voodoo5 5000 as the first Voodoo5 5000 of year 2000.

It did have a few modifications as it has no more hand done reworks which resulted a much cleaner PCB layout.

It also has some differences from the Capacitors it has compared to the older Rev.A0 4899, the Rev.A0 4899 used the older SMD like Capacitors small flat square ones where as the Rev.A1 0900 used the more modern type round sealed capacitors.

The Rev.A1 0900 runs cores/ram 143Mhz, a tad faster than it's Rev.A0 4899 brother, it also had better SLI support and at boot up it also posts the cards full ram amount of 32768KB/32MB of ram.
 
after this model there were no other PCI variant made I suppose the entire 5000 project was put aside until week 37 of year 2000 3dfx gave it another go.

There is a review of the Rev.A1 0900 over here at HardCorp from Kyle Bennett himself, only that review is somewhat lost I did find the same review on Tweakers.net with Kyle's comments:
http://tweakers.net/nieuw...oo5-5000-pci-pics.html


3dfx Voodoo5 5000 AGP 32MB Rev.A0 3700



The Rev.A0 3700 is the last known Voodoo5 5000 every made by 3dfx and it's also the first 5000 that uses the AGP connector as this one even uses the AGP x4 connector it runs @ AGP x2 66Mhz Bus with 3.3Volts only.

As you can see 3dfx also redesigned the 5000 AGP's layout hence it uses a much shorter PCB:
The reason why 3dfx made this card with an AGP x4 connector is somewhat strange, since they never anticipated to build an AGP x2 model they just went on and made it like this instead which still troubles my mind as that of others.

This card runs croes/ram 166Mhz and has Bios 1.15 it also reports it's full ram capacity @ boot up which is 32768KB / 32MB.


The Rev.A0 3700 [week 37, year 2000] is also the most stable as well known 5000 out there though that it's such a late variant of the card type it's self, most 5000 keepers have this card, some have it because it is the odd ball of the 3 5000's and some have it because of it's rarity factor amongst other Voodoo5 AGP cards it's a famous collectors item as which goes for any Voodoo5 5000 variant.

There is a review of my first Voodoo5 5000 AGP 32MB Rev.A0 3700 which showed my results of the card in action with SLI and FSAA x4 modes under 98SE NL + UnOfficial Service Pack 2.03NL @ 3dfxzone.it:
http://www.3dfxzone.it/news/puntatore.php?uid=2417

If there are more people that needed to be added just post here or just ring a bell via PM.

So as i proceeded here is how I got it working :)

Finally the day has come  and I haven't made pics of it yet, but will post them later this day, here is a screen shot of the card installed:


it's at the least some little evidence that I got it working xD

So here's some more:

Star Wars Episode I: Racer @ 1024 x 768 x16 in Direct3D + FSAA x4 & LOD -4.



the system setup for testing is the following:

AMD AthlonXP 2700+ Thoroughbred-B
EPoX EP-8K3A+ Ver 1.02
1x 512MB PC3200 CL2 Kingston HyperX @ PC-2700
3dfx Voodoo5 5000 AGP 32MB Rev.A0 3700 with 6ns SEC SGRAM
Creative Audigy2 Platinum

Win98SE NL + UnOfficial Service Pack 2.03NL
AM 2.9 for drivers
3dfx WHQL 1.04.00 for control panel

Just exactly the other way around like I had it last time, just to see if it would make a difference, no lockups so far so that's a new record.

I also found out that the 5000 AGP has some banding when FSAA is enabled in D3D as you might of seen in my racer pics :) look at the Sky as an example, the 5000 AGP also had a hard time rendering D3D in Racer with as without FSAA I suppose D3D wasn't well supported for the 5000 AGP's.

Without failure I can't agree with since rendering errors like banding for instance isn't some I would accept as perfect image quality ;) The 5500's and 6000's seem to not have this because they have greater driver support and they are more grownup compared to the 5000's.

here another shot of StarWars Episode I Racer, as you can see lot's of banding.


I did run some tests in UT GOTYE 1999 in Glide and the 5000 accepted reso's til 800 x600 x16 and not higher..which was with no FSAA , FSAA x2 and FSAA x4, another thing it ran very fluid wwith all three different settings , and how do I make good screenshots in UT GOTYE 1999?

About the reso problem I think I found the problem , the drivers I think, as with my review of the 5000 AGP @ 3dfxzone.it I used drivers from 11 -2 - 2000
http://www.3dfxzone.it/news/puntatore.php?uid=2417

drivers from 11 -2 - 2000


the ones I use now: 11-21-2002:


The ones I am using now like 2 years newer so maybe the older driver may fix this, though I am not so sure about this, since it was some time ago that I ran the 5000 AGP.

Update!

Well yeaps that was it allrighty, now I have the exact same driver as back then, which is 11-2-2000:


That lead me to the following conclusion:

Using the AmigaMerlin 2.9 drivers or any other 3rd party driver results instabilities and no higher reso support in UT GOTYE 1999 than 800 x 600 x16.

With the latest 3dfx WHQL drivers from 11 - 02 - 2000 all these problems seem to be resolved.

Though D3D applications still suffer the laggy performance which occurs with as without FSAA modes.

I gotta say, it was a #@#@$ to install as find the correct driver I used about 2 years ago, I even looked up old topics as that review from 3dfxzone.it as the topic which was fixed to it and there I finally got to where I am now.

I only ran Racer and UT GOTYE 1999 as one game at a time.
DXX-Rebirth I have no idea if that will work, because with Win2K Pro + SP4 and the 5500 AGP I used ps47's modified SFFT Alpha 41 driver so since these 3dfx drivers are as raw as the 5000 Prototype it's self I have little doubt that DXX-Rebirth 0.54 will even run at all.

DXX-Rebirth 0.54 @ 1024 768 x 32:





This oughta give this robot the final blow




Well that's DXX-Rebirth 0.54  , and heh that robot got PWNed  by my 5000 AGP big time  :lol:


The system setup for testing is the following:

AMD AthlonXP 2700+ Thoroughbred-B
EPoX EP-8K3A+ Ver 1.02
1x 512MB PC3200 CL2 Kingston HyperX @ PC-2700
3dfx Voodoo5 5000 AGP 32MB Rev.A0 3700 with 6ns SEC SGRAM
Creative Audigy2 Platinum

Win98SE NL + Un-Official Service Pack 2.03NL
3dfx WHQL 1.04.00 for drivers + control panel

No tweaked drivers just the latest raw 3dfx WHQL drivers just awesome to see such a rare alpha board doing such a great job with Rebirth, kinda amazed here ;)
for the people that want to play DXX-Rebirth 0.54 with their Voodoo5 cards under 98SE here is what you will need:

The latest Un-Official Service Pack:
http://members.chello.nl/h.nekeman1/98spnl/

There you can click the flag of your nationality and you will be guided to the right site to download the language version of the UnOfficial Service pack you are seeking for.

The Latest 3dfx WHQL 1.04.00 incl 3dfx Tools Control Panel:
http://www.falconfly.de/downloads/voodoo45-10400.zip


DXX Rebirth 0.54, D1X Rebirth = for Descent 1 the other for Descent 2:
http://www.dxx-rebirth.de/?Downloads


To get it going there are some things that needed to be done manually, when starting the game you get to see a small narrow screen with Descent II in it which is about 3 cm in height and stretches out to about three quarters of the screen, just press escape a few times till you get the pilot login screen, there you hit enter then you get to the main menu screen, it may seem strange for the first time and believe me it really is odd , but at the main page try and blindly go to the options , then resolution settings and fist switch to 800 x600 then press spacebar to accept.

after this you get to see more of the screen, and then go to custom and fill in the following:
1024x768 then hit Enter to accept.
Once this has been done manually the screen will a just it's self to that reso, if you use the 1024x768 reso option from the reso listing, this will not work!

Same instructions go for Win2K & XP with users that have 5500's 6000's as any other type of 3dfx cards from the Voodoo3 1000 and up.

Well people this is all what I have been doing till now, as I made one large post of this important research I have done with the  5000 AGP under 98SE NL + UOSP 2.03 NL and like last time the 5000 works fine under 98SE but under 2K or XP for example it still worked in single chip so that still troubles my mind, it also seems to have trouble with Direct3D applications the banding like in Racer and the laggy rendering performance with or without FSAA.

So I did reveal some new secrets with the 5000 AGP for that part and that it renders XX-Rebirth which uses OpenGL 1.4 code with 3dfx WHQL 1.04.00 , that still amazed me the most.

Well since my 98SE tests are done for D3D, Glide and OpenGL, from here on I will continue with Windows 2000 Professional USA + SP4 & Roll Up 1 for SP4 and see If I can get the 5000 installed the proper way as by adding it's ID String to the SFFT Alpha 41 driver it's self :)Well I have used every thinkable way by getting the 5000 AGP to work in 2000, but SLI remains to reject it's proper function.

even installing a 5000 AGP as a 5500 AGP , that did work but I got lots of lines on my screen so I uninstalled the 5000 AGP immediately.

And then I added the 5000 AGP's String to the 3dfx PCI/VEN String List  Which is the Subsystem Vendor ID :



After doing that it did install as a 5000 AGP but using the number 847 after the ; didn't resolve a perfect image , the lines appeared again which I didn't get when using 98SE.

Anyways after this I pulled this research to a halt, and decided to work with the 5500 AGP until somebody else comes to a better idea, I really do not know where to look at or what to do after all this work, some replies may help  :P

Anyways here are the photo's of the 5000 AGP , better late than never xDDD




So that's the 5000 AGP part , my 5000 PCI is still in transit it should arrive shortly once it is here I will do the same tests with it and post it here how that one does with the three different API's OpenGL, Glide & Direct3D, I will also post what Bios it has and what speed it really runs as the AGP variant runs 166Mhz cores/mem and not 143Mhz as many have rumored ;)

Though I am suggesting the Rev.A1 0900 PCI card which I am receiving could run 143mhz since the Rev.A0 4899 only does 100mhz so that's for me to find out xD
this is the card which will be going under testing soon ;)


Okay the 5000 PCI has arrived today, his name is Gold 2, so as promised, here's some pics:




And the info + research I already did with it:

The card boots with Bios 1.00b and only detects 16384KB of the 32768KB of ram haha :lol:


But it seems to run very stable in 2D under a very unexpected OS for a 5000 AGP, Win2K Pro + SP4 anyone? ;)
With SFFT 1.5, I used the latest 3dfx tools for 2K/XP and Q3A detects a Voodoo3 series heh, but FSAA x4 seems to be enabled because I can't see no jaggies, okay 3dfx tools is installed and yes FSAA x4 was still enabled heh all other FSAA modes work fine as well so here some screenshots of the drivers for starters:

 
Here an other screenshot I made showing the info tab of the 3dfx Voodoo5 5000 PCI 32MB Rev.A1 0900:

As you see it has Bios 1.00b and it runs at cores.mem 143Mhz.
I will post some Q3A shots as well so stay tuned :)

so here are the Quake III Arena screen shots @ 1024 x 768 x16 + FSAA x4 medium Settings in OpenGL API:




But when during testing this run with the 5000 PCI and Q3A I did clearly see the blood as thick as red rain only the screenshots they did seem to have lost the blood blotches you'd normally see:




Q3A did crash after 8 minutes of gameplay I suspect it's the lack of driver support hence there was no broken SLI this time as reported with the V5K PCI Rev.A0 4899 & V5K AGP Rev.A0 3700.

So here are the Descent3 1.5 + PyroMania 1.5 screenshots with FSAA x4 but in Glide API max settings:






Even that there was no banding, no glitches but just superb image quality & gameplay this game also crashed the system after 7 or 8 minutes of gameplay so I guess it's the support again with the drivers under Win2K.

But hey it's all not that bad since this is the first 5000 variant that does show us that it has no Broken SLI under Win2K which is an NTFS OS ;) So this is a leap ahead as know hows go for the V5K'ers out there , I used this setup to run these games under 2000 Pro + SP4 :)

Blue-Leader

AthlonXP 2700+
EPoX EP-8K3A+
3x 512MB PC3200 CL2 Kingston Hyper X @ PC2700
3dfx Voodoo5 5000 PCI 32MB Rev.A1 0900 with PC Bios 1.00b
Creative SB Audigy 2 Platinum with the latest Win2K/XP drivers.

SFFT 1.5 as drivers
latest WHQL 3dfx Tools for Win2K/XP
Windows 2000 Professional USA + Service Pack 4 + Roll Up 1 for Service Pack 4
Direct9.0c August 2007.




So after this there is a lot more to do heh this 5000 PCI shall run DXX_Rebirth under 2000 also and after this I will move on to 98SE because I expect it to crash after several minutes of game play, but the graphics as image quality is very stunning as that FSAA x4 & SLI are working still amazes me a lot.
 
So as the 3dfx Voodoo5 class cards go, there were three classes

High End Voodoo5 --> 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB





No PCI nor PCI Macintosh versions were planned nor made.

Mid End Voodoo5 --> 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB






PCI versions of this card were made:
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI 64MB






3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh 64MB





This card featured a DVI-D port for Macintosh flat panels, these could be flashed with PC Bios 1.18_LCD for LCD support as well, it's also the most modern looking due to the DVI-D support it has :)

Low End Voodoo5 --> 3dfx Voodoo5 5000 AGP 32MB






PCI versions of this card were made:
3dfx Voodoo5 5000 PCI 32MB





No Macintosh model was made but was planned, it would of gotten Dual D-Sub VGA Ports.

Here a photo of the three main AGP cards:

Top to bottom:

High End --> 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP Rev.A 3700 Engineering Sample
Mid-End --> 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP Rev.A 2500 Production Sample
Low End --> 3dfx Voodoo5 5000 AGP x4 32MB Rev.A0 3700 Engineering Sample

top:


rear:

 
And there you have it everyone, this explains the entire Voodoo5 line in detail, from my own experience with thee boards, the community members and ex-3dfx crew, they all gave me knowledge of what these cards were capable of and what their purposes were

A very long detailed and thorough post. Thanks for that!

Many thanks for that 37th Blue Ribbon there  rjohnson11

 
Yeah well, no worries there, it does seem that my 3dfx life is in full return, which made this the perfect opportunity for me to post here as well 
Also, I have my 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP setup running the original Quantum3D OpenGVS 3D tests @ 1024 x 768 x16 in Glide API + Super Sampled Rotated Grid FSAA x4 at around 42fps
 
It's as if time stood still, the FSAA quality that the V5 does is still stunning.

3dfx was a great company. Great memories there!

Yeah you bet, been playing StarWars X-Wing versus Ti-Fighter: Balance of Power today with my 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB Rev.A 2500 with AmigaMerlin 3.1 R11 all day, it runs soooo nice with Win2KPro UK + SP4 Just as good as new :)
On this setup:
 
Avenger M99

Intel Pentium !!!/E 650Mhz Coppermine S.E.C.C. 2 aka Single Edge Contact Cartridge 2 / Slot 1
3x 128MB PC-100 CL3 Hyundai / Samsung
EPoX EP-BX3 Intel BX440 Chipset
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB 256Bit SDR Rev.A 2500 [Inpractical 2x 32MB 12Bit SDR]
Intel Pro 100/S Desktop Adapter
Philips FM/AM Radio Card 8Bit ISA
Creative Labs AWE64 Gold CT4390
Samsung 3.5" Floppy Drive
LG 40x/16x CD/DVD RW-Drive
1x Maxtor Diamond Max 9+ 40GB ATA 100
1x Maxtor Diamond Max 9+ 25GB ATA 100

Windows 2000 Professional UK + Service Pack 4
x-3dfx Community Driver 1.08.00b for the V5 5500 AGP

They were so light years ahead of anyone with gpu computation. I wish they would have continued.

They sure were, the saddest thing the software devs were behind, 3dfx had tech we are actuallyl taking use of today, here the T-Buffer from the Voodoo5 class cards
T-Buffer:
Rotated Grid Super Sampled Full Scene Hardware Anti-Aliasing --RGSS FSAA x2/x4/x8
Motion Blur
Soft Shadows
Soft Reflections
Depth of Field
 
And the Rampage the 3dfx Specter series had M-Buffer, alongside many other new features:
 
Top view:


Rear view:

 
Here some Rampage fun facts, I got from gdonovan's page:
 
1) The Rampage chip was also known as VSA-200 and would be the basis of a new generation of boards. A board with a single Rampage chip was called Specter 1000. If a board had a single Rampage chip and Sage transformation and lighting unit it would have been a Specter 2000. A board with TWO Rampages and ONE Sage would have been a Specter 3000. There is also mention of a Specter 4000 with FOUR Rampage chips.

2) Prototype Rampage based boards were up and running Quake 3 mere days before 3dfx closed their doors.

3) Interesting bug in Rampage chip- The DAC was flipped, reversing the color channels. One possible reason it was not detected is because this was one of the few places on the chip that had not been simulated. The temporary fix was an interesting little board that was attached between the monitor cable and VGA connector. It flipped all the color channels, making it display correctly.

4) Two or three Rampage based boards are known to be in "circulation," one is known to function.

5) Rampage is a code name for the chip,  Habanero was it's predecessor (Rampage with 256 bit DDR memory bus). SAGE is a code name for the T'n L chip (lead engineer "Captain Inverter") SPECTER is a code name for the board (SPecial Executive for Control, Terrorism, Extortion, and Revenge.) Name was picked by the boards designer Brian. (Trivia from Hank Semenec, ex-3dfx engineer)

6) No SAGE chips were known to have been made it onto boards, rumor has it the first test samples showed up.. just days after 3dfx closed their doors.
 
They might gather more good memories, Hank Semenec is also an old friend of mine, could it be that your friend was a colleague of Hank Semenec as well? If so, I could pass Hank a message :) We are always trying to seek each other this way

I have a 5500 PCI, don't think its working unfortunately though. Many, many years ago I attempted to take off the heatsink/fan by putting in freezer safe bag, I believe it didn't survive. Still have it though.