Who wants a quad-GPU vid card... from 2000?
Posted: 2006-08-06 05:27pm
Current bid On eBay: $610
Description
You are bidding on a tested and fully functional 3DFX Voodoo5 6000 AGP video card, as detailed below. Although never released into the retail market, the Voodoo5 6000 (or V5 6K) is based on the same VSA-100 technology that powered the Voodoo5 4500 and Voodoo5 5500 series. The Voodoo5 6000's quad VSA-100 implementation and then unheard-of 128MB of RAM created an enormous surge of media publicity and general excitement, but the card was repeatedly delayed and never saw the light of day.
At least...not officially.
The V5 6K I'm auctioning was tested and benchmarked in the ONLY full Voodoo5 6000 review ever published. As both the owner of the review sample and the author of the article, I can guarantee that this card has been tested and verified as fully functional in both Direct3D and OpenGL. All FSAA modes (typically 2x - 8x) are available and operational as well. The card has scarcely been used since the review was written nearly two years ago--I've simply not had time to play much with it, and am now in need of cash.
As the photos below indicate, this V5 6K runs at a 166MHz core clock and memory speed, for a maximum fillrate of 1.33 Gpixels/s and 10.6 GB/s of theoretical memory bandwidth. It's been briefly tested at 183 / 183, to ensure the existence of a clockrate margin, but I've never run the card above stock speed for any extended length of time. As the article indicates, this card has been modified to run on internal power as provided by a stardard PSU via a 4-pin molex connector. An external "Voodoo Volts" power connector is not included, and is unnecessary.
One issue to be aware of is that this card lacks the case support / attachment bracket typically found on any PC expansion card. It may be possible to install one--but its absence should not be a problem, so long as the card's system isn't jostled or knocked around. The V5 6K is quite long, but isn't very heavy--especially when compared to modern-day cards sporting dual-slot cooling systems.
Hardware Compatibility, Drivers, and OS Support.
The Voodoo5 6000, like all Voodoo AGP cards, does NOT support AGP 1.5V or AGP 0.8V signaling, and therefore requires a motherboard capable of providing a 3.3V signal. If you aren't sure whether or not you've got a board that meets this criteria, here's a list of compatible and incompatible motherboards. As my review notes, I used an EPOX KT266A 8K3A+ KT333 motherboard, and have had no problems with it. Those of you interested in building a legacy gaming system around the Voodoo5 6000 will probably want to use AMD instead of Intel--the Voodoo5 6000's lack of hardware T&L leaves all such instructions dependent on the P4's anemic x87 FPU. Motherboard compatibility is also easier to find on the AMD side of the equation--Intel's popular i845 and i850 chipsets dumped all support for the AGP 3.3V standard, whereas many AMD-compatible boards retained it for several generations more. It's possible that there are Athlon 64 motherboards that support AGP 3.3V signaling, and would therefore (theoretically) support the Voodoo5 6000. I have no idea if this is the case, and cannot advise potential buyers on it.
All official driver development for 3DFX cards died when the company did, but a dedicated group of enthusiasts and modders have kept driver improvements and support alive. 3dfxzone.it has the best and most active forum I'm aware of for 3dfx products (available here), and it's where I'd start if you have questions regarding driver support for specific operating systems, or how different driver versions impact performance. Personally, I've done all my testing and gaming on a Windows 98SE system, and it's what I'd recommend for anyone.
Terms and Conditions
There's obviously no warranty of any kind attached to the Voodoo5 6000, though I do guarantee the card will not arrive DOA. Any damage caused by the buyer, however, is explicitly not covered in a DOA agreement. Bidding on this card indicates the buyer's awareness of its unique characteristics and the need to provide an appropriate motherboard, case, power supply, etc in order to ensure proper functionality. As the provided information should indicate, I'll make every effort to aid the buyer in selecting appropriate drivers and hardware components, or in solving any game-specific software glitches that might arise, but my willingness to do so is not, in any way, an acceptance of liability for any potential product failure that might occur in the future, or as the result of an improper hardware configuration.
I'm willing to discuss selling the components I've used in combination with this video card, including the case, motherboard, CPU, optical drive, hard drive, and memory. If you're interested in buying the V5 6K as part of this system combo, feel free to get in touch--the auction covers only the video card itself.
