Since October of 2022, person @oscar_barea on Twitter has been posting his ongoing progress on a personalized classic 3dfx Voodoo card. His custom “VoodooX” is predicated on the 3dfx VSA-100 GPU, which was utilized in a number of 3dfx Voodoo playing cards, starting from Voodoo4 by Voodoo5. This won’t be top-of-the-line graphics playing cards, not until you need to roll again the clock to the late 90s, but it surely’s a enjoyable challenge regardless.A classic 3dfx Voodoo5 GPU was auctioned off for $15,000 early final 12 months. Any prototypes of 3dfx {hardware} symbolize a piece of timeless computing historical past at this level, as the corporate and belongings have been offered to Nvidia after it went bankrupt in 2000. Prior to that ignominious finish, nonetheless, 3dfx was one of many first and best names in consumer-accessible 3D acceleration.According to @AshEvans81, who can also be taking part within the challenge, the card is utilizing auctioned-off “new” VSA100 chips popularized by the Voodoo4 GPUs. This implies that the modifications to get VoodooX working with 32MB RAM are nonetheless in the end throughout the spec of VSA100 (the Voodoo4 4800 AGP boasted 64MB), although the unique thread will present this nonetheless took a lot of effort to get working.VoodooX 3Dfx challenge – I assembled the card and goal is verify how works DVI & HDMI output. Sadly throughout footage the distinction between DVI & D-SUB15 will not be very seen however in actual it’s. DVI has a crispy and clear picture high quality even colours appears a lot better. pic.twitter.com/1LN1otDi0JApril 16, 2024See extraThe challenge has required a lot of exhausting work and real dedication to retro PC {hardware} from each Oscar Barea and Ash Evans, and a few of us have fond reminiscences of the 3dfx Voodoo period. Not many individuals care to revive archaic GPUs from earlier than the flip of the millennium, to not point out ordering boards to aim to create a practical graphics playing cards with new capabilities.The work right here is really spectacular, particularly the brand new assist for DVI video output. Anyone who’s needed to cope with analog VGA video is aware of that video high quality is far decrease than with the now largely deserted DVI interface, which was a precursor of kinds to the fashionable HDMI customary. The quick visible enchancment supplied by DVI, even on this previous {hardware}, appears fairly good.The in-progress challenge remains to be restricted to 32MB of RAM, however the hope is to have a change that toggles between 32MB of RAM and 64MB of RAM. Once that hurdle is cleared, VoodooX could possibly be the very best Voodoo graphics card ever made. Just do not thoughts the 24-year hole, as these items… they take time.Join the specialists who learn Tom’s Hardware for the within observe on fanatic PC tech information — and have for over 25 years. We’ll ship breaking information and in-depth opinions of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker {hardware} and extra straight to your inbox.
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/determined-enthusiasts-are-building-a-custom-3dfx-graphics-card-voodoox-has-32mb-ram-and-dvi-output
Determined enthusiasts are building a custom 3dfx graphics card — VoodooX has 32MB RAM and DVI output
