Enthusiast recreates working 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000

Those who have been involved in the hardware industry for a long time have seen ups and downs for many players, where the graphics card company 3dfx Interactive is an example that many SweClockers members have memories of. The manufacturer transformed the world of graphics properly in the 90’s through the Glide interface and 3D performance that could beat the competition. Both books and Lego models have been erected as tributes to the former giant.

►Review: SweClocker’s editors remember the legendary 3dfx

Now the enthusiast “Anthony” takes the whole step further, by unveiling his latest project on the Russian modding forum Modlabs: a featured and functional variant of the 3dfx card Voodoo 5 6000. The card was a last attempt to keep 3dfx relevant in the market with Nvidia and ATI on the rise, but was never released on a wide front. That will change soon.

Through so-called reverse engineering based on one of the few available 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 cards, “Anthony” has landed in a new version of the historical graphics card. This means four graphics circuits called VSA-100 in company with 128 MB SDRAM memory in 166 MHz, where all components are housed on a custom circuit board. The VSA-100 circuits can still be bought new through, for example, Ebay, where the price is around SEK 150 each.

With identical hardware, original 3dfx drivers and variants from third-party developers work, while the operating systems Windows 9x, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are said to run. On the image connection front, there is an input and an output for VGA, which supports pass-through. Unlike the original, however, the AGP connection is replaced by PCI, while the external power supply takes place via Molex instead of a separate mains adapter.

The same forum post says that the creation does not yet have a final name, but that this will be on the packaging that is currently being designed, which confirms that the product will be available for purchase in the future. It remains to be seen in what volumes the niche card will be available, but also what price level will be relevant.

Source: Modlabs and Hothardware

Tell us about your 3dfx Voodoo memories! Would you consider buying newly produced retro hardware?