A Look at 3dfx's Cancelled Rampage GPU

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3dfx Interactive closed down nearly two decades ago, but the defunct graphics card maker lives on through fans such as Oscar Barea and Martín Gamero Prieto: the latter shares images of the company’s cancelled graphics card, the Rampage, which was initially developed in 1997 and has become quite the collectable. While the project was never completed, several cards were manufactured, and these are detailed in Prieto's new book “The Legacy of 3dfx.”

As Martín Gamero Prieto told us, Oscar Barea is the owner of two Rampage cards (a third was exchanged for other prototypes) and both used a dongle (adaptor) due to an error in color design but are completely functional. Both were issued directly from 3DFX’s labs and were saved from destruction during the company’s last days. What stands out about these tests is the possibility of completing the 3dMark 2001 thanks to a more specific and operational driver.
 
The first 3dfx card I bought was a Voodoo 3 2000 which ran everything I had at the time flawlessly. I later ran a Hercules GeForce 2 GTS 64MB in AGP and a Voodoo 5 5500 PCI with a switch to flip between the two on my monitor for D3D games or Glide games. Jane's Longbow 2 was always awesome on the Voodoo 5. It's a shame that poor business practice brought such an innovative company to its knees.
 
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I still remember the joy I felt when I added a 2nd Voodoo2 12MB to my computer and was able to enable 1024x768 screen res...huge step up from 800x600. Glide-wrapped GLQuake never looked so good before that!

I remember going from my Virge DX/GX decelerator to Voodoo 2 in my Pentium MMX 200Mhz very fondly. It's the first time I've ever witnessed raw rendering power on a PC.
 
Would have loved to have seen what would have happened had 3dfx been able to launch rampage and its other planned cards. Unfortunately management keep diverting resources away from it to produce stopgap cards. :( Near sure everything after voodoo 2 was basically put out so they would have a product on shelves whilst rampage was being repeatedly delayed.

Nice touch on their kickstarter they have a box that was designed for voodoo 5 6000 that the book will come in for some backers.
 
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The first 3dfx card I bought was a Voodoo 3 1500 which ran everything I had at the time flawlessly. I later ran a Hercules GeForce 2 GTS 64MB in AGP and a Voodoo 5 5500 PCI with a switch to flip between the two on my monitor for D3D games or Glide games. Jane's Longbow 2 was always awesome on the Voodoo 5. It's a shame that poor business practice brought such an innovative company to its knees.

Sure it wasn't a 3500? No such thing as a voodoo 3 1500. There was a 1000 though.
 
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I remember going from my Virge DX/GX decelerator to Voodoo 2 in my Pentium MMX 200Mhz very fondly. It's the first time I've ever witnessed raw rendering power on a PC.


While I had my V2 SLI, I upgraded my primary video card to an Elsa TnT2 32MB...that was the day my love affair with 3Dfx ended.

Next came a GeForce2 Pro (maybe an Ultra) 64MB, which was strong enough to carry my gaming needs until I got a GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB AGP 8x.

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for 3Dfx, as they introduced me to actual hardware 3D acceleration...just a shame that it was company management (and not lack of R&D) that brought them down.
 
I like the idea of the book but I doubt at this point they're going to make it based on the current donations, sadly. Also, if they're doing a book about the legacy of 3Dfx they should be using that logo and not the one the company chose later on before the demise but that's just my personal opinion.

3Dfx is dead, long live 3Dfx... so many awesome memories of those days when they were the only 3D hardware that mattered. :D

3Dfx_Logo_Transparency.png
 
I like the idea of the book but I doubt at this point they're going to make it based on the current donations, sadly. Also, if they're doing a book about the legacy of 3Dfx they should be using that logo and not the one the company chose later on before the demise but that's just my personal opinion.

3Dfx is dead, long live 3Dfx... so many awesome memories of those days when they were the only 3D hardware that mattered. :D

View attachment 127763

King of the world for a short time then went down the shitter, mismanaged into the ground. :(
 
Had the voodoo 5 5500, I've seen pics of canceled 6000 that came with its own giant wall wart to support its dual GPU config
 
Wow this brings back memories. I actually held these cards in my hands after nvidia bought out 3dfx.
 
While I had my V2 SLI, I upgraded my primary video card to an Elsa TnT2 32MB...that was the day my love affair with 3Dfx ended.

Next came a GeForce2 Pro (maybe an Ultra) 64MB, which was strong enough to carry my gaming needs until I got a GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB AGP 8x.

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for 3Dfx, as they introduced me to actual hardware 3D acceleration...just a shame that it was company management (and not lack of R&D) that brought them down.

I waited patiently then, saw 3Dfx drove off a cliff, and then finally went for a Ti 2400 for my Athlon XP build. I do miss the days when video card companies really had to innovate and deliver on price/performance to us consumers.
 
20 years...fuck I’m old. I remember buying a heat sink with a fan for my voodoo 3 2000 pci and breaking it trying to pry the stock heatsink off. I think I was a freshman in college when I pulled that off...
 
I remember playing track mania with my voodoo card, everything ran fantastically well with it.

Nadeo support team actually introduced me to Omega drivers to resolve a texture issue when playing in desert maps.

Was good time.
 
Wasn't Rampage the one they had to use the Home Depot carpenter clamp on the chip because it kept shooting out of the socket? Damn I can't find a pic now but I think it was either here or Ars that I saw that.

While I love Voodoo as much or more than 10 other guys, I've read all this and I'm not buying his book, sorry.

I had a Monster Voodoo 1, 2 Creative Voodoo 2's, several V2000 pci's (great PCI cards for oem Dell work boxes), several V3000 agp's, and a v5500 agp that I regrettably sold in anger right after I heard they gave up and sold out to Nvidia.
 
View attachment 127806And after seeing his score you see why they died.
The part that really blows me away about your image is the 250nm process and 15million transistors… My 1080ti is 16nm and 12billion transistors... Those are numbers that are hard to fathom, none the less they are really impressive for 19 almost 20 years.
 
The part that really blows me away about your image is the 250nm process and 15million transistors… My 1080ti is 16nm and 12billion transistors... Those are numbers that are hard to fathom, none the less they are really impressive for 19 almost 20 years.
The part blowing my mind is DDR memory with a QX6800 and an AGP nivida GPU
 
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I'll just leave these here! My love for 3DFX knows no bounds.

*snip out the awesome pics*

I really wanted to get one of those 3Dfx mouse pads, I looked for one on eBay and other places for the better part of a decade, put out feelers on craigslist, Reddit, many many places but have never been able to find one. I figure I should just use the higher quality 3Dfx logo splash I have and get some mouse pad maker like ArtsCow.com to make one for me, or several as I do tend to wear them out every few months. Might just have to do that sometime soon, actually, could make some neat Christmas presents.

Oh, fantastic collection. For a long long time I had 1 single share of 3Dfx/3dfx and kept the stock certificate for it, that was quite difficult to acquire even though I was technically a share holder. They fought me tooth and nail over it but I kept demanding one and they finally capitulated and I got it. Lost it in a move long ago but it was definitely something I'd still love to have on a wall just for shits and giggles. I suppose technically that share should have migrated over to Nvidia after the takeover, might have to look into that someday and see what might come of it aka "absolutely worthless..." :D
 
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My Original 3Dfx Voodoo card might be the biggest single upgrade I have ever made. (Greatest X-mas present ever ! $400 in 90s money !) I believe I was running a S3 virge 64+ along with the Voodoo and a NEC power VR all at once due to proprietary games. Used a little program to switch between them and had little dongles in the back to physically connect them. I still have the Voodoo and look at it every so often when I open up my obsolete tech box.
Josh
 
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3Dfx transformed our lives and popped our cherries when it comes to the forbidden fruit of 3D gaming on PC.
It's sad that it doesn't look like we will experience that era of revolutionary breakthrough again anytime soon.
 
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It's funny how much love 3dfx gets reading thru the comments right now compared to Nvidia comments on other threads.

I was far too poor back in the day to have a 3dfx voodoo card, and I envied anyone that had one because they were just awesome to game on, man that was a long time ago.....
 
Wow, cool stuff. Loved my Voodoo cards back in the day.
I ran dual Voodoo2 cards in SLI on my system. Back when I was young and free, had a cool car and long flowing head full of hair.
Yeah, before I got married. Now, no money, no cool car. No hair and a low end video card.
 
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Are those Voodoo's still sealed / in the shrink wrap????

No way.
Yep! Most of them are sealed in the original shrinkwrap. I've been collecting this stuff since 2010 and have always preferred items in their original box, sealed if possible. It just adds to the nostalgia seeing the boxes/boxart.
 
this thread is awesome

I had a voodoo2 pci back in the day that would connect to my trident video card so I could play half life and cs.

running on a AMD k6-2 300mhz oc to 350 mhz.

was so smooth at 640x480
 
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