3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 AGP - 2 options, full box

Damn, looking at that takes me waaaayyyy back! Gotta love the back of the box advertising full scene AA!
 
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I had one of these. I sold it in a rage right after 3dfx announced they were done and being acquired by Nvidia. I went out and bought a Geforce 2.

I probably should have kept it, but I was pissed. That was a lot of $$ for me back then and I didn't want to get stuck with a card and no driver updates.
 
Burticus said:
I had one of these. I sold it in a rage right after 3dfx announced they were done and being acquired by Nvidia. I went out and bought a Geforce 2.

I probably should have kept it, but I was pissed. That was a lot of $$ for me back then and I didn't want to get stuck with a card and no driver updates.
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Eh, you did the right thing. Sure, you could be making a quick buck today, however; who could have ever predicted a commercially failed line of tech products would fetch such large sums of cash almost 20 years after they debuted?

Here's a history lesson to those now in-the-know. These things were obsolete on arrival. Indeed, you would have been stuck with a flakey card with no driver updates. It would eventually sit in your closet for 15 some-odd years as a reminder of past disappointment.

If 3dfx had launched the Voodoo 4/5 series 2 years prior, then maybe history would have been kind to them. Comparing a Geforce 2 to a V5 5500 is like comparing an 8800 GTX to a 9800 Pro. They're not even in the same league. Be glad you lived in that era where you got to enjoy gaming on your Geforce 2. That's worth more than whatever jollies people are getting out of showing these off on their bookshelves.
 
Yeah. New in sealed box so someone can show it off sitting on their shelf. The voodoo4 4500s are up too. Mine was sitting in storage from about 2002 to early 2017. On fee bay they were selling average $60-$75 then. Now they are averaging $200-$300. Not sure why I have not sold it yet. Nostalgia in my retro gaming rig I guess. Even though I have a couple GF2 GTS that blow it away in every way.
 
Bar none coolest box arts!

Still have this GPU in my Win 98 gaming PC but trying to sell the retro gaming PC on Craigslist locally to no luck

I paid between $75 and $125 for the bare card on Ebay, around 2010-2012, those were the going rate for the card itself back then. I think it was $300 with the box? Back then
 
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Burticus said:
I had one of these. I sold it in a rage right after 3dfx announced they were done and being acquired by Nvidia. I went out and bought a Geforce 2.

I probably should have kept it, but I was pissed. That was a lot of $$ for me back then and I didn't want to get stuck with a card and no driver updates.
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I still have the V5-5500 AGP I bought from a retail store back in the day. Have no idea what happened to the box though. Guessing it got thrown out when I was in college.

Right after I got it, I removed the stock coolers and installed some large Socket 7 CPU coolers. Has been that way ever since.

I also purchased a second V5-5500 AGP for backup a year or so ago for around $100.
 
Susquehannock said:
Yeah. New in sealed box so someone can show it off sitting on their shelf. The voodoo4 4500s are up too. Mine was sitting in storage from about 2002 to early 2017. On fee bay they were selling average $60-$75 then. Now they are averaging $200-$300. Not sure why I have not sold it yet. Nostalgia in my retro gaming rig I guess. Even though I have a couple GF2 GTS that blow it away in every way.
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I still have mine, and while I have came close to selling the card in the past, I don't think I ever will now due to the insane price these cards command. I'm keeping mine till it dies.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
I still have mine, and while I have came close to selling the card in the past, I don't think I ever will now due to the insane price these cards command. I'm keeping mine till it dies.
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same for me, by now I have a buch of Voodoo cards (no boxes), including Voodoo 3 2000 and 3000 (AGP and PCI), Voodoo 5 5500 AGP, Banshee. Missing an early Voodoo and possibly will look for a Voodoo 2 at some stage :)

These come handy for the retro builds I do
 
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auntjemima said:
The concern I have with the second one is resealing. If you buy it and never open it, who knows if the card is even in there.
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I would immediately open it to see if I had been ripped off, value be damned. Especially if it is advertised as NIB.
 
cyclone3d said:
I have an Aria 16 sound card that is sealed but was a store return according to the inspection tag on it. Going to open it one day and hope that the card is actually in there.
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Should be something like a 'HardFORUM NIB open day' competion, finaly seeing what's in the box after 20/30/40/... years

Warning: Tears could be caused by various factors, tissues required
 
cyclone3d said:
I have an Aria 16 sound card that is sealed but was a store return according to the inspection tag on it. Going to open it one day and hope that the card is actually in there.
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Hopefully the caps haven't leaked after all these years. I'd be checking sooner rather than later, but that's just me.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
I still have mine, and while I have came close to selling the card in the past, I don't think I ever will now due to the insane price these cards command. I'm keeping mine till it dies.
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Voodoo3/4/5 cards can die just sitting. They have the horrible 90s SMD electrolytics that leak due to rubber seal failures. I've already had to recap my Voodoo5 5500 and a couple of my Voodoo3s are showing signs of leakage so they'll be getting recaps as well.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
Voodoo3/4/5 cards can die just sitting. They have the horrible 90s SMD electrolytics that leak due to rubber seal failures. I've already had to recap my Voodoo5 5500 and a couple of my Voodoo3s are showing signs of leakage so they'll be getting recaps as well.
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Good to know. Next time I get ready to power that system on I'll pull my card to check to see if there is leakage on my example. I want my card to last until I'm old and grey.
 
Mizzer said:
Let's break down the actual contents of the listing: 10% card, 90% nostalgia.
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+ the crazines to
GiGaBiTe said:
Voodoo3/4/5 cards can die just sitting. They have the horrible 90s SMD electrolytics that leak due to rubber seal failures. I've already had to recap my Voodoo5 5500 and a couple of my Voodoo3s are showing signs of leakage so they'll be getting recaps as well.
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any good resources on recapping Voodoo cards? if none, interested to make one, as this will surely help all of us with Voodoo nostalgia and hardware? :)
 
This talk of failures is making me paranoid. Between last night and earlier today I've spent near 4 hours playing games with my voodoo4 system.

[edit]
Some back story on the card if I may. Good friend was excited when V4 launch was announced. Always was a 3dfx fan. He bought a shiny new HP pavilion in october 2000 with voodoo4 pre-installed. Immediately ran into problems. Going back and forth with tech support for near a week it was established the card did not jive with system drivers and/or Win ME. Also confirmed in forum posts. Friend was livid a new system was sent which had not been tested. To appease HP sent a ASUS v7700 GF2 GTS. Ran smooth as silk. Couple months later I happened to mention the 3dfx card and said he threw it in the trash a few days earlier. So basically I picked the card from an inner city Baltimore trash can with huge rats running around. Much better than the TNT2 that I was running at the time. Fast forward a year or so later and he gave me the entire system. With v7700 included. Still have both cards to this day.
 
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keke said:
Thank you ;)👍

Might need to give it a try soon
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Be EXTREMELY careful as using too much heat will at best warp your card's PCB, and at worst lift traces or delaminate layers, ruining the board. Don't skimp, buy a good soldering station. Louis Rossmann on Youtube has videos on a couple desoldering stations you can buy. Dave Jones on EEVBlog has reviewed a couple others, but he actually has soldering tutorials on his channel, just search for it. Louis teaches it in his earier MacBook repair videos. Remember, add more flux.

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2DjFE7Xf11URZqWBigcVOQ

After thinking about it, I didn't want you just diving in head first without getting some proper equpment and technique and ruining your card.
 
@Mr. Bluntman
Much appteciated, will give a careful read before trying. Planning some motherboards recapping as well SS7, SlotA, Slot1 and Socket370 - up to Socket 462, so getting a good soldering station is on my TODO list
 
I might have to check those out... I have an old Soyo KT880 Socket A that I want to bring back to life with bad caps.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:


You're welcome.
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He wastes a lot of time heating and rocking the capacitor off, this puts unneeded stress on the board. The pads under leaked SMD lytics are usually not in great shape so the less heat you can use the better, because there's a very good chance of lifting or tearing a pad.

The easier and safer way is the twist and pull method. Grab the body of the capacitor with needle pliers and twist it 5-10 degrees back and forth until the legs snap. Once both legs snap, lift the capacitor off and then the plastic base. After that, put flux on both pads and use your solder iron to melt the solder and get the remnants of the legs out. I've never lifted or ripped a pad using this method, and the key is to not go conan on it. If something feels like it's going to rip, then you're using too much force. The key is to fatigue the legs of the capacitor, not the pads.

On really leaky caps, the corrosion usually makes the legs so weak that just a small bit of twisting will pop the cap right off.

For replacement capacitors, mouser.com or digikey.com are good sources. I'd not recommend Ebay or Ali Express specials if it's something you care to last. Now if it's something you don't know will work again with a recap, go ahead and get bags of the cheap ones, they're good for quick emergency repairs or things not worth using quality caps on. I keep several parts drawers of these types of capacitors for such uses.
 
keke said:
@Mr. Bluntman
Much appteciated, will give a careful read before trying. Planning some motherboards recapping as well SS7, SlotA, Slot1 and Socket370 - up to Socket 462, so getting a good soldering station is on my TODO list
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Good. And good luck. Practice on a board you don't care about as much first, so that way you don't ruin a prized board right out of the gate.
 
memphist0 said:
Anybody have a AGP to PCIe adapter? :jimlad:
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They existed but were rare even when offered, and didn't have good compatibility. AGP to PCI adapters are more common, but obviously aren't ideal due to the huge bottleneck, unless you have a motherboard with a 66 MHz PCI slot or PCI-X slot.

I have an Asus P5Q-WS which has a PCI-X slot that can run normal PCI cards at 66 MHz, it's nice.
 
If a lower end model pci model suits the need the current gen Asus b460 prime plus for Intel still has standard PCI slots.

I kept my Voodoo 1, 2 and 3. Think I purchased the Voodoo 1 on clearance for $40 after the Voodoo 2 came out right when I started college. So I ended up buying the Voodoo 2 the following summer. I don’t remember when I got the Voodoo 3, it was on clearance at Wal-Mart. I was taking some evening class and would drop over to check out clearance and they had it for $79.

I kept much of my old stuff so I’ve still got a few vintage systems a Matrox M3D power VR card, several old ISA Soundblaster AWE32s, SCSI cards and drives. I used to get supposedly broken stuff from $10 boxes at the computer show and got quite a few original AGP GeForce cards with bad hydrobearing fans, I used to remove the sticker, relube them with a drop of synthetic oil, then tape them off with foil tape.
 
man114 said:
Matrox M3D power VR card
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Along with your Voodoo cards, hang on to this bad boy. I made the mistake of selling mine a few years ago and I haven't been able to find another (at a sane price) since.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
Along with your Voodoo cards, hang on to this bad boy. I made the mistake of selling mine a few years ago and I haven't been able to find another (at a sane price) since.
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I bought it for $29.99 when Sun TV was going out of business in 1998. I got lucky and had just landed My first job when Sun went bust so I bought all sorts of stuff like any sane minded kid would have done. I used to swap back and forth with the voodoo for comparisons. I had had the orig8nal box but so far as I know it’s gone. I do have the Voodoo 3 and Voodoo 2 boxes still, vague possibilities I have the Voodoo 1 box too. I kmow all the voodoo cards are still functioning I haven’t tested the Matrox in years.

I also have two or three Banshee cards, one I had managed to pair with a nicely equipped Sempron system that I found at a thrift store that had apparently belonged to an older lady and just had cook books and slots games on it. Hardly used. The other two I haven’t paired up they’re in my box of better older hardware with the GeForce cards.
 
auntjemima said:
The concern I have with the second one is resealing. If you buy it and never open it, who knows if the card is even in there.
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Yea, i'd expect the seller to send that through an airport scanner or something to prove the right card is in there. Should be places that can grade it. Both auctions seem scammy.
 
I remember things quite differently. OUTSIDE of gaming, the Voodoo cards had a RAMDAC that rivaled Matrox. The text quality was fantastic. The GeForce2 series however was a blurry mess.
 
Yea I remember wanting a Matrox just because I wanted to see if it was true 😁
 
I still have a Voodoo3 2000 PCI in my beige Mac G3. It was the first discreet video card I ever purchased, and has outlived them all.
 
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