Back from the Dead: 3dfx's Unreleased Voodoo5 6000 Quad-GPU Card

This review looks at the unreleased 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 video card -- except it was hand-made by an enthusiast who specializes in retro hardware resurrections. It's a quad-GPU monster that competed with the likes of NVIDIA back in the day. This piece looks at the history of 3dfx, spanning the late 90s to early 2000s, and tells the story of the company's rapid, fiery rise and collapse. Modder Anthony ZXC-64 hand-built these cards using REAL 3dfx GPU silicon with a custom-designed PCB with hand-placed components. The review looks at the GeForce 2 GTS, the Intel i740, and the Voodoo5 6000, which we can use in single-GPU mode to simulate older 3dfx cards. It is a masterful work of art that this technology was able to be salvaged from scrap and restored to a physical, working product. That modders like ZXC-64 can combine hardware, software hacks, and find and patch-up drivers to bring passion projects to life is what makes computer hardware such an amazing hobby. Join us for the ride as we walk through the history of 3dfx and benchmarks with real 3dfx GPUs.


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Anothny ZXCLXIV made this card that we bought for the video. You can find him on Facebook to inquire about purchasing one if interested; however, right now, his sales are closed.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The Unreleased 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000
02:32 - A Rare Beast
04:42 - 3dfx History: Rapid Rise & Demise
13:43 - Building a Voodoo 5 6000 System
20:43 - Test Methodology Notes
22:27 - Benchmarks: Quake, Unreal Tournament, 3DMark
27:36 - 3dfx's Survival

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Host, Supporting Writing: Steve Burke
Testing, Writing Lead: Patrick Lathan
Video: Vitalii Makhnovets

[IainB]

Back in 1997 I was a sophomore in college. My roommate received a box from his parents one afternoon a few weeks before Christmas break. It had a copy of Quake 2 and a 6MB Canopus Pure3D 3Dfx card. It went into his custom built, full tower 166Mhz Pentium and the first time he fired up Q2 on his giant 21" CRT it was the most amazing thing we had both ever seen.

[leotide]

THANK YOU for covering this! I’ve owned a few Voodoo 5 5500s over the years, among other 3dfx cards, so seeing this get coverage in this age is an absolute treat

[purplegill]

I don't know what it is about this video, but I was glued to the screen the whole time. Every time you guys do deep dives into the histories of companies or go deep into the evolution of pc gaming it's always a massive treat. The camerawork of Patrick working on the card and the b-roll showing off every angle of a card that seemingly came from an alternate reality just made it that much better. I still can't believe this is made and released for free on youtube and all done with the support of the community without needing to have any external sponsors. Well done to Anthony, well done to your whole team, and well done to everyone involved from the makers of the videos you guys referenced down to the one dude who sent you that ram Christmas wreath.

[moosewerk]

A graphics card review on a THEORETICAL CARD WHICH NEVER EXISTED. This is utterly insane and I'm in love

[MrGarfi]

Yeah I am a nostalgic fool, but this made my day. Awesome work guys!

[rubencorbo]

THIS... Is probably my favorite GN video... EVER! You guys did a great job. A refreshing change of pace. More historical retro video? YES PLEASE!

[mizouse]

Love the history about 3DFX. My first gpu was the Voodoo 3 2000. My jaw dropped to the floor when I installed it and ran Half Life and Quake for the first time with 3D acceleration.

[shawng]

Thank you for doing this. You brought me back to my childhood when I used to drool over upcoming hardware in the PC magazines. Such a big part of my childhood.

[ppmguire]

I still have a bunch of 3dfx cards including a 5500 AGP, but I've always lusted after this guys cards because they are so well done and just make sense if you're into using these things. Also shoutout to GN for not only covering stuff like this but also offering merch that makes sense.

[joshuaaustin]

Thanks for taking the time on this video, it was quite interesting. I had a 3DFX Voodoo 3 2000 AGP (well I still have because I am a bit of a hardware hoarder). I initially had it in an AMD K6-2 300mhz machine, eventually I moved it over to my first hand built PC, an AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4Ghz machine.

I have so many memories of playing Unreal Tournament 99 on these systems on dialup 56k Internet... I actually remember there being some drivers that worked in Windows 2000. I had good luck with that back in the day as I seem to recall, but I feel like those drivers were considered experimental.

I never remember hearing about working Voodo 5 6000 hardware. I just remember all the memes because people couldn't believe a GPU would need an external PSU and be 12" long haha. This alone didn't help 3dFXs reputation before they finally folded. I was truly dissapointed to hear that they went under back in the day...

[fastfolky]

I LOVED 3DFX. I remember getting a Voodoo I and showing the skull demo to my friend how could simply not believe it was being rendered in real time. It was such a revolution. Thank you for this, great video, loved every moment of ir.

[EfrainMan]

So awesome to see! I still have my Voodoo 5 5500, in storage, and I loved it so much as a kid. The PC version of FF7 looked so clean with it on a CRT, 800x600, 4x Super Sampling, back in the day.

[lexgso]

Never thought GN would cover retro stuff...
Great job, not only did you guys do well with the history of early 3D cards, but also you got a unicorn of 3D cards.
You guys are awesome.

[IvanFazekas]

Orchid, 3Dfx, Righteous, Voodoo, Diamond… man, those names summon some serious nostalgia— I’m crying — I cherish the memories of my childhood

[vswitchzero]

As someone who’s really into the retro PC scene (especially the early days of 3D gaming on the PC), it was awesome to see Gamers Nexus do this piece! What 3dfx did early on was truly incredible and I’ll never forget that feeling the first time I played GLQuake in 1997. Would love to see more historical pieces like this. Really well done! 👍

[blue-dragon]

Would love to see more retro stuff from Gamer's Nexus :D

[KyleRuggles]

Oh man, the golden age of GPU's. We had so much choice back then, 3dFX, Virge 3D, Matrox, Ati, Nvidia, Rendition Verite, PowerVR, so many chips, so many variations, it was a GREAT time to be a teen in the 90's. I still have my old Matrox Mystique, I just couldn't get rid of it.

[ChristianStout]

Huge props to Anthony for all his work on these. Hopefully he can start selling them again soon.

[SkmaPipe]

I miss these GPU's so much. The names, box art, all the crazy stuff around them. I hope someday we can see something that wild again.

[valvonauta]

What a blast the 3Dfx ! I remember when towards the end of life of the voodoo 2 I managed to upgrade my rig from a Cyrix 166+ (which only run at 133MHz) to a K6-2 350, 16Mb ram to 128 and zero 3D card to 2 Voodoo2 12Mb in SLI (which I got on sale). The leap forward was like from mute black and white cinema to star wars. Those guys at 3Dfx made me happy like I had never been!