3dfx Voodoo Pentium MMX 166

SUBSCRIBE if you think the Voodoo 1 and the Pentium MMX 166 make a good combo!

The Pentium MMX is the final stop for the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics PCI card. On this video we do a comparison between software rendered games and 3d accelerated games by the first Voodoo Card on the same system. What do you think the first 3dfx card? Did you get to use it back in the 90s?

System Specs

Penium MMX 166 Mhz
3dfx Voodoo Graphics PCI
Socket 7 Acer Motherboard
64 mb of SDRAM
Trident TGUI 9440
Sound Blaster AWE 64
SD to IDE card reader

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Music credits:

Late Nite Trippin Pt. II - Pold

[jikissgamer]

That Voodoo difference really is incredible! Even 25 years later I still think it is amazing. Descent II goes from like 12 fps at 640x480 in software to silky 60fps when using the Voodoo. Definitely one of my favorite cards. Loved this video man!

[ted-b]

Nice one Sucra, whatever gets the fun done!

[Cnn]

I remember playing Dark Forces 2 back when I was in school, had Star Trek playing in the background on our local TV station so was odd. Man memories.

[framebuffer.]

I SUCRA, it's always a pleasure to see a video with Voodoo Graphics and old Pentium!
I probably agree that would have been more appropriate focus on games from 1996/97, like TR/TR2, Q/Q2, Screamer 2/Rally, NFS2, Carmageddon, AoE, GTA etc. to showcase the potential of the little voodoo, but hey, your video, your games! 😁

[Barman_]

Nice vidéo! I had the same configuration back in the days! I worked the whole summer to replace my old 486 and to buy a 166mmx together with a voodoo1. Most of my friends still had p100 or p133 with a standard 1mb video card. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the voodoo difference.
Later I pushed it to 225mhz. Today the CPU is still working great (but I don't overclock it anymore) but the voodoo1 died a long time ago...thank you for refreshing my memories!

[kurbeco]

Nice pairing of CPU and 3dfx card 👍
I remember playing those games on a Voodoo 2, but I had a 233MMX. Pentium 2 was out but was so expensive, so 166MMX and Voodoo 1 makes perfect sense to me

[RetroTechBytes]

Such an awesome video and build, my friend! I really am quite impressed by the jump that the Voodoo 1 represented on the Pentium 166MMX. It’s so interesting to see the “Voodoo Difference” in action, and it’s just so unbelievably clear that 3D acceleration-3dfx or otherwise-is very nice to have on Socket 7. It’s pretty wild just how much color was lost in Half-Life, but the game really looked and played significantly better. Unreal and 3dfx is a classic combo, and it really shows just how much the leap to a Voodoo meant. I also have to say that I really appreciated seeing this series after the X5-160. It’s amazing to me just how much of a jump happened between the 486 era and the P55C era; later Socket 7 CPUs are quite impressive, and I can’t imagine seeing such a big jump today. It’s incredible to think just how far we came! Thanks again for all your hard work, my friend. This was such an awesome video!

[BrassicGamer]

Another enjoyable video :)

When I was researching the history of 3D gaming, I came across a claim that said a 90MHz Pentium with a 3D card could outperform a 166MHz Pentium in software mode. Although this sounds obvious today, this was inconceivable at the time. These cards made such a huge difference.

[zillthrill]

see, I never knew how big the diferences would be growin up, thanks to you I always had access to the best quality shit... lol

[RetroTinkerer]

I was fortunate enough that I could install one of these in my Pentium Pro 200 alongside a Rendition Verite v1000 that I purchased before... If you check the release dates of this card and CPUs, when VooDoo1 launched there was the Pentium 200 and the Pentium Pro 200, no such thing as the 300MHz Pentium II even less a 400MHz K6.
A 166MHz Pentium MMX was a perfect target system for this card faster systems where crazy expensive in 97... today we are spoiled by choice!
Thanks for your video, it is always nice to remember the early days of 3d acceleration!

[CortesZaza]

Como sempre, excelente vídeo meu amigo! Parabéns! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[esseferio]

Solid video. I agree with comments below: P166MMX is maybe a bit too short :)

[RiksRandomRetro]

Nice! For some reason I really like the 166 + Voodoo 1 combo hmm...

[modernandretrogaming]

For me Pentium MMX 166 and AMD K6 166 were to slow with 3DFX Voodoo, with AMD K6-2 400 Voodoo works better, especially in Quake II. Great work as always.

[FalconBR]

So many old games, I remember playing some of then in software Mode, like half life

[rogert]

I always wondered if upgrading my p133 with a voodoo was worth it back in the 90s and it looks like it might have given that PC some extra life

[TheVanillatech]

The washed out colour problem was annoying. Other cards like the Mystique and the PowerVR didn't suffer from that problem, but the VooDoo was faster and had more features. The more expensive VooDoo's, like the Orchid Righteous, had better colour vibrancy than cheaper models like the Maxi Gamer, and if you had a good monitor you could offset the washed out look through screen settings. But the 3Dfx really was essential back in 1996/7 to get the best experience from PC gaming.

I had a Pentium 200 (non-mmx) and it was a decent enough match for a VooDoo card. Later I got a Pentium 2 266MMX and the 3Dfx 4MB really shone with that system - Carmageddon and Quake II were silky smooth with the extra CPU horsepower feeding the GPU more frames to render.

Great times.

[juanmanuelloujedo]

Hello, nice videos man, I have a question for you, What Pcchips Acer motherboar is that exatly is a M575?

[hardwarechronicles]

Ever tryed a Voodoo Rush card ? i had the 6mb Helios 3d version back in 1999 with a p200

[remasteredretropcgames]

Had a k6 and a pci geforce 4 mx 440 124mbs ram. At 800x600 in half life the sis 530 trash was not only a slideshow, but it also artifacted crazily from lack of memory. Overclocking the pci port was hugely important because that geforce 2 basically was kept on life support far too long. AVP2 annihilated my first pc.

Funny enough decades now into the future zen 3 isnt enough IPC to overcome the lighting calculation nonsense in that game with my mod. Needs a programmers touch.