My 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh Rev.A1 2900 returns from Backfire, she's as good as new again!

  • Hey all :)

    Firstly major thanks go to Backfire for fixing my V5 PCI Mac a Rev.A 1 2900 that being :):respekt:<3
    Here the fixes applied that he did to the card:
    -----------------

    01. Renewed Ceramic SMD's on the rear

    02. 6ns Hynix VRAM renewal for the main VSA

    03. Renewed Heatsinks & Fans for the VSA's topside

    04. Burnt Copper Heatsinks for the VSA's rear side

    05. Renewed Power Supply Controller Chips

    -----------------

    And here the photo's of the fixed and repaired card:


    The card already went though a Polymer Recap in Adelaide, South Australia by a friend of SWZSSR aka Declan.
    So yea, she's been all around the globe, but now she's ready for action, big time! 8)

    And here my wallpaper that I will use when using this card, it's my favorite Boieng 747 model with my favorite 3dfx card in a single shot :)

    Boeing 747-287B

    Aerolineas Argentinas "AA Livery 1986-1997"

    LV-OPA :/--> :topmodel: 3dfx Opa Joa Junge :spitze:

    Scale 1:200

    Inflight 200

    Limited Edition 1 of 100 pcs
    ---------------------------
    3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh 64MB
    BackFire's 3dfx Livery
    Rev.A1 2900 + PC Bios 1.18_DVI
    3dfx Interactive / BackFire's 3dfx Alliance Technologies :respekt:

    Scale 1:1
    Limited BackFire Edition
    :spitze:




    What I'll do now is build the card back in to the system and play some games with it, it will be like getting my good old 3dfx life back once again :)

    9 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (13. Juli 2021 um 08:38)

  • Hey no worries :)

    Been playing Star Wars: Dark Forces II Jedi Knight but I had to use AmigaMerlin 3.1 R11 so I'd get the game working.
    the SFFT Alpha 41 driver ps47 & I made was for DXX-Rebirth for Descenr1 &2 which offers OpenGL ES 1.2 Support which DXX-Rebirth needs to function.

    FSAA x4 in Jedi Knight crashes the game , but FSAA x2 seems to work fine same for fastest performance & Single chip mode.

    For 3dfx Glide I used UT GOTYE 1999 FSAA x4 runs dead stable here played for an hour no issues at all>

    For OpenGL I used Q3A and this game flies in max performance mode even FSAA x2 runs great, FSAA x4 does slow it down a lot the 33Mhz PCI Bus speed holds the card back I am thinking, so next goal is to build a Dual AMD AthlonMP 2200+ or 2400+ and use the card ina 64 Bit PCI Slot set to 32Bit PCI with 66Mhz Bus mode and then run these tests again.

    As for Jedi Knight I think that is a typical Direct 3D issue, I remember when having a 6K FSAA x2 & x4 ran fine but the max FSAA x8 mode also made the game crash.

    if there is an other driver any of you people here advise me to use with Win2K pro + SP4, I am all ears for any alternatives.
    From my own knowledge these are bugs with Direct3D and not the hardware of the card.

    All in all it's great having a Voodoo5 again it's been ages I enjoyed a 3dfx PC like this again.
    So major thanks once again :respekt:<3:respekt:

  • Oh wow, that's quite a detailed test report. Maybe I should let you test all repaired cards before I give them back. ^^

    Just kidding,
    so far I have had very few complaints - I think two. Once it was actually a mistake by me and the other time a defective spare part.

    Have fun man! 8o

    - Backfire -

  • Yea been running the system all day roughly 7 hours now no crash at all, all seems just fine, played two games of Red Alert2 : Yuri's Revenge with Purple Alert Mod 4.28. and listened to my 90's remix by Alex K, which I have in flac format, here the same mix on YT:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiZn4i92Z-Q

    Also did some Jedi Knight, gotta keep my Force training up to date :topmodel:
    if you need help testing I can help there then again if for Glide I always use Unreal 2.26 Final & UT GOTYE 1999 4.36 these two have stable Glide performance on every 3dfx card I had here incl the Voodoo5 5000 AGP, PCI & 6000 AGP for example.

    Descent 3 1.5 Beta is also a good idea of you want to test the latest version of the Glide API version 3.54b.
    Quake III Arena 1.32 with Wicked GL 2.99b is also nice for OpenGL performance for Direct 3D always used Star Wars Dark Forces II Jedi Knight.

    For new gen Experiment still working on Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, SFFT 1.9 is next I think I can get that game rendering something more than last time, there is always ways for improvement.

    So with Napalm I can finally do things I did back in the day, but now with improved drivers I think I can get something working where others never have managed to get working, this will be interesting for the least.

  • Here the V5 PCI Mac after it came back from Backfire after the VRAM for the slave VSA-100 were renewed with 62ns Hynix SDRAM just like done with the main VSA-100 :)

    Here the list of seven reworks applied to the card:


    Backfire's Repairs & Reworks:

    01. Renewed Ceramic SMD's on the rear

    02. 6ns Hynix VRAM renewal for the main VSA-100 Graphics Chip

    03. Renewed Heatsinks & Fans for the VSA's topside

    04. Renewed Power Supply Controller Chips

    05. Fixed the IC U510 Chip's pins

    06. Replaced 4x TSOP-86

    07. 6ns Hynix VRAM renewal for the slave VSA-100 Graphics Chip


    SWZSSR's friend's Recap & Modifications:

    01. Full Polymer Recap

    02. Burnt Copper Heatsinks for the VSA's rear side



    Here the pics :topmodel:

    Here some fun shots I did with some of my scale 1:200 diecast metal B747 Classics:

    Boeing 747-287B
    Aerolineas Argentinas "AA Livery 1986-1997"
    LV-OPA
    Scale 1:200
    Inflight 200
    Limited Edition 1 of 100pcs
    --------------------------
    3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh Rev.A1 2900
    PC Bios 1.18_DVI


    Boeing 747-121 (Leased from Pan Am)

    Eastern Air Lines "Hockey Stick Livery 1970-1972"

    N735PA (Clipper Young America)

    Scale 1:200

    Gemini Jets 200--------------------------

    3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh Rev.A1 2900

    PC Bios 1.18_DVI


    Boeing 747-135

    National Airlines "Sun King Livery 1970-1975"

    N77772 "SUN KING"

    Scale 1:200

    Inflight 200

    Limited Edition 1 of 150pcs--------------------------

    3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh Rev.A1 2900

    PC Bios 1.18_DVI


    The card runs very well all is good and now I can enjoy FSAA x2 & x4 or just ultra fast Dual VSA-100 gameplay :)
    This card has been through a lot of reworks and renewal of parts but in the end it all did pay off very well, So far i seen no rendering issues and it feels like my V5 PCI Mac got it's life back as if it were new :)

    Every single part of this card has been replaced and renewed except the VSA-100 220 Graphics Chips and they seem to be still in great health despite them being over 21 years of ages, now the question remains how old can the even get?
    Guess I'm about to find out :topmodel:

    4 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (22. Januar 2022 um 14:15)

  • Today this card has turned 23 years of age, so I decided to do some testing with it, like Quantum3D OpenGVS tech demo's in loop mode at 1024x768x16 with 3dfx Glide API, UT GOTYE 1999 v 4.36 + Operation Na Pali 1.3.0, , Q3A 1.32, Unreal + Return to Na Pali V 2.27 Final, Star Wars Dark Forces II Jedi Knight + Mysteries of the Sith, Command & Conquer Red Alert 2+ Yuri's Revenge with Purple Alert Mod 4.10.28, Descent 1 &2 with DXX Rebirth 0.58.1 + DXX Retro 1.3 for D1 /1.3a for D2, Descent 3 1.5 Beta + Mercenary and maybe some others.

    I will post some pics later on in a nice gallery of course in this thread, despite it being over one year old.

    Backfire & osckhar how old can the VSA-100-220's even get?
    Should I be concerned or just buy a few if available as just in case they do need replacing?
    Is there even enough stock to replace them even being?

    Unless I am just overthinking things now, my card runs fantastic, just thought of the VSA's but yea, that's my mind.
    What would it cost me to buy 4 VSA-100-220's? If that is even advisable?
    Even how well do those spare chips even age?

    Yea many questions in my mind, sorry for that.

  • Theoretically there's no limit to the age of semiconductor chips. If they're threated and stored right and used in their specifications, they will last very long. There is only the radiation (cosmic, radioctivity or so). If they are getting to hot (silicon based semiconductors will be destroyed at around 125 °C and more, the "magic smoke" ) or supplied with too much voltage, the will fail. Hm.. There is also the Thyristor effect that may cause an inner short circuit. This effect cannot be avoided.

    "Du bist und bleibst a Mensch und du kannst eben net deine menschlichkeit überwinden."

    Dennis_50300

  • CryptonNite you forgot, that everything flows with enough time. Look at windows of very old houses, they are wider at the button and slimmer at the top.

    It takes a enorm amount of time. so you might want to spin the Chips around every 100 years.

  • Theoretically there's no limit to the age of semiconductor chips. If they're threated and stored right and used in their specifications, they will last very long. There is only the radiation (cosmic, radioctivity or so). If they are getting to hot (silicon based semiconductors will be destroyed at around 125 °C and more, the "magic smoke" ) or supplied with too much voltage, the will fail. Hm.. There is also the Thyristor effect that may cause an inner short circuit. This effect cannot be avoided.

    Oh okay,well thanks for letting me know then, if anything weird happens, Ill send my card to Backfire 8)

    As for yesterday's 23rd Anniversary I been gaming, testing and also running OpenGVS and other things, many more to come though.

    3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI Macintosh 64MB Rev. A1 2900 + PC Bios 1.18_DVI


    Quantum 3D OpenGVS Monterey @ 1024x768x16 in 3dfx Glide API + RGSS FSAA x4



    Descent 2 + D2X-Rebirth 0.58.1 + D2X Retro 1.3a @ 1024x768x32 max in game settings, no FSAA, only Edge AA Enabled





    More pics to come, of course :)

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (17. August 2023 um 05:38)

  • Also has anyone ever ran Hexen II with a V4 or a V5 under WinXP yet?
    And I know it runs in 98SE, what I am trying to do is trying to run as many games as I can in WinXP Pro, it's also part of this project.
    So there is more support on that sector as well.

    The game does run for me but changing to a higher resolution like 1024x768x16 doesn't work for me, everything I could think of didn't work, is there a console command or is there a an other command to activate a certain function via the console?

    Other than this for me it just sits at 640x480x16, so any idea's in that regard?

    Many thanks :)

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (17. August 2023 um 05:56)

  • Currently I am playing Hexen II ver 1.11 with the V5 PCI Mac, I took use of Photo Snap 6, which allows me to take screenshots in 3dfx glide based games:

    Yeaps just love the architecture this game gives, pretty amazing for it's time, plus when you freeze enemies, they get frozen in the stance there were in at last before dying, and not just a single sprite for the frozen models like with the first Hexen game named Hexen Beyond: Heretic.

    The game was run at 1024x768x16 in Glide API mode and Edge AA enabled, but no FSAA. runs fine this way.

    The V5 PCI Mac keeps on going even after reaching it's 23rd year.

  • Hey Obi.

    Everything ages. Even if it is not used.

    In my experience, even NOS chips can fail after being put on. This happens rarely but it is not impossible. Anyway, so far the NOS VSA100 have worked fine. However, changing them without an active defect is unnecessary. Many of us have trays with a lot of chips lying around.

    My advice to you - keep it running and enjoy it as long as it works. If it ever fails, well, we gonna fix it.

    Soon enough the day will come that there will be no more spare parts. Look at the successor cards, they are done when the GPU fails.

    So Long

    - Backfire -

  • Yea I do plan on doing that, it's a nice card to use tho :)