The Quantum3D Obsidian2 X24 Obtained!! Meet The Fastest Voodoo2 Ever Made! 8)

Hi all

Some time ago an old friend from 2CPU.com gave me a Quantum3D Obsidian2 X24 due to my knowledge of 3dfx and my passion for it
He is also a member @ EVGA Forums as JayVenturi

Even I asked him if he was really sure, thereby I advised him to sell it on ebay, since these can sell ot quite a bit, I also said I don't want to steal away a chance like that from him either.
He was like no man this card belongs in your home and in that old P3 you have there, so I was like okay send her up and I will elt you know if it has arrived.. or not :X

About 5 weeks later nothing had arrived yet, so I mailed jayVenturi and asked him when he shipped it, he was like hmm let me check with the postal services, about a week later he came back to me that it was at the customs Iwas like ahhhhh I beloved enemies lol he also laughed there

And about 6 weeks after that which was two days ago from today there was a big box from USA from G.Venturi on it I was like ahaaa this is it!!!
So I unpacked it and yaaaps it's the X24 alright! and that box is so enormous, dayum man!

Well I then unpacked it and started cleaning it and made some lovey photo's before I put in in Avenger M99, my P3/E 650Mhz test system

So here some pics which I did promise to make and yeah a review also, it's time to go back to 1998, the Voodoo2 age, the time when 3Dfx Interactive ruled the games market with their Glide API with about 97% of all games.. Meet the world's fastest Voodoo2 ever made the Quantum3D Obsidian2 X24 PCI 24MB 384Bit EDO Rev.D 9822 Fourth Final Revision D, Year 1998, Week 22:

Here the top view, you can clearly see that the slave V2 12MB is that half sized Daughter Board aka D-Board:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5966…_D+9822+top.jpg

Rear view, shows some decals with a barcode and some warning, that long narrow one, the PCB date is 9822, meaning it's from Year 1998 & Week 22 An old Core Warrior of it's days
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5966…D+9822+rear.jpg

Here the headshot of this X24 Monster, as you can see it also has a S/Video & Composite TV-Outs on it, it supports PAL & NTSC, so you can go all ways with this thing as well.
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5967…22+headshot.jpg

Here the top of the box, it shows some battle scars aka weathering xD, but I don't mind, it's a gift from a good friend ya know, something I do plan on keeping for a long time
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5967…X24+Box+top.jpg

Here the rear view of the box, I made a clear shot, so you can read it all, I hope that will bring back lots of good memories for all you Quantum3D fans collectors and users!
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5967…24+Box+rear.jpg

Here a headshot I took of the box showing it's battle scars and the lovely Quantum3D logo's
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/59680-1/X24+Box+headshot.jpg

The famous top banner of the box showing the beautiful Quantum3D Logo and the slogan above the Obsidian2 logo: "Ultimate 3D Acceleration For PC games" Which was very true for it's time, and indeed this card is Single slot, more pics on that further on
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5968…+Top+Banner.jpg

The Feature Highlights tab on the side of the box, 384Bit EDO ram hah quite something for 1998, obviously 6x 64Bit EDO hehe smart marketing of Q3D, I do find their Details on their boxes extremely detailed, something I never saw on others.
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5968…+Highlights.jpg

Here the Specifications tab, and again very well detailed, always loved companies that really put everything in to detail, this is a very good example on how Specs should be written on VGA card boxes especially high end & enthusiast cards, such as this X24.
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5968…cifications.jpg

Well here it is then, this is what came with it, as you see no driver CD and 14 CD game pack or manual, no matter to me, I am happy for what it is, as finding these X24's with their original boxes isn't easy I was told. It was also the best performing Voodoo2 SLI Solution you could get as well, excluding Quantum3D's Obsidian2 200SBI's of course rofl which you can make in to Iron & Mercury sets..yeah the insanity Quantum3D knew exactly how to bring that!
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5969…p_+Contents.jpg

Here showing how narrow the space is between the two PCB's and it's perfectly 1 slot wide too, Quantum3D really planned executed this idea out very well!
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5969…d+placement.jpg

Here a closeup also clearly showing how the two PCB's are connected together via it's two SLI connectors, an interesting approach but a very useful one also, this isn't your everyday Voodoo2 either, as looks go, as it looks rather unique
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5969…+Connectors.jpg

Here the main & slave PCB's taken apart also showing how the D-Board connectors to the main PCB vie them two long vertical SLI connectors and them three 4 pinned power connectors J3, J4 & J5
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5970…J4+_amp_+J5.jpg

Here the two PCB's seen from the other side
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5970…D-Board+top.jpg

Top view of both PCB's
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5970…D-Board+top.jpg

Rear view of both PCB's, in the four white holes go four plastic screws, they are good for the job too, just keep in mind when taking one of these gems apart, make sure you do that very securely, too much force and ware them screws very easily, patience plays a large role there
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5971…-Board+rear.jpg

Here an other nice orientation of the X24, showing it's D-Board and that cool Quantum3D slogan: The Affordable Reality Company
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5971…+top+angled.jpg

Here a different orientation of the X24, showing a weird 6 pinned connector just above the Xilinx chip, it's set to as J6, does anyone know what J6 was meant for?
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/59713-1/X24+top+showing+J6.jpg
Might be worth finding out

Using the X24 is very pleasant, drivers are also dead stable, only what it is missing are feature settings which 3dfx did have as far as I can recall, the control panel doesn't offer that much besides the TV-Out section, that was very detailed, I also like them Quantum3D test logo's Although I am seeking some more Quantum3D tech demo's to test with the X24.

So here a video showing you the X24 running them Quantum3D logo tests in Glide without and with V-Sync enabled and showing some of the ATi Rage 128 Ultra OpenGL & Direct3D modes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URQ1IYlQo44

Here Unreal Tournament Game of the Year Edition 1999 in action on the X24:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig8txoOCI6U

Anyways more to come on this so stay tuned

Yeah it's quite different too, the card does work very stable though, no odd driver issues and such
Hmm I found that Gary DVD. Even it says Quantum3D & 3dfx on it, there aren't any Quantum3D tech demo's on it, odd though I though I had used these tech demo's someday, just can't remember when and where that was

Hmm, wasn't there a topic that has links to them for download?

haha thanks Turrican, yeah she's a beauty alright

As for Quantum3D OpenGVS Demo's I did find this hmm:
OpenGVS Realworld Benchmark?

Awww maaaan now I REALLY want a Quantum3D Mercury

Ya know 4x Obsidian2 200SBI's in one Dual P3 1400Mhz setup
8 way V2 12MB SLI with free FSAA x2 & x4 and Motion Blur Man I really would not mind getting my hands on a Q3D Merc haha xDDD This X24 made my mind open up that Quantum3D is really AWESOME

Hah many thanks Giovannie

Oh Haha I just stopped playing Heretic II with patch 1.07 and it's 05:15 AM haha
Very addictive btw!

The system setup I am using is called Avenger M99, Avenger from 3dfx Voodoo3 and M99 from Dexter, which Dexter uses to stun his victims rofl! It is the following!

Avenger M99

Intel Pentium !!!/E 650Mhz S.E.C.C. II Slot 1
EPoX EP-BX3 Ver 1.1 Intel BX 440 Chipset
3x 128MB PC-100 Samsung Original
ATi Rage 128 Ultra AGP 32MB 64it SDR
Quantum3D Obsidian2 X24 PCI 24MB 384 Bit EDO [Inpractical 6x 4MB 64Bit xD]
Intel Pro 100 S Desktop Adapter
Packard Bell / Philips FM/AM Radio Card 8 Bit ISA
Creative Labs CT4390 AWE64 Gold 16Bit ISA 8MB
Sony 3.5" Floppy Drive
LG DVD RAM/CD RW Drive 16x/8x/40x/24x
1x Maxtor Diamond Max 9+ 40GB HDD 7200 rpm
1x Maxtor Diamond Max 9+ 25GB HDD 7200 rpm
A-Open 350 Watt PSU
FKI FK-6043 ATX Case
iiyama Vision Master Pro 452 19" CRT Max Reso 1600 x 1200 x32 @ 75 Heerz, I use 1024 x 768 x32 @ 85 Herz.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional UK + Service Pack 4 & Roll Up 1 For Service Pack 4
Quantum3D Obsidian2 drivers for win2K by x-3dfx's "Archangel" aka Anthony
DirectX 9.0c

So yeah kinda retro right It runs beautifully in this setup too
I kinda got bored by all them new-gen games and pulled myself back to the 3dfx glory days and enjoying Heretic II atm
3dfx Glide shall never die on us!

Well Win2K flies here

Btw I got them OpenGVS demo's running most do 80 to 105 FPS, depends on how much is going on As for the mercury hell yeah man I'd love that soooo much! This X24 has reopened my 3dfx life, with a Purple touch [Quantum3D = Purples xD]
So last night around 10:30 PM I started to install Heretic II then I looked for a patch and I came across this one that has a first person mode as well!
http://forums.raven-games.com/showthread.php?p=286873

F2 is for 1st person and F3 switches you back to 3rd person, works pretty okay, but Heretic II plays best with 3rd person, still a creative idea to add it in, as you can experience the game quite differently

As the Mercury bricks go,could that work in a Dual Pentium !!!/S 1400 with a Supermicro P3tDLE perhaps? Or do you need to have Dual Pentium3 system from Quantum3D for this to work? Does it need a special PSU like them AA5 things need? I ask this because when seeing them bricks I never saw a special power connector like them AALchemy cards have, there for I wondered about it

Yeah I kept my Tualatins, might come in handy for a Merc So no worries there

So today I will make some video's of the X24 running Heretic II, Hexen II & Quke III Arena.
I wanted to try X-Wing Versus Tie Fighter but that didn't work, because it needed Direct3D to function, I really never knew that, really! Might have to give X-Wing Alliance a go, as far as I know that one uses the Quake III Arena Engine, so that might be worth a shot
all the Freespace games I will try as well, but I may need the Voodoo5 for those, since them nebula's hah GAT knows all about this part rofl!

Zitat von GrandAdmiralThrawn

Nice one, Obi, the X-24 just rocks! And so does its original packaging.

The card was a specifically hairy beast on Win2000 though, due to some bug... was it memmap that failed? I can't remember, but some newer drivers from 3rd party guys fixed it. The only weak spot is the Medusa cable, that is just way too thin. Running your 2D desktop at 1600x1200/85-100Hz or higher will be terrible with that cable. That's one thing I still don't forgive Q3D, they should've bundled a really well-shielded cable with that monster card, instead of this crap.

But other than that, it's an absolute beauty!

Yeah that cable is pretty thin, yet it does ahve an advantage it bends easier in tight situations and that might be why Q3D did that, mainly for tight setups?

As for Win2K I am using this x-3dfx driver from ArchAngelCD aka Anthony:
http://NuAngel.net/NuDrivers/notmine/Obsidian2_Win2k.exe
http://NuAngel.net/NuDrivers/notmine/Ob2_6cf_nt.exe
http://NuAngel.net/NuDrivers/notmine/Ob2_6cf_9x.exe

Links are from NuAngel as he helped me find some good reliable drivers for Win2K, NT4 & 9x he contacted me via Fcebook hehe.
old x-3dfx buddies , they are always around when help is of need

Stay tuned for LOTS MOAR!

Zitat von GrandAdmiralThrawn

Nice one, Obi, the X-24 just rocks! And so does its original packaging.

The card was a specifically hairy beast on Win2000 though, due to some bug... was it memmap that failed? I can't remember, but some newer drivers from 3rd party guys fixed it. The only weak spot is the Medusa cable, that is just way too thin. Running your 2D desktop at 1600x1200/85-100Hz or higher will be terrible with that cable. That's one thing I still don't forgive Q3D, they should've bundled a really well-shielded cable with that monster card, instead of this crap.

But other than that, it's an absolute beauty!

Oww sure haha forgot all that , must be the addiction of playing good games again Hmm oh yeah and the beer too haha, aye

p.s.
I updated my previous post with the drivers NuiAngel from x-3dfx forums sent me, he helped me out when I asked him what drivers I would need for 2K and 9x if I'd ever come to that
The Quantum3D Obsidian2 X24 Obtained!! Meet The Fastest Voodoo2 Ever Made! 8)

Okay here the pics which GAT requested

Here the entire system with a X24 wallpaper I made for it
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/59741-1/Avnger+M99+with+X24.jpg

Here a close up of the cards from above::
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5974…+AWE64+Gold.jpg

Here an other showing them from underneath
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5974…+other+view.jpg

Here the Q3D Pass Through Cable, which GAT also mentioned before, indeed it's thin alright:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/5975…rough+Cable.jpg

This would be my 3dfx LAN PC for sure

Yaaaps, athough she does seem to bend over a bit...hmm that sounded wrong haha