3dfx Voodoo 4 4800, 64MB RAM with 5,5ns, 166Mhz, TV-Out, DFP connector (predecessor of DVI), partly handwired, Copper PCB, PCB Date 4299, probably the first operating Voodoo 4? (garys copper board was 4499), PCB Part No. 210-0388-001-A1

and the best... fully functional :)


http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/12697-4/1.jpg

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/12700-3/2.jpg

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/12703-2/3.jpg

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/12708-2/5.jpg

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/12706-2/4.jpg

Does it use all the 64 mbyte? Meaning does dxdiag, and other software see it as 64 mbyte?

yes, full 64MB,

here a 3dmark2001 compare link of this card : http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8930114

(system not cranked up on fsb and stuff, cause i don't wanna hurt this beauty ;) )

Where on Earth do you dig up items like this?

:o

with no connections, ebay is the only way  ;D

Damn, nice card man.   :o

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for it?

Nice card TM30 but keep the price for your self ;) hehe it must of been a nice trade maybe hehe anyways I did have an idea that it did have a small type of DVI aka DFP out hehe I suppose it's max reso for the DVP is 1280 x 1024 x32 right?

???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8761599925

bit OT but, lol 30day DOA warranty on prototypes ^^

Very, VERY nice @TM30 - congrats! ;) 8)

yeah it's is nice to see hehe BTW it's a Rev.A1 4299 that is the oldest VSA-100 based card I've seen actually.

But it has an odd twist to start with such a complete layout on a copper PCB especially the DVP-Out really odd, and the card is a Voodoo4 4800 64MB why start with model Number 4800, I think that there might be older cards we haven't seen yet from Project Napalm.

Very intersting card TM30 VERY interesting to see.  8)

did you notice, that on 4 of the 8 RAM chips there is an "X" marked with a graphite pencil!? perhaps it was a suggestion from an engineer how to make the 4800 cheapter  ;D

oh yeah I see now hmm so maybe the 4500 was created from the 4800 instead, cleaver thinking there ;)

yeah but i still cannot believe that the first VSA100 board was a 4800... but at the moment we have to think like it is actually...

also why that 5,5ns RAM? Why on a prototype 5,5ns? Because probably VSA100 boards were used to have 183Mhz instead of 166 like it was on the V5 6000?

maybe they did that for high speed burn in tests, since it is an Oven Board afterall.

so all copper boards are oven boards?

you can see them as Pre-Enginering samples in an Oven Board form.

on Gary's site it states the following:

It has been *suggested* that this *might* be an "oven" board-

"These are the boards that they "cook" in the lab to make sure they pass thermal stress tests and pass FCC (or whoever the government body is) so they won't burn down your house. They take a system and put it in an oven and crank it (the gpu) up to high stress while slowly upping the temperature until failure."

They are known as Ovenboards, it does sound extremely logic, all you have to do is state the obvious lol.

some informations from various diag programs...

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/12734-2/6.gif

I don't see why they'd put TV-out and DFP-out on a board that they plan to cook to death...

yeah, really hard to believe...

and i do not think that the first VSA100 boards were oven boards. i think at first they made boards for normal testing, and than oven boards?

1) The thought of an oven board came from a non-3dfx employee, as indicated it MAY or MAY NOT be correct.

2) Why not a fully populated board? In one way it would make sense to test all pieces at once.

Exactly companies did the same with Aircraft also for safty tests it all actually comes to the same point, all parts must be fail safe to a certain degree as for the Videocards as for for Aircraft as for any Enginering Sample based item or any kind of transport.

Things must be tested to thier limits to pass a certain amount of tests for main use, safty terms and other terms

So as Gary said there is much logic to that it is a Ovenboard fully packed for extreme testing  8)

Hey TM30 does the card work on true AGP x4 and 1.5 Volt? your 8K5A2 should give a graph about this part on bootup ;)

it runs with 1,5V and probably only AGP 1x (!)

Powerstrip says this:

AGP aperture - 128 MB
AGP transfer mechanism - Deaktiviert
AGP non-local memory - (n/a)
AGP driving value - 88h (N-ctrl=8, P-ctrl=8 )
AGP revision - 2.00
AGP transfer rates supported - 1x, 2x, 4x
Current AGP transfer rate - 4x
Sideband addressing - Enabled
Fast write protocol - (n/a)
AGP texturing - hardware support, but currently disabled

Graphics card #1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identity - 3dfx Display controller
Memory clock - 166,09 MHz
Engine clock - 166,09 MHz
IRQ - 11, not shared
AGP revision - 2.00
AGP transfer rates supported - 1x, 2x, 4x
Current AGP transfer rate - 4x
Sideband addressing - Enabled
Display driver - 3dfx16vs.drv, v.4.12.01.0666
DirectX driver - 3dfx32vs.dll, v.4.12.01.0666


But dxdiag says, that "AGP Acceleration is not available"
look at my screenshot above...


EDIT: AGP 4x does NOT run! I tested all the time with 1x, then i set it to 4x... Windows runs fine, it detects 4x as you can see, but when i want to launch any 3d application the system hangs up! So NO AGP 4x Support with this V4... ???

now here are some benchmarks:

Testing both cards with AGP1x!

Q3 demo001, 1024x768 32Bit all max

4800
no FSAA: 26.2
2x FSAA: 14.3

4500
no FSAA: 36.7
2x FSAA: 17.4

UT 1024x768 32Bit, max Quality, only OpenGL runs!

4800
no FSAA: 33.99
2x FSAA: 17.34

4500
no FSAA: 32.63
2x FSAA: 16.53

3dmark2001, 1024x768 32Bit

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/5336/75hs.gif

wrote on 25.03.06 at 16:25:33:

Q3 demo001, 1024x768 32Bit all max 4800 no FSAA: 26.2 2x FSAA: 14.3 4500 no FSAA: 36.7 2x FSAA: 17.4

That's odd, all other benches perform better on the 4800 while Q3 does not... ???

probably because its a prototype...

make that AGP x2 since AGP x1 does not exsist  all the AGP modes are known as AGP x2,  AGP x4 and AGP x8 as far as I know of.

wrote on 26.03.06 at 05:23:47:

make that AGP x2 since AGP x1 does not exsist

That is false, AGP x1 certainly does.

It has a data transfer rate of 266 MB/s compared to x2 which is 533.

Please share the BIOS of that Voodoo 4 4800 64Mb  :)
If you have the time to save it, please send a copy to me at my email adress: Komponent@gmail.com .
Thank you!

I can't help but to notice how similar it is to the 4500. I bet if I got all those parts sans the DFP IC's and what not I could solder a Voodoo 4500 AGP with TV out and DVI. I have a LOT of older stuff that probably uses those same parts, I could graft some IC's off, and I work at an electronics factory I bet we got a lot of that stuff just lying around.

heh I don't think so, since original 3dfx cards like these Ultra Rare Prototypes were only built hidden in the 3dfx San Jose Lab's and the creations never left that place since 3dfx went under.  ;) 8)

Not necessarily. A lot of those little IC's, like the TV-Out IC, can be found on Voodoo 3000's, and many of the smaller 8 and 16-pin IC's are universal and used for other applications as well.

The only thing on that card that is 3dfx-proprietary is the core itself. Why make their own IC for RF applications like TV out when there are ones already available.

All you would need are the part numbers on the IC, like for instance on the Voodoo 3000, the Conexant RF controller chip, would be Bt869KRF. This 4800 Prototype uses the exact same controller, but manufactured by Rockwell. The same part can have many different vendors.

I used to do setup where I work, we would inspect the parts to make sure they were the right parts, and that each part was oriented correctly on the reels, I could tell you just about EVERYTHING that is involved in the process of making a card like this.

Infact, hypothetically if all the parts on this card were readily available, we could build one where I work, just like the line operators and engineers at 3dfx did.

so then build your own 4800...   ::)

but don't forget to add pictures and screenshots. i want to see 64MB RAM in action  ;)

yeah Let us see some proof lol there is ONLY ONE that Built REAL Voodoo's that was 3dfx AND NO OTHER!!!  >:( unless companies that had advice from 3dfx to do so.

_{Hay TM30 here we go again hahaha} ;D ;D ;D

Quote:

Infact, hypothetically if all the parts on this card were readily available, we could build one where I work, just like the line operators and engineers at 3dfx did.

You can install new parts onto a 4500 PCB, which is green instead of brown ;D
Then program a BIOS and stuff.... nâh

We sure get a lot of people talking about add another 32MB to a 4500 but I haven't heard of any success stories.

You will... Soon...  ::)

heh I wouldn't be to curious about that lol unless TM30's 4800's Bios is usable on other 4500 cards, which is most unlikely possible since that the common 4500's are missing the TV-Out and ultra rare seen on Napalm cards: the DVP-Out   ::) so it's free to dream that though lol.

I have to agree with Gamma742 here, indeed there has never been a successfull atempt by adding an extra functional 32MB to a 4500, Dennis_F was close but still the cards bios only read 32MB and not 64 not even with other biosses.

there was even plans for a 5500 mod with 128MB of ram and thinking that a 256MB model of the 6K in our minds , well that never came out hehe, would be painstaking to soldier every ram chip for that 6K
:-X GuLP! :-X