I thought it could be interesting to people here to know what situation there is (and was) with 3dfx cards in ex-USSR (Russia and Ukraine, specifically). This report is based on my own knowledge and memory (working on IT field since 1999), old publications in local press and current study of market.

Few notes:
1. _Very_ hard to find any boxed cards. I.e. looks like V3 were sold here mostly OEM... I never even seen any original 3dfx box, only third-party (Canopus, Powercolor, Metabyte, etc.).
2. Almost impossible to see MAC products. Apple never had a good market here.
3. Even year ago I've seen 5 times more propositions of sales for 3dfx cards than now.
4. While there is a chance of finding something interesting (like Supergrace Banshee;)) due to loads of 'gray import' that days and wave of imported used PCs from Europe in 98-2k2, but typically each card was presented by only a few brands. I.e. Gainward didn't work on our market in that time yet.
5. Noted prices are average for bare cards.

Voodoo Graphics:
Far most common brands are Diamond and A-Trend (different ATC-2465s). Viewtop (Vulcan), Guillemot, Inno3D, Miro and Canopus are more or less usual too. Typical price now is $5-7.

Voodoo Rush:
Wasn't a big deal ever with A-Trend ATC-2475 and Jazz Adrenaline3D being the most usual cards here. Never seen/heard of Hercules here btw. Price is 8-10 bucks for card, but hard to find any.

Voodoo 2:
Hehe, definitely a Creative/Diamond domain. What's pity me is that here is a plenty of slightly different ATC-2455 cards which are very tough to identify correctly without any docs/boxes - I have three of them and will post pics soon, maybe someone will help me... Vulcans, Canopus, Metabyte were also more or less popular. Strange but neither 3dfx original, nor STB approached in this region. Typical price for bare card is $10. And looks like X-24 is the only Q3D card which was more or less imported here as new.

Banshee:
Highly advertised at the time it lost the battle for our market to Riva TNT completely therefore not so much cards were sold. Noticeable manufacturers are ASUS (definitely, V3200 is common card) and Creative (the only PCI Banshee in reasonable amounts) with Viewtop, Innovision, Diamond and Gigabyte following. Weird that Diamond Monster Fusion didn't became popular - Diamond was THE leader of SVGA market here that days...

Voodoo 3:
The last popular Voodoo in ex-USSR. Voodoo 3 is about 80% of all current market propositions. Voodoo 3 2000 is much more rare than even V3-3500TV (European version with Samsung tuner), and V3-3000 AGP with TV-Out is definitely the most common 3dfx card now at all. Since V3, Powercolor approached to the market and we had plenty of EvilKings, both 166 MHz and 183 MHz versions, sold in 2000-2001. I do remember for sure ASUS Voodoo 3 propositions in 2000 but didn't saw any for last years... There are also a lot of Dell/Compaq cards from used brand PCs. Typical price for V3-3000 AGP is $15 but PCI versions are hard to find under $30-35 (!)...

Voodoo 4:
Almost no original 3dfx cards at all, only Powercolors (both L-shaped and TV-Out versions). Imported in big quantities in 2001 as an alternative to GF2MX, but had very small market success. Price is $20.

Voodoo 5:
Only AGP version is widely available. Sales were low but still noticeable. Current price is at least $40 for bare card.

I hope someone will find this piece of knowledge useful. Personally, I will be very glad to see something similar for US and Asia regions so if anyone will find my example inspiring - that's will be great to see other stories...

There was a russian brand (NIX) which sold Voodoo 3 cards, what about them?

http://www.xs4all.nl/~jfeelder/voodoousers/infov3oem.html

http://www.3dfx.cz/voodoo3.htm

Quote:

1. _Very_ hard to find any boxed cards.

Still fairly plentiful in the US with the 3dfx+STB boxes being the most common.


Quote:

2. Almost impossible to see MAC products. Apple never had a good market here.

Almost all the good Mac cards are from Europe.

On US market-

Voodoo Graphics: Diamond clear winner, $1-$5 (sometimes you can pickup a boxed for $5 or less) Canopus shows up somewhat regular if you are patient.

Voodoo Rush: Intergraph Intense 3D by a wide margin. $1-$5

Voodoo 2: Creative/Diamond, $5.  Wicked3d is hard to find, the Canopus boards show up on a somewhat regular basis.

Banshee: Lots of OEM cards, the Ensonic board is seen a lot followed by the Creative Labs blaster and fusion. $1-$5

Voodoo 3: 2000/3000 raining out of the sky, can sell for $15 on a good day, $5-$10 more common. The 3500 for some reason rarely breaks the $10 mark. Powercolor V3's show up time to time, 166 mhz are the most common.


Voodoo 4: AGP $5-$10, PCI as much as $30. The Powercolor twins show up a few times a year. I have seen both the L and TV boards in about equal numbers, say 3-4 times for each in the past year with most of the sightings being ebay europe.

Voodoo 5: AGP $20-$40, PCI $50-$100. Mac boards usually command higher prices.

@gdonovan
Thanks for info. Looks like completely different situation with the market :)

@NitroX infinity
Russian company NIX (www.nix.ru) still exists today and is quite powerful retailer. Actually they were a retailer since 90's - I've never heard of them producing something.
I studied the pictures of that NIX Voodoo 3... This is just average Powercolor cards and I believe i was a misunderstanding when someone put the info about NIX cards as separate models. Photos definitely taken from NIX e-shop, where they just put all goods they sell :)
More to say, I've never heard of any contemporary internal computer parts made in ex-USSR, except OEM motherboards (well, cases and PSUs are usual but that's all).

If you want to be sure, I can mail NIX with question, but I'm sure I'll get a negative reply :)

wrote on 03.02.05 at 19:31:12:

If you want to be sure, I can mail NIX with question, but I'm sure I'll get a negative reply :)

LOL, I already did so months ago, they have no Voodoo 3 boards left.

Nah, don't bother mailing them :D

But НИКС (russian alphabet, looks like HNKC) is NIX? or are they two different companies?

yes, HNKC == NIX.
In Latvia most common i guess are voodoo3 cards. v2 also are quite popular, but it's hard to find v5 or v4 and i've never seen a v1 in latvia. Some time ago v5 6000 was spotted here, afaik it's still here :)

hey R21vo would you also know what type of Voodoo5 6000 it is? a 6000 with an Intel bridge chip or a Hint bridge chip?

Sorry I ask, I'm try'n to keep the count of V56K's in document @ home ;)

currently i'm trying to get more info about that card, previous owner says it had a label: rev 3.0 i guess it was with intel bridge chip.

Hello braaliit! Latvia... brr

Know nothing about 6000, but about Voodoos in Latvia:

Voodoo 1 is a rather easy pray

Voodoo 2 & 3 are moast common

As with V4 & V5 the situalion is extreme
I decided that I want a Voodoo 5 card for myself a full year ago, almoast a year I looked through all ads on Voodoos in Latvia and spotted only 2 (!!!!!) V5AGP for the whole year, situation with V4 is almoast the same.

I recall that back in 2001 Voodoo5AGP was freely available in stores, but now it's almoast impossible to buy one.

As with Voodoo5PCI or any Mac edition - haven't heard of any, probably about a zero samples. But not for long anymore  ;D ;D ;D I already got a Voodoo 5 PCI MAc edition with box&stuff off Ebay, It is in hands of a trustworthy friend of mine, waiting for a secure delivery to Latvia, yea baby  :D this fun will cost me about 90USD, for a Voodoo  ::)

wrote on 17.02.05 at 19:22:11:

Hello braaliit! Latvia... brr Know nothing about 6000, but about Voodoos in Latvia: Voodoo 1 is a rather easy pray Voodoo 2 & 3 are moast common As with V4 & V5 the situalion is extreme I decided that I want a Voodoo 5 card for myself a full year ago, almoast a year I looked through all ads on Voodoos in Latvia and spotted only 2 (!!!!!) V5AGP for the whole year, situation with V4 is almoast the same. I recall that back in 2001 Voodoo5AGP was freely available in stores, but now it's almoast impossible to buy one. As with Voodoo5PCI or any Mac edition - haven't heard of any, probably about a zero samples. But not for long anymore  ;D ;D ;D I already got a Voodoo 5 PCI MAc edition with box&stuff off Ebay, It is in hands of a trustworthy friend of mine, waiting for a secure delivery to Latvia, yea baby  :D this fun will cost me about 90USD, for a Voodoo  ::)

Wow congrats, that box is indeed very sweet, the Big 5 onit and the Blue/orange firey face, just a pice of art really :) and the Card has a DVI , which give's an extra look on the card itself :P

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/collectors_obiwankenobi/VOODOOMAC_5500_USA.jpg