3dfx Voodoo 3 Memory Replacement and Enhancements!
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Today I’ll be attempting to repair two 3Dfx Voodoo 3 3000 cards! Both are experiencing artifacting and lockups in 3D games due to defective SDRAM memory chips. Join me as I hunt down the defective chips and not only repair these cards, but enhance them with better SDRAM, a full recap, updated BIOS and more!
Geekenspiel’s website:
geekenspiel.com/
My previous Voodoo 3 repairathon video:
• The 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000...
Info on Voodoo 3 capacitor replacement:
• The 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000...
Compatible Winbond memory (W9816G6JH-5) datasheet:
www.mouser.ca/datasheet/2/949...
**
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00:00 Introduction
03:11 A Look at the Cards
05:13 Test Setup
05:44 Card 1 Testing
07:43 Strategy
08:31 Heatsink Removal
10:56 Replacement SDRAM
12:27 Card 1 Repair
17:18 Card 1 Success
21:09 Card 1 Enhancements
22:15 Card 3 Repair
24:13 Overclocking and Benchmarks
25:09 Conclusion - Věda a technologie
HUGE honor to have Mike work on my gear as I've been a fan since I first found his channel. Thank you for all your hard work on these! I'm excited to have two working V3s back in my collection - and that 4mb VLB Stealth will be going in a 486 build later this year...
Thanks so much, Geekenspiel! It was a joy to get these broken cards up and running again :)
I absolutely love the repair stuff, and you have a real knack for it.
yeap, agreed with Adrian, you do have a knack for it
You’re one of the best CZcams people, it’s a real pleasure to watch and to listen to you 👍
Thanks very much! Means a lot :)
What an awesome card - a VERY early example! - the old 3DFX logo and the early triple three logo.
Very enjoyable pacing and cuts. Also, reparing graphics cards is a good niche for your channel, I'd say. And as Jaka said, it's a pleasure to watch and listen, too!
Much appreciated! :)
I don't remember subscribing, but i don't regret it
It's easy to love the repair videos. Seeing these retro cards, especially Voodoos, getting saved from the bin is extremely satisfying. Even the ones that don't turn out, they still had that hope, that chance. They didn't go down without a fight. To me, and many others, these are bits of history, not just old junk. Repairs, or reviews, I enjoy the channel. Always make sure you're doing what YOU want to be doing. I stick around because of enthusiasm and authenticity, regardless of the content. Keep it up either way, and keep your hobby something that makes you happy.
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it! 👍
I love the repair stuff, especially when it's 3dfx hardware.
agree.i like 3DFX
3:30 that’s one of the interesting things about my 1000. One is that it’s a OEM card without a heatsink and the other is that it has Siemens _SGRAM_ modules on it instead of SDRAM chips
Yeah it seems there are a few models that use SGRAM instead of SDRAM out there. I'm curious if there is any performance difference between them. I don't own any SGRAM V3s currently.
Feels great knowing someone is out there saving these cards from the recycling centre. the only thing missing on the stickers is the date that you serviced the card.
My launch Voodoo³ 3000 AGP developed severe artifacts that I was able to see during the boot process. I recall it being vertical red bars on the BIOS splash and text screens. 3Dfx (old logo!) RMA’d it for me and the replacement was another full retail sealed copy complete with a second mail-in offer for Unreal Tournament. They had corrected the strange misprinted Unreal disc that had Unreal Tournament art and some beta UT files for UnrealEd which I helped bring to the Unreal community many years later (2007).
Man, you are bringing back memories! I had a Voodoo3 3000 and played countless hours of Unreal Tournament! That card never gave me any trouble, though. I remember game supporting 3DFX Glide being so smooth at the time compared to Direct X
@@geoffmooregm I actually got a Diamond Monster Fusion Z100 (Voodoo Banshee) as a stop gap AGP card since my Voodoo³ 3000 AGP was still preordered when the Pentium III launched. Before then I’d only experienced software rendering… unless you count the ATi Rage II that literally ran Direct3D slower than the software renderer. When I first saw Unreal running on the Banshee with reflections and liquid-smooth frame rate I was totally blown away… and that was just a Banshee! I couldn’t believe what I had been missing out on. A month or so later I had my Voodoo³ 3000 AGP and I never looked back. It made games I’d already enjoyed a whole new experience (Quake, Quake II, Monster Truck Madness, etc).
You could improve the way you're using your wick. Note that it's a mesh. When you unroll it, press it together like you're trying to get out of a chinese finger trap, so it becomes wider and spreads out. This way it will load with way more solder, and it'll wick it up much more easily. This technique makes even the "cheap stuff" work pretty well.
Great tip, thanks for sharing. I will give this a try next time 👍
How long do those wicks last? And what do you do with them after there full and how do you know there full o,0
@@Bewefau judging from the question they'll last you a lifetime. Buy one and figure it out, it's hard to explain.
@@Bewefau As solder is absorbed the colour will change from copper to grey/silver and that part of it will become very stiff. Once that happens you can just cut it off and use the fresh part again.
I repasted my Voodoo3 3500, and I was able to overclock it *LESS* afterwards. I used to be able to overclock it to 190, and it was crashing at about 186. It previously had a thermal pad like in your video. I noticed the springs 3DFX used to hold the heatsink to the card were really weak. I swapped them out for some different ones I pillaged from somewhere, and I was able to overclock it all the way up to 200mhz. You might get some stronger springs for the cards and see how that affects overclocking.
Great tip thanks. I noticed the springs are pretty weak too. Using nuts/bolts could be an option too as long as care is taken not to overtighten. Another thing I noticed (especially on card 1) was that the avenger chip's surface is FAR from flat. It's much higher at the perimeter than the center. You can kind of see what I mean in the photo I show where the heatsink is first removed. I needed to add way more paste than usual to make sure there was good contact with the heatsink.
@@vswitchzero What about sanding or lapping the chip, just like people used to lap CPU's? Lapped to the raw core and install a big phat copper based heatsink.
That feeling you describe when you fix a broken/faulty card is well known to me, and it translates well in your videos too - I definitely got some second-hand satisfaction when those artifacts disappeared. Great job.
I love the repair videos we get to see here, it is always nice to see something get saved from the scrapper and get back in service again.
You have some of the best paced videos on CZcams, you seem to know exactly when we've seen enough of a step and you can cut ahead and exactly when we want every detail shown. Love your videos and thanks for posting.
Thanks so much, this feedback really means a lot 👍
My first job was working for my father's small business repairing business telephone equipment, so a lot of soldering.. Everything you said was spot on about ventilation, finer tip irons, and especially about the quality solder wick.. Would make all the difference. Quality stuff will ACTUALLY wick the solder right up like a paper towel sucking up water. Where the crappy stuff just smooshes it around and it kind of stick to it.
I like the repairs as well as the hardware reviews. So either is fine, just more of them.
Oh boy, he actually delivered on his promise.
You're a legend for giving us that winbond doc Im gonna replace My voodoo 3s stable chips with the 5ns chips just for the longevity
Love the repair videos, but enjoy reviews too!
You do you, but for me it's definitely the repair content. It's relaxing and interesting and satisfying to watch you fix and upgrade these things.
Great work! Can't wait for part 2! As for your question, I prefer repair content but I think all of your content is great. Keep it coming!
Thanks very much! 🙂
I found you through this repair video. Lots of people do reviews.... but very few do repairs.
fixed 3dfx cards is totally the best content of yours! thanks for saving this awesome tech
Thank you so much for making this video! Your repair work and video creation skills - narration, pacing, camera, and more - are wonderful.
Thanks so much! I appreciate the kind words and feedback 😄
I really wish I had the steady hands and the patience for microsoldering. You and NorthridgeFix are amazing at this stuff.
i stop whatever im doing when your videos come out
Awesome, that made my day. Thanks very much :D
Retro-fixes!! All the way! You're so good at it and you explain so well
Thanks so much! :)
Change them all!! :) Loving this stuff. Repair work is really coming along, you deserve to be happy with your improving skills :)
Thanks so much 🙂
@@vswitchzero more than welcome.
When upgrading memory chips, you might have to upgrade the bypass capacitors as well. If the bypass caps were just on the border of being useable at that frequency.
Thanks for the tip, I hadn't thought of this. Will look into it some more 👍
@@vswitchzero yw. also bear in mind at some point the traces will not be matched in length and therefore higher speeds cannot be reached. this includes the bonding wires on the voodoo chip! so, you know, maybe if you have a very fast oscilloscope, and a measurement setup, and can build your own pcb, then maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to overclock more... heheh
I really enjoy the repair videos. You do a very good job of showing the troubleshooting, but not so much detail it gets boring. Keep the great content coming!
Much appreciated! 🙂👍
17:50 yeah man, that feeling is universal
Loved my old Voodoo 3 card. They were so much better than anything else at the time.
Love the repair stuff. Getting back into soldering myself after many years break from it, I have just been working with TH stuff, and biggest project so far was to assemble a SixtyClone / Commodore C64 clone. Next project will include SMD components (Denise board / sort of Amiga 500+ remake) . Will also create a Retro Chip Tester Pro. It will all be done with a soldering iron though, as I do not have a hot air station or have experience with hot air. So long story short, I use these videos to learn techniques and what to do and not do. :)
I'm here for the repair stuff. Pure nostalgia for me 🙂
Ah, I remember this card. I got one to play Freespace 2. It didn't have a fan cooler so sometimes it heated up and started showing distorted colors and polygons.
So I bought a cheap cooler card to install above it that just blew air directly on to it. That did the trick.
I love this era i never lived in. And wow that sticker guy has amazing thins, i'll be buying from it for sure!!
Geekenspiel has an awesome selection, that's for sure! :) Thanks for watching!
I love your repair videos, they include some how to details that help a lot. I recently attempted my first SMD IC replacement and it was a success thanks to your tips.
FWIW, it was a pair of ATS25 shortwave radios.
Awesome to hear the tips have been helpful! Always great to hear things like this. Cheers! 👍
Still got one of these lying around... great cards back then! 👍
vswitchzero 3dfx repair is my favorite youtube session ^^
I have to say I enjoy the repair stuff the most
I had the 3Dfx Voodoo 3500 and it was a sad day when that card bit the dust!
My first graphics accelerator ❤. Graduated to the Voodoo 5 5500 when they came out and used it for the longest time. 💕
So well captured, so well explained, so well done Mike, the technical commentary is perfect. Your repair videos are now valuable recourses in the retro GPU world, would not be surprised if some technical school teacher is using your videos as instructional tools in the future.
Thanks so much, it means a lot 😊👍
Depending how the addressing on the memory works you maybe can try to lower resolution and depth to see if the error changes or goes away so you can maybe now if its one of the first memory or the higher ones. just an idea.
Thanks for your comment! I wondered this as well.
@@vswitchzero there was this software to test ram memory years ago i dont remember the name ram doctor or something it displayed you on which pin the error occured and then you just trace this pin back to the memory ic. Maybe there is something for video cards too?
Love the repair stuff. Keep ‘em comming!
Last time i ever loved a GPU were 3DFX Voodoo 1 and 2. I still have both.
The change of your pfp confused me for a minute.
Happy to see you again with a new video!
Something I've found with a lot of V3's and also Trident cards, is that the majority of the time if a memory chip is having issues, it's always the one nearest the socket. Don't ask me why, it's just how it works. MOST of the time it's not even a bad chip either, it's bad joints where a simple reflow is all you need.
Right now I'm in the middle of something similar trying to diagnose my Voodoo 5 5500.
Always a pleasure to have your repair video's on with PIP and doing stuff, its very relaxing.
Awesome stuff. I prefer the repairs, but reviews are cool too!
A small tip for anyone repairing GPUs of any era:
If a memory module is bad and you can't test it (modern cards using MATS or the AMD software), start with the module closest to the PCI/PCIe/AGP connector. Those tend to fail first due to the power draw and heat the connector generates.
That and they flex the most, if something is going to fail, it's likely that one.
@@SBBurzmali Exactly, that as well.
Well done! Sticker is a nice touch
Not surprised you were held back by the core even with the 200 MHz memory. Years ago, I had a 3500 and attached a fan to the heatsink and overclocked it. That card had 5ns RAM chips and reached 202 MHz stable, up from the stock 183. I suspect the cores on the 3500s were speed-binned and had a few more MHz of headroom in them, which is why you could only reach 191 on those 3000 cores even with 200 MHz memory.
That is exactly the kind of video I was looking for for the evening. Thanks! 🙂
Love the fancy new stickers!
This was awesome. Being able to solder surface mount chips is a very valuable skill to have! Someday I would like to learn it myself. Great job fixing these Voodoo 3s.
Thanks very much! :) .. I had pretty much zero soldering skill a couple of years ago. Just takes practice and patience. If you've got a crappy old dead video card or something you can use to practice on, that's always a great way to learn. Thanks again!
Very enjoyable to watch and listen too.. and the repair videos are the best .. I like the mystery and reward of the fix.
Much appreciated! :)
I enjoy it all, thanks and so great to see the settings you use for a particular repair..
Superb work! Glad you were able to repair these great cards. Also Geekenspiel is good people, and does great work for the community.
Thanks so much! Couldn't agree more about Geekenspiel - great guy :)
Amazing! Thanks for the video!
I vaguely remember sticking a tiny fan on my voodoo3 2000 heatsink back in the day, also my case had a lot of 80mm fans lol
Good work on the memory chip replacements!
I don't usually leave comments on request, but yeah, I enjoy this type of content. :)
Awesome stuff here. I never had a Voodoo 3. I was brainwashed by Nvidia at that point with the Riva TNT line. I had a Voodoo Banshee, but it aged very quickly. My friend had the Voodoo 3 3500 and I remember it being a beast at early Counter-Strike Beta.
I LOVE repair videos. They are my favorite.
Brilliant content and fantastic repair. Well done
Thanks very much! :)
Good job and well done! Really cool stuff.
Thanks a lot! :)
Another gem of a video. Love it. Keep it up mate
Thanks very much! 👍
Great presentation and demonstration of the techniques etc
Thanks so much! :)
Awesome advice in this video. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ben, thank you very much for the 'super thanks' and support! I really appreciate it. Really glad you enjoyed the video :)
Nice one. First vid of yours I watched. Instant subscribe!
Awesome, glad you enjoyed the video. thank you! 🙂
great job on those card mods!
and definitely consider drag soldering. you can practice on broken stuff till you get the hang of it and it's way, way easier and quicker once you do. also, it's necessary for some jobs like really fine pitch stuff you can't touch the legs one at a time
Thanks! I bought some additional tips for my iron that should be good choices for drag soldering. I have a couple of dead Geforce Mx200 cards that I hope to get some practice on 👍
I enjoy the repair videos, but I don’t mind the other videos either haha
lovely video. really like the chill vibe. listening to you is great.
Thanks very much, means a lot! 🙂
@@vswitchzero yw :) keep it up bud
Always great info that you kindly share,. More repair videos, please.
Love the repair stuff mate! With a few of the others slowing down their posts its nice to see someone else doing great repairs too!
Thanks so much! :)
My Miro Highscore had 6MB back in the day. That was so elite.
Suggestion. To save on parts put the first chip into the second swap and so on. One bad chip is replaced using two new chips in the end. In this case you used five rare parts.
Love your videos. I bought a voodoo 2 card back in the day.
Whoa that's wild, that asus voodoo 3. Learn something new everyday. Love the repair videos. Keep up good content dude
Much appreciated! 👍
Great repair video as always - these have really helped me get confident enough to have a go at fixing my own voodoo2, and its been going really well!
Thanks very much! Best of luck repairing your Voodoo 2. Let me know how it goes 👍
@@vswitchzero I found a resistor array that had one dead connection and replaced it along with a missing resistor hoping that would be the issue, but I am still pretty much where I was.. could I ask you to please share the resources for the voodoo and voodoo2 which you have (maybe on your website?) regarding what all the pins on the FBI and TMU's are for? I am suspecting the TMU's arent getting power, but I need to know which pins to check.. thanks!
I think i will use your experience for myself! You are very good speaker and all you are doing is very nice and clear to understand! Thanks!
Thanks very much! 🙂👍
Wow, just stumbled across this randomly and you brought back sooo many old memories of tinkering with and fixing for buddies/family/friends, thank you so much for reminding me of some joyful and sad memories, I was using Linux mostly back then and you know how that could be getting everything to work, subscribed.
Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it! :)
Great video. Loved the 3DFx cards. Such a great leap in video technology and boost games. Personally brought a couple 3DFX cards new from Fry's Electronics when it first came out to play games. Got 2 3DFX cards for $10 at a yard sale. I believe they should work but never really test them out. So now I might look for them in the garage and test them out. Hopefully they work so I don't need to do all the crazy soldering and testing that you have to do.
Nice job, I like you wife's suggestion of reversing the planned order of memory chip swaps ;)
Haha thanks Gary! Glad I listened to her. She tends to be right more often than I like to admit :D
Nice repairs!
Great video, keep up the good work!
Thanks! :)
9:20, those are Indium sheets, still used today.Its useful stuff.
Just found your channel (no idea why YT recommended it tho!). Awesome! Excellent all around: great sound (very important!), great video, great speaker! Great work, too, on the soldering, not that I know much about that. :) I have tons of retro hardware that NEVER gets used (I live in a sml apt so there's no room), INCLUDING one of those Voodoo 3 cards, which USED TO BE my PRIZE possession! Mine is one of the Dell OEM cards (or one of those PC maker OEM cards). It worked GREAT when I used it MANY years ago, but who knows now. I didn't really know what I was doing 'back in the day,' but I DO remember overclocking the memory and being tickled pink about the increase! Anyway, thx for the great work/video! Cheers, mate!
Thanks very much, means a lot! :)
Bloody brilliant repair video again, I really enjoy and look forward to your videos, I solder mem legs pretty much the way you do, I'm not great at the drag soldering across legs although I do tend to drag away down the leg gives me a nicer finish to each joint. Oh my vote is for whatever you like to do most, really appreciate all your content but the repairs are my personal favourites.
Thanks so much! 👍
I do it 1 pin at a time with SMD soldering as Ive not had much luck with dragging either so nice to hear I'm not the only one 😊
Hey, whatever works right! :) .. I did buy a specific tip for drag soldering that I'd like to try one of these days. I have a few dead geforce mx cards that I may use for practice. But for now, this works :)
Hi, I've already commented on your video but just thought I'd head back and tell you that just a few weeks after your video I came across an absolutely battered 3dfx V3 with no heatsink, damaged memory, no caps and a few smd caps knocked off, I cleaned it up and replaced the smd's and recapped the card to get it working but it was then artifacting quite badly, I remembered your video and ordered the very same memory from Mouser, I ordered more just to get the free shipping as I'm in the UK so I can also do the V3's I already have plus a few more spare, so not only have you fixed these cards, you've also contributed to saving the one I found, I also got a Gf2Ti along with it that had damaged memory which are also still available from ali express because it has the same memory chips as the original xbox, so yeah that's another 2 saved. 👍
As a side note, I said to my wife "I'll get some of that same memory from Mouser like vswitchzero" she said "who the hell is that?" and I replied "That guy who you said has got an excellent relaxing tone to his voice" High praise mate, high praise haha 😂😂
LOL! High praise indeed 😂 .. That's awesome that you were able to get the battered V3 and GF2 repaired! I still have some spare winbond chips and hope to do another enhancement job on a 2000 card I repaired recently. Will be interesting to see how far it goes with some extra core voltage 😉
@@vswitchzero Cool, I'll look forward to it, love your content mate, such a great channel. 👍
currently trying to fix one of my ram modules so I cant watch it yet but I cant wait to watch it later today
Your skills are fantastic! With passive cooling my Voodoo 3 3000 with 6ns memory overclocks to a maximum stable 188 mhz. With active cooling it goes up to 195 mhz. I wonder how high your cards with 5ns memory would go with active cooling, I guess probably up to 200 mhz or even more.
That's an excellent overclock with 6ns memory, that's for sure! Do you remember what brand of chips your card had? I did have a 92mm fan close to the card to provide some airflow during testing. I didn't try without active cooling during overclocking.
I love the repair stuff.
i subbed for the repair vids tbh
My Voodoo 3 was a 1.0 Revision with the TV S-Video out as well. It also had the siemens memory.
Great work!
For identify adress of memory which is bad, use Video Memory Stress Test in Hirens Boot.
Then, you need to figure somehow, to which chip the adress belongs. I dont know how, but you are still one step closer when you know adress, which is faulty.