3dfx Voodoo3

discussed in 4,706 posts, 1998-2005 · overall tone positive

Posts per month

Key threads

• Voodoo3 versus TNT2 argument 1999-04-08 · 102 posts
  A new Voodoo3 2000 owner complained of driver and gamma problems with his sims, and others suggested a clean Windows reinstall. The crossposted thread became a long, quasi-religious argument between 3dfx and nVidia supporters over 32-bit color, AGP texturing, large textures and Glide support, with mockery on both sides and pleas to stop.
• TNT2 or Voodoo3 graphics card for racing sims 1999-07-16 · 43 posts
  A buyer asked whether to choose a TNT2 or Voodoo3. Posters said the TNT2 was more advanced but GPL ran best in native Glide on 3dfx cards, with one reporting a Voodoo2 far outpacing a TNT2 using the beta OpenGL renderer; Randy Magruder noted the cards' relative performance depends on CPU speed. The discussion was marred by sarcastic and trolling posts about 'Voodoo heads' and Tom's Hardware.
• Choppy GPL at 1280x1024 on Voodoo3 2000 2001-01-31 · 24 posts
  Mario Petrinovic found GPL choppy at 1280x1024 on a Voodoo3 2000 despite a good framerate. Replies blamed the card and suggested overclocking, disabling vsync, slot and IRQ changes, and the Glide wrapper. Overclocking helped but did not cure it, so he returned to 1024x768.
• 3dfx claims Voodoo3 is the best-selling video card 1999-06-28 · 25 posts
  Ed Bain posted 3dfx's announcement that the Voodoo3 2000 and 3000 topped North American retail video card sales with 37.6% of units. Others noted the figure covered retail only, not OEM sales, and that TNT2 cards had only just begun shipping, while defenders said TNT2 hype had not hurt Voodoo3 sales. Chris Schletter confirmed GPL ran at 36 fps at 1024x768 on a TNT2 Ultra.
• Is the Voodoo3 a good card for racing sims? 1999-07-31 · 28 posts
  A buyer asked whether the Voodoo3 had compatibility problems. Owners including Randy Magruder said it worked with nearly all their games and was excellent in GPL, noting that only the 3000 model has TV-out. Some suggested the TNT2 Ultra, while others reported poor TNT2 drivers and said the V3 roughly matched dual Voodoo2 SLI in GPL.
• Reaction to NASCAR 4 dropping specific 3dfx Glide support 2000-05-09 · 94 posts
  News that NASCAR Racing 4 would use only Direct3D and OpenGL upset owners of Voodoo cards bought for GPL and NASCAR 3. Some criticised Papyrus for repeatedly switching graphics APIs, from Rendition to Glide and A3D, while others said Glide was dying and D3D was the sensible choice. Side debates covered whether 32-bit color mattered and why GPL's OpenGL rasteriser was so slow.
• NASCAR Heat limited to 800x600 on Voodoo 3 cards 2000-08-12 · 34 posts
  Voodoo 3 owners found the NASCAR Heat demo capped at 800x600. Posters quoted the readme and Monster Games' Dave Pollatsek explaining that the Voodoo 3 cannot handle 512x512 textures or AGP texturing, so no patch would fix it, while others reported getting higher resolutions under Windows 2000. Ed Martin of Monster Games acknowledged hacks already existed.
• Voodoo3 performance in racing and flight sims 1999-05-04 · 21 posts
  Owners reported that Voodoo3 2000 and 3000 cards ran racing and flight sims such as GPL, Falcon 4 and European Air War very well and at high resolutions, provided old drivers were removed first. One user said an unofficial Banshee/Voodoo3 patch removed GPL stutters with full fields.
• Voodoo3 versus TNT2 and 3dfx's single-source boards 1999-06-06 · 21 posts
  What began as a question about running a Thriller 3D alongside a Voodoo3 became a debate over Voodoo3 versus TNT2 Ultra cards. Larry argued that 3dfx making its own boards had removed competition, while Ken Beard countered that Voodoo3 prices were lower than TNT2 boards, with side arguments over hardware review sites and Mac versus PC sales.
• Papa Doc's Voodoo5 vs GeForce3 benchmarks spark long argument 2002-01-14 · 311 posts
  Pierre "Papa Doc" Legrand published benchmarks comparing a Voodoo5 and a GeForce3 in Ghost Recon, NASCAR 4, Quake 3 and flight sims, finding the Voodoo5 competitive with 4x FSAA. Many disputed his methodology, including running 3DMark without hardware T&L, and argued the GeForce3 was better in every way. The thread ran to over 300 posts and degenerated into insults, ending up on multi-monitor and LCD resolution arguments.
• TNT2 or Voodoo3 for NASCAR and GPL 1999-03-24 · 53 posts
  A player upgrading from a Voodoo1 asked whether to buy a TNT2 or Voodoo3 for NASCAR 1999 and GPL. Voodoo supporters stressed Glide compatibility with Papyrus sims, while TNT supporters said Direct3D and OpenGL made that moot, and posters traded reports of driver bugs. One user eventually got GPL's OpenGL beta working on a TNT card after reinstalling.
• Very low GPL frame rates on a new Athlon PC 2000-03-04 · 27 posts
  A user with a new Athlon 600 and Voodoo3 got only 7 fps in GPL. Papyrus's Grant Reeve and others suggested AGP miniport drivers, BIOS defaults and updates, removing stray Glide files and patching GPL to 1.2, noting Athlons should easily hit 36 fps. The issue was not resolved in the thread.
• Second Voodoo2 for SLI or a Voodoo3 3000 for GPL? 1999-06-28 · 28 posts
  Sondog asked whether to add a second Voodoo2 for SLI or buy a Voodoo3 3000 for GPL. Opinions differed: some said SLI gave real gains at 1024x768, others that the Voodoo3 was faster and allowed 1280x1024, with Hena Hakkinen noting SLI slowdowns are usually caused by vsync settings. Voodoo3 users needed to limit textures to 2MB, and the poster bought the Voodoo3.
• Desert Winds track converted to GPL 2000-09-07 · 24 posts
  TWI's GPL conversion of the NASCAR Racing 3 fantasy track Desert Winds was released. Several users reported texture corruption such as purple patches and colored cockpits on Voodoo cards; Tom Pabst blamed improper conversion, while David Noonan, who did the conversion, suggested tracks with over 2MB of textures might trigger it.
• GeForce 2 versus Voodoo 5 for racing sims 2000-08-13 · 59 posts
  A user asked which card to buy for NASCAR Heat. Voodoo 5 owners such as Pierre 'PapaDoc' Legrand praised its full-scene anti-aliasing for removing shimmering in sims, while others favoured the GeForce 2's speed and Direct3D performance. Simon Brown reported Voodoo 5 SLI running slower than single-chip mode in several sims, switched to a GeForce 2 and described GPL's Direct3D quality on it.

Busiest threads

• Voodoo3 versus TNT2 argument (47 posts about it)
• TNT2 or Voodoo3 graphics card for racing sims (23 posts about it)
• Choppy GPL at 1280x1024 on Voodoo3 2000 (18 posts about it)
• 3dfx claims Voodoo3 is the best-selling video card (18 posts about it)
• Is the Voodoo3 a good card for racing sims? (18 posts about it)
• Reaction to NASCAR 4 dropping specific 3dfx Glide support (15 posts about it)
• Re: N3: Voodoo2 vs Voodoo3? (15 posts about it)
• NASCAR Heat limited to 800x600 on Voodoo 3 cards (14 posts about it)
• GPL and Voodoo3 FIX!! (14 posts about it)
• Voodoo3 performance in racing and flight sims (14 posts about it)
• Voodoo3 versus TNT2 and 3dfx's single-source boards (14 posts about it)
• Papa Doc's Voodoo5 vs GeForce3 benchmarks spark long argument (12 posts about it)
• Voodoo 2K, 3K and 3500 (12 posts about it)
• TNT2 or Voodoo3 for NASCAR and GPL (11 posts about it)
• Geforce 2 (10 posts about it)

Sentiment by year

Each post that discussed it was rated from −2 (very negative) to +2 (very positive).

Who talked about it most

Dave Henrie · 97 Simon Brown · 66 Andre Warringa · 52 Chris "Hollywood" Schletter · 45 Ken Beard · 41 (unknown) · 37 Roger Squires · 35 Phil Lee · 33 JS · 32 David Buttery · 32 Don Burnette · 32 EldredP · 30 Rafe McAuliffe · 30 Phillip Archer · 28 Uncle Fester · 28 Jan Verschueren · 27 GTX_SlotCar · 27 Rob Adams · 26 J · 26 Steve Blankenship · 24

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