Speaking of Voodoo graphics cards, many people of the younger generation probably don’t know that decades ago it was the 3D accelerator chip with the highest market share in the world. However, due to lack of innovation, the company went bankrupt and was acquired by NVIDIA. But for people of a certain age, this is a magical card with memories. Last year, there was a 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 graphics card that was auctioned for more than $10,000. This card was launched 23 years ago at most.
Recently, a foreign YouTube channel even took out the Voodoo 1 graphics card launched 27 years ago. However, it was not auctioned, but it was modified to increase the original default memory. It finally succeeded. The game performance was instantly increased by 15%, and the game that was originally a bit slow immediately became smoother.
Foreign YT channel magically modified the 27-year-old Voodoo 1 graphics card, instantly increasing game performance by 15%
A few days ago, foreign YouTube channel Bits und Bolts shared a video of them upgrading the 3dfx Voodoo 1 (MAXI Gamer 3D) graphics card memory to 6MB. This video is generally equipped with 4MB EDO DRAM. In order to increase it to 6MB, they produced a clean PCB module and ordered it online:
Actual product received:
This MAXI Gamer 3D graphics card is equipped with 2 sets of 2 MB 50MHz display memory, which adds up to 4MB, and what they did is to add 1 more set above 1 set of display memory:
For a detailed explanation, you can watch the video at the end of the article to make it clearer:
The next step is to enter the welding process. This step is very cumbersome and requires great care. Look at the picture in the upper left corner, yes, the memory is Made in Taiwan:
In the final product, the display memory is actually an independent PCB version, connected to the TMU with a connection, so that a total of 6MB of memory is obtained:
Then open Windows to check (this interface is really nostalgic), and it shows that the memory has indeed reached 6144KB:
Finally, there is the actual game test. You can’t feel it by looking at the pictures, but it is obvious from the video. The picture is quite smooth at 4MB, and it becomes very smooth at 6MB. However, the improvement at 2MB is much worse. 6MB is capable of maintaining over 15FPS throughout a game, what might that sound like to a modern gamer? But more than 20 years ago, if it could run so smoothly, it would be said to make many players excited:
There is an extra set of display memory on the top, and the lower part is still empty. Therefore, Bits und Bolts also mentioned that he is planning to build a second PCB module to upgrade the display memory, which means that he will eventually get 8MB, and the performance may be increased to 30%.
However, it should be noted that for those who also have old Voodoo graphics cards, the modules used by Bits und Bolts may not be compatible with other models, because PCB was not standardized at the time, so the display memory layout of each Voodoo graphics card was different, but at least you can know how to do it. It may be feasible.
Source: KOCPC Chinese