Feast of Voodoo2 graphics cards

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There are many articles about Voodoo2 graphics cards, but the "Feast" series of articles analyzes the Voodoo2 graphics cards from the perspective of a hardware collection enthusiast, showing that Diamond and Creative were selected as important partners of Voodoo2 graphics cards of 3Dfx. Start the glorious road of Voodoo2 graphics card together.

1. 3Dfx Voodoo2 Graphic card

1.1 Voodoo2 reference board 6MB

Voodoo2 graphics card released by 3Dfx in November 1997 is this version. The picture was published in "Next Generation"-Jan 1998. The chip date is 9741 weeks, between October 5-11, 1997, which is the day before the release of the Voodoo2 graphic card, an earlier version of 3Dfx used for test verification. There are two more examples of Voodoo2 graphic card SLI connection in the picture. This unique method of SLI also makes Voodoo2 graphic card the most memorable 3D graphic card.

1.2 Voodoo2 reference board 6MB Late version

The Voodoo2 graphic card below has a chip date of 9746 weeks and a PCB board date of 9744 weeks. This version is a relatively mature reference design, which is used by Diamond and Creative to make Voodoo2 graphic card. Because the 6MB version of Voodoo2 graphic card has only a 640x480 resolution flaw, Imperial Diamond and Creative have wasted almost three months and had to give up.

Source from thandor.net 

1.3 600-0027-01 version

This is the 8 / 12MB version of the Voodoo2 graphics card test verification version, no outflow. Supported the mainstream 800x600 resolution at the time, and the SLI connection supported 1024x768 resolution.

1.4 600-0027-02 version

Diamond and Creative both use this reference board to make Voodoo2 graphics cards. After that, many manufacturers also directly used this design to make Voodoo2 graphics cards. The reference board of the drawing is the Rev 2 version, the PCB date is 9808 weeks, and the chip date is 9803/9806 weeks.

Source from nest

1.5 600-0027-03 version

The chip date on this reference board is 9816/9821 weeks, and the PCB date is 9828 weeks. This version uses less material, and there may not be any improvement in performance. However, it was adopted more by manufacturers who entered Voodoo2 graphics card manufacturing later. Creative did not use this version, but Diamond did some circuit optimization earlier.

Source from www.tdfx.de

1.6 V2 1000

3Dfx originally did not intend to enter the Voodoo2 graphics card market, but when it acquired STB Systems on December 14, 1998 to prepare for the sole production and sale of Voodoo3 graphics cards, it may be possible to see STB's ready-made BlackMagic 3D production lines and semi-finished products. While Voodoo2 graphics cards still have a market, they will continue Produced BlackMagic 3D, but changed its name to V2 1000.

1.6.1 STB BlackMagic 3D

STB has strong R & D capabilities as an old-fashioned graphics card manufacturer. The Voodoo2 graphics card with a changed design uses electrolytic capacitors.

1.6.2 3Dfx V2 1000

3Dfx approved the design of STB BlackMagic 3D. Only upgrading the original double-sided 24 tablets of 0.5MB video memory to single-sided 12 tablets of 1MB video memory produced V2 1000, and even the reserved space of the rear video memory was not cleared.

2. Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2

December 1, 1997 Creative Labs announced 3D Blaster Voodoo2. January 20, 1998 Creative Labs first vendor to release Voodoo 2 on public.

Creative graphic cards have a six-digit product version number, the first two digits are the version and the last four digits are the production date (week). The following describes these 3D Blaster Voodoo2 graphic cards based on the Creative product version number.

2.1 00974?  version  Engineering sample

The promotional image on this Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 box is the 6MB version. In fact, it is an engineering sample made directly using the 3Dfx Voodoo2 reference board 6MB later version.

Source from   www.thandor.net

2.2 00975?  version Engineering sample

Creative Labs 3D Blaster Voodoo2 engineering samples made based on 3Dfx's 600-0027-02 reference board, no physical picture was found.

        2.3 019804 version

Creative Labs publicly released the 3D Blaster Voodoo2 graphics card on January 20, 1998, which is 9804 weeks. 019804 is the 01st edition of 9804 week. On February 20, 1998, Creative was the first to release the Voodoo2 graphics card. The 3D Blaster Voodoo2, the first release of Creative, is a 12MB version.

2.3.1 9807 week dark green

February 20, 1998 is 9808 weeks. The 3D Blaster Voodoo2 PCB board date is 9807 weeks, which is the earliest official product PCB board production date, the chip date is 9803/9804 weeks. The most obvious feature is the exposed SLI interface.

    2.3.2 9808 weeks light green

The following card does not have the product number and product model; the PCB board date is 9808 weeks, the chip date is 9803/9801 weeks; the card product serial number is different from other cards. It is estimated that this type of card was the earliest released. It is said that there were bugs in the earliest card chips.

        2.3.3 Common versions are mostly brown

The above two earlier versions have 600-0027-02 on the back, indicating that the design comes from 3Dfx's 600-0027-02 reference board. The common version cancels this annotation.

        2.4 029827 version

The second version of the Creative does not see any obvious changes, but only the codes FM1 to FM13 are printed, I do not know what they represent.

Source from  www.tdfx.de

        3. Diamond Monster 3D II

Diamond Multimedia has established a good relationship with 3Dfx since the Voodoo era. In the Voodoo2 era, Diamond always got the 3Dfx reference board before Creative, but it was Creative half a second slower in marketing. Perhaps the imperial alliance of that period was too much for perfection.

Each version of Monster 3D II has a Part No., which I will discuss separately based on Part No. below.

       3.1 22150105-003 version Engineering sample

Diamond obtained the 3Dfx Voodoo2 reference board 6MB later version and developed its own version. The picture below is the earliest engineering sample of monster 3D II.

Source from  www.3Dfx.cz

This version was not released in the market but was distributed in small quantities. The picture below is from the graphics card of "Diamond Monster 3D II-More Than a Worthy Successor" (Thomas Pabst). The text says "After the literally cool Diamond Monster Party (at freezing 4 degrees centigrade) in Paris on January 29, 1998, I was lucky enough to be one of the few that returned home with a Monster 3D II in my hand luggage."

Source from  www.tomshardware.com

        3.2 22150105-004 version Engineering sample

3Dfx then released the 8 / 12MB version. In order to hurry, Diamond cloned directly to the 004 version.

"Monster 3D II USER'S GUIDE" is attached with the FCC certification of Monster 3D II, and has passed the Monster 3D II certification submitted by Diamond on February 13, 1998 with Part No. 22150105-004.

        3.3 22150105-005 version

February 2, 1998 Diamond announced Monster 3D II .The Monster 3D II was the first Voodoo2 board ever technically reviewed. The technical review was passed on March 9 before the release of Monster 3D II.

        3.3.1 Monster 3D II Engineering sample

"Monster 3D II USER'S GUIDE" also contains pictures of engineering samples of Monster 3D II REV 1.

        3.3.2 Monster 3D II 8Mb

The first version of the Diamond  is 8MB. This version is not significantly different from the 3Dfx reference board, except that there are two pairs of rectangular marks on the back of the card. The earlier 9808/9809 week versions were compared with the 3Dfx reference board and later Monster 3D II versions, with one R99 resistor less.

        3.3.3 Monster 3D II 12Mb

Diamond released a 12MB version later.

        3.3.4 Monster 3D II SLI secondary card

Diamond also sold a unique SLI dedicated secondary card for two Voodoo2 card SLI.

Source from  LOOP123

        3.3.5 Full PCI connection finger 

The above Monster 3D II engineering samples and the PCI interface of the official product are not Full PCI connection finger.This Monster 3D II with a PCB date of 9808 weeks and a chip date of 9804 weeks is Full PCI connection finger.I don't know if this is the case with the 9808 week version, as is the earliest Monster 3D II.

S / N 1080100001142. This 10801 seems to be the first batch, and 1142 is the 1142th serial number. 

         In addition, it seems that the version identification is: REV 1/2/3 / ... may be engineering samples, and the official product identification is REV A / B / C / ...

        3.4 22150105-006 version

This version is less, but there is no major change from the previous version. The only visible difference is the choice of the two rows of resistors on the left of the “Rev” logo. It seems to be a jumper that can support overclocking to 110MHz. The annotation of "XJXJ2" has also been cancelled.

        3.5 22150105-008 version Engineering sample

This version is an engineering sample that adjusts the circuits near the SLI interface. Maybe the upgrade is limited and it is not officially mass-produced. The PCB date is 9818 weeks. It can be seen that after the sale, Dimeng has been tirelessly optimizing. Diamond and Creative are really going at two extremes.

        3.6 22150105-007 version Engineering sample

This version lacks information and can only be speculated and placed behind version 008. According to version 008, it is speculated that version 007 is a simple adjustment to the circuit on the left of the version number on the back of the card. However, this adjustment had little effect. Only one R12 resistor was retained in the 008 version, and it was abandoned in the 009 version.

        3.7 22150105-009 version

This version is the least, it is based on the absorption of the 008 version of the correction to enhance the low-pass filter circuit, I do not know how much effect on image quality improvement. But Diamond 's continuous enterprising spirit in pursuit of product performance improvement is particularly respectable.

        4. Other special Voodoo2 graphics cards

Most companies have directly adopted 3Dfx VOODOO's reference board, namely the public version, to produce Voodoo2 graphics cards, and some companies have redesigned very distinctive VOODOO graphics cards. 

        4.1 Quantum3d Obsidain2 200SBi

Quantum3d was founded on 31 March 1997 as a spin-off from 3dfx.Quantum3d Obsidain2 200SBi- Two Voodoo2's in SLI mode on one PCB.   

        4.2 Canopus PURE 3D II

Canopus PURE 3D II is the smallest Voodoo2 graphics card with video output and a cooling fan.

        4.3 Micro Conversions GAME WIZARD

        Micro Conversions Game Wizard is version for Apple computers using DB15 video output.

        4.4 Procomp G111

        This expandable 8MB to 12MB design is very challenging.