Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

[dicky96]

Hi guys
I picked this up at the flea market on Sunday, €2

At first I was not sure exactly what it was as it is marked 3dfx Voodoo V CV350 Ver1.0 3M, but the 3dfxlogo was enough to persuade me to buy it - oh, and the price!

Turns out this is a Voodoo 4 4500!

Anyway it does not give a picture - it also hangs the PC on POST card code either 41, 42, or 43. It beeeep bip bip to say no graphics card

Two of the wires to the cooling fan are broken off - how do I tell which way round they go?

The GPU just gets warm, not hot, even without the fan

There are no VRMs on this but there is a US1150CM LDO which has 3.3V on pin 5 and 2.7V on pin 3, or very close to that, so that looks OK. The LDO output pin 3 reads 256R to ground

I don't suppose I would be so lucky that it will not detect if the fan does not spin up? it is a 3 wire one.

This was a really nice find I think, it would be rather excellent if I can get it to work


Rich

[SMDFlea]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

Some info from vogons - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=44364 https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=45841

Only the retail 3dfx built Voodoo4 4500 AGP is 4xAGP 1.5V capable.
(the Powercolor Evilking Voodoo4 and the rare 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 "L" Shaped variants are confirmed to be 2xAGP 3.3V only)

Not sure about the fan ?

EDIT: whats that resistor doing there just below the xtal ,was it a mod of some sort

[dicky96]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

Thanks
Yeah I see I may have fell foul of this

'All Banshee, Voodoo3 and Voodoo5 AGP Cards are 2xAGP 3.3V only!
Do not use in modern 4x/8x AGP 1.5V only Motherboards!
Failure to comply can cause damage to both the Card and the Motherboard!
Consult your Motherboard manual for 2xAGP 3.3V support before use!

Only the retail 3dfx built Voodoo4 4500 AGP is 4xAGP 1.5V capable.
(the Powercolor Evilking Voodoo4 and the rare 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 "L" Shaped variants are confirmed to be 2xAGP 3.3V only)'


And this
'Voodoo banshee/3/5 agp cards only work with 3,3v agp slots so be careful with newer boards. socket7/slot1/slotA/s370 boards are usually fine. for socket A the limit seems to be a board with via kt333A chipset (but still check it). kt400/nforce and higher are not compatible with 3,3v agp cards.
Intel boards for p4 cpu's are not compatible at all. Only some p4 boards with SIS chipsets are know to work (check before trying).'


I had it plugged in to a P4 Socket 478 - I think it is an Asus but I need to check tomorrow

I do have another AGP card with the two slots in the AGP connector that does work in this board. Also the US1150CM LDO on the Voodoo 4 had 3.3V coming in and 2.7V going out and according to the datasheet that is exactly right

I do hope I have not damaged it, assuming it was working previously. I have a few more AGP Motherboards at the workshop but now I am a bit uncertain which would be compatible, One is a Gigabyte GA-5AX SS7 board. I'm sure that must support 2x AGP 3.3V, but Vogons did not mention SS7

I would really like to see this working - such a rare find these days....


PS Oh yeah I spotted the resistor - it does appear to be a mod of some sort

[dicky96]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

I'll go over to vogons and ask about this - there are a lot of retro experts there

For sure someone will know if any of my motherboards are compatible

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

well that sucks... because the general rule of thumb is that if it fits in the slot it should work because the keying for agp 3.3v and 1.5v is different. here the card is keyed as a universal 3.3v and 1.5v agp card but it only works with agp 3.3v.

im going to say here that the third party manufacturers got lazy and decided to cut some corners by omitting the 1.5v agp detection and selection circuit since at the time 3.3v agp boards were more prevalent.

so try to get a board that has a universal agp slot. that is the best motherboard for testing agp video cards since the board can support both 3.3v and 1.5v agp cards.

as for the fan, use a multimeter in resistance mode to probe around to see which wire goes where and reverse the leads also and u should be able to tell.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

Reading the two links SMDFlea posted it seems the resistor mod might be for AGP 4x support.
But others say in the same thread it is not possible to mod it so easily so I am not sure of it...
I would be surprised if a card could be damaged by being fed 1.5v when it requires 3.3v, that does not make much sense...

[SMDFlea]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

Reading the two links SMDFlea posted it seems the resistor mod might be for AGP 4x support.
But others say in the same thread it is not possible to mod it so easily so I am not sure of it...
I would be surprised if a card could be damaged by being fed 1.5v when it requires 3.3v, that does not make much sense...

The pins don`t go to the pins mentioned in the thread though if you look closely at dickies picture. Found another picture on another interesting site with the same resistor

http://www.3dfx.cz/voodoo4/evilking_vs_china.jpg

http://www.3dfx.cz/voodoo4.htm

[dicky96]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

Hmm....... that pic may just help me with the two broken wires to the fan

[momaka]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

I have a few more AGP Motherboards at the workshop but now I am a bit uncertain which would be compatible, One is a Gigabyte GA-5AX SS7 board. I'm sure that must support 2x AGP 3.3V, but Vogons did not mention SS7

It's about age.
SS7 is probably old enough that it's AGP 2x only. Many Intel Slot A BX/LX430/440 boards are also usually AGP 2x only. But as always, download the motherboard's manual and read it - this is the best way to know for sure.

Once you find a AGP 2x board, give it a try and see what happens.

Two of the wires to the cooling fan are broken off - how do I tell which way round they go?

Feed 12V to the fan through a 100-Ohm 2W resistor and feel free to try the wires both ways. After all, there is a 50/50 chance you'll get it right the first time. If you don't, and even if the fan doesn't have reverse-polarity protection (only the cheap nasty fans don't these days, so that shouldn't be a concern), then the 100-Ohm resistor will limit current to safe levels to prevent anything from burning.

Also, since this is a 2nd hand card, I suggest you inspect all SMD components on the front and back of the card very carefully. Any chipped ceramics (even ever so slightly) should be checked for short-circuit and resistors for open-circuit.

[Dan81]

Re: Powercolor Evilking IV AGP graphics card - Voodoo 4 4500 - no picture

IIRC anything Intel up to 815E is 2x, for VIA up to 694X/694T (IIRC 694 is 4x territory), and that's about it. Dunno about ALI boards since I didn't get the chance to work with any of those.