3dfx superfan Oscar Barea recently shared a couple of important VoodooX project updates about his quest to modernize the classic Voodooo graphics card. The Voodoo repairer, modder, and collector has been incommunicado since April, due to extensive home remodeling, but two new updates show Barea in in possession of a beautiful new gleaming white “Christmas design” graphics card PCB. Today, he even started assembling his brand new VoodooX “baby.” Perhaps he was inspired to act by the news of the 3dfx 24th death anniversary on Sunday.
3Dfx Voodoo X project - I had some time free and I starting enssambly the baby- very soon we will know how it performs with the new changes. ☺️☺️☺️ pic.twitter.com/wjnLgSAzMSDecember 16, 2024
Before we look more closely at the two December updates, it is worth stepping back and reminding readers of the purpose of the VoodooX project.
Barea began sharing this labor of electronic love on Twitter/X back in October 2022. The VoodooX was designed to make use of the 3dfx VSA-100 GPU, which was used in the final brace of 3dfx cards that reached consumers, namely the 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 and Voodoo5 5500.
Among the highlights of the VoodooX design is the provision of modern monitor interfaces. The aim is to end up with a VoodooX which works happily with VGA, DVI, and HDMI monitors.
The 3dfx devotee was very happy in March this year when the VoodooX first booted into Windows and ran the 3dfx Glide Donut Demo. “I can’t believe it,” enthused Barea. “It is amazing!!!”
With the major project milestone behind him, Berea still faces several niggling issues – as might be expected on a one-man project of this complexity. When we last reported on VoodooX, in April, Barea was working to implement a VRAM toggle switch (switching between 32MB and 64MB). The same month he seemed to be happy with most aspects of the VoodooX and shared lots of gameplay screens and project updates. This project is never going to rival the best graphics cards in 2024, but could be many a retro gamers' dream.
Fast forward to December, and after seven months of radio silence due to home remodeling, we see that the 3dfx enthusiast has a glistening new white PCB to progress his project. Besides the new color, Barea notes that he “fixed minor bugs and routed the memory signal in a different way.” Seemingly reenergized, he has quickly put time in to begin assembling the first white PCB VoodooX.
We recommend Voodoo fans keep an eye on Barea’s social media now, as the house remodeling distractions may be over, and he can again quickly advance VoodooX. Indeed, Barea today teased that updated performance info will be shared “very soon.”
