Voodoo5 5500 $137.60

[MattStone]

I was just checking staples.com, and it says that mine shipped, but still says expected arrival date of the 28. Any idea how to grab a ups number?

 

[edm]

yeah, just checked and mine says shipped too. No tracking info either though. I guess if there is still no tracking link by tomorrow afternoon I'll call to get it.

 

[MrbadGuy]

I got my voodoo5 5500 yesterday. It performs poorly, and is going back. With FSAA enabled the frame rate is like a v3. I have a geforce2 gts 64mb (220/400) which I was going to fleabay off, the nvidia is much better, faster video card. Not worth the money you save. The v5 5500 is more comparable to asus geforce1 ddr card which I had.

 

[Mats122]

Got my V5 - not bad, but there is no DVD player included. Strange as they claim to have an outstanding DVD playback on this card and no software?
Have my Viper II fm Outpost which has the MGI DVD player (doesn't work with the V5) bundled. My problem with Viper is only that it has compatibilty issues with mainboard (815E) and some games.

 

[edm]

I could have told you the geforce2 gts 64mb (220/400) was better, but it's like $450 bucks isn't it? I figure if the 5500 can hold me off for another year or so I can than pick up another card whether it be a newer generation 3dfx card or a nv20 once again at a sub $140 dollar price.

p.s let me know how the return goes with Staples, whether they charge a restocking fee, ect...

 

[MrbadGuy]

I got the v5 from onvia, they have no restocking fee. I paid $178 for the v5, a geforce2 gts 32mb can be had around $180. The geforce2 gts is more bang for the buck unless you play exclusively glide games. Most people paid $40 less for the v5 but geforce2 for the extra $ is worth it.

 

[mrchan]

got mine. 148 shipped. great deal!

 

[Mats122]

Staples has no restocking fee - very easy returns.

 

[MattStone]

Yah...that is funny how you say that it doesn't perform as well as the 64 meg gf2, anyone can figure that out...no one said this was a magic board. I personally don't play Q3, I play Half-Life and UT, so this board is a better "bagain" than the GF anything. I'm curious, what speed is your chip.

 

[MrbadGuy]

dual p3-933, 384 crucial pc133 cas2 ram

The v5 performs more like the geforce1 ddr. I owned v2 sli, v3 so Im not biased.

 

[MattStone]

Yah...I figured you weren't biased, I guess I'll agree with you...because there is nothing else to say. I think we are just in different worlds...I own a Viper II right now, w/a Ghz t-bird, so I'm wasting my chip with a crummy (and buggy) board. This will be an improvement for me, but if you were used to a 64 meg GF2, I would understand why you would see such a bad performance in the board. I agree from looking at most older benchmarks that it does perform like a GF DDR.

 

[MattStone]

Hey...mine just came. I'm gonna install the newest drivers and play some counterstrike now...!!

 

[MattStone]

I'm having probs...can't get the new drivers installed, and I can't get anything to work w/half-life, how do I set it up?

<edit>God, I'm getting no video either, when I try to open an mpeg, media player crashes..help!</edit>

 

[JackieO]

Alright, this is pretty common actually. What video card did you have in before? Savage II or something right? Make sure you TOTALLY clean out the drivers for that. So, do this. If you are using Windows 98, fisrt uninstall any video utilities you have installed (using add/remove programs), then go to device manager and remove the video adapter and install the generic WINDOWS STANDARD VGA ADAPTER. Then reboot with the voodoo5 in. Windows should detect the card and either ask you for drivers, or try to install ones it has. If it asks for some, install the new ones, otherwise wait till it finds the old drivers then instsall the new ones. that SHOULD do it.

I just think your old video card drivers are screwing you up.

Good luck,

 

[MattStone]

It wasn't the old vid-card drivers...I just needed a good ol' reboot. I figured, when all else fails, reboot that sob, and yes...it worked, video is back, and I just witnessed Counterstrike in all of its 4x FSAA splendor. Daddy likey...better speeds than the old Vip 2, and kick ass quality. Alright, thanx for the help...I'll b back later.

 

[Paul]

and you can get lot's more Voodoo 5 info here

You should also DL and install WickedGL

 

[Pete]

Does BestBuy have a good return policy on opened items? Or Staples/OM/any place else? I'd like to try a V5 before I plunk down $140. I'm just waiting on the P3-700 I just ordered...

 

[ElectricLegs]

The Geforce 2s look as good and play as nice as the V5s in Unreal Tournament if you use Loki's OpenGL.dll and install the textures from the second CD. This enables texture compression and is faster than D3d. LOKI's S3TC OPENGL DLL AND INSTRUCTIONS I recommend starting with a fresh install, patch432 and then copy your old Maps,Cache,Textures,Music,etc (not the System dir)directories to the new install along with the User.ini and system dir&quot;u&quot; files. Then install the 2nd CD textures,copy the new opengl.dll to the system dir, and modify the Unrealtournament.ini file. It's sooo pretty and fast like Glide. For now you have to adjust the game brightness back down before exiting the game for the desktop brightness to be the same.

 

[darker]

My order now says shipped as well. Cant wait to see counterstrike and many other games in 4xfsaa. And I know that all my glide games will once again ROCK. Just wish I had it today so I could mess around with it on turkey day.

 

[PING]

Pete, BestBuy has one of the best return policy. I returned 50% of what I bought at BestBuy...both Logitech iFeel Mouse &amp; Optical mouse, video cards, vcr's, etc... I haven't tried returning an open software though. Maybe because the customer service just don't care.

-PING

 

[MattStone]

Ahh...back from 4 hours of counterstrike in 4x FSAA...how nice, no jaggies. The sweet smell of smooth lines...

 

[JackieO]

WOWOWOW!

Hey guys, just a reminder - in 3dfx tools remember under dirext x to set LOD BIOS to -2! It makes things SUPER detailed and doesnt have a huge performance hit...

I just played a few hours of FSAA 4X with lod bios -2 of Crimson Skies...AMAZING!

 

[edm]

Matt, what version of directx are you using, and are you using the 1.04 3dfx drivers? And for that matter, what are other people using with the 5500? Just wondering if I should upgrade to dx8 or stick with dx7 with the 1.04 drivers.

Thanks

 

[darker]

My next day delivery should be here tomorrow. Ordered on the 17th, get card on the 28th. Hate how long staples ships, but gotta love the price

 

[Robzila]

im thinking of getting a V5 PCI to go with my GF2 64 just for glide games and driving sims. How much of a pain is this going to be to install and configure properly? At this price, it seems not to be a very bad idea