3dfx Voodoo3 3500 TV

by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 3, 1999 2:29 AM EST

As far as overclocking is concerned, the 3500 didn't seem to do too poor of a job.   With a default clock of 183MHz it is already faster than most overclocked 3000 boards, but how high can you push the 3500? Our experience with the 5.5ns Hyundai SDRAM on TNT2 boards indicated that memory speeds of around 220MHz+ can be achieved realistically with this very type of SDRAM, so in the case of the 3500, the memory shouldn't be the limiting factor but how far can the core go?  Anyone's first instincts would be to push a nice round number, and in the case of our tests we picked 200MHz.  Using PowerStrip, the 200MHz core and memory frequencies were achieved on the 3500 without a single crash during the temperature tests we ran for the heat testing of the 3500.  The 200MHz mark is a full 10% increase in clock speed over the default 183MHz clock and resulted in an average performance increase of around 6% across the board. 

Achieving clock speeds above 200MHz will vary from one board to the next and will depend on the yield of your particular 3500, however the chances that you'll be able to push above and beyond 200MHz with the 3500 shouldn't be too bad at all.

Making up for lost time

As mentioned at the start of the article, 3dfx reassured the public that the 3500 would be out as they had originally promised at this year's E3 Expo in Los Angeles. In order to "make up" for not delivering on the original 3500 spec, 3dfx made the 3500 into, in their opinion, the ultimate multimedia card for gamers. The 30-pin P&D port from above connects to a heavily shielded blue cable that leads to 3dfx's "break-out-box."

The cable features a Y-split with one end going directly to the break-out-box and the other end allowing for analog VGA output to your monitor. The plastic break-out-box is connected to the 30-pin P&D connector via a 6" cable that is very well shielded simply due to the nature of the signals that will be traveling through it.

vgacon.jpg (10708 bytes)

The VGA output connector is connected to the 30-pin P&D cable via a cable that is reminiscent of the old Diamond Monster 3D-2 pass-through cables in terms of thickness. The real monster is the cable going from the P&D connector to the break-out-box itself which measures around 0.5" in diameter. In spite of its thickness the cable is quite flexible and its length makes connecting your TV/VCR/Camcorder to the break-out-box much easier if your computer is far away from any of those devices.
The plastic break-out-box features 4 inputs and 4 outputs cleverly indicated by an arrow pointing "in" to the break-out-box and an arrow pointing "out" of the box. The box features L/R RCA audio ports, a composite RCA video port, and the obligatory S-Video port for high quality video input and output. breakout.jpg (10103 bytes)

The bottom of the box features 6 rubber pads designed to keep the box from slipping around on wood floors or desktop surfaces. The box itself is smaller than a CD and is much more manageable than the Matrox Marvel G200's break-out-box that performs essentially the same tasks.

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Heat/Overclocking Video Output
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  • Ashlee Wolf - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link

    I have bought 2 Hyundai SDRAM for my PC and they are working pretty amazingly. But I have issue with the price because it is so much high. I always visit https://awriter.org/essaywriter-org-review/ website to read authentic reviews online. I was thinking to buy 4 but it was out of my budget.

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