This is the B-revision of the Monster Fusion card. I haven't found much differences compared to the A-revision except that this B-revision is equipped with the 500-0013-04 Banshee chip. The A-revision uses 500-0013-03. Other components and the BIOS-version are identical.

I do not know what the differences are between 500-0013-03 and -04. The -04 version can be found with both the old 3Dfx-logo as well as new 3dfx-logo. > Read more

Almost identical to this Creative 3DBlaster except for the color of the heatsink, minor changes on the PCB-imprint and a test-point trace in the upper left corner.

Creative follows 3Dfx' reference design. It's layout is like the prototypes 3Dfx built.

The Banshee is 3Dfx' first 2D/3D card with both 2D and 3D-logic combined into one chip. Basically it's 3D-core is Voodoo2 technology but with only one texture mapping unit. However, the Banshee runs as a slightly higher clock compared to the Voodoo2 so in cases it still can be faster despite missing a TMU. > Read more

The Village Tronic MP850 is an 3Dfx Banshee-card for Apple Mac systems. I don't have a G3 Mac with OS9.2 at hand so I can't test the card. My guess is that it will run at the default 100MHz clock.

The MP850 is the 16MB model. 8MB models were sold under the MP750 modelname. > Read more

ELSA was a graphics card supplier from Germany that made various graphics cards. They weren't fixed to use one particular brand of chips but made cards with Cirrus Logic, 3Dfx, nVidia and others.

The ELSA Victory II-A16 looks like a solid card without fancy stuff. They opted to use clips for the heatsink rather than glueing the heatsink to the chip. This makes it easier to replace and upgrade the cooling solution. > Read more

The Gainward version of the Voodoo Banshee; 3Dfx' first attempt to integrate 2D and 3D into one chip.

Gainward is noticeable for it's use of heatsinks. They used the same style heatsinks on the Voodoo2-based Gainward Dragon 3000. > Read more

An engineering sample which looks a lot like this sample. This board is 3Dfx' reference design. The difference between the other Banshee can be found in production date of the PCB and the used RAM chips. This PCB is two weeks older. > Read more

This Buffalo board comes from Asia and is not often found in Europe. The board runs fine, is small and has a tiny cooling fan. After years the fan is worn out but the card still runs fine. Build quality is good as the MOSFET has a decent heatsink attached. Compare this with other Banshee's and see that in some cases the MOSFET generates so much heat that the PCB discolors.

This is the Buffalo WGP-FX8 version. There is also a FX16 version available which has 16MB RAM. The reason I went for the 8MB version is that this is my first 8MB Voodoo Banshee card. All the others (and much more common) boards are equipped with 16MB. Let's see how that affects the benchmarks . > Read more

I bought this card like many other cards from Gary Donovan, worlds biggest 3dfx collector. The Quantum3D Raven is based upon the 3Dfx Banshee core and distinguishes itself by using a black PCB. Another interesting note is the small connector below the D-SUB. It's an output for stereo glasses.

I always liked the looks of the Quantum 3D parts. The black PCB with in this case a set of nice yellow SMD's. I have seen pictures of other Raven's that have black SMD's.

The Quantum 3D Raven is basically a regular Banshee with default 100MHz clock-frequencies for the chip and RAM. Note that the Banshee is the only 3Dfx card that allows unsynchronized clock-frequencies. Several brands like Gigabyte have faster memory and perform better. > Read more

This Banshee should be the Banshee's of all. It's known to have excellent performance. It has active cooling to improve overclocking. Normal Banshee's run very hot (but stable) so there is not much room for overclocking. Especially the Banshee is interesting for overclocking as it's the only 3Dfx card that is able to set the RAM and chip clock frequency manually. Meaning, you can overclock the chip to 130MHz and keep the RAM on 110MHz for example. This allows flexible overclocking.
> Read more

An A-Trend Helios3D Banshee, the AQA sticker and the red dot on the backside indentify this board as such. > Read more

A nice black PCB and a 1:1 copy of the 3Dfx reference board. I got this card from an old classmate. He gave it to me because he didn't do anything with it and the board was incomplete after all. The heatsink is missing and on the backside a trace is burned. The board works fine, however. > Read more

I have two of these cards in A-revision and one in B-revision.

This card came on my path years and years ago for basically free (just the shipping costs). Despite I already had one I decided to add this to my collection too. It won't hurt to have a back-up card in case the other one decides to go bad . > Read more

Regular Banshee recipe: a hot running passive cooled Voodoo Banshee. The PCB shows discolourations because of the heat and indeed, after a while it's all too hot to touch. Luckily the 3dfx chips are solid and heat isn't much of an issue. > Read more

A prototype 3Dfx Banshee, though it's close to a production Banshee like the Innovision Mighty3D. Today companies copy the reference design but back in 1998 it was less common. In other words: you can find Banshee's in all kind of shapes even though the design of 3Dfx works fine .

This sample didn't come with a heatsink but for sure one is needed to run the card. Never apply power to a Banshee without a heatsink installed as it will overheat fairly quick. > Read more

I have two of these boards which are nearly identical. This has two chips installed near the feature connector. The pictures of the other card show no chips.

This card comes with an engineering tag. It says the following (as far as I can read):

PCB# B096
Pass short
RomJ10001N-SD
Pass Speedy & unreal
Pass NFk
Austin diags OK

SDRAM AGP 0035-03

The engineering tag shows information about the card. It's PCB number B096 and it has passed several tests (short test, Speedy and Unreal test for example) and it has been programmed with the J10001N-SD BIOS.

Thanks to an ex-3dfx engineer I know that 'Austin Diags' is also a collection of tests performed by a test-team (or 'department') that called itself Austin. > Read more

A green 3Dfx Banshee prototype. I have a similar board with different RAM and a slightly older PCB. Some brands copied 3Dfx' reference design, the Skywell Magic TwinPower is a good example of that. This card is the reference layout for SGRAM boards. It runs fine and has an engineering tag which says the following (front-side):

PCB # A 553
Pass short
ROM V10001A.ET
Pass speedy & unreal
Special DRAM bios
loaded 9/18/98

SGRAM AGP 0043-01

And on the backside:

Mem test complete
9/21/98
Special BIOS 9/05/98

> Read more

Monster3D, a common name in the 3Dfx world. The Monster3D and Monster3D II were quite popular at the time. This Monster Fusion was less known compared to it's predecessors.

Despite that there was nothing wrong with the board. It features active cooling and has copper integrated in the PCB (near chip and FET) for better heat transfer. All in all the card looks sturdy and sure it is: I can't recall hearing complaints and problems about the Fusion. > Read more

Another Banshee with discolorations because of the heat. Though the chip can handle it with ease the board gets brown a bit. A lot of people add additional cooling which is fine, but not really necessary in regular operating conditions.

The board does not function well. I suspect some traces in the PCB are broken as the card does work when it's bended. Usually a case of cards that has been under a pile of junk or some kind of improper handling. > Read more