Functioning 3DFX Voodoo 5 6000 prototype graphics card auctioned off for $15,000

Owning a piece of history can be pretty expensive, even in the PC space. One example is the recently auctioned 3DFX Voodoo 5 6000 prototype graphics card, which has been sold for a whopping $15,000. This GPU was in the works back when 3DFX was still active but never made its way onto the market officially. 

Back when 3DFX was still an active company, it was working on releasing the promising Voodoo 5 6000 graphics card. Despite the manufacturer's efforts, it was never released. Due to the many delays, high production costs and unresolved issues, the development of this GPU was ceased. Still, during the process, the manufacturer produced a few thousand prototypes of the GPU, some of which have been sold through auctions in the last 20 years.

Image credit: eBay

One of these cards can be seen in this eBay listing. The auction, which has already ended, closed with an offering of $15,000 after 65 bids. Per the listing's description, this card is a 3700A prototype reworked by engineer Hank Semenc, fixing many of the GPU's known errors and introducing support for 8X FSAA.

For anyone interested in the graphics card's specs, the Voodoo 5 6000 has a single-slot design, 128MB VRAM, and four VSA-100 (Napalm 30) graphics processors, each with 14 million transistors. Compared to its peers at the time, this GPU was one of the most sophisticated GPUs around. Based on some reports, this card would most likely outperform its competition (GeForce 2 GTS/Ultra and Radeon 7500). However, the bug that prohibited the GPU from operating in AGP 4x mode, which was needed to work with Intel Pentium CPUs, had to be fixed before release. Unfortunately, that never happened.

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KitGuru says: Would you be willing to give that much money for a 20-year-old functional prototype card? If not, what would be your limit?

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