Creative 3D Blaster VLB: $395 DOS Graphics Card from 1995

แชร์
ฝัง
  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 เม.ย. 2021
  • Experiencing the Creative Labs 3D Blaster VLB, a $350 graphics card from 1995 and one of the earlier attempts at a consumer 3D graphics standard. And specifically meant for 486 DOS computers! While others were catering to Pentium PCs and their fancy PCI slots, Creative took another route through this collaboration with 3Dlabs. So let's admire the card itself, go over some history and context, get things installed and configured in the LGR Woodgrain PC, and play some mid-90s 3D accelerated DOS games!
    ● LGR links:
    / lazygamereviews
    / lazygamereviews
    / lazygamereviews
    ● You can grab the CT6200 3D Blaster VLB drivers and software here:
    vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?...
    ● Here's an archive of the five bundled CGL games for the CT 6200:
    archive.org/details/C3DB_VLB_...
    ● Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound:
    www.epidemicsound.com
    #LGR #Retro #Graphics
  • วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี

ความคิดเห็น • 1.5K

  • @Kundalini12
    @Kundalini12 3 ปีที่แล้ว +664

    Imagine spending $350 on this card and then seeing a review that ends with the words "It's crap".

    • @sarahts21
      @sarahts21 3 ปีที่แล้ว +63

      The thing is, back in the day you usually read the reviews in whichever magazine you "trusted" before purchase. So the reviews saying "It's crap" is one of the reasons so few people got one to wring the last bit of life from their 486's. Not everything back then was, always, a direct upgrade and pretty much everyone had already been burned once or twice when their new hotness turned out to be a steaming turd.

    • @GrandTheftWatto
      @GrandTheftWatto 3 ปีที่แล้ว +64

      Imagine a magazine actually telling you the truth about a bad piece of hardware, though! Especially from a big company with influence (at the time) like Creative. Now they would just buy off the journos with goodie bags and get an average score.

    • @houstonhelicoptertours1006
      @houstonhelicoptertours1006 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      That would be my experience with the S3 ViRGE, world's first 3D decelerator. I bought the damn thing 3 days after launch.

    • @yellowblanka6058
      @yellowblanka6058 3 ปีที่แล้ว +51

      @@GrandTheftWatto That's because the people who wrote for PC/Gaming magazines in those days were actually into PC hardware/gaming and had some journalistic ethics, weren't just fresh Creative Writing/English majors with a knack for using SEO keywords and crafting clickbait titles.

    • @William-Morey-Baker
      @William-Morey-Baker 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      these days 600 wont even get you an entry level card... with miners and scalpers and whatnot... even at msrp 600 is still only mid high range, or high mid range even.
      even at msrp 350 wont buy you anything other than entry level cards these days unless you buy last gen, and good luck finding those...

  • @technonoises
    @technonoises 3 ปีที่แล้ว +281

    The pop out calibration panel on the monitor impressed me more than it should have.

    • @genekwagmyrsingh9433
      @genekwagmyrsingh9433 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      I dunno, I just bought a 144 IPS and having to reach around behind it to blindly control it sucks. I would love to have one of those... although I suppose it might affect the bezel size...

    • @doodoobrn
      @doodoobrn 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yeah, my EV700 didn't have that!

    • @juanbrits3002
      @juanbrits3002 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@genekwagmyrsingh9433 Most monitors can be controlled via Display Data Channel (DDC) / Command Interface (CI) software

  • @b_risky
    @b_risky 3 ปีที่แล้ว +180

    burning CD's at slower speeds to reduce the chance of creating a coaster... man, talk about memories

    • @Crixer234
      @Crixer234 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      is still valid, but i had more chances to get coasters with DVD+R Dual layer, rather other kinds of discs.

    • @Daz555Daz
      @Daz555Daz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Yep. Before buffer under-run protection (BURN) coasters were so so common.

    • @loganiushere
      @loganiushere 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Glad I use my discs on the same drive they were burned on.

    • @TheAndyroid
      @TheAndyroid 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Still often best to burn them at the second slowest speed so they play more reliably on hifi CD players.

    • @robsku1
      @robsku1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Oh, flash from the past! I remember burning at 8x and nervously and intently staring at the buffering-meter, hoping it would stay on green :)

  • @victorlgcarvalho
    @victorlgcarvalho 3 ปีที่แล้ว +113

    "Himem is testing memory"
    Dude, that made me nostalgic...

    • @luvincste
      @luvincste 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      i remember when i was a kid spending afternoons trying to make these games run at a decent fps, trying every trick known to humanity, and often failing

    • @victorlgcarvalho
      @victorlgcarvalho 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@luvincste I used a program called QUEMM386, that loaded the TSR programs into upper memory and freed the main memory for the games... LOL
      Good times!

    • @CelticSaint
      @CelticSaint 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Hymen?

    • @AwankO
      @AwankO 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Me too!😄 The whole video made feel nostalgic, especially setting up the display settings in dos xD.

    • @override7486
      @override7486 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@CelticSaint You know, that one with big-ass sword and puma (or something) for a horse. The Terminator of old school fantasy.

  • @MrClawt
    @MrClawt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +408

    The only way I played Nascar was to eliminate the field to be last man standing. It had such good crash physics for its time.

    • @LGR
      @LGR  3 ปีที่แล้ว +169

      I question anyone that _doesn't_ end up driving in reverse after the first lap to crash everyone.

    • @z2ei
      @z2ei 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @Lassi Kinnunen 81 I don't think I ever won a game in Indy 500 *without* taking out the entire field.

    • @ZinhoMegaman
      @ZinhoMegaman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Well, I'm just another Nascar crash player.

    • @Jgallstar1
      @Jgallstar1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I was the same way but I got sucked in eventually and now I'm full on into sim racing lol

    • @onometre
      @onometre 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I did the same shit in dirt to Daytona lmao

  • @RayRayIsCoolio
    @RayRayIsCoolio 3 ปีที่แล้ว +333

    I like how when he showed the price adjustment for inflation, $600 didn’t even seem that expensive

    • @rickyricardo2006
      @rickyricardo2006 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      That is so sad😔

    • @fortunax22
      @fortunax22 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      I mean you can’t take it at face value and compare to other cards today....a $50 modern video is infinitely more powerful than this card.

    • @TimoBirnschein
      @TimoBirnschein 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Plus, when you look at the review rating of 20% "It's crap!!" - then it seems kinda expensive :P

    • @Nordlicht05
      @Nordlicht05 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@fortunax22 i think he means you bought back than a card for gaming for 600 and now people often pay more.

    • @lwvmobile
      @lwvmobile 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      Wait until he covers pandemic pricing of video cards in 20 years, I'd hate to see the price adjustment for inflation on those.

  • @sorenstudios
    @sorenstudios 3 ปีที่แล้ว +373

    I think it's important to remember that when Creative was trying to hawk this card at $350, the original PlayStation had already come out months earlier at $300.

    • @RingingResonance
      @RingingResonance 3 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      And a year later the N64 came out.

    • @imwalkworse6298
      @imwalkworse6298 3 ปีที่แล้ว +55

      thats why i never got into PC gaming. Imagine buying a new game for the PC and then coming home to realise that it doesnt work because of the million things that went wrong in those days.

    • @YTubechangeAccount
      @YTubechangeAccount 2 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      @@imwalkworse6298 They usually dropped back into software mode, and there was no way to play the funnest videogames on the PS1 correctly. Yeah I bought Redalert & mechwarrior for PS1, but they never worked and there was no $50 card I could buy to make it work (I never paid more than $50 for a videocard in the 90s)

    • @ArneChristianRosenfeldt
      @ArneChristianRosenfeldt 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      And the PlayStation had something similar to MMX / SSE while Creative could probably not even set up its own triangles.

    • @SianaGearz
      @SianaGearz 2 ปีที่แล้ว +40

      Mhm but Playstation ran at quarter of the resolution of this card, no texture filtering, no Z-buffer, a lot of extra wonk with gaps in triangles, more wobbliness, this was the next gen stuff.
      Then again, Playstation games were actually playable.

  • @KanoWhite53
    @KanoWhite53 2 ปีที่แล้ว +27

    Will never forget installing an 8MB Voodoo 2 card. The difference in graphic fidelity and frame rate was mind blowing. The card came with that racing game Wipeout 2097... It's probably the biggest jump in graphics I have ever seen since.

    • @RandomlyDrumming
      @RandomlyDrumming 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Same here, only with original Voodoo. :) It was a night and day difference.

  • @MaximilienNoal
    @MaximilienNoal 3 ปีที่แล้ว +160

    I wish DOSBox would emulate it. It would help to preserve those exclusive games like Rebel Moon. Very interesting video !

    • @kristophertadlock779
      @kristophertadlock779 3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      I agree, there are so many neat little graphics APIs that are just about impossible to experience today. The DOSBox team is practically allergic to scope creep, but maybe PCem will support some of them one day.

    • @rasmusolesen5307
      @rasmusolesen5307 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      I am sure they would appreciate your contribution ;)

    • @andrejrockshox
      @andrejrockshox 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      thats true. seeing this i wanna play that game.

    • @LGR
      @LGR  3 ปีที่แล้ว +89

      @@kristophertadlock779 I've been messing around with PCem a bunch lately and started reading up on the proposed graphics standards that could end up emulated in the future. The 3D Blaster VLB is right near the top of their list, although the likelihood of it actually happening is currently "low."

    • @realsentientpotato
      @realsentientpotato 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@LGR PCem?

  • @alancheatley4378
    @alancheatley4378 3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

    Glad to have 3DFX, 3D video cards were like the difference in night and day playing games

    • @Passenger-nj7in
      @Passenger-nj7in 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I played Fatal Racing over the network versus a friend, he used S3 Virge and I had the Monster 3D. Those were the easy wins, practically in every game we played, like nfs2 and so on 😆

    • @CorporalDanLives
      @CorporalDanLives 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I remember getting my first monster 3D. My jaw was on the floor. I knew that shit was serious when it made a clicking sound during the VGA passthrough!

    • @Yootzkore
      @Yootzkore 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Yeah, I remember that. Seeing P.O.D., and then GLQuake run on Glide on a Voodoo 1 around 1996/early 1997 felt like a slap in the face. Then came the Voodoo 2 and Unreal, barely a year and a half later, and they slapped even harder. The evolution of PC 3D graphics between 1994 and the early 2000s was just insanely fast.

  • @Roadstar1602
    @Roadstar1602 3 ปีที่แล้ว +56

    It's weird to me that you say you don't like your old videos. I love them. I've been watching since the early days, and I still go back and watch the old videos sometimes. The intros give me the same sort of nostalgia that these 3D accelerator cards do.

    • @Xenotypal
      @Xenotypal ปีที่แล้ว +3

      content wise, his old videos are just fine. it's just a little more rough around the edges which is perfectly fine. people like youtube for a reason, it's the every man sharing his passions. it's more real.

    • @eccodolphin
      @eccodolphin ปีที่แล้ว +3

      It's a common thing for creator type people. You improve as you get more experienced, and that makes it even harder to not notice the flaws in your work when you look at it retrospectively.,

  • @cromulence
    @cromulence 3 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    I would love to know what Creative were thinking when they released this. The PSX came out just before this, was self contained, and totally wiped the floor with this. Especially after the disastrous 3DO Blaster. Madness.

    • @jcasetnl
      @jcasetnl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      In '94/95, no one knew the PSX would go on to become one of the most important consoles ever. People were still thinking about the 3DO. Was Sony going to make a console that was as out-of-touch with the market as Panasonic? After all, Sony was the same company that gave us betamax and the minidisc. You don't really know if a console is a legit success in the market until about a year into its lifecycle. Plenty of PC cards had time to come to market and beg for software support they never really got before fading into obscurity.

    • @MrDuncl
      @MrDuncl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      The Playstation was aimed at an entirely different market, which previously had been associated with things like ET on the Atari 2600. Regarding graphics it was the N64 that really impressed me; so much that I bought one. There again the graphics on that jumped straight from Silicon Graphics workstation to console.

    • @cromulence
      @cromulence 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@MrDuncl The N64 was impressive with its filtered textures, but the lack of RAM, maximum texture sizes, being forced to use cartridge media, and the terrible microcode that Nintendo made people use meant that the machine couldn't really match the PSX. But I agree that it was a good system.

    • @cromulence
      @cromulence 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@jcasetnl they pretty much did.
      $299.
      That set the stage for the rise of the PSX. The 3DO was totally dead by this point. The PSX launched with killer titles. It had a massive launch in Japan which meant that it's launch in Europe and the US was going to be huge. Sure, it had to fight a battle with the Saturn at first, but I mean come on! A $349 add-on for your PC that didn't really speed things up, or an entire console that also doubled as a CD player in your living room for $299? It's a no brainer.

    • @jcasetnl
      @jcasetnl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      ​@@cromulence The 3DO was discontinued in 1996 and games were produced for it up till its demise. You seem to shift around dates and events to serve your points.

  • @legendarylinc0762
    @legendarylinc0762 3 ปีที่แล้ว +55

    My adrenaline starts pumping every time I see the 486 woodgrain. It's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

  • @scruffythejanitor1969
    @scruffythejanitor1969 3 ปีที่แล้ว +104

    Aside from functionality, that card is just beautiful.

    • @Panzer_the_Merganser
      @Panzer_the_Merganser 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Seconded, Scruffy.

    • @MosoKaiser
      @MosoKaiser 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      And it comes in a box!

    • @nickwallette6201
      @nickwallette6201 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I thought so too. Whoever manufactured Creative’s PCBs made a nice finished product, and the layout is pleasant as well.

    • @genekwagmyrsingh9433
      @genekwagmyrsingh9433 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I'm surprised how brand new it looks.

    • @jemert96
      @jemert96 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@genekwagmyrsingh9433 with the performance in mind, that's not entirely surprising lol

  • @razvanmazilu6284
    @razvanmazilu6284 3 ปีที่แล้ว +85

    Seeing the performance in most of these games, I think this piece of hardware could probably be classed as a graphics decelarator card 😄

    • @brianmcgovern6119
      @brianmcgovern6119 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      This was a point in graphics history when performance was "it depends". There was so many badly implemented VLB systems (and even PCI with the Pentium initially) coupled with the fact that these cards usually had only a handful of top titles that were fully compatible that you were really rolling the dice as to whether a $350 adapter would be any use to you at all. There is a reason they didn't last too long, and it took DirectX to unify the graphics environment under Windows to really get you to the point where the software renderer was the best bet. Any extra money you had for these toys were typically best used to save up for your next, higher performance, machine.

    • @pazsion
      @pazsion ปีที่แล้ว +1

      not even sure anyone actually tried gaming on a 486 other than 8 bit adveture games

    • @pazsion
      @pazsion ปีที่แล้ว

      really see that 33mhz bus hehe isa was less but separate?

    • @xsc1000
      @xsc1000 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@pazsion No, ISA wasnt separate and PCI also not. Both VLB and PCI run on 33MHz.

    • @Deadguy2322forreal
      @Deadguy2322forreal ปีที่แล้ว

      It was often called that in magazines and on newsgroups back in the day!

  • @xmctmariaville511
    @xmctmariaville511 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    "Plug And Pray" is my new catchphrase for quick and dirty repairs now. Thanks LGR!!!

    • @DoctorWhom
      @DoctorWhom 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I'm so used to Plug and Pray I'm still surprised when I plug stuff into a computer and it actually works

  • @UncleMikeRetro
    @UncleMikeRetro 3 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    Man, Clint!
    This baby is a super rare find and I should know, I wanted one back then 😎
    Thanks for an awesome Friday treat.

    • @nickwallette6201
      @nickwallette6201 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I remember the ads in magazines back then. I could not believe what I was seeing. Of course, the ad had about the same frame rate as the software. 😄

  • @MortimerZabi
    @MortimerZabi 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    If memory serves, I remember reading about this in Computer Gaming World. The review basically said: "don't expect this to turn your 486 into a pentium." Perhaps in case someone tried to run Wing Commander 3 on it or something.

  • @davidt3563
    @davidt3563 3 ปีที่แล้ว +36

    These were such fun times. New cards, new software, seeing your first 3D accelerated game after software rendering was amazing. All the random articles about OpenGL Vs Glide and the new Direct X.

  • @CooChewGames
    @CooChewGames 3 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    I remember this era well; even at the time, the Creative Labs 3d cards were known to be avoided as they just didn't do much... it was the Voodoo 2 and it blew me away and made me take the jump into 3d cards.

    • @thesteelrodent1796
      @thesteelrodent1796 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Voodoo2 was two years later. Even the first Voodoo came out a good half year after this card.

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@thesteelrodent1796 I'm not sure if you are thinking any of that contradicts the OP. He described an "era", surely that covers more than a couple of years!😳

  • @vetzRetro
    @vetzRetro 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Great video Clint! Glad I was able to help out :) You should've let me and Gona (on Vogons) know the issues you had getting Flight Unlimited and Battle Arena Toshinden running, maybe we could've provided some tips for troubleshooting. Really strange though as I haven't encountered any problems getting these two games to run on my VLB system. Performance from this card wasnt any good on a typical 486 (as seen in the video), you really needed a highend VLB system for it to shine as the card doesnt bottleneck on a faster system like other early 3D accelerators. Now lets hope someone comes forward with the memory module so that you can do a followup on the DirectX and Direct3D capabilities!

  • @guycyber1584
    @guycyber1584 3 ปีที่แล้ว +60

    Glad to see this channel is still doing well after many years

    • @Sassybng
      @Sassybng 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Right? I’ve been watching consistently since 2015 and he doesn’t feel like one of those channels that goes downhill :]

    • @crunchysoup8515
      @crunchysoup8515 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@Sassybng yeah his content is consistent

    • @davescomputercorner6015
      @davescomputercorner6015 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Because of ... let me guess... the pandemic, right?

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@crunchysoup8515 the funny thing is, this era of early Windows PCs with all the adjustments and drivers and jumpers, was really frustrating! I, as someone a bit older than Clint, would like to forget it and deal either with older microcomputers which were very limited, but less fiddly, or just emulation. Somehow he maintains this nostalgia for DOS and early Windows-Gaming, which had the worst parts ever! It was the Dark Ages of PCs!

  • @ryan0io
    @ryan0io 3 ปีที่แล้ว +27

    I was in highschool when these early cards came out. We called them '3d de-celerators', as was mentioned, a lot of the times the game ran better in software only mode.
    It wasn't until the 3dfx voodoo1 that actually impressed me. I was blown away by it compared to every other card, and compared to software rendering. But, that was early pentium, and pci.

  • @drd7of14
    @drd7of14 3 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    Not gonna lie, the performance you got in Magic Carpet isn't too far off from what I had when I was a kid 😅

  • @Kyntteri
    @Kyntteri 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Mid 90's was magical time what came to 3D games and all that new hardware was really something to drool over.
    Fast forward to 2021. Flagships cost $3000 and they're out of stock anyway.

  • @FlyboyHelosim
    @FlyboyHelosim 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    I remember the simple and exciting days when owning a 3D accelerator card was the difference between having a textured sky or not.

  • @WhiplashFanatic
    @WhiplashFanatic 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Shout-out to Fatal Racing/Whiplash at 32:02! Best racing game ever made! (I may be a little biased...)

    • @krazysk
      @krazysk 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I completely forgot about this game. Gremlin interactive had the best games at that time.

  • @guerillagrueplays6301
    @guerillagrueplays6301 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    The soundtrack on that Rebel Moon game sounds *kickass,* and pretty ahead of its time. Very much shades of NIN and late 90s/early 2Ks industrial.

    • @YourIdeologyIsDelusional
      @YourIdeologyIsDelusional 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      More early 90s rave/techno, honestly. Just at a slower tempo. It even has a hoover, listen to Human Resource - Dominator and you'll see what I mean.

    • @melskunk
      @melskunk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Well, downward spiral came out a year before this game, but I agree with the other guy that it sounds more like standard electronica

  • @LexoAstonov
    @LexoAstonov 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I like how they tried to achieve what Quake 1 could do in software rendering on the Pentium. Dynamic lighting and such.

  • @Kirix
    @Kirix 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    The box brings back memories of being in mom and pop computer store. I could only afford the Creative Labs 3dfx Banshee but going from Software rendering to 3dfx in Quake2 blew my mind

  • @SyntheticFuture
    @SyntheticFuture 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Oh man Magic Carpet... that was a vibe. Never understood what it was all about.. but it was hella fun to fly around and shoot stuff :P

    • @zenkim6709
      @zenkim6709 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      It was a game that gave PC gamers a taste of what would become possible in a few short yrs -- simulated 3D graphics rendered in realtime that didn't look like just a bunch of squares & triangles strung together over a flat Earth. The performance on 486 PCs was pretty shitty, but Flying Carpet literally flies on a more powerful Pentium PC (in fact, any Pentium system faster than 120MHz might make the game unplayable).
      As for the game itself ... Flying Carpet was a fairly innovative spin on the combat flight simulator: you're the apprentice of a now-dead sorceror who accidentally shattered reality into a multitude of alternate worlds; your task is to visit each world, destroy any magical monsters or hostile wizards & gather up all the magical energy ("mana" -- which appears as golden spheres). As you gather mana, you can use it to perform certain actions -- travel super-fast, use new attacks, heal your injuries, build & upgrade a fortress, etc. The end goal is to rid all the alternate worlds of enemies & use the mana to knit the shards of reality back together again.

  • @ms-dosman7722
    @ms-dosman7722 3 ปีที่แล้ว +56

    Might be worth trying to pair that 3d blaster with a regular ISA video card to get those other games working. Sometimes multiple VLB cards can cause strange issues. It's a bit of a long shot but you mentioned you'd pretty much tried everything already.

    • @adamsfusion
      @adamsfusion 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      I second that. Local Bus signal integrity was never great, even back in the day, and one device with really high bandwidth requirements could cause all sorts of issues or be itself defeated by devices on the chain with slow transition speeds.

    • @stefanl5183
      @stefanl5183 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Also, If I recall correctly, VLB ran at the actual FSB speed of the CPU. That meant depending on which variant of 486, or in this case pentium overdrive, you were using the clock speed of the bus would be affected. In some causes the bus could run at higher clocks that some cards didn't like and that especially became even more of an issue when multiple cards were on the bus.

    • @SimonQuigley
      @SimonQuigley 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      I had this card, and no end of problems getting it working. Probably bought and tried like 8 different 2D cards alongside it, finally found some configuration that worked. It had a nasty habit of causing the machine to lock up hard depending on which 2D card it was paired with.

  • @thomas5666
    @thomas5666 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I wonder if there has been a resurgence of interest in older pc games, from people that can only get really low end graphics cards.
    Around 2000 to 2004 I gamed solely on a ps1 and a hand me down IBM ThinkPad. Had the time of my life trying to find games from before my time to play and figuring out how to get them to run.

  • @jasonblalock4429
    @jasonblalock4429 3 ปีที่แล้ว +60

    You should cover Flight Unlimited someday, on it's own. It was such a unique and ahead-of-its-time sim, not to mention having the pedigree of Looking Glass and Seamus Blackley working on it.

    • @mrbrad4637
      @mrbrad4637 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I had the retail version of flight unlimited too.. I was amazed at the graphics back when it came out

    • @JimmiG84
      @JimmiG84 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The Flight Unlimited series were what got me into flight simming. They were all ahead of their time (FU1 for the scenery and physics, FU2 for the scenery and ATC/AI traffic, and FU3 for, well, the scenery, as well as dynamic weather).

    • @askjacob
      @askjacob 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@mrbrad4637 Same. You could even forgive the weird bumping the ground textures always did

    • @mrbrad4637
      @mrbrad4637 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@askjacob Yes, I remember it doing that now that you mention it.. It did look amazing from the skys - especially impressive that it was playable on a 486 DX2/66, Infact it ran very well on my DX4/100

  • @silverismoney
    @silverismoney 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I had the 3DFX Voodoo card. I'll always remember the click click noise it when as you swapped from 2D to 3D and you got so much better graphics than without, it was really worth the money back in those days.

  • @lordterra1377
    @lordterra1377 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I must say Rebel Moon looks amazing. It appears to have dynamic and or baked lightning way ahead of the time. It's pretty slick looking!

  • @rulzmaker
    @rulzmaker 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    This is the first 3D accelerator I dreamt about back in the day when I was just a kid. I've read about it in magazines and at the time it was out of this world. Much love LGR for bringing this back into my focus after almost 30 years. I ended up just hooking up my ATI Rage II to a Voodoo card later on in a different build.

    • @venix20
      @venix20 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      you can not call it Accelerator really ... 3d Decelerator ...sure :P

  • @DavidMarvin
    @DavidMarvin 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I like how you are talking about such small resolutions that were good for the time, and I am watching this at 256x144.

  • @TheSleepyCraftsman
    @TheSleepyCraftsman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    At 8:15, the magazine literally says "It's crap". Now that's what I call a no B.S. review. 🤣😂

  • @MakeLifeExtraordinary
    @MakeLifeExtraordinary 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    It was so much fun going to computer shows back then. There were 1 million choices from 1 million different parts, for people who wanted to buy bits and pieces to build their own machine. So much fun!

  • @ratinthecat
    @ratinthecat 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    You pulled out the printed manual with a binder clip and I got immediate feels.

  • @Edward135i
    @Edward135i 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    All I can keep thinking about is how the N64 must have been mind blowing if this is what PC gaming looked like just one year before it came out. Also I remember playing Nascar Racing around this time, I was probably around 6, I remember I loved driving backwards and causing huge wrecks. Also 6 year old me knew how to use DOS but 31 year old me does not.

  • @ChairmanMeow1
    @ChairmanMeow1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This is what made 90s computing fun imo. Everything was so modular, and I dunno about you guys, but I was opening my case all the time to mess with things, install other cards, etc. Things were so serviceable. I havent opened my current PC since I got it.

  • @robcohen7678
    @robcohen7678 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I remember thinking Vesa Local Bus was the coolest thing ever when it came out, and I loved how long the cards were, they just exuded POWER

  • @NoOne-oe3co
    @NoOne-oe3co 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Difference really was huge back in the day! Good video man

  • @stanlee5465
    @stanlee5465 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    DAMN, Does that intro voiceover from Nascar racing bring back some memories! "I'm Ned Jarrett from Papyrus, THIS is Nascar racing!"
    And then I'd enjoy playing the game at like FIVE frames per second trying to drive a Nascar with ONLY a computer keyboard!

  • @kfhewui152
    @kfhewui152 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I love the early days of 3D. There is just something charming about the blocky design.

    • @danyoutube7491
      @danyoutube7491 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I prefer the earlier days of bare polygons. As impressive as the leaps and bounds of the mid to late 90s were in terms of 3D, I generally thought them a bit ugly, though that could be down to a lot of the aesthetic choices made by developers. I thought the menus of this era of PC games were quite ugly as well.

  • @johnnieduke95
    @johnnieduke95 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I'm so happy I found you I have rewatched some of your episodes more than a handful of times since I recently discovered your channel idk how I never found it before!

  • @heclec4420
    @heclec4420 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I used to play Nascar Racing and drive backwards instead of race and cause absolute 1995 era 3D mayhem.

  • @mCreecher91
    @mCreecher91 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    That pop out control panel on your monitor is sweet as hell

  • @joethompson11
    @joethompson11 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Ah man I had hi octane on my mistubishi apricot, it was my favourite game as a kid. So glad you showed the footage of it, haven't seen it in probably 20 years and that brought back a load of memories. Thanks!

    • @MrDuncl
      @MrDuncl 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thumbs up for mentioning the Mitsubishi Apricot. I turned mine into a full multimedia PC complete with 4x CD ROM, two hard drives and 14K4 dial up modem for surfing the web. In terms of capability the biggest leap I ever made in Home Computers.

  • @edwardwaldrep7727
    @edwardwaldrep7727 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I remember this came out but at the time I had a Pentium 60 and it had the PCI bus and the PCI 3D Blaster was going to come out and it took FOREVER to actually show up on shelves. I think I ended up with a 3DFx Voodoo 1 and this card also and there was a utility program called Display Doctor I think that you used to tell your machine which one to use. I was accelerating Dark Forces 2:Jedi Knight. I spend a LOT of time playing that on MS Gaming Zone...so much fun.

  • @Gubalicious
    @Gubalicious 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    That table is the perfect colour and finish for a backdrop for old school graphics cards 😍

  • @Mr.Morden
    @Mr.Morden 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Back when having a "local bus" was a thing.

  • @coolie4u
    @coolie4u 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Dear Clint!
    I love the color tone in this video when you show the circuit boards. It's incredibly sharp and full of contrast between the green and gold plated metal. Very satisfying to watch indeed :-)

    • @LGR
      @LGR  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thank you!

  • @carlolalattacosterbosa5821
    @carlolalattacosterbosa5821 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I never thought someone would ever have patience to install and test such a card! Really nice quality video and narration here! Hope netflix willcontact you to sponsor something big, because you really deserve it man!

  • @PixelPipes
    @PixelPipes 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Such a legendary time in 3D history, and a crazy example of a really experimental early attempt at it. And this rarity really deserved this deep dive spotlight, so thanks Clint for showcasing it!
    P.s. I am not the same Nathan that loaned out this card, in case anyone thought that.

    • @classic_jam
      @classic_jam 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      liar you have every 3D card ever made somehow, and you're the only person named Nathan

    • @yosuhara
      @yosuhara 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I immediately assumed it was you :D

    • @boredbastardbullshit
      @boredbastardbullshit 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      You might know a fair bit about pixel pipelines, but you still haven't learned the mysteries of texel tubes

  • @davidromeroblaya7920
    @davidromeroblaya7920 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    When two of the five games are from Bullfrog: "An exquisite taste, indeed".

  • @DochMurder
    @DochMurder 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Anyone else just constantly watching LGR and waiting for a new upload?

  • @fatglist
    @fatglist 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    The time when there was a soul in every device. Whenever there is a device, then some kind of innovation or engineering solution. A video about old pieces of iron is ready to watch endlessly !!

  • @CaveyMoth
    @CaveyMoth 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I love your super old videos, LGR.

  • @JamesPotts
    @JamesPotts 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    I know you don't do the "game reviews" in general any more, but I'd love to see you play Magic Carpet, especially in random-dot stereogram mode

    • @drunkbillygoat
      @drunkbillygoat 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I'm waiting for that sims knock off game that actually looks better than the sims

    • @brucewrigleysgumchewz4667
      @brucewrigleysgumchewz4667 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@drunkbillygoat What game was that?

  • @dremcfleuve
    @dremcfleuve ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In the Québec cultural space, a writer known as Victor Lévy Beaulieu is often referred to by the VLB acronym. Which makes the name of this card funny.

  • @TheRealDavidLawrence
    @TheRealDavidLawrence 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The expansion memory board for that card is elusive! The last time I've seen any expansion memory boards was back in the early 2000's. Good luck and hopefully someone watching this will list it on ebay or offer it to you.

  • @raz1250
    @raz1250 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Clint keeping me sane during lockdown!

  • @HashMagician
    @HashMagician 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    34:06 Epic LGR snarl
    Gonna use it for an incoming message

  • @lodewijkwashier7284
    @lodewijkwashier7284 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Nice vid LGR.. thanks for deepen this out. Awesome to see old merch, vids and seeing this beast into practice.
    I recently bought a Matrox Millennium card to give Papyrus Nacar Racing a performance boost :)
    Well.. and the truth is, the card has become a relic and Dosbox is helping me out :D

  • @jasonkenn2187
    @jasonkenn2187 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for the info Clint! Really interesting as usual.

  • @WolfmantomLP
    @WolfmantomLP 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    " Volume in drive C is WOOD" Dammit theres a tree growing in my hard drive again.

  • @McAster99
    @McAster99 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    LASER PROBE DOWN is what I want to call a synth techno band.

  • @WaltTFB
    @WaltTFB 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    30:15 Whatever the quality of the graphics, tha's some crystal clear Barry Davies commentary,

  • @CRAZYHORSE19682003
    @CRAZYHORSE19682003 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I remember the first game I ever used a 3D accelerator on, Wing Commander 3. They made a huge difference.

  • @kujakojoe
    @kujakojoe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I was at that Comdex show and picked up one of these... was working for a company called 3DTV which at the time was making stereoscopic shutter glasses for PC. Should see if I have one in the back of the closet to send to LGR.

  • @alexjmarchant
    @alexjmarchant 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    That video quality is crisp af

  • @lukasjozef1774
    @lukasjozef1774 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I remember Nascar Racing, Magic Carpet, Hi Octane back in 95, Fatal Racing, Screamer, etc and I was amazed with the 3D graphics, usually I was playing on soft mode because I didn't had a 3d accelerator until 97 or so with 3dfx chipset.
    Ahh the crazy 90s the best decade for gamers.
    Great job mate with the video.

  • @clavius5734
    @clavius5734 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Man, I really dig the new style of background music in the ‘history’ part!

  • @advancingaustralia2913
    @advancingaustralia2913 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I had a voodoo 3DFX card that was pretty good. Ran Mechwarrior 2 like a dream.

  • @gudenau
    @gudenau 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I bet you someone could make a memory board for that card. Depending on how it works you might even be able to do more than 2M.

    • @garysharkey17
      @garysharkey17 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I was thinking the same they did it for the yamaha chip for the AWE 32 PnP card. Problem is no one even knows what the 2MB daughter cards looks like. If someone could just post a front back pick of it I’m sure someone could clone it.

    • @gudenau
      @gudenau 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@garysharkey17 It's a memory interface, with half the memory on the board. Shouldn't be hard to figure out by tracing a few signals, probing a few and finding datasheets.

    • @ironhead2008
      @ironhead2008 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I vaguely remember someone on the Vogons board working on a board design. I'll post the link if I can find it.

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ironhead2008 Ooops. Looks like you never found it!

  • @urhotmatua
    @urhotmatua 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for making the video possible, Nathan

  • @kamranki
    @kamranki 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Cool video! Loved it! Please do more stories like this.

  • @danielberrett2179
    @danielberrett2179 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Bonus Friday LGR video and Philscomputerlab! wooooooo

  • @miikasuominen3845
    @miikasuominen3845 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Framerate just seems to be so low, that I almost get motion sickness just looking at that for a few minutes ;)
    We have come far, indeed :)

    • @thedopplereffect00
      @thedopplereffect00 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      It probably would have run pretty decent at a lower resolution

    • @miikasuominen3845
      @miikasuominen3845 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@thedopplereffect00 Maybe, but they didn't give you that chance...

    • @thedopplereffect00
      @thedopplereffect00 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@miikasuominen3845 yeah. I think that's why Quake for example allowed you to set from so many different (and weird) resolutions. They knew people wanted to choose themselves between quality and FPS.

    • @miikasuominen3845
      @miikasuominen3845 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@thedopplereffect00 I think that's more from the developers themselves. iD added most of the 3D-acceleration themselves. And Carmack was VERY adamant, about how things looked and ran. I suppose they (Creative) paid the developers to put support in and (no surprisingly) they put minimal effort in to make as much money as possible ;)

  • @ronkemperful
    @ronkemperful 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I love your ‘throwing technical spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks’. That’s how my family for years checked to see if dinner is ready! Great video!

  • @elise1409
    @elise1409 ปีที่แล้ว

    Idk why but I just keep coming back to this video, I can't tell you how many times I've watched it probably over 50 i just really like listening to it on my drive to my university

  • @BennyTygohome
    @BennyTygohome 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Waiting for the day when my daily computer's gpu is so old it ends up on LGR

  • @Codeaholic1
    @Codeaholic1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Love the intro music.

  • @hundgirridchannel
    @hundgirridchannel 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Never thought there was a 3D blaster VLB, I've always seen the brand 3D blaster in pci boards. Thanks for sharing.

  • @OlivierMDVY
    @OlivierMDVY 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm remembering to had one back in the days... 26 years ago... I'm getting old :)

    • @MrDuncl
      @MrDuncl 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I remember a PC enthusiast at work going on about wanting an Adlib sound card back when they were the latest thing. The rest of us had Amigas or Atari STs and wondered why he needed an extra card just for sound.

  • @joeljustin
    @joeljustin 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Back then if you accidentally damaged traces on a PCB, you can simply use jumper wires to bypass it. Something unimaginable with modern electronics.

    • @Passenger-nj7in
      @Passenger-nj7in 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Oh man now I know what that weird spaghetti is on that gpu in my 133 mhz pentium-s system 😀 I didn‘t mess with it, I thought it had been sold like this back then 😆

    • @wich1
      @wich1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Passenger-nj7in probably was, more than likely the initial PCB design had a booboo and cutting traces and using bodge wires is cheaper and faster than getting a whole new batch of PCBs designed, created, and tested. Most certainly back then.

    • @Mike-oz4cv
      @Mike-oz4cv 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Still true today. If you break off a decoupling capacitor you can also just solder on a new one.

  • @VorpalGun
    @VorpalGun 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    14:20 I love the pop out control panel on that CRT. Never seen that variant before!

  • @alistairblaire6001
    @alistairblaire6001 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It would have been nice to at least offer the option to render at 320x240, but I guess the texture detail was probably the main selling point of this thing. It's pretty amazing how much further ahead the Voodoo was just 2 years later. Still, it's all pretty impressive to see on a 486.

    • @thedopplereffect00
      @thedopplereffect00 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      That's the thing, in the 90's they were selling magazine screenshots. It wasn't until the Voodoo 1 that they emphasized FPS with 512x384 and dithered bit depth

  • @NostalgiaChan
    @NostalgiaChan 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow, when you switched to the direct capture for Rebel Moon, that soundtrack hit like a truck! Was not expecting that at all.

  • @geerstyresoil3136
    @geerstyresoil3136 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I would try the VLB acclerator in the 1st slot, curious if you would get better performance. Sometimes the last slot on motherboards have reduced performance due to varying resource constraints, could be competing with resources of the other VLB card as well.

  • @Bagnon609
    @Bagnon609 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I wonder if the additional 2 Mb would help. I hope you can get your hands on that add-in memory board.

    • @garysharkey17
      @garysharkey17 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That would be awesome but there isn’t even pics of it. It would be awesome could make a clone of it. It would be great to be able to possibly get 30 fps on Quake.

  • @chrisducati26
    @chrisducati26 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Back then i was having an intel 486 dx4 100 with cirus logic 5456 vlb, i was ready to buy this glint 3dblaster but it was available after a month. so I'm glad i took the Diamond edge 3d right that time and still have it on my collection of hardware. Your channel is the best i always stop what im doing to watch every new video you upload

  • @CyclingLifePT
    @CyclingLifePT 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Trident also had VESA BUS: TVGA8900CL (up to 2 MB, SVGA, ISA/VLB. Slightly faster than earlier 8900 cards)
    TGUI9440 (1994) - Integrated true-color DAC and clock synthesizer, 1/2 MB PCI/VLB

  • @youfube-
    @youfube- 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I wish there was an option to get new parts with the classic and beautiful green and black PCB style. Mobo, graphics gard, RAM and other expansions. no RGB, just the hardware by itself. Just raw business and no GaMEr this and that nonsense that's flashier than the Vegas Strip.

  • @MaxSteele9
    @MaxSteele9 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    My 7 year old will never realize how spoiled her generation of gamers really is compared to us 90s kids

    • @datamike00
      @datamike00 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      yea, but your kid's gonna say the same thing in 40 years

    • @0MoTheG
      @0MoTheG 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Show them. There are emulators.

    • @gr8gassy
      @gr8gassy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Man, we're getting old. Holy crap.

    • @victorradial1179
      @victorradial1179 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      im just 20 years old but I love review polygons of old games. not sure what is in.
      I have not the same feeling in moderns actual games where I don't need to think straightly.

    • @brucewrigleysgumchewz4667
      @brucewrigleysgumchewz4667 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      TBH... I miss the early 2000's of computer gaming. That's when I did most of mine. Put disc in, install, run game setup, play game. On rare occasions it had compatibility issues or needed a patch or GFX driver update to work. My games rarely crashed....well except for GTA-VC. That game crashed hundreds of times on multiple video cards. It was just an unstable game.
      These days PC gaming is laughable. Even you buy the physical game from the store... It's...put disc in, Install game, maybe update drivers, (nope can't play yet)...Needs "internet connection" for single player game, Need to install Steam, create Steam account, now you have to download the game all over again (game needs a 20-50GB "update"), install update, now MAYBE you can play it.
      Yeah I get PS4 games have giant ass updates to them. I've installed several of them. But at least you don't HAVE TO HAVE the update before you can even play it. Sure, it'll miss some bug fixes and other stuff, but the game is still PLAYABLE and doesn't need a stupid internet connection to even work. Unlike Shiteam. And "offline" mode is a joke. Doesn't work all the time and it still needs to "check" ...try taking your computer to a place with no internet for a week and playing those games...hah...

  • @marcuslagergren5632
    @marcuslagergren5632 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    My family's first upgrade to our PC was exactly this card. Damn those memory's this video triggered 🥰