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Message started by LuxKiller65 on 29.06.05 at 12:23:21

Title: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by LuxKiller65 on 29.06.05 at 12:23:21
I recently purchased a Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM to use it in my old gaming machine.

I was looking for a newer BIOS, searching through Chosen_One's list. My BIOS states "PCI 2.15.11".

Okay, nothing strange yet. But I couldn't find a newer BIOS on the list, nor could I find my same BIOS version. I thought that it would have been nice if I had given my BIOS to him.

So I dumped my BIOS and gave the file to Chosen_One. And then, surprise! Looking at the BIOS file with the program found in this site, the boot screen text says:



And the VESA string:



Chosen_One first saw the strange thing:

"LC"

What the hell could this be? He proposed this could mean "LCD" (support), but would 3dfx be so silly and mispell it as LC??

I just received the card and of course I never touched the BIOS or anything... I didn't know I could see my BIOS until Chosen_One told me, after looking at mine.

What do you all think? Maybe Gary, you own prototypes V3 3k with DVI support. Maybe the BIOS is the same or maybe it is something similar?

This looks pretty interesting though...

here are the pics of the card, perhaps you can see something weird on it, you have more trained eyes than I do for 3dfx stuff ^^':







EDIT: the date is 4600... very late V3 right?

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Gemail on 29.06.05 at 13:36:38
Chosen_One maintaines an internet site with downloadable bios'es for 3DFX cards?

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Chosen_One on 29.06.05 at 13:43:34
no i do not have an inet-homepage with bios...
but i hope in the next weeks the new database of 3dfx.ch will be released...then all my bios are downloadable...if you want a bios write a pm and say what do you want ;)

@gary: it would be nice if you can send the bios from your v3 agp proto with dvi to me...maybe it will be the enlightment ;)

EDIT: 4600??? the v4-2 4200 16mb was produced 4600 too! damn late sample!!!

EDIT#2: LCD support without the possibility to install a dvi-port! strange thing in my opinion...
while searching google i found something interesting! maybe i can give you more infos in a few days ;)

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by LuxKiller65 on 29.06.05 at 14:07:17
Yes, it is quite late for a V3...

???

Waiting for the [glb]enlightment[/glb]!

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Chosen_One on 29.06.05 at 14:23:08
hm....LC = low cost...maybe - maybe not ;)
but the v3 3k is clcked at 166mhz...nothing strange about it  ???
if LC means low cost why was this string written in the BIOS?

EDIT: my v3 2k pci sg-ram 2.15.06 bios says also LC!!! what's that? i'm getting mad  >:(

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Chosen_One on 29.06.05 at 15:33:01
well...now we have to resolve it ;)
i looked at my bios colelction and found 3 other LC-bios!

Voodoo3 2000 AGP SG-RAM 2.15.06
Voodoo3 2000 PCI SG-RAM 2.15.06
Voodoo3 3000 AGP SG-RAM 2.15.07
Voodoo3 3000 PCI SG-RAM 2.15.11

only SG-ram bios are tagged with LC! any ideas?

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by gdonovan on 29.06.05 at 16:29:00

wrote on 29.06.05 at 15:33:01:
only SG-ram bios are tagged with LC! any ideas?


You answered your own question- The SDRAM and SGRAM bios are not interchangable.

LC might be an internal note indicating an SGRAM only bios, perhaps a reference to the ram configuration.

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Eye-Q on 29.06.05 at 17:22:56

wrote on 29.06.05 at 15:39:04:
Maybe LC is some sort of screen type ?
It is a screen type ;)
http://www.ocinside.de/index_e.html?/html/lcd_display/lcd_display.html

A small LCD. It's most unlikely that the LC in the BIOS have a connection with those little LCD's

LCD = Liquid Crystal Display
LC Display is only partly written clear so LCD and LC Display is the same.
Everyone who writes LCD Display writes the "Display" in principle twice.

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Obi-Wan_Kenobi on 29.06.05 at 17:36:11
Ithing it may mean Low Cost, since SGRAM older and cheaper is than SDRAM.

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by gdonovan on 29.06.05 at 18:49:34
The bios that support LCD have "LCD supported bios" in the bios call out on boot up.

LC is some reference to the SGRAM chips, techincal shorthand of some sort. I'm sure if someone downloaded an SGRAM spec sheet they might figure it out.

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Chosen_One on 29.06.05 at 20:56:14

wrote on 29.06.05 at 16:29:00:
You answered your own question- The SDRAM and SGRAM bios are not interchangable.

LC might be an internal note indicating an SGRAM only bios, perhaps a reference to the ram configuration.


i dont think so...SD-ram BIOS are signed as e.g. 2.15.06-SD...SG-ram BIOS are signed 2.15.06-SG but this BIOS is signed as LC 2.15.11-SG! so there is no need for 3dfx to sign SG-ram BIOS with another prefix!
well....once again...sign ;)

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by LuxKiller65 on 29.06.05 at 22:05:41
That's right, the suffix "SD" and "SG" is enough to make the difference.

:o

Maybe this "LC" is a little thing of no importance, but maybe it is something worth finding out!

:)

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by gdonovan on 29.06.05 at 22:11:34

wrote on 29.06.05 at 22:05:41:
That's right, the suffix "SD" and "SG" is enough to make the difference.


Were talking about "LC" on the bios decals.

LC might be a shorthand for a technical term for the SGRAM, as suggested before perhaps looking at SGRAM PDF files might answer the question since "LC" only shows up on SGRAM boards..

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by LuxKiller65 on 29.06.05 at 22:32:30
Anyway, Chosen_One probably got the right answer...

Title: Re: Voodoo3 3000 PCI SGRAM - BIOS
Post by Chosen_One on 29.06.05 at 23:38:19
j-dogg owns two LC-cards and he says LC is the sign of a 0.35 µm voodoo3...
normally the v3 has 0.25µm! so it is a voodoo3, clocked with normal v3-settings but has the old banshee manufacturing progress...

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