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Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical... (Read 246 times)

paulpsomiadis

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Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical...
01.03.03 at 21:43:25

I've had a hunch about the Voodoo 5 BIOSes available online for a while now...so I checked it out...

To duplicate the experiment you'll need... Tongue

1. ViceVersa - file comparison program (quite easy to find)

2. The following 4 BIOSes: -

a) V5500 1.8PCI
b) V5500 1.6PCI
---------------------
c) V5500 1.8AGP
d) V5500 1.6AGP

Go here for BIOSes: - http://welcome.to/3dfxbios

Create two temporary folders and extract the PCI BIOSes to the first one and the AGP BIOSes to the second.

Now make sure that both the AGP and PCI BIOSes have identical filenames for each BIOS...
(i.e. M55K118.ROM for the 1.18 BIOSes and M55K116.ROM for the 1.16 BIOSes)

Now use ViceVersa to compare the directories and you'll find that the files are TOTALLY IDENTICAL!!! Shocked

The conclusion to this is that there is NO DIFFERENCE between the AGP and PCI versions of the Voodoo 5 BIOS (at least for the 5500). Shocked

Therefore there's no real point to separating AGP and PCI BIOSes if they are the SAME! (so no need to mirror two sets of files!) Shocked

This brings the question "Does the same thing happen with other Voodoo BIOSes?" ???

The mind boggles!!! Tongue

(of course this would mean that the PCI and AGP versions of the card have very little difference in actual hardware specs, which would also explain why the Voodoo 5 5500 is only an AGP 2x card!) Undecided

Now if there were only a way to get it to run at 4x... Grin

(smart BIOS hacking types, were talkin' to YOU!) 8)

This topic should prove interestintg... Cheesy

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The Khan Artist

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Re: Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical...
Reply #1 - 02.03.03 at 00:06:42

I was reading somewhere that there actually was no 1.8 PCI or 1.6 AGP, and this was caused by a mixup somewhere, and they were distributed wrongly.

Dunno, tho.

Motherboard: Asus A7N8X Deluxe (nForce2-based)&&CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2100+ @ 2016 MHz (169 x 12)&&Heatsink: ThermalRight SLK-800A&&CPU fan: TermalTake Smart Case Fan 2&&RAM: Corsair TWINX512-2700LLPT 512MB (2x 256MB Corsair XMS2700-LLPT) Dual Channel&&Video: 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI&&Sound: Onboard&&DVD-ROM: Matshita SR-8584a&&CD-R/W: Lite-On LTR48246S&&&&OS: Windows XP Professional SP1 Corporate Edition&&DirectX: v9.0

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FalconFly

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Re: Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical...
Reply #2 - 02.03.03 at 00:56:17

Well, I also heard that is was no catastrophy if one accidentally flashed a PCI Bios onto an AGP card an vice versa...

Anyway, the AGP 4x wouldn't help the Voodoo5 anything, lacking AGP Texturing Undecided

And as we know, the AGP 8x exceeds most existing System Memory's performance by a fair margin, and is virtually useless.

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paulpsomiadis

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Re: Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical...
Reply #3 - 02.03.03 at 18:31:48

Hmm...maybe someone should take the time to investigate the BIOS structure for the V5500 and check which ones are the 'real' AGP and PCI BIOSes... Tongue

I get your point Falconfly, without AGP texturing on the V5500, AGP 4x is all for naught. Cry

Still, if we had BOTH of these features, it'd be cool! 8)

Hmm...and patience speculates on the existence of a 1.19 BIOS, VERY interesting...wonder if anyone has one of these or could find one... Grin

Although it does kinda' make you wonder WHY 3dfx didn't have 'proper' separate BIOSes for the AGP and PCI versions of the card. ???

Like, say other cards (even other Voodoo's) will say AGP in the BIOS at boot if they are an AGP card! ???

Weird isn't it? Tongue

-=To MOD or not to MOD, that is a DUMB question - just MOD it!=-&&&&+May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.+

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FalconFly YaBB Administrator Offline 3dfx Archivist Posts: 2445 5335N 00745E Gender:	Re: Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical... Reply #4 - 02.03.03 at 18:46:09 One thing I forgot : If you make a binary File comparison, you should still note at least some difference between AGP and PCI Bios Versions. Otherwise, would be really strange And of course, the Voodoo5 would need the 1.5V Pinout to work on AGP 4x (or 8x) Motherboards
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paulpsomiadis God Member Offline -=3Dfx still rox!=- Posts: 2011 Newcastle U.K. Gender:	Re: Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical... Reply #5 - 02.03.03 at 20:42:58 Hiya Falconfly! Is there an App. I can use to do a 'binary file comparison'? ??? I'd really like to continue investigating the BIOSes. Preferably an App. that SHOWS the differences, and not just tells you that there are differences! Cheers...
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FalconFly YaBB Administrator Offline 3dfx Archivist Posts: 2445 5335N 00745E Gender:	Re: Voodoo 5500 AGP/PCI BIOS identical... Reply #6 - 02.03.03 at 21:52:55 Sure, just use the MS-DOS fc Command. Enter fc /? for details and command switches....
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