3dfx Archive - Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter

Komponent

Senior Member

Offline

3dfx modder

Posts: 282

Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter
03.12.13 at 20:23:00

I always wanted to own an AGP2PCI or AGP5 adapter and play with it, but no way I could ever afford to pay 100+ Euro on one. Solution? Build one myself.

Step one: construction of the adapter:
Connecting signals, power and ground.

Adding insulating wrapping.

Adding metal foil shielding connected to ground.

Step 2: Modding motherboards BIOS for compatibility:
]

The adapter allows using AGP 3.3v cards plugged into PCI-X slot. The only motherboard with 3.3v PCI slots I have is Tyan S2466 that is known for being incompatible with AGP2PCI type adapters, so a BIOS hack was performed.
Function is 100% stable. There is a small performance drop as expected, for example tested with a 128Mb Voodoo5 AGP, 2326 3DMark2001SE points versus 2645 when tested into AGP slot, but more than acceptable due to bus sharing.

I know, it's ugly, but it works, it's cheap and easy to build.

Back to top

« Last Edit: 03.12.13 at 20:23:43 by Komponent »

IP Logged

osckhar God Member Offline www.3Dfx.es Posts: 812 SPAIN Gender:	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #1 - 03.12.13 at 20:44:22 Amazing work once more! Using PCI-x motherboard you should get more or same using a V5 PCI-x than V5 AGP. - Oscar.
Back to top	3Dfx Site - Museo 3Dfx - 3Dfx Collection.&& IP Logged

Komponent

Senior Member

Offline

3dfx modder

Posts: 282

Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter
Reply #2 - 04.12.13 at 18:22:52

Alright, some tests were needed. In fact, just the perfect excuse to serve to my wife so she will not object me playing with my 128Mb Voodoo5 cards for an hour. Grin

After all, they are the first of their kind in the world, so taking them out for a spin always makes me feel proud Cheesy

Motherboard is Tyan S2466. OS: Win ME. CPU: A1900+

Voodoo5 5500 PCI 128Mb in PCI33 slot:

Voodoo5 5500 PCI 128Mb in PCI66 slot:

Voodoo5 5500 AGP 128Mb in AGP slot:

Voodoo5 5500 AGP 128Mb in AGP2PCIX adapter in PCI66 slot:

I'll also take this opportunity to thank Rolo01 for the support in this successful project!

Back to top

IP Logged

goriath God Member Offline Ruggedized Retro Gamer Posts: 599 Italy/Slovenija Gender:	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #3 - 04.12.13 at 19:22:04 Could I be blind but I don't see any difference between the two screenshots about the bios mod. Am I missing something?
Back to top	OLD SCHOOL: Because it was done right the first time IP Logged

Komponent Senior Member Offline 3dfx modder Posts: 282	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #4 - 04.12.13 at 19:30:08 Second column from left to right, second row from bottom to top. Forgot to mention the parts required to build the adapter: one PCI and one AGP riser
Back to top	IP Logged

Komponent Senior Member Offline 3dfx modder Posts: 282	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #5 - 15.12.13 at 15:38:06 Presenting the second REV of AGP2PCIX: Finished soldering: Protective wrapping added: Changes from first REV: Reduced height by more than 1cm. Universal PCI keying. 3.3v VDDQ taken from PCI 3.3v supply. Does it work? Yes! Perfectly!
Back to top	IP Logged

Geri Full Member Offline Posts: 216 Gender:	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #6 - 16.12.13 at 21:27:24 congrats. you should manufacture more and sell them. you will earn lot.
Back to top	« Last Edit: 16.12.13 at 21:27:37 by Geri » IP Logged

Komponent Senior Member Offline 3dfx modder Posts: 282	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #7 - 17.12.13 at 07:47:33 I strongly doubt that. So many hours of work go into building one that the price would have to reflect that. Would be talking of about 45 euro including shipping...
Back to top	IP Logged

m14radu God Member Offline Take your chance ! Posts: 555 Timisoara, Romania Gender:	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #8 - 17.12.13 at 17:41:58 Great adapter Komponent !
Back to top	IP Logged

Geri Full Member Offline Posts: 216 Gender:	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #9 - 18.12.13 at 03:04:48 Komponent: thats great, becouse the competitor's converter costs above 200 euro. i think you can start selling it for 65 euro, then you will see if you will able to lower the time (price).
Back to top	IP Logged

Komponent Senior Member Offline 3dfx modder Posts: 282	Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter Reply #10 - 21.12.13 at 04:29:05 In keeping the good tradition of guiding how to replicate my work, here is the pinout I used to build the adapter: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4383540/DIY%20AGP2PCIX%20adapter/agp2pci.xls Thanks Oscar for uploading it to your server!
Back to top	IP Logged

Komponent

Senior Member

Offline

3dfx modder

Posts: 282

Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter
Reply #11 - 30.12.13 at 11:19:17

Christmas Voodoo3 and AGP2PCIX retro hardware test:
Motherboard: MSI 6168. CPU: Pentium3 450Mhz. RAM: 128Mb. O.S.: Win ME

Voodoo3 8Mb 143Mhz AGP (Voodoo3 2000 AGP onboard):

Voodoo3 8Mb 143Mhz AGP + AGP2PCIX in PCI33 (Velocity100):

Voodoo3 16Mb 166Mhz PCI in PCI33 (Voodoo3 3000 PCI):

Voodoo3 16Mb 166Mhz AGP + AGP2PCIX in PCI33 (Voodoo3 3000 AGP):

Back to top

« Last Edit: 30.12.13 at 11:23:31 by Komponent »

IP Logged

Komponent

Senior Member

Offline

3dfx modder

Posts: 282

Re: Poor man's solution: homemade DIY AGP2PCIX adapter
Reply #12 - 01.01.14 at 14:54:12

Happy New Year!

Had a short time available to play with a fairly new motherboard ASRock > ALiveNF6G-VSTA:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ALIVENF6G-VSTA
The BIOS had to be hacked and I did it as quickly as I could, maybe I could have done it better, but it worked none the less.

Voodoo4 PCI in PCI33 slot:

Voodoo4 AGP plus AGP2PCIX in PCI33 slot:

ASRock ALiveNF6G-VSTA 1,8Ghz CPU Win XP SFFT 1.9

Back to top

IP Logged

	Welcome, Guest. Please Login