http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/album117/quicksilver_front.sized.jpg
So my Quicksilver system finally showed up today (A deal long in the making!) and when I opened it up found a surprise. The machine is setup with a 90-4440 AGPTV board as was expected but for a 2D device there was a Ventana 50 Voodoo Rush!

Doing some digging around I found these links-

http://www.quantum3d.com/press/HTMLarchive/3-27-98.html
http://www.quantum3d.com/press/HTMLarchive/9-17-98.html
http://web.archive.org/web/19991109093407/http://quantum3d.com/support/drivers.html#MGVwin9x

If I had to guess I think what happened was Quantum3D took some spare Ventana boards they had lying around, reflashed them for 2D only operation and sold them included with arcade hardware.

Here is a blurb from the Quantum3D web archive link above.

"There is another accelerator which also uses the ProMotion AT25 Alliance Semiconductor chipset. However, it is not a daughter board rather a normal PCI board. The accelerator is called MGV-PCI.

The MGV Rush populated board is similar to the MGV-PCI but has the 3D addition which is not used. It may some times be confused with Ventana board which has TV Out and 3D chips populating the board in a Voodoo Rush configuration. However, the MGV Rush board only uses the Alliance chip for 2D display and the 3D portion will not function.

The Ventana Rush may look similar to the MGV Rush populated board but has the Chrontel chipset used for TV Out. The accelerator has 3D chips populating the board in a Voodoo Rush configuration.  In addition, the accelerator may have "Ventana" silk screened onto the board near the Quantum3D logo. This board was never sold for public use nor was it released as a product."

Below is pictures of the bios on boot up and picture of both cards.

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/album117/Q3D_RUSH_BIOS.jpg
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/album117/ventana_mgvpci.sized.jpg

The board does function under 3D somewhat when the Rush single plane drivers are loaded. Turok worked fine but both GLQuake and Quake II had some texture image issues with the MGV-PCI. Might be fixed with a reflash to the Ventana 50 bios but I have no plans to do so.

More Quicksilver pictures can be seen here-

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/album117

very exclusive Gary, this is something you don't see everyday :)

Well a Rush in a Q3D system makes it very special overall, I really never knew they exsisted  :-X

yeah another very exclusive way to use good old 3dfx hw  ;D

nice baby gary gratulations  :D

The bottom card is the 'non-3D' card?

Very nice, congratulations. This is a very exclusive system

if you look carefully between the 3Dfx chips you can connect an extra daughter board :) like the Obsidian SB 4440 has ;)

@ Nitrox this can do 3D, as Gary mentioned it Runs Turok Flawlessly, but it doesn't seem to cope with GL quake, mabey case it's OpenGL, 'cause Turok is Glide, anyway just my speculation of this issue.

here is my wierd branded Voodoo Rush 6MB from Vero 3D, but it has no TV-outs either it does not even have the traces for them!

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/album87/IMAG0221.sized.jpg

click the image of my Vero 3D to enlarge ;) for the people that want to know it has a Macronix MX 86251FC 2D chip , it says that in it's manual.

I know Obi Wan, that's why I used the ' ' around non-3D. :)

And what has your Vero got to do with G's card? ???

just show'n my wierd Voodoo Rush, still not sure where it comes from though some say Russia, others Ucrane and some even mentioned Spain or Mexico.

According to babelfish, Vero is Italian for True
True 3D, original name ;D

well....then i'm a owner of a Ventana MGV-PCI since february this year....i thought it was a ventana 50 without tv-out etc coz it is older than garys one!

lol...i had a unique item and i don't get it in mind ;) now there are two :D

wrote on 23.04.05 at 09:40:05:

The bottom card is the 'non-3D' card?

Correct, it has no TV out and the bios that states "MGV-PCI"

It does work fine in Turok, but not Quake I/II & I did not test any other programs.

Another issue I ran into when loading the reference Rush drivers- The refresh rate goes out of the monitors range and the only way to get it back down is to crank up the screen resolution to 1024 x 768.

Even them it acts odd, but 2D works normal when the MGV 2D drivers are loaded. The other Ventana Rush board does not do this so I think Quantum3D did go out of their way to try and "disable" the card for use with 3D or reference drivers.

wrote on 23.04.05 at 13:51:50:

well....then i'm a owner of a Ventana MGV-PCI since february this year....i thought it was a ventana 50 without tv-out etc coz it is older than garys one!

I strongly suspect the seller who sold you those items stripped them from a Quicksilver Arcade PC system and that *is* how some of these systems were configured.

This system has-

S-12 AGP *with short backplane bracket*
Ventana MGV-PCI
Missing Game Control Interface (the wiring is there and the machines were spec'd out to have them for use in an arcade cabinet of course)

You were sold-

S-12 AGP *with short backplane bracket*
Ventana MGV-PCI
Game Control Interface

I would contact the seller and see if he still has the case =)

wrote on 23.04.05 at 12:40:10:

if you look carefully between the 3Dfx chips you can connect an extra daughter board :) like the Obsidian SB 4440 has ;)

Yes, I'm well aware of that and as soon as my 100SB-4440 arrives one of the first things I will do is see if a Shade module fits the Rush board.

I have been waiting a long time to find one so that could be tested.

asked the guy...no success :(

i bought everything from Q3D he owned ;) but he thought one part was taken from a Q3D-system (must be the Quicksilver Arcade as gary said)...

Let us know your test results eh Gary! ;D

This is something quite special! 8)

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/gdonovan_quantum3d/ventana_rush_1.sized.jpg

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/gdonovan_quantum3d/ventana_rush_3.sized.jpg

Yup it fits.

Frankly I don't wish to try it, something bad might happen.

yeah gary has a new camera... finally...

times of crappy images are over  ;D

wrote on 01.05.05 at 01:58:43:

yeah gary has a new camera... finally...

Nope, same camera.

I just take a few dozen shots and use the best ones.

<edit>

Have gone to a lower level of compression in Photoshop as well.

very very interesting, it should work more like a Voodoo2 now, it has 2 render chips and 1 frame buffer chip, so the whole card should have 8MB now. 2MB for the AT25 2D chip, 2MB for the frame buffer chip and 2x 2MB for the render chips :) That extra card would of been the second render chipwith 2MB of EDO ram ;)

just a speculation on how the layout would be speaded out.

Maybe I'll give it a spin tonight, be intresting if the Ventana drivers report a second TMU or not.

yeah well it looked like a second TMU, there would be no other reason for it . yeah I am quite curious of it too really :D

and the combination with the MGV-PCI is also possible...

Possible but will it function?

It will fit but chances of it working are even more grim with the MGV-PCI. Almost all Q3D boards come equipped with a programmable XILINX chip on board that contains extra information or functions (like a second bios in some respects).

It is very possible that the MGV-PCI not only has a different bios as the Ventana 50 but the XILINX chip has been reprogramed as well to inhibit certain functions.

wrote on 01.05.05 at 15:34:39:

Maybe I'll give it a spin tonight, be intresting if the Ventana drivers report a second TMU or not.

You got us all sitting on the edge of our seats to see the screenshot of the "display properties". I would venture to say, The image quality should improve by comparison of the Q3D 50-4400 to the 50-4440. If you own one of these (50-4440) cards, just pop off the daughter card and you'll see what I mean ;)

wrote on 01.05.05 at 20:15:27:

You got us all sitting on the edge of our seats to see the screenshot of the "display properties".

Not much to see there as the Rush properties sheet only displays PFI ram size not TMU.

Boots, works perfect under 2D, locks as soon as GLQuake or Turok are launched. Didn't matter if I used the 3dfx reference drivers or Ventana 50 drivers from Quantum3D.

Sorry guys, either it requires unique drivers or a bios/xilinx flash or both to operate.

No harm to Rush or Shade module. <whew>

well that's still a good thing it works, now to get that bios, that's another big thing aint it?

A bios or xilinx flash for a card that was never released that may or may not also require a unique driver.

/sarcasm on

I'll get on the phone in the morning to Quatum3D and have them ship what I need out ASAP.  ::)

/sarcasm off

I bet you hear the laughter from California all the way from Europe.

<smiley inserted as sarcasm is in good nature>

I hope you will be able to persue this matter further with your contacts within Q3D (I know you have a few). I find it difficult to believe that Q3D would go to all the trouble to put the exact 2 connectors that line up perfectly for the 100SB "Shade" card to fit if they didn't have plans for this option.

Possibly it was planned and later discarded. Who knows???

One thing is for sure, We'd all like to know :)

I'm sure you'll find an opportune time to inquire.

It would make for some good info for the Raven & Ventana section of your web page ;D

hmm Shade, sorry never heard of that one Gamma742, maybe Shade was the code name for the SB 100 series..

"shade" is the name of the second TMU daughter card units on a 100SB-4440. If you look close at the picture above you can see the name under the Quantum3D logo.

Hey Gary. I was looking at the picture above again and noticed that the "shade" on the Ventana 50 has a (standoff) and the bottom but the two at the top appear to be missing.

Just wondering, did they not line up at the top? Looks like there's a place for them viewing your orginal (1st) post at the top of page 1 (shade off).

wrote on 03.05.05 at 06:24:21:

Hey Gary. I was looking at the picture above again and noticed that the "shade" on the Ventana 50 has a (standoff) and the bottom but the two at the top appear to be missing.

There was a place for them, the pins were just missing.

wrote on 23.04.05 at 15:08:07:

i bought everything from Q3D he owned ;) but he thought one part was taken from a Q3D-system (must be the Quicksilver Arcade as gary said)...

You may wish to install the "S-12" board in a pc and load the Quantum3D drivers and check the properties.

If I'm right you will find out the "S-12" isn't an "S-12" at all but a 90-4400 AGPTV.

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/albums/album117/quicksilver_1.jpg

Just a difference of the flash on the XILINX chip, but neat none the less.

More info on the MGV-PCI board as installed in Quicksilver-

http://web.archive.org/web/20000824165755/www.quantum3d.com/Support/Eol/Qs1/Index.html

Download the PDF at the bottom of the page- It claims GRAPHITE systems could be deployed with 4500 and 5500 video subsystems!

http://web.archive.org/web/20000824165010/www.quantum3d.com/product+pages/graphitevst.html

wrote on 07.05.05 at 16:10:01:

More info on the MGV-PCI board as installed in Quicksilver- http://web.archive.org/web/20000824165755/www.quantum3d.com/Support/Eol/Qs1/Index.html

cool...so you got a GCI2 from me right?

Yes, I'm trying to figure out how to get a set of cables to hook it back up into a Quicksilver.