You guys were helpful answering an earlier question an I appreciate it...so I have another. Now that I have my Win 98 PC up and running well with two Voodoo 2 cards in SLI I have really got the nostalgia bug. I dug out my wife's old Win 95 Box I had stored away more years ago then I want to count.

I fired it up and it chugged right along perfectly. It's a PI 166MHZ running with a 200 watt power supply and an old SVGA graphic card and a Turbo button which I had almost forgot what it was there for :) What would be the best performer in this old box....a Voodoo 3 2000 or 3000 PCI card replacing the SVGA card? Would two Voodoo 2 cards in SLI work or be a better choice? ( I am a bit confused on the Voodoo 2 cards since I'm use to using them in with an AGP card.



I got to stop hanging out here....I've already picked up a few Voodoo cards off of Ebay to add to my exist small collection....you guys got me scanning Ebay daily for these old cards!  :)

Hopefully I will be around here long enough that some of the knowledge here will rub off on me and I can stop asking dumb questions!

Thanks in advance.....

Both the dual V2 cards or the V3 would work fine in this old MB... ;)

It depends entirely on WHAT you want really... ::)

For best compatibility with old GLiDE supported games - I'd go for the V2's in SLI. ;D

For general ease of installation (and better performance) I'd opt for the V3. 8)

Although the CPU would be a bit of a bottleneck...it's an old PC for old games anyhow! ::)

The choice is yours... :P

Oh, and don't hesitate to ask if yer' 'rusted_parts' need fixing...we'd all be GLAD to help! ;D

[joke mode off] ;)

LOL! ;D

Thanks....

I am a bit of a pack rat when it comes to PC's and software. I still have most of my Win 95 sims...including my old Jane's combat stick! My fly tying/computer room is starting to look like a PC museum with the Win 95 and 98 boxes set up ;D Going to dig out the the 486 next!

I think I'll give the Voodoo 3 a shot.....I assume the old drivers that came with the installation disk will be fine since most the games are old anyway. You did mention compatiblity as a possible problem with the V3...I would have thought that it would be 100% ( or close) with the older 3DFX supported games? Is this due to the code being specific to a Voodoo 2 card for example?

Yah, you're assumption is correct! ;)

Some older GLiDE games work more easily with a V2 than the V3... ::)

...there are 'ways' to get around this, but they can be fiddly at best! :P

However, you'll STILL get better performance from the V3 though...so the choice is yours! 8)

Hm, a P166 couldn't even put one Voodoo2 into any real sweat, let alone an SLI rig or a Voodoo3.

IMHO, it won't matter what Card he installs, with the exception of the improved Visual Quality the Voodoo3's 22bit POST Filter affords.

Once he's going beyond 300-400MHz, that might change, but not with a P166 that already has a hard time maxing out a Voodoo1 ;)

Thanks fellows...

Falconfly...and all...I am not a tech by any means so bear with me. Since this is a P166 the CPU is going to be the limiting factor on whatever card I install ( to be honest I can understand that this is true, but don't understand why specificlly).  

Falconfly, after reading your post my understanding is that the Voodoo 2 or 3 will never reach their full potential. Since I'm trying to keep this PC true to it's time period i am rethinking my choices.

I do have an Intense 3D Voodoo card with 6mb. When I got my original win95 system the fellow that sold it to me installed this card a year later as an upgrade and I remember thinking it was pretty darn neat at the time. I pulled this card and the disk drives when the PC died, figuring I might have use for them at some point. I still have the card, but I don't know if it still works. Sounds like it would be a better match for this retro system as far as keeping it "historiclly" correct. Plus it sounds like I would not see much performance differences, in general, between it and the other graphic cards.

Confused a bit...but maybe I can learn something here :)

Yep, that would work :)

Of course, the Voodoo2 SLI or Voodoo3 will offer one big advantage over the Voodoo1 :

Both combinations would allow you to run anything in 1024x768 (or even beyond with the Voodoo3) :)
(with the Voodoo1, you would be limited to 640x480, a single Voodoo2 yields upto 800x600 Resolution)

So if you can spare it and make good use of the increased Resolution, I'd still opt for the Voodoo2 or even Voodoo3

Note -
some old AGP-Motherboards of that time had problems giving the Voodoo3 enough power, just keep that in mind if you encounter Problems...

Falconfly,

A rather delayed reaction, but thanks for the Advice  :)

Now allow me to demonstrate my PC ignorance....The Win 95 box has a SVGA card installed in a PCI slot to provide the systems primary display. Since the Voodoo 2 only provides 3D....would I set it up the same as I would with a Voodoo 2 and an AGP card, in other words using the pass thru cable?....or is that a problem since the SVGA card is in a PCI slot?

That makes no difference to the Voodoo2.

Be it ISA, PCI, AGP, or even Onboard, it works the same way with all Display adapters (using the LoopThrough Cable) :)

FalconFly,
Thank you for bearing with an semi PC idiot  ;D ...I stand enlightened...including the use of proper terminology "LoopThrough Cable". I used a PC as a tool and for a few games..but left the inside alone as magic stuff! I've taken quite an interest into find out what makes all this tick over the last year. I am much better with Art :)

patience,
Did not know the answer so I went and looked at the manual...yep it is a Voodoo Rush.... I think I had the card put in sometime in 98 just before I got a new Win 98 PC.
If I remember right it was pretty good at most sims and games as long as I kept my resolution down to 640X480...the 2D never really pleased me.