Hi there,
I have two Voodoo 2 s in SLI using mismatched Athlon driver as one card is Creative the other is unknow, both have installed ok and the control panel aplett implies that SLI is detected but the memory size remains at 8 and 4 respectively.

I can run games ok

Try running some old games in 1024x768 resolution. :)

e.g. Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Quake, Quake 2, etc...

If they DO run in 1024x768 - then SLI is working. 8-)

If NOT, then you don't have SLI. :'(

ok thanks for that

paulpsomiadis wrote on 21.07.08 at 15:12:38:

If they DO run in 1024x768 - then SLI is working. 8-)

Not necessarily; i've had Battlezone running at 1024x768 on a single Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 before.

Indeed, I think a single V2 can handle 1024x768 if the game doens't use Z Buffer.

The games I listed all require SLI to run at 1024x768.

The only exception is using a Metabyte Wicked3D Voodoo 2 - their cards CAN handle these games without SLI.

(special drivers)

paulpsomiadis wrote on 21.07.08 at 23:37:00:

The games I listed all require SLI to run at 1024x768. The only exception is using a Metabyte Wicked3D Voodoo 2 - their cards CAN handle these games without SLI. (special drivers)

That is interesting, I didn´t know that...

Are other Voodoo 2s compatible with that driver?

Unfortunately NOPE! :'(

Metabyte did "something" to their cards so that they are not reference design. :-?

So they are detected as a "Metabyte Voodoo 2" by Winblows... :P

(LOL! I'm just guessing - but I DO know they aren't reference... ;))

Wow I want one too ^^

Metabyte V2 can't support 1024x768 in Z-buffer game, they have 4 mb buffer memory like the majority V2s, drivers allow 1024x672 max, but thats a custom resolution and not many games can set that resolution.

I'm trying to be efficient so I won't start a new thread for the same problem.

I finally got myself the time needed to perform the SLi Operation. Made without much complication a short floppy cable, chose the V2 cards that appeal to me most (having 4 of them and none identical, I had to choose the ones that shared the same type of memory - EliteMT), downloaded the best drivers (Fastvoodoo 4) and made the modifications that KoolSmoky advised (using his own driver replacements).

Now I imagined myself to be much more happier and extatic about it, but all the excitement seemed to vanish a couple of minutes after the final boot - all the icon letters appeared like hieroglyphs and in all possible colours. But that was yesterday, today the display was fine.

1) In the Display Properties menu, under the 3dfx V2-1000 tab, the Information section states:
"Scanline interleave : Detected !!"
But all the values don't double, they remain the same as when using a single card : 4MB frame buffer + 8MB Texture memory.

2) The Advanced Properties section has no box checked; I wonder what will happen if I click "Disable SLi" ?
The display will work with only the primary card (thus minimising the risk of hieroglyphs) and there are no other compatibility risks to bother ?

3) The Voodoo 2 Tweaker starts with "buffer swaps sync" checked, I've read about it and realised it's better this way. But... does it need to stay everytime this way ? Are there applications that can require this option unchecked ?

4) What other checkboxes can I activate to increase the performance ? What is the purpose of limiting texture memory to 2MB ?

5) Why doesn't the score double in 3DMark 2000 ? A single card yelds 2195 points and the SLI configuration delivers only ~600 points in plus. I read on wikipedia that VooDoo 2 SLI differs by nVidia SLI in terms of performance, the last one offering a performance boost of 40-60%. Shouldn't the VooDoo 2 SLI double the performance because it uses another method of scalability ?

3DMark 2000 (all tests in 800x600, CPU Speed disabled)
Creative 3D Blaster : 2195 ;
CMC Orbit 3D : 2195 ;
SLI : 2788 .

Test system :
S3 Virge DX 4MB 2D;
Pentium 3 Tualatin 1133 MHz;
2x512MB SDRAM ECC;
VIA Chipset Motherboard.
Windows 98 SE.

I'll leave you a couple of pictures so you'll have a firm understanding.
Thanks for your time.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5224/properties2.png
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/946/properties3.png

Dexter wrote on 24.01.12 at 15:14:11:

1) In the Display Properties menu, under the 3dfx V2-1000 tab, the Information section states: "Scanline interleave : Detected !!" But all the values don't double, they remain the same as when using a single card : 4MB frame buffer + 8MB Texture memory.

I wouldn't care about that so much. FastVoodoo2 driver series is affected by a visual issue due a wrong driver's library.

FV2 4.6 should display even 16MB for the Total Texture Memory

But your SLi setup is working fine. That's only a visual issue in the graphical user interface.

About the 3DMark score, I would try to raise the resolution to 1024x768 and see what will happen...could be the Tualatin the bottleneck? I don't know, let's try ;)

I changed the FastVoodoo drivers for the 2007 version of "Voodoo23DAccelerator". No artifacts spotted today.
I guess I forgot to mention yesterday that I've also run the 3D Mark 2000 in 1024x768 resolution.
2361.

The thing that still bothers me is the very low gain obtained in the same resolution that a single card helds (800x600). I was expecting a doubled result or, at least, a gain by 1500 points or so...
I find it hard to believe that someone in '97 would pay another 250$ for a second VooDoo 2, knowing it would bring him about 25%  performance improvement.

That's why I ask you all if I made a mistake somewhere with the config.

Here's a pic of the internal view.
Cheers.

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/8280/250120121848.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/6923/250120121847.jpg

Honestly, despite a bench score, in 1997 there was no game that a single Voodoo2 couldn't perfectly accelerate. The goal to achieve adding a second card in SLi was to reach higher resolution without sacrifice performances.