Hello everyone

Im sorry if im posting this on the wrong sub-forum, but ive been searching the web for information on this all week long and havent found anything.

First of all, im Portuguese, and im searching help on international foruns since i couldnt find any support on local ones.

As a computer enthusiast (work on a computer sales store) Im building a "retro games machine" to play old games, like Carmaggedon, Tomb Raider, Need for speed 2, Quake, Unreal and so on.

Currently my basic configuration is:

Motherboard Soltek SL65KV2
Intel Celeron (Tualatin) 1.3Ghz (overclocked to 1495mhz)
1.5Gb ram (3x 512mb Sdram pc133)
2x80gb Hitachi ATA100 Drives
Microsoft Windows 98 SE with a patch for the 1.5GB of ram (W98 doesnt enjoy computers with over 1GB of ram)

And a Matrox Millenium G400 Max DualHead as main grafics card.

Well, want i want to do (and need to know if its possible) its to install a 2nd 3dfx card on this system, so i can play games with glide support.

My original ideia was to get a VooDoo5 AGP and just switch it with the Matrox everytime i wanted to, but that would probably get me some buggy crashes with the drivers unlease i did a clean installation of windows everytime i switched them. Plus having to open the case everytime...
(I actualy already have a VooDoo3 3000 AGP and encontered that same problem)

So that brought me to a new and more complex ideia: Both cards on the same system. Obviously I would need a PCI version of VooDoo5 (there isnt really much different in performance to the agp one), or i would try 2x VooDoo2 (SLI).

My doubt is, since the matrox g400 is also a 3d card, will the SLI'ed voodoo2 work on the system?

What about any other voodoo3/4 or5? Will they work correcly as a 2nd graphic card?

Also, what kind of voodoo card would be the best choice? or even a voodoo banshee?

And yes, I do prefer the ideia of keeping the Matrox on the system, since the G400 is clearly better than a Nvidia Tnt2 and it supports bump mapping wich i think voodoo5 doesnt (correct me if im wrong)

Any help will be trully apreciated.

Thanks!

Hi & welcome!

Depending on the games you want to run, a V2 SLI could work nicely for you.  Although having a V3/4/5 PCI card allows you to run multiple monitors.  You would still need to reboot and switch card priority to enable that card as the primary monitor.

If you want to check out the multimonitor route and check for compatiblity, here's a good multimonitor database website.  http://realtimesoft.com/multimon/

Hello.

Thanks for the reply.

Running multiple monitors is not exactly a priority, althought it wouldnt be a bad option to set up two 17" screens, but since the Matrox already has two VGA outputs, thats an easy configuration.

My main doubt with the Voodoo2 SLI configuration, is if i can use the Matrox G400 as main grafic card  having the V2 working only as glide 3d accelerators, leaving the direct 3d and 2D functions to the matrox.

I remember back in the days to use a VooDoo2 (pci) with a s3 virge as main graphic card, but the s3 was purely a 2D card.

I actualy just bought another card today on a online auction to add to my 3dfx collection (besides de V3 3000)

So now im the proud owner of a Creative 3dfx Voodoo 2 PCI 8 MB.

If I could get my hands on a second creative CT6670 i wouldnt have to worry to much more.  :D

SilverShadow wrote on 26.11.09 at 23:34:23:

My main doubt with the Voodoo2 SLI configuration, is if i can use the Matrox G400 as main grafic card  having the V2 working only as glide 3d accelerators, leaving the direct 3d and 2D functions to the matrox.

yes,this will work,the fact that matrox is 3d capable is not an issue-a voodoo2 can operate under any primary device..you will be able to select on which card you want to run games quite easily-either in the game config utility,or by copying the correct dlls to the game folder.

ps47 wrote on 26.11.09 at 23:57:48:

SilverShadow wrote on 26.11.09 at 23:34:23: My main doubt with the Voodoo2 SLI configuration, is if i can use the Matrox G400 as main grafic card  having the V2 working only as glide 3d accelerators, leaving the direct 3d and 2D functions to the matrox. yes,this will work,the fact that matrox is 3d capable is not an issue-a voodoo2 can operate under any primary device..you will be able to select on which card you want to run games quite easily-either in the game config utility,or by copying the correct dlls to the game folder.

Thanks, thats exactly what I needed to know.

On the other hand i have one last question:

If instead of the V2's i used a V3/V4/V5 PCI, would it work the same way?

I mean, since the V2's are supoused to work with another graphic card and the V3/V4/V5 are fully independent.

Im pretty sure a V3/V4/V5 is more powerfull than two V2 SLI'ed.

Still, my ideia is to use the 3dfx card only on games where Glide suport is better than Direct 3d (on some games, there isnt even D3D support as I remember from my old times)

Once again, thanks for all the support.

V3 is not much powerfull than V2 SLI, but it can run in resolutions higher than 1024x768. In fact, V3 2000 is slighty slower than V2 SLI, V3 3000 is a little faster than V2 SLI.

I think you have 2 big choices :
1. Matrox G400 + V2 SLI - this is perfect for older games, since you can run even glide DOS games that don't run with V3 and above, they need glide2x.ovl (DOS file) - only V1 and V2 supports that.

2. Take out the Matrox card and install a Voodoo5 5500 card (or even a V3 3500 - V3 3000 should also work well, it's a very common and cheap card). This allows you to use high resolutions - I think that you can run any Glide game in 1600x1200 with V5 5500 or V3 3500. The only drawback is that you loose compatibility with very very old games.

RaverX wrote on 27.11.09 at 02:42:39:

1. Matrox G400 + V2 SLI - this is perfect for older games, since you can run even glide DOS games that don't run with V3 and above, they need glide2x.ovl (DOS file) - only V1 and V2 supports that.

I was forgeting that part. The ideia is actualy to play the DOS games also.

Yes, ill just keep the Matrox and try the VooDoo2 SLI combo then. 1024x768 is perfect on a 17" screen anyway.

I bought a Creative 3Dblaster one (CT6670) i just need to find a second one for the SLI, maybe even trade the v3 3000 for one. Strange thing, the seller said it was 8mb, but on the web it says its 12mb...

Anyway, thanks to all for your precious help.

Most Voodoo2's (including Creative) come in 2 flavors : 8 MB and 12 MB. Check how many memory chips you have on the card : ussually one chip is 512k - if you have 24 - it's a 12 MB card, if you have only 16 chips - it's a 8 MB card. If the card is 8 MB - ussually the chips that are missing are located on the backside of the card.

Example (exxe, I hope you don't mind that I'm using your site for this :) )

Creative V2 12 MB : http://tdfx.de/pic/creative_voodoo2_12mb_02.JPG

Creative V2 8 MB : http://tdfx.de/pic/creative_voodoo2_8mb_02.JPG

Notice the 8 missing memory chips.

Hey, its okay, I apreciate all the info you can trow at me

Im waiting for the card to come in the mail.

Another thing, does someone know where i can buy the VGA connection cables for the voodoo2 and the SLI one?

The guy that sold the card didnt had any of that.

Hi!

About VGA pass-trough cable, it is similar to common VGA extension cable, probably shorter. You can buy one easily at electronic/computer store...or check ebay.

About Voodoo2 SLI cable, you can built your own starting from a common and cheap floppy cable. You need to twist four wire for proper connection, see diagram below:

http://www.3dfxzone.it/forum_files/v2sli.gif

Thanks for that diagram, I already started to build the cable  :D

Two more questions:

Can i connect a Diamond Monster 3D II with a Creative VooDoo2 (both with the same memory size)?

I read somewhere that someone connected 4 voodoo2 on SLI. Im just curious if that is really possible, or if it was a fake. Has someone tried something like that?

Thanks.

Brand and model don't matter. There are even drivers to let an 8MiB and 12MiB card work together.

Running 4 Voodoo2's in SLI does not work; Voodoo2's SLI is limited to 2 chipsets.

There are systems with more than just 2 Voodoo2 chipsets but they don't increase performance over 2 chipsets; it's for anti aliasing and only available in high-end systems from Quantum3D.

Good news and bad news, and then again, more good news!

The good news are that the 3D Blaster VooDoo 2 that i bought online is not 8mb. Its a 12mb one. The guy even offered me a dvd decoder card from creative and a S3 trio. And that cost me less than 10 Euros (less than 15 US dollars)

Bad news: My Matrox G400 MAX died today. Currently i tested the voodoo2 with a XFX 6800 GS AGP (wich is not much of an oldschool card, althought its a LOT better than the matrox... But it lacks the "nostalgia".

And then good news: Im planning to buy this week on ebay another Matrox G400 and a 2nd voodoo2 12mb.

Once I have news of the computer fully working ill post some info and pics here.

Once again, thanks for all of your help.

Don't worry, G400 (even Max version) is a very common card, so you'll find quick one - and it's cheap too, but you could try other similar cards - Nvidia Riva TNT2, ATI Rage 128, S3 Savage4...

If you want to really go oldschool - try Riva128 or ATI Rage Pro :)

...or S3! Trio 64 + Voodoo2 was a classic combo for me ;D

BTW my advise is going on Matrox again; cards from this producer have the best 2D ouput quality ;)

yes, im going with the matrox exactly because of the quality. It beats the Tnt2 and previous geforce cards.

I don't know what to say, really, but I think there's a lot of hype there, I have quite a few Matrox cards in my collection (G100,G200,G400/Max,G550) and I wasn't impressed by the 2D quality. In fact, on G400 I can spot some problems on icons in very high resolution, Rage 128 have better 2D quality in my opinion and newer Radeon cards are even better in this area.

But that's just what I've noticed, anyway, I won't jump to conclusions just by reading someone's opinion, but I would test myself and see what I like more.