3dfx Archive - Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" project

rottentreats God Member Offline 3dfx > Reality Posts: 616 Minnesota [USA] Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #75 - 24.09.08 at 21:59:03 Progress is good news! Keep up the great work Komponent!
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gamma742

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Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj
Reply #76 - 25.09.08 at 02:58:16

Komponent wrote on 24.09.08 at 21:43:43:

Huh... nice job the engeneers at 3DFX have done on the Voodoo5 AGP...
After alot of work, some interesting informations have arrised:
The memory configuration is set up both on hardware level with strappings on the PCB and on logical values into BIOS. You cannot have one without the other. If the settings conflict, the card will default to 8Mb RAM. The good news is that now I know how I have to proceed further and I identified the pinout of the strapping; the bad one is that it will take more days until results should be expected...

I can't help to wonder if the AGP and PCI 5500s will be the same...

The card I purchased for the mod is PCI Roll Eyes

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Tritop Full Member Offline «» 3dfx Collector «» Posts: 175	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #77 - 25.09.08 at 05:42:05 I just have one Voodoo 5 MAC, and I dunno if I should risk it... I am waiting for first results though...
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gamma742 God Member Offline 3Dfx Gamer Posts: 1668 San Diego, CA USA Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #78 - 25.09.08 at 06:02:35 That's what I have. Flashed to PC
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osckhar God Member Offline www.3Dfx.es Posts: 812 SPAIN Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #79 - 25.09.08 at 10:36:18 For modding the PCI model Komponent needs a dead V5 PCI for remover the GPUs and to search for the connctiion points on the PCB. So, no one have a V5 PCI dead? Oscar
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gamma742 God Member Offline 3Dfx Gamer Posts: 1668 San Diego, CA USA Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #80 - 26.09.08 at 06:55:32 osckhar wrote on 25.09.08 at 10:36:18: For modding the PCI model Komponent needs a dead V5 PCI for remover the GPUs and to search for the connctiion points on the PCB. So, no one have a V5 PCI dead? Oscar Well no I didn't know that. Has the PCI 4500 been modded yet?
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Komponent

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Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj
Reply #81 - 26.09.08 at 11:15:00

Well, the updates on the project are: I got the Voodoo5 correctly configured by strappings on the PCB to 128Mb. On boot, it displays 128Mb video memory. But it still was highly unstable; it will hang the system on Windows loading. I had my educated guess about why was this happening and my blame was on the additional wires soldered onto the PCB during the mod as they are prone to high frequency noise; but just to make sure I removed the mods (except the new RAM chips) and reverted the card back to the closest possible default state to test if it is working flawlessly... and it does, no problem there.
Then, I had the ideea that it would be fun to play with the strapping setups to initialize different values for the usable RAM on the card.
Anyone interested in an elusive Voodoo5 5000 AGP (16MB memory for each GPU for a total of 32Mb onboard)? Well, not realy the true one, but my test card with only a quarter of its installed RAM activeted:

Ofcourse, the card runs OK with 2x16MB RAM, but with much reduced performance. It was fun to play with this mod, but will get back on track to serious modding soon. I will let you know about the progress in killing electrical high frequency noise.

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m14radu God Member Offline Take your chance ! Posts: 555 Timisoara, Romania Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #82 - 26.09.08 at 20:18:43 Nice Work Komponent ! By reading your results, i remember that the AGP4X projekt stopt because i was not able to set the AGP configuration on hardware level and on logical values into BIOS. ( strapping bits ) Can u pls describe how did u change the configuration ?
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Komponent

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Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj
Reply #83 - 27.09.08 at 18:42:07

m14radu wrote on 26.09.08 at 20:18:43:

Nice Work Komponent !
By reading your results, i remember that the AGP4X projekt stopt because i was not able to set the AGP configuration on hardware level and on logical values into BIOS. ( strapping bits ) Angry

Can u pls describe how did u change the configuration ?
Wink

Sure. After the moment I am able to produce a fully working 128Mb Voodoo5 5500, I will disclose all the details that one needs to be aware of to be able to duplicate my work. Until then there is still work in progress and not safe to aply one more than one card.
I will also look into the Voodoo5 AGP at 1.5V project in the future if not solved yet by then... Please understand that I do this as a hobby in very limited spare time.

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Komponent

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Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj
Reply #84 - 27.09.08 at 19:10:20

Just a taste of what is to come:
The 128Mb modded Voodoo5 5500 is now working with no problem on Single Chip setting. I do not have time today to finish the other half of the card, so I will post the first results of a functional 64Mb for a VSA100 GPU. When I will complete my work on this card, I will open a new topic and present alot of details; but for now I will offer a snek peak.
You all are familiar with the next screenshots... They are taken when using the orriginal Voodoo5 5500 AGP on Windows ME and x3DFX drivers:

When running 3DMark2001SE on a 64Mb Voodoo5 5500 AGP with Single chip setting, I got 1687 points.

Time to enter the "mutant" 128Mb Voodoo5 5500 AGP:

And now, time for a quick benchmark:

As you can see, I got 1815 points, that is 128 3DMarks increase in performance, so the extra RAM is realy being used.

Now, if only I would be able to free some time to finish the modding of the card...

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ps47 God Member Offline Keeper of the 3Dfx Helppage Posts: 988 Slovakia,central Europe Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #85 - 27.09.08 at 19:32:46 connects the tips of his fingers and closes his eyes excellent.
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NitroX infinity YaBB Moderator Offline Posts: 1936 The Netherlands Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #86 - 27.09.08 at 21:10:06 What processor are you running on?
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m14radu God Member Offline Take your chance ! Posts: 555 Timisoara, Romania Gender:	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #87 - 28.09.08 at 08:55:04 Well done Komponent ! Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see the final result !
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Komponent Senior Member Offline 3dfx modder Posts: 282	Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj Reply #88 - 28.09.08 at 19:46:59 NitroX infinity wrote on 27.09.08 at 21:10:06: What processor are you running on? Athlon 1900+ (1600Mhz) on Epox 8k3a KT333 with 768Mb RAM. @all: Thanks; I appreciate your support!
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Komponent

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Re: Group buy for the "Voodoo4/5 more memory" proj
Reply #89 - 01.10.08 at 07:00:45

And it looks as it is working in full 128Mb.
3DMark 2001SE 64Mb 4x Anti-Aliasing: 733 points

3DMark 2001SE 128Mb 4x Anti-Aliasing: 823 points

Not much, 90 3DMarks extra performance, but clearely better. Will test with a more powerfull CPU. I do not see the mod as completed, as there are still problems: the card does work with no problem in Windows 9x, but it will not initialize in Windows 2000/XP/2003. It is possible that the issue resides in software microcode (BIOS, driver, etc.) but there are still a number of hardware strapping configurations to be tested. Keep in touch!

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