Voodoo2 questions (yay! :-)

[mangrove]

I am currently building an "old school" computer, to be used for old games (Descent, Doom, WarCraft II, Command & Conquer...). The goal for the computer is also complete silence. Basically, I am building the computer I could never afford back then. For this project I have dug out some old Voodoo2 cards, namely two of them. I have some questions however...

1) The chips are numbered differently. The two upper chips on one card are named D17400.00 BE, while those on the other card are named D17595.00 BE. Is this different revisions of the chip? Will it hinder SLI?

2) The cards are of the 8MB variant. While I understand that extra texture memory in the 12MB cards will give better texture quality (in some Glide cases only, or will Direct3D use the extra memory?), is it generally worth hunting for?

3) I have made my own SLI cable, but when I try SLI:ing the cards the computer will lock up when initializing a 3D app. The cards are different brands -- one Creative, one Diamond -- I know that it's not supposed to work, but I have tried using the patch at http://home.earthlink.net/~aosnovich/ without success. Is there a solution to this? The computer, being a 200/233 MHz PPRO, will be processor limited anyway in almost all cases but it's cool with SLI

For reference, the computer otherwise consists of a Intel VS440FX motherboard, 128 MB EDO RAM, 8MB Matrox Millennium II with Rainbow Runner, and AWE32 with 8MB extra wavetable memory on board. 200fps in Descent 1!

 

[David G.]

My sugestion is that you should get 2 cards made by the same company .

Is it that hard to find some 12 Mb cards ?

Also ... good luck , this is something I've always wanted to do but I think my VooDoo3 is pretty compatible and a little faster .

This rig is TBird 999 Mhz based with DDR222 CL222 memory VooDoo3 2000 AGP @ 190/190 ( I've atached a fan ) .

Anyway it runs King's Quest : The Mask Of Eternity better than my 9500 Pro on my other rig .

 

[kid_crisis]

Anyway it runs King's Quest : The Mask Of Eternity better than my 9500 Pro on my other rig .

If you like Kings Quest, there is a company called Tierra that is remaking all the Kings Quest games with better updated graphics. They have the first two games done:

http://www.tierraentertainment.com/

sample image:

 

[DethWraith]

I managed to get a Quantum3D Obsidian 2 X-24 on eBay a while back. In case you didn't know, it's 2 Voodoo 2's in SLI on one card. It's a big sucker, but does the job very well. There may still be some popping up on eBay... if you're interested, have a look.

 

[Cyborg]

If i had to build a computer for my old games (especially flight sims), i would go with the voodoo 5 without hesitation, they're cheap, the're fast (for the old games) and support FSAA, something thats a number one priority for old games since the majority of them never supported high resolutions.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2731705037&category=40157

 

[Tagrineth]

I am currently building an "old school" computer, to be used for old games (Descent, Doom, WarCraft II, Command & Conquer...). The goal for the computer is also complete silence. Basically, I am building the computer I could never afford back then. For this project I have dug out some old Voodoo2 cards, namely two of them. I have some questions however...

Awesome! This is the main utility of the Voodoo Series now... it's like getting old game consoles: Sometimes you just gotta play those old games the way they were meant to be played. (tm)

1) The chips are numbered differently. The two upper chips on one card are named D17400.00 BE, while those on the other card are named D17595.00 BE. Is this different revisions of the chip? Will it hinder SLI?

...yes. That's why you're supposed to match card vendors and why even teh makers of the vendor-ignore patch don't recommend it.

2) The cards are of the 8MB variant. While I understand that extra texture memory in the 12MB cards will give better texture quality (in some Glide cases only, or will Direct3D use the extra memory?), is it generally worth hunting for?

Not just better tex quality; some more recent stuff will still run on the 12MB boards, but will crash on the 8MB ones.

There's also performance. The 8MB cards have 2MB texture memory per TMU (4MB effective for anything that uses both - either multitexturing or trilinear filtering), while the 12MB have 4MB per TMU. The 8MB cards have to thrash for textures much more often than the 12MB cards in anything which needs a decent amount of texture space (example: Quake3 runs great at all resolutions and texture sizes except the tex slider's max - if you max it, the 12MB is still barely playable while the 8MB just gets killed; likewise the 8MB barely pulls off one notch below max).

3) I have made my own SLI cable, but when I try SLI:ing the cards the computer will lock up when initializing a 3D app. The cards are different brands -- one Creative, one Diamond -- I know that it's not supposed to work, but I have tried using the patch at http://home.earthlink.net/~aosnovich/ without success. Is there a solution to this? The computer, being a 200/233 MHz PPRO, will be processor limited anyway in almost all cases but it's cool with SLI

If you aren't in Windows XP, that means either A. your own SLI cable is fubar, or B. the cards just aren't compatible.

You did make sure you twisted the right set of cables on your SLI cable?

Anyway, I'd suggest you either find a pair of identical 12MB Voodoo2's, or find an Obsidian2 X-24. The catch with the X-24 is, it uses a special proprietary "Medusa" cable for output; most of the time the cable isn't included, and they're insanely hard to find at this point. Also they're mind-bogglingly thin (poor shielding) and excessively long, so the quality is ho-hum... I'd recommend getting two 12MB V2's if you have the PCI slots for them. =)

 

[mangrove]

<Good info>

Thank you very much. I have decided to, for now, postpone the SLI:ing stuff -- I only have four PCI slots, and I could use one of the "V2 slots" for a SCSI card instead for sure. Especially seeing that SLI won't give me any more performance... just more heat

Anyway. Now at least I know a little more, and what to do. Thanks again.

 

[BRiT]

Why not use a V3 PCI card if you need a little more speed or higher resolution? Or does the V3 not work as well as the V2's in pure dos mode? I used to run dual video cards back in the day, and it isn't too tough to get going, even with only using 1 monitor.

 

[Tagrineth]

Why not use a V3 PCI card if you need a little more speed or higher resolution? Or does the V3 not work as well as the V2's in pure dos mode? I used to run dual video cards back in the day, and it isn't too tough to get going, even with only using 1 monitor.

V3's clock generator isn't compatible with DOS spec and fails to function normally in many situations.

For example, IIRC the V3's TV-out can never function correctly in DOS (black and white display no matter what you do)

 

[mangrove]

Why not use a V3 PCI card if you need a little more speed or higher resolution? Or does the V3 not work as well as the V2's in pure dos mode? I used to run dual video cards back in the day, and it isn't too tough to get going, even with only using 1 monitor.

Mostly about three things:

1) I don't really want to go out and look for specific items. I have no intention of putting much money on obsolete stuff.
2) I need solid video in. I am sure there are V3 cards offering this, but this is another part in the equation -- I need a fan-less, video-in-capable, PCI card.
3) See above under "processor limited"

 

[David G.]

Anyway it runs King's Quest : The Mask Of Eternity better than my 9500 Pro on my other rig .

If you like Kings Quest, there is a company called Tierra that is remaking all the Kings Quest games with better updated graphics. They have the first two games done:

http://www.tierraentertainment.com/

sample image:

Thank you very much for the link .

That's a very nice thing they are doing there .