Living in the retro spirit, projects never finish 😜

You know,
We're too old to Rock'n'Roll and we're too young to die.

So we old Rockers get out our rigs
to make a ton before we take our leave 😁 😁 😁

btw, congrats on your new hotrod rig.

@ Jolaes76: guess you're right. I'm still working on this 😜

I have a question about V2 SLI: how is it possible that I get better results with a single V2 than with V2 SLI? 😖:S:S
At 800x600 16-bit 3DMark 99 MAX: 2700 3DMarks with a single card, and 2200 3DMarks with two cards in SLI mode.

When looking at results from other users, I should get about 4000 3DMarks with my CPU. I already tried another V2 SLI set (different cards), same results.

EDIT: I found the cause of the problem: AGP card. My V2 SLI cards seem to slow down when used with AGP videocard. With a PCI videocard I get 3900 3DMarks.

mOBSCENE wrote:

@ Jolaes76: guess you're right. I'm still working on this :P […]
Show full quote

@ Jolaes76: guess you're right. I'm still working on this 😜

I have a question about V2 SLI: how is it possible that I get better results with a single V2 than with V2 SLI? 😖:S:S
At 800x600 16-bit 3DMark 99 MAX: 2700 3DMarks with a single card, and 2200 3DMarks with two cards in SLI mode.

When looking at results from other users, I should get about 4000 3DMarks with my CPU. I already tried another V2 SLI set (different cards), same results.

EDIT: I found the cause of the problem: AGP card. My V2 SLI cards seem to slow down when used with AGP videocard. With a PCI videocard I get 3900 3DMarks.

Interesting...

So the single V2 works fine with an AGP card?

mOBSCENE wrote:

@ Jolaes76: guess you're right. I'm still working on this :P […]
Show full quote

@ Jolaes76: guess you're right. I'm still working on this 😜

I have a question about V2 SLI: how is it possible that I get better results with a single V2 than with V2 SLI? 😖:S:S
At 800x600 16-bit 3DMark 99 MAX: 2700 3DMarks with a single card, and 2200 3DMarks with two cards in SLI mode.

When looking at results from other users, I should get about 4000 3DMarks with my CPU. I already tried another V2 SLI set (different cards), same results.

EDIT: I found the cause of the problem: AGP card. My V2 SLI cards seem to slow down when used with AGP videocard. With a PCI videocard I get 3900 3DMarks.

I wonder if that applies to all AGP boards or just that particular one or just ones with the same chipset yours has and if it also applies to Slot 1, Slot A, Socket 370, Socket A, etc. It's a good thing I'm stocking up on V3 3000 PCI cards. 😁

sliderider wrote:

I wonder if that applies to all AGP boards or just that particular one or just ones with the same chipset yours has and if it also applies to Slot 1, Slot A, Socket 370, Socket A, etc. It's a good thing I'm stocking up on V3 3000 PCI cards. 😁

Lol, now you got me curious. How many cards do you currently have anyway? You certainly seem to be having a buying spree lately 😜

Tetrium wrote:

sliderider wrote:

I wonder if that applies to all AGP boards or just that particular one or just ones with the same chipset yours has and if it also applies to Slot 1, Slot A, Socket 370, Socket A, etc. It's a good thing I'm stocking up on V3 3000 PCI cards. 😁

Lol, now you got me curious. How many cards do you currently have anyway? You certainly seem to be having a buying spree lately 😜

Just got my 4th one a few days ago in a lot with some other cards. Here's the listing

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230659877073

I don't know what the TV thing is. It doesn't look like any other TV tuner or capture card I've ever seen. There's a 6600 GT AGP card in there and a Hercules GeForce 256 DDR besides the V3 3000 PCI.

@ sliderider: I was using a Viper V550 (RivaTNT) AGP card. Tomorrow I'm gonna try a Viper V330 (Riva128) AGP card and see if that one maybe draws less power and works better with V2 SLI. The V3 3000 is a nice card, but I prefer the Riva series. The V3 (OK, it was an AGP version) didn't work with Commander Keen 4 properly 😜 Also resolution changes were SLOW, compared to the Riva series.

@ Tetrium: Yup, single card works. But even then it's a bit slower when used with the Viper V550 AGP. And I'm running out of PCI slots, so it's either PCI + V2 or AGP + V2 SLI 😀

In case anyone is wondering where I got the AGP slot from 😉, here's a status update on my project:
- replaced mobo with the Gigabyte GA-5AX, which seems to run perfectly! CPU now runs @ 5.5x100 = 550Mhz, 1,8V. Especially the memory speed is waaaaaay better now, like, doubled!
- installed a Via PCI SATA RAID + USB2.0 card and attached my old SSD (Intel G2 80GB) Ofcourse this is overkill, but at least this part is dead silent now 😉 Also the USB2.0 ports on the controller are a nice extra!

Some new benches (with Riva128 installed):

SuperPI 1M: 4m57s
3DBench2: 349,5
PCPBench: 41,8
3DMark99 MAX (single V2): 800x600: 2700 3DMarks - 640x480 - 3700 3DMarks (finally my CPU can keep up!) 8300 CPU 3DMarks on both resolutions

BTW: I read a tip somewhere that disabling the mobo cache improves memory speeds when you have L2 cache in your CPU... and it does! By quite a bit actually. To do this, set "External Cache" to Disabled and "Host Read DRAM Command Mode" to Bypass. (at least on this mobo)

TODO: Test upcoming V330 AGP with V2 SLI, replace AWE64 Gold with an upcoming SB AWE32 non-PnP (CT3900).
Time to update my startpost now 😉

@ mOBSCENE
Glad it is all coming together for you man, and yeah, your performance is finally getting to be where it should. If you can, you should also run some Quake 2 or Half Life test just to double check your performance increase.

In regards to that one auction link, I was watching that auction sliderider but decided not to bother 🤣. I have had my own dilemmas lately Voodoo wise though.

Issue 1: Won a STB Voodoo 3 2000 AGP card for around 7 bucks. Sellers sends me a STB TNT1 instead. Yeah, they look similar sorta, but still what a huge letdown and such a dumb mistake. Seller told me to keep the card and refunded me. Seller had a V3 in stock still, for sale for around 11 bucks or so, but didn't want to get the TNT back and send it to me evidently. Oh well, whatever, crappy seller #1 it seems.

Issue 2: I had won a Voodoo 5 agp off a guy for about 30 bucks or so, and I attached a note specifically with the payment info to make sure to get tracking, etc, and send it to me after its shipped. Then I sent a extra message requesting such just to be sure. After a couple of days he marks the item as shipped, but no tracking... I ask him for the tracking info, to which he is slow to reply back about.

What does the guy do? He informs me he sent it via Priority Mail without tracking, and zero insurance. He did ship it at least, as he sent a pic of the postal receipt at least. Regardless of that, he did not take the extra steps needed to make sure the item arrived. And he didn't pay for/print shipping via paypal, so for all I know he fudged the address and it went somewhere else. Who knows. After waiting 9 days, with no item in hand, I inform him I need to go ahead and chalk it up as lost, get a refund so I can go searching elsewhere for another card.

Guy replies back the next day with a 2 message long pissy rant about how I was probably ripping him off, etc, and that he was going to refund me. Instead of issuing a direct refund, he just sends a payment back to me listed as "refund", so paypal takes fees out of it. So in the end, did not get his item, and ended up short a couple bucks or so, and time wasted.

Issue 3. Won a Voodoo 3 3k AGP for a buck. Shipping listed as about 4 bucks, so I send a message to the seller letting them know I want to get DC on it, and to send a revised invoice tacking on the extra shipping cost, that I would be fine paying it. Seller replies back stating they messed up, shipped it out already even though I had not paid yet, no tracking, and to just pay them when it arrives.... We will see how this one turns out as it has only been a few days 🤣.

On the plus side. Trip yesterday afternoon to Goodwill clearance center turned up a couple of decked out Slot 1 based towers, a brown boxed AIW Rage 128 with cables, and 🤣 at this one, a boxed Voodoo 5 AGP. 😮 Still need to test the stuff out, so got my fingers crossed on the AIW and Voodoo 5. If the V5 works fine it will go into the system the Banshee I have was in, as I have already moved the Banshee to a HP Athlon 850 mhz machine I have up for sale. 🤑

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

@ mOBSCENE Glad it is all coming together for you man, and yeah, your performance is finally getting to be where it should. If y […]
Show full quote

@ mOBSCENE
Glad it is all coming together for you man, and yeah, your performance is finally getting to be where it should. If you can, you should also run some Quake 2 or Half Life test just to double check your performance increase.

In regards to that one auction link, I was watching that auction sliderider but decided not to bother 🤣. I have had my own dilemmas lately Voodoo wise though.

Issue 1: Won a STB Voodoo 3 2000 AGP card for around 7 bucks. Sellers sends me a STB TNT1 instead. Yeah, they look similar sorta, but still what a huge letdown and such a dumb mistake. Seller told me to keep the card and refunded me. Seller had a V3 in stock still, for sale for around 11 bucks or so, but didn't want to get the TNT back and send it to me evidently. Oh well, whatever, crappy seller #1 it seems.

Issue 2: I had won a Voodoo 5 agp off a guy for about 30 bucks or so, and I attached a note specifically with the payment info to make sure to get tracking, etc, and send it to me after its shipped. Then I sent a extra message requesting such just to be sure. After a couple of days he marks the item as shipped, but no tracking... I ask him for the tracking info, to which he is slow to reply back about.

What does the guy do? He informs me he sent it via Priority Mail without tracking, and zero insurance. He did ship it at least, as he sent a pic of the postal receipt at least. Regardless of that, he did not take the extra steps needed to make sure the item arrived. And he didn't pay for/print shipping via paypal, so for all I know he fudged the address and it went somewhere else. Who knows. After waiting 9 days, with no item in hand, I inform him I need to go ahead and chalk it up as lost, get a refund so I can go searching elsewhere for another card.

Guy replies back the next day with a 2 message long pissy rant about how I was probably ripping him off, etc, and that he was going to refund me. Instead of issuing a direct refund, he just sends a payment back to me listed as "refund", so paypal takes fees out of it. So in the end, did not get his item, and ended up short a couple bucks or so, and time wasted.

Issue 3. Won a Voodoo 3 3k AGP for a buck. Shipping listed as about 4 bucks, so I send a message to the seller letting them know I want to get DC on it, and to send a revised invoice tacking on the extra shipping cost, that I would be fine paying it. Seller replies back stating they messed up, shipped it out already even though I had not paid yet, no tracking, and to just pay them when it arrives.... We will see how this one turns out as it has only been a few days 🤣.

On the plus side. Trip yesterday afternoon to Goodwill clearance center turned up a couple of decked out Slot 1 based towers, a brown boxed AIW Rage 128 with cables, and 🤣 at this one, a boxed Voodoo 5 AGP. 😮 Still need to test the stuff out, so got my fingers crossed on the AIW and Voodoo 5. If the V5 works fine it will go into the system the Banshee I have was in, as I have already moved the Banshee to a HP Athlon 850 mhz machine I have up for sale. 🤑

I was debating passing on that one myself as it ended at what I think would have been around 3 AM local time, so I wouldn't have been able to snipe it manually. It was only after I researched the Hercules card and found out it was a GeForce 256 DDR did I decide that I had to at least try. The chance to pick up a Voodoo 3 3000 PCI AND a GF 256 DDR in the same lot for cheap was too much for me to resist. I'm sure I'll also find a use for the 6600 GT. In most cases they're even faster than the FX5950 Ultra and as I may have mentioned earlier, Purevideo actually works on these cards where it is broken on the 6800 based cards so encoding/decoding of videos doesn't require as much CPU power which makes the 6600 cards more suitable for mid-range systems of the time period whereas high end systems with fast CPUs can handle video without Purevideo assistance so the 6800 not having that functionality is less of a handicap when teamed with a fast CPU.

mobSCENE,

what type of SATA/USB card are you using? Does it have Win9x drivers?
(If yes and working well, I might buy one as well...)

@ Jolaes76: It's based on the VIA VT6421A. I bought this one: http://cgi.ebay.nl/USB-2-eSata-SATA-Dos-Boota … =item4836919609
Works like a charm in Win9x, drivers are available at VIA site. Just make sure it states that it's bootable from DOS (if you require this). The first card I bought didn't have a BIOS.

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

-snip-

Bleh, that sucks -_-

I haven't had such experiences but funilly I made a similar mistake regarding the TNT and V3. I bought a V3 in a box of parts...NOT. Was a TNT.
It was then I remembered that afaik ALL Voodoo cards have a 3dfx logo somewhere printed on the PCB.

Well...another TNT on the pile, maybe it'll be of some use later or something -_-

Tetrium wrote:

Bleh, that sucks -_- […]
Show full quote

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

-snip-

Bleh, that sucks -_-

I haven't had such experiences but funilly I made a similar mistake regarding the TNT and V3. I bought a V3 in a box of parts...NOT. Was a TNT.
It was then I remembered that afaik ALL Voodoo cards have a 3dfx logo somewhere printed on the PCB.

Well...another TNT on the pile, maybe it'll be of some use later or something -_-

You have to learn how to identify the cards by sight even when the seller doesn't provide a good description. Go to the Dodge Garage. He has pictures of nearly every permutation of 3dfx card designs there. Individual card makers usually didn't vary much from the reference designs back then, so it's easier to spot a particular type of card by sight.

Some cards can be a bit harder to identify by sight, then you have to rely on any numbers that you might see on the card. The early GeForces are a good example of this. That same design used by the GeForce SDR/DDR was used across the entire GeForce 2 line, the GeForce 3 and the GeForce 4MX. GeForce 3's usually have big heatsinks across the memory chips, so at least they are differentiated visually from the rest, but with no other major distinguishing features to tell them apart, you'd be hard pressed to tell a GeForce SDR/DDR from a 2MX, 2GTS or 4MX from pictures alone.

I'm usually good at identifying cards. This was a couple years ago and I made the silly mistake of letting the STB logo fool me, I'm sure you know why 😜

mobSCENE,

thanks for the info on the ViA multi-port card, unfortunately they do not ship to where I live. I must have it shipped to Germany again... 😢

sliderider wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

Bleh, that sucks -_- […]
Show full quote

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

-snip-

Bleh, that sucks -_-

I haven't had such experiences but funilly I made a similar mistake regarding the TNT and V3. I bought a V3 in a box of parts...NOT. Was a TNT.
It was then I remembered that afaik ALL Voodoo cards have a 3dfx logo somewhere printed on the PCB.

Well...another TNT on the pile, maybe it'll be of some use later or something -_-

You have to learn how to identify the cards by sight even when the seller doesn't provide a good description. Go to the Dodge Garage. He has pictures of nearly every permutation of 3dfx card designs there. Individual card makers usually didn't vary much from the reference designs back then, so it's easier to spot a particular type of card by sight.

Some cards can be a bit harder to identify by sight, then you have to rely on any numbers that you might see on the card. The early GeForces are a good example of this. That same design used by the GeForce SDR/DDR was used across the entire GeForce 2 line, the GeForce 3 and the GeForce 4MX. GeForce 3's usually have big heatsinks across the memory chips, so at least they are differentiated visually from the rest, but with no other major distinguishing features to tell them apart, you'd be hard pressed to tell a GeForce SDR/DDR from a 2MX, 2GTS or 4MX from pictures alone.

Yeah, and this was the problem. The guy either used a older stock pic of his own or something, but the card pictured in the auction was indeed a V3 2000. Here is the auction link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260826208909?ssPageNa … 984.m1439.l2649

Its possible he had sellers remorse for the price he listed it at, and thought I would be just as happy with any old similar looking card, or he simply just did not pay attention when packing the card up to mail out to me and nabbed the TNT by mistake. At any rate, yet again stuck with another ho hum TNT card, not like I did not have 4 of them already as is 🤣.

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

Yeah, and this was the problem. The guy either used a older stock pic of his own or something, but the card pictured in the auct […]
Show full quote

sliderider wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

Bleh, that sucks -_- […]
Show full quote

Bleh, that sucks -_-

I haven't had such experiences but funilly I made a similar mistake regarding the TNT and V3. I bought a V3 in a box of parts...NOT. Was a TNT.
It was then I remembered that afaik ALL Voodoo cards have a 3dfx logo somewhere printed on the PCB.

Well...another TNT on the pile, maybe it'll be of some use later or something -_-

You have to learn how to identify the cards by sight even when the seller doesn't provide a good description. Go to the Dodge Garage. He has pictures of nearly every permutation of 3dfx card designs there. Individual card makers usually didn't vary much from the reference designs back then, so it's easier to spot a particular type of card by sight.

Some cards can be a bit harder to identify by sight, then you have to rely on any numbers that you might see on the card. The early GeForces are a good example of this. That same design used by the GeForce SDR/DDR was used across the entire GeForce 2 line, the GeForce 3 and the GeForce 4MX. GeForce 3's usually have big heatsinks across the memory chips, so at least they are differentiated visually from the rest, but with no other major distinguishing features to tell them apart, you'd be hard pressed to tell a GeForce SDR/DDR from a 2MX, 2GTS or 4MX from pictures alone.

Yeah, and this was the problem. The guy either used a older stock pic of his own or something, but the card pictured in the auction was indeed a V3 2000. Here is the auction link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260826208909?ssPageNa … 984.m1439.l2649

Its possible he had sellers remorse for the price he listed it at, and thought I would be just as happy with any old similar looking card, or he simply just did not pay attention when packing the card up to mail out to me and nabbed the TNT by mistake. At any rate, yet again stuck with another ho hum TNT card, not like I did not have 4 of them already as is 🤣.

I hope you gave negative feedback for the card not being as described.

Incidentally, here is a pic of STB Velocity 4400

Look familiar?

Nah, just a neutral, since he did refund me asap and did "give" me the TNT, as it were. Basically just stated on his fb "Seller sent wrong card,instead sent STB TNT card.my time wasted,but was refunded". Now the Voodoo 5 ebay seller on the other hand, he got a negative for being such a careless bag of dicks.

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

Nah, just a neutral, since he did refund me asap and did "give" me the TNT, as it were. Basically just stated on his fb "Seller sent wrong card,instead sent STB TNT card.my time wasted,but was refunded". Now the Voodoo 5 ebay seller on the other hand, he got a negative for being such a careless bag of dicks.

Instead of asking for a refund for the V5, you should have just filed a complaint with ebay that the item was never received. They guarantee a full refund including shipping now, so it is on the seller to make sure he ships on time and that the item is in the condition as it was described. If it isn't, he eats the shipping not you.

I had actually just thought the guy would hit the refund option on my original payment if he was going to do it, but I did inform him that I was going to open a case with ebay if he did not. I was trying to give him the option to avoid a case being opened, which he opted for. He did refund my shipping, but like I said, in the refund he did, he did it like he was just sending me money, and paypal took out their fees from it.

The buyer protection cases tend to take some time to be resolved if the seller wants to drag it out, so I try to settle problems outside of one if I can to get all my money back faster, and just open one if that fails. That and well, some sellers, the good ones, do try to own up to their mistakes usually and will resolve problems case free, so I try to give them a chance if their FB ratings are solid. And yeah, that was the TNT card that one seller sent me, except the model he sent was the bare bones, missing the TV out jacks.