to me they're fine, you can disable the 3d acceleration in the rage pro turbo in the first system, only if you experience problems in directx games

Pentium II 350mhz
[...]
ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI

That's not a good match. You need a 1 GHz CPU to fully utilize the power of a Voodoo 2 SLI setup. With a Pentium II 350 MHz, it's a complete waste. You're better off using only a single Voodoo 2 in this machine.

OK I hear you on the Voodoo2 SLI, I was going on roughly “period correctness”?

Being a slot 1 board I do have options for the CPU, I have a P3 450 on hand which will run at 500+ and the 1.4ghz Tualatin in the slotket which runs fine in that board (and can underclock slightly if need be)

So I could keep it “period correct” unless I need the extra power then fit a faster CPU, keep the faster CPU in there by default or just use a single card...

derSammler wrote:

Pentium II 350mhz
[...]
ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI

That's not a good match. You need a 1 GHz CPU to fully utilize the power of a Voodoo 2 SLI setup. With a Pentium II 350 MHz, it's a complete waste. You're better off using only a single Voodoo 2 in this machine.

I disagree with this line of thought even with a PII or K6-2 the SLI was the only way to get fast 1024x768 in 1998; so yeah even though the SLI setup scales all the way up to 1GHz and beyond it is not ‘wasted’ in a period correct 1997/98 build..

OK I hear you on the Voodoo2 SLI, I was going on roughly “period correctness”?

When the Voodoo 2 hit the marked, you could already buy the 450 MHz P2. And SLI was developed with scalability in mind.

As said, just go with a single Voodoo 2. Your second system already covers the next step, so this is fine.

I disagree with this line of thought even with a PII or K6-2 the SLI was the only way to get fast 1024x768 in 1997; so yeah even though the SLI setup scales all the way up to 1GHz and beyond it is not ‘wasted’ in a period correct 1997/98 build..

You may disagree if all you care about is being able to use 1024x768 with z-buffer instead of 800x600. The Pentium II 350 MHz isn't even able to fully load a single Voodoo 2. So it is wasted, unless you are hoarding dozens of Voodoo 2 cards.

derSammler wrote:

When the Voodoo 2 hit the marked, you could already buy the 450 MHz P2. And SLI was developed with scalability in mind. […]
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OK I hear you on the Voodoo2 SLI, I was going on roughly “period correctness”?

When the Voodoo 2 hit the marked, you could already buy the 450 MHz P2. And SLI was developed with scalability in mind.

As said, just go with a single Voodoo 2. Your second system already covers the next step, so this is fine.

I disagree with this line of thought even with a PII or K6-2 the SLI was the only way to get fast 1024x768 in 1997; so yeah even though the SLI setup scales all the way up to 1GHz and beyond it is not ‘wasted’ in a period correct 1997/98 build..

You may disagree if all you care about is being able to use 1024x768 with z-buffer instead of 800x600. The Pentium II 350 MHz isn't even able to fully load a single Voodoo 2. So it is wasted, unless you are hoarding dozens of Voodoo 2 cards.

Yeah I know you could get the P2 450 at the time, but a 350 is all I had... I will have another think about that one. I guess another way round it would be to get rid of the Voodoo3, pair the Voodoo2s with the 700mhz PIII and stick with 2 machines... I wasn’t going for 100% period correctness, just thought it would be a good guide to choosing parts