Jorpho wrote:

There has been some talk of quad-SLI setups that can apparently outperform a Voodoo5 as far as Glide2x goes – but of course that would require taking up four PCI slots.

What cards are we talking about running in quad-SLI? Are we talking about nVidia cards running a wrapper/emulator or has someone hacked V2s to run quad?

Rhuwyn wrote:

has someone hacked V2s to run quad?

Yes, that. The details are kind of hard to come by. It is of course very much nonstandard and requires a custom hardware widget to bridge the cards.

For Glide in Windows you may buy cheaper Voodoo3-4 which have similar compatibility. Also try Glide-wrappers.

firage wrote:

GF3+ are bugged in a couple of my favorite D3D games.

Which games? Which drivers?

Jorpho wrote:

Rhuwyn wrote:

has someone hacked V2s to run quad?

Yes, that. The details are kind of hard to come by. It is of course very much nonstandard and requires a custom hardware widget to bridge the cards.

I googled it real quick and it looks like the question has been asked several times every occurrence I forums that I see people say it's not possible. I'd be interested in this if anyone can point to any proof it's actually been done.

After scouring ebay I just happen to find an auction where a guy was selling a lot of 4 cards including a Voodoo2. The guy just called it a Diamond Monster II and didnt know what it was. Picked up the auction for 5 bucks plus an inflated 15 bucks shipping. Came with what looks like a 1st gen AGP TNT card also. I also already have a Voodoo3 2000.

For many of us Glide is as much about dreams of past glory and fond memories of our first game-changing/eye-popping glimpse into virtual 3D as anything else. But as other posters have noted, if the intent is simply to be able to run Glide games on native hardware then one of the V3 options are attractive on a price per pound basis. The V3 also has great image quality and robust DOS compatibility. If you demand maximum Glide performance on native hardware the V5 is really your only practical choice, expensive as it is.

So assuming you're not buying-in to satisfy a primal urge, go V3, and use the nGlide wrapper on a powerful W98 rig for maximum performance and compatibility.

tincup wrote:

For many of us Glide is as much about dreams of past glory and fond memories of our first game-changing/eye-popping glimpse into virtual 3D as anything else. But as other posters have noted, if the intent is simply to be able to run Glide games on native hardware then one of the V3 options are attractive on a price per pound basis. The V3 also has great image quality and robust DOS compatibility. If you demand maximum Glide performance on native hardware the V5 is really your only practical choice, expensive as it is.

So assuming you're not buying-in to satisfy a primal urge, go V3, and use the nGlide wrapper on a powerful W98 rig for maximum performance and compatibility.

I like to tinker. Half the time I start out with ideas about how awesome it will be if I can do or build X,Y, or X. I have a modded version of every console that has known hacks, I do Raspberry PI projects, Android devices, i've ran old emulators on pretty much any hardware you can think of. Whatever gadget or doohickeys you can think of I pretty much have it. Right now I am on a retro PC kick and been picking up tons of old towers from a guy to gets them from estate sales for next to nothing and I give him like 8-10 bucks a tower. Now I am just looking to get key component to fill in the gaps.

Rhuwyn wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

There has been some talk of quad-SLI setups that can apparently outperform a Voodoo5 as far as Glide2x goes – but of course that would require taking up four PCI slots.

What cards are we talking about running in quad-SLI? Are we talking about nVidia cards running a wrapper/emulator or has someone hacked V2s to run quad?

When quad sli came up in this topic, I actually thought about these...

Tertz wrote:

firage wrote:

GF3+ are bugged in a couple of my favorite D3D games.

Which games? Which drivers?

X-Wing Alliance and NFS: Porsche Unleashed are two that have issues with all those cards regardless of driver version, other issues are more tied to driver bugs.

Nice to know I can get some of my money back on my 5500 3dfx (purchased new), still have the box and everything. 😉

Never bothered with a GLIDE wrapper since I had (and still have) pretty much all the common 3dfx cards made. For me using the original hardware is fun, some people just want to play the game and not mess with the setup pains.

I guess you have to ask yourself if playing glide games on high end (for the time) 5500's is something you want to invest in. Are the cards going to get more expensive as time goes by or cheaper?

Unknown_K wrote:

Nice to know I can get some of my money back on my 5500 3dfx (purchased new), still have the box and everything. 😉

Never bothered with a GLIDE wrapper since I had (and still have) pretty much all the common 3dfx cards made. For me using the original hardware is fun, some people just want to play the game and not mess with the setup pains.

I guess you have to ask yourself if playing glide games on high end (for the time) 5500's is something you want to invest in. Are the cards going to get more expensive as time goes by or cheaper?

I've owned every 3DFX card ever made except the Rush which as I understand it isnt really a loss. I never meant to get rid of any of them but a while back I cleaned house and somehow they disappeared...*Glares at his wife*

brostenen wrote:

When quad sli came up in this topic, I actually thought about these... […]
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Rhuwyn wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

There has been some talk of quad-SLI setups that can apparently outperform a Voodoo5 as far as Glide2x goes – but of course that would require taking up four PCI slots.

What cards are we talking about running in quad-SLI? Are we talking about nVidia cards running a wrapper/emulator or has someone hacked V2s to run quad?

When quad sli came up in this topic, I actually thought about these...

Yeah I believe those are quantom3D cards from Arcades. I am guessing they have ways of SLIing those much more effectively. I'd be more interested in commodity V2s. I am thinking it's probably not possible but would be awesome if it was.

Unknown_K wrote:

Never bothered with a GLIDE wrapper since I had (and still have) pretty much all the common 3dfx cards made. For me using the original hardware is fun, some people just want to play the game and not mess with the setup pains.

Glide wrappers can be really nice. I used zacks? glide wrapper with a faster system back in the day for Carmageddon 2 to get out of the locked 640x480 resolution and add some AA. Then add some new cars with high polygon counts and other mods that a old rig with a V3/V5 just couldn't handle.

I believe the system I played it on with the wrapper was Win2k P3 1.2GHz with 256MB ram and a Geforce 3 Ti200.

Some folks also use glide wrappers for games like Unreal as it was the preferred render-er for some.

A couple of years ago I played Quake 1 again and found I really like the Software acceleration at high resolution over glide/opengl, but that needs quite a bit of cpu. It definitely add more atmosphere to the game or maybe Glide just has terrible gamma?!

I guess you have to ask yourself if playing glide games on high end (for the time) 5500's is something you want to invest in. Are the cards going to get more expensive as time goes by or cheaper?

Prices are always supply/demand sadly. If people want them and not many are selling them then price gets unrealistic.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

It definitely add more atmosphere to the game or maybe Glide just has terrible gamma?!

Very bright, but there is slider for that in control panel.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Prices are always supply/demand sadly. If people want them and not many are selling them then price gets unrealistic.

I would say they are always realistic.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Prices are always supply/demand sadly. If people want them and not many are selling them then price gets unrealistic.

There is a difference in short term bubbles and long term trends. I picked up a few 3DFX cards over the last decade for little more then shipping or free locally (3500 and 4500 for example). Was just wondering if 3DFX will have a following a decade from now or if the majority of collectors will have moved on to other things. Heck 5500's were dirt cheap 5+ years ago but I still had mine and didn't bother getting spares.

If I had to guess I'd say V5s will continue to track collectible market trends. Their historical value sets them apart from a lot of gear. So I don't see them trending down against a rising market any time soon, but if the market goes the other way, they'd follow - not gold Krugerrands after all..

tincup wrote:

If I had to guess I'd say V5s will continue to track collectible market trends. Their historical value sets them apart from a lot of gear. So I don't see them trending down against a rising market any time soon, but if the market goes the other way, they'd follow - not gold Krugerrands after all..

I think your right. 3DFX will always attract those who either want to relive the golden years of Glide, or those who want them as a museum piece.

tincup wrote:

If I had to guess I'd say V5s will continue to track collectible market trends. Their historical value sets them apart from a lot of gear. So I don't see them trending down against a rising market any time soon, but if the market goes the other way, they'd follow - not gold Krugerrands after all..

Agreed. So if you can afford it, I wouldn't hope for a price drop 😀

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Prices are always supply/demand sadly. If people want them and not many are selling them then price gets unrealistic.

Sellers can and do get away with inflating the prices the moment interest in something increases even when there hasn't been any increase of sales should they be made aware or figure it out on their own. Also many resellers will base their prices off other sellers and when the market is small enough they can rig the prices forcing people to pay more. Rigging the market is the practice for something as small as retro computing be it for hobbyists or just ripping off businesses who have little choice but to depend on old hardware rather than taking a huge loss replacing equipment. The US market can be so absurd with people trying to sell 486 era boards for hundreds of dollars and the same goes for others things, sadly things are much worse in other parts of the world.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

tincup wrote:

If I had to guess I'd say V5s will continue to track collectible market trends. Their historical value sets them apart from a lot of gear. So I don't see them trending down against a rising market any time soon, but if the market goes the other way, they'd follow - not gold Krugerrands after all..

Agreed. So if you can afford it, I wouldn't hope for a price drop 😀

Keep searching for junk lots on eBay and you will eventually get lucky, I scored a lot of 3DFX card earlier this year for $69 shipped but sadly the 5500 agp and a V2 were beyond repair.