zehef wrote:

I have the MB, Ram, and Processor. I still need a CPU Cooler, case, PSU, Voodoo card and maybe sound card.

The PSU is going to be a bit tricky due to the requirement for a heavy 5V rail. The best option would be to track down a top flight unit from oem manufacturers like Zippy or Delta rated for 30A on that rail. Most will be heavier on 12V due to the design requirements of P4 boards, but there are a few models which fit the bill, and the best OEMs build their PSUs like tanks.

gdjacobs wrote:

zehef wrote:

I have the MB, Ram, and Processor. I still need a CPU Cooler, case, PSU, Voodoo card and maybe sound card.

The PSU is going to be a bit tricky due to the requirement for a heavy 5V rail. The best option would be to track down a top flight unit from oem manufacturers like Zippy or Delta rated for 30A on that rail. Most will be heavier on 12V due to the design requirements of P4 boards, but there are a few models which fit the bill, and the best OEMs build their PSUs like tanks.

This guy is using a modern PSU "SEASONIC SS - 350ET 350W 120mm fan SILENT" and it works. I should find something similar.

That PSU is appropriate only for lower power Athlon CPUs or motherboards which regulate CPU power from the 12V rail. For the fastest Athlon XP, the 3200+, it's recommended that you have 30A available from the 5V supply if the motherboard sources CPU power from that rail as yours does. The 350ET is rated for 20A from 5V.

This was my solution.

Tetrium wrote:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z383/tetriuminside/th_DSC00709.jpg […]
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It worked for years 🤣!

There's more of the green wire stuff magic happening here, for anyone that can be bothered 🤣

Btw, this is why I like passively cooled graphics cards a lot. Add a 80mm case fan and it stays cool forever 😎

gdjacobs wrote:

Quick question. Do you have the KT3 Ultra yet? If not, see if you can track down a KT6 as it supports 200mhz FSB chips like the Athlon 3200. The KT333 (not 'CF') chipset is pretty good, but it's not designed for the very last generation of Barton chips.

A board with a kt333 chipset is the last that will support 3,3v agp cards like the voodoo, the kt6 does not.

zehef wrote:

I can keep my hardware and install Win98 with it. I just need to find a 256/512mb ram, it should be cheap.

Get a single stick of 512MB. Very cheap, and it'll work perfectly.

zehef wrote:

Anyway I really want a Vooodoo card, athlon3000+ is maybe huge but is it a problem?

If you're goal is to run the Voodoo card, then the Athlon XP 3000+ will work just fine with it. It's just extreme overkill. If you like, you could also underclock the CPU to reduce temperature and power consumption without any impact on your gaming performance. The Voodoo 3 would run just as well on a Coppermine 1000 as on your Athlon XP 3000+.

However, I wouldn't choose the Voodoo 3 for a WinXP system. It's just not a good choice, as I mentioned in my previous comments. If you're going to run Win98SE, it would be just fine.

zehef wrote:

Do you know is my SATA HDD with a sata->ide adapter is going to perform better or the same as a real IDE hdd? it might solve the problem

With the adapter, it should perform the same as an IDE/PATA drive. The bus is the limiting factor.

zehef wrote:

but anyway, a 1ghz processor or an athlon3000+ is the same price.
Its true that the processor is too powerful, but i hope it wont cause any problems

It's overkill, but I don't think you'll have any problems. Personally, I would underclock that CPU, if at all possible.

zehef wrote:

I already have the Athlon so I am going to try with it.

You'll be fine! Go for it! 😀

Tetrium wrote:

This was my solution. […]
Show full quote

This was my solution.

Tetrium wrote:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z383/tetriuminside/th_DSC00709.jpg […]
Show full quote

It worked for years 🤣!

There's more of the green wire stuff magic happening here, for anyone that can be bothered 🤣

Btw, this is why I like passively cooled graphics cards a lot. Add a 80mm case fan and it stays cool forever 😎

I think that's a great solution! Is that a GF 6800 GT? At one time, I fixed an AGP 7900GS using a similar solution, except that I used standard 2-part epoxy to mount the fan instead of ties. It worked just as well. I prefer the epoxy because I'm afraid that ties will fail and the fan will come loose.

I use a Pentium 4 for my Windows 98 graphics card tests. Look for SIS chipsets and universal AGP slots. Lists float around as well. A 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 feeds a Voodoo 5 quite niceley. You avoid the PSU issue with the P4 as it uses the 4 pin power plug, but a decent CPU cooler is required as well all know.

meljor wrote:

gdjacobs wrote:

Quick question. Do you have the KT3 Ultra yet? If not, see if you can track down a KT6 as it supports 200mhz FSB chips like the Athlon 3200. The KT333 (not 'CF') chipset is pretty good, but it's not designed for the very last generation of Barton chips.

A board with a kt333 chipset is the last that will support 3,3v agp cards like the voodoo, the kt6 does not.

Yes, that's true. I've been rooting for him to use a strong Direct3D/OpenGL card in the AGP slot along with Voodoo 2 SLI cards and a Matrox m3d. A Win98 Rosetta stone for video, if you will.

KT7AGuy wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

This was my solution. […]
Show full quote

This was my solution.

Tetrium wrote:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z383/tetriuminside/th_DSC00709.jpg […]
Show full quote

It worked for years 🤣!

There's more of the green wire stuff magic happening here, for anyone that can be bothered 🤣

Btw, this is why I like passively cooled graphics cards a lot. Add a 80mm case fan and it stays cool forever 😎

I think that's a great solution! Is that a GF 6800 GT? At one time, I fixed an AGP 7900GS using a similar solution, except that I used standard 2-part epoxy to mount the fan instead of ties. It worked just as well. I prefer the epoxy because I'm afraid that ties will fail and the fan will come loose.

I think it's a vanilla 6800 but iirc I've always had troubles to properly identify it, even using its model number (the card itself looked different from other cards with the same model number I think). At some point I needed it quick for a rig of mine and I had very few other options so I just decided to go ahead and install the card and simply "try it out" and it worked 😀

I'm not really worried about it failing, this green stuff is intended to be used outdoors actually. Worst that could happen is if the wires melt 🤣.
And even if I haven't used a rig for a longer while I'll always do an internal check-up to see if everything is still in order (also looking for dislocated CPU HSFs or other stuff that came loose or doesn't belong in there).

Hey guys,
Do you think I could put a SLI of Voodoo2 instead of a Voodoo3/4/5 ? V2 seems easier to find.
But I'm not sure that I can put a Voodoo SLI on a KT3 ULTRA2 with an Athlon XP 3000+.
On some threads people said that 2*Voodoo2 wont work with this MB

Tetrium wrote:

This was my solution. […]
Show full quote

This was my solution.

Tetrium wrote:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z383/tetriuminside/th_DSC00709.jpg […]
Show full quote

It worked for years 🤣!

There's more of the green wire stuff magic happening here, for anyone that can be bothered 🤣

Btw, this is why I like passively cooled graphics cards a lot. Add a 80mm case fan and it stays cool forever 😎

Am I the only one that is actually bothered by something like this (those are meant to put on your plastic freezer bags...)? Then again I do have a engineering background crying out to properly mount something..... (or someone who is crazy enough to go through hell for designing his own custom full mount single slot actively cooled V2 heatsink 😒 )
edit: just looked at your link, god (I am an atheist, go figure 🤣 ), take a electrical drill and some double sided tape, flatten out the heatsink and put in a fan inside the heatsink (still got a few 35mm 25cfm vga fans lying around)

Also, I just think about it, instead of using my athlon xp 3000+ on the KT3 Ultra2, maybe it's worth to just buy a very old processor on Ebay 😳
This is SOCKET 462, so it should handle Duron 800, athlon ... probably better for a V3/V2 SLI. What do you think about this? Is there any "best socket 462 processor" for V2SLI?

Is taking a lower processor like Duron800 can also solve the PSU problem ? (the 30A needed for fast athlon xp)
Duron 800 is like 5€ on Ebay, if it's easier to run, then I'll just do it.. 😊

zehef wrote:

Also, I just think about it, instead of using my athlon xp 3000+ on the KT3 Ultra2, maybe it's worth to just buy a very old processor on Ebay 😳
This is SOCKET 462, so it should handle Duron 800, athlon ... probably better for a V3/V2 SLI. What do you think about this? Is there any "best socket 462 processor" for V2SLI?

Cpu is what limits voodoo cards, Voodoo 2 sli performance increases upto at least 1Ghz according to benchmarks. 1 Ghz is also about the limit for old dos and early win games see wise, higher then this and emulators are adviced.

On psu, different cpu is cheaper however if you wish to get a different psu get onew with a high amp on the 5V rail (check your cpu and gpu how much it desires) otherwise corsair 430 are good for powering old rigs. Will get this one myself for my athlon.

zehef,

What hardware have you already collected to assemble this system? Do you have any video cards at all, or are you still trying to decide which one to purchase?

My advice still stands: Use your Athlon 3000+, 512mb RAM, Win98SE, and FX 5900 or 5950 Ultra and use wrappers for GLIDE games. If you can't get an FX series card, then consider a GF4 Ti4200, Ti4400, or Ti4600. I think you'll be happier in the long run. You'll also be able to run more demanding games, should you choose to do so. This is also your cheapest option. You could always find 3dfx stuff later if the wrappers fail to meet your expectations.

I've heard that Voodoo 2 cards can run much hotter than normal if you use faster processors. If you use Voodoo 2 cards with your Athlon XP 3000+, then you may want to attach heatsinks and point a fan at them.

Personally, I've got two Athlon 1400 systems with Voodoo 2 cards in SLI mode. I have attached small heatsinks to the Voodoo 2 cards and rely on airflow within the case to cool them. GF4 Ti4600 cards are the primary graphics adapters. This setup works just fine and I have no problems using the FastVoodoo2 drivers. As such, I assume your setup will be just fine as well.

Before you buy a slower CPU, why don't you try underclocking the Athlon XP 3000+ and see how low it can go? Based on what you said earlier, it sounds like you have the 166mhz FSB version of the Athlon XP 3000+. I checked the manual for your KT3 ULTRA2 and it looks like it supports setting the FSB to 100mhz, so you may be able to underclock your CPU to 1.3ghz. In this configuration, it will run cooler and use less power too.

Improving Voodoo 2 cooling is a good thing to do generally as it will improve the lifespan of the cards.

KT7AGuy wrote:

I've heard that Voodoo 2 cards can run much hotter than normal if you use faster processors. If you use Voodoo 2 cards with your Athlon XP 3000+, then you may want to attach heatsinks and point a fan at them.

Personally, I've got two Athlon 1400 systems with Voodoo 2 cards in SLI mode. I have attached small heatsinks to the Voodoo 2 cards and rely on airflow within the case to cool them. GF4 Ti4600 cards are the primary graphics adapters. This setup works just fine and I have no problems using the FastVoodoo2 drivers. As such, I assume your setup will be just fine as well..

Already had this problem with my sli in a p3 500 mhz setup. I used an intake fan and a fan mounted on the sli for active cooling

Richo wrote:

Am I the only one that is actually bothered by something like this (those are meant to put on your plastic freezer bags...)? Then again I do have a engineering background crying out to properly mount something..... (or someone who is crazy enough to go through hell for designing his own custom full mount single slot actively cooled V2 heatsink 😒 )
edit: just looked at your link, god (I am an atheist, go figure 🤣 ), take a electrical drill and some double sided tape, flatten out the heatsink and put in a fan inside the heatsink (still got a few 35mm 25cfm vga fans lying around)

I never removed the original heatsink, only the plastic parts on top of it. The fans are actually very securely attached, but can be removed by just cutting those wires. I am kinda wondering how having to do more work for lesser (and louder) cooling is actually a good thing? And I had wat less stuff available at the time so I just made due with what I had available (retro computing was very different back then compared to what it is now, a very different timeframe). And all I care about is that it works and doesn't make a lot of noise and this worked.

The wires are actually quite stiff and very strong and are meant for outdoor use. The fans are completely immobile, it's a lot stronger than it may seem on the pics.

Btw, I'm not an engineer so go figure 😜

KT7AGuy wrote:

zehef,

What hardware have you already collected to assemble this system? Do you have any video cards at all, or are you still trying to decide which one to purchase?

I already have : MSI KT3 Ultra2, 1GB PC2700 DDR RAM, Athlon XP 3000+
I'm going to have a SLI of Voodoo2, the price is ok so I think I should take them (20€ for a SLI). What's more SLI is really cool, looks better than a random graphic card 🤣
Also, I can have an Athlon XP 2400+ for free, gonna take it but it's pretty much the same as 3000+ 😐
Before buying a slower processor, I will try the underclock.
I dont really want to buy an FX Graphic card, because I only want to play Glide games.
So its going to run under 98SE.

But I want to be 100% sure that a classic PSU would run the Athlon XP2400+/3000+. I really dont want to damage anything.
I suppose that with a slower Processor there is no problem for PSU. Anyway i'll try underclock before, but I wont damage the MB just to save 5€ 😵
I do not have a "2D" video card, seems like matrox g200/400/450 or ati rage pro are ok based on reviews. The cheapest I saw on Ebay is an AGP ati rage 128 pro 16mb, dunno if its too modern (16mb on a single card is a lot 🤣)

zehef wrote:

Also, I can have an Athlon XP 2400+ for free, gonna take it but it's pretty much the same as 3000+ 😐
Before buying a slower processor, I will try the underclock.

Athlon XP 2400+ (multiplier 15 x 133.34MHz FSB = 2000MHz)
@ lowest FSB: multiplier 15 x 100MHz FSB = 1500MHz

Athlon XP 3000+ (multiplier 13 x 166.67MHz FSB = 2167MHz)
@ lowest FSB: multiplier 13 x 100MHz FSB = 1300MHz

If you are not a collector of old CPU's, then i would not buy the 2400+ for the purpose of underclock an AthlonXP. Normally you can underclock it without any problems to 1.3GHz as 'KT7AGuy' said.
Only if you think this 1.3GHz are too fast, then you can go for a Duron/Athlon 800-1000MHz.