You got me thinking. ATM I'm upgrading and setting up the OEM PC mentioned above:

M/B: Intel D850GB (OEM variant without audio/LAN)
CPU: Pentium 4 Willamette @ 1.7GHz
RAM: 384MB RDRAM (had 2x64MB; added 2x128MB RD-800)
GFX: Prolink GeForce3 Ti500/64MB (originally an MSI GF2MX)
SND: Sound Blaster Live! (originally SB128/AudioPCI-alike)
HDD: WD 40GB (in place of a failed DiamondMax 30GB)
NIC: NetGear FA-311v2 [Realtek RTL8139D] (replaces a 56k winmodem)

Removed a Creative DXR3 it had inside because I can't seem to find a passthrough cable anywhere, at least not at a reasonable price. Since it's a WinME box, is it worth adding a V2 in there to have Glide compatibility, or does a wrapper such as dgVoodoo1 play nice? Don't really know because while it does have front and back fans, it certainly appears to work at a bit higher temperatures than the P3 box, wouldn't want to risk a 3dfx card 😵 also the GF3 has such clear output I would rather not spoil via a passthrough cable... It all does generate a lot of heat.

psychz wrote:

is it worth adding a V2 in there to have Glide compatibility, or does a wrapper such as dgVoodoo1 play nice? Don't really know because while it does have front and back fans, it certainly appears to work at a bit higher temperatures than the P3 box, wouldn't want to risk a 3dfx card 😵 also the GF3 has such clear output I would rather not spoil via a passthrough cable... It all does generate a lot of heat.

I would not buy a voodoo2 for the system, but If I had one id put it in.
As for heat, stick on heat sinks on the TMU and core will be about all you need, but if the system has case fans it should be fine. Voodoo2 cards don't get all to hot, voodoo3 and 1's can.

AS for the pass thought, They really don't degrade video all that much. if its a problem why not get a monitor with duel inputs. one for the voodoo2 and one for the GF3.

I still have several unused pairs of Creative V2s left, so it's not a matter of buying more gear, I'm more concerned about the overall heat in the case. Let's see how this build turns out and it's up to be decided later on. As for the loopback cable, I see some noise/blurriness from 1024x768 onwards on LCD panels. On CRT screens it's a lot better, but I'm out of space at the moment 🙁 Yeah, dual-input monitors are a valid option I guess.

Could it be that you need a better pass through cable? I seen a lot of people use cheap 1ft vga extension cables witch can case problems. I never rely had this problem other then when using cheap cables.

Maybe, I use Creative's original one, will try another. Meanwhile I'm almost done with the build (without 3dfx), and will post a topic in System Specs as soon as I see how it goes 🤣

It's in the Q3A Benchmark thread. Top tier (Intel) in 2001:

Socket 478 i850 board
P4-2.0 GHz Willamette (Northwood only released in early Jan 2002)
GeForce 3 Ti500 or Radeon 8500

For overclocking, you have the TH7II or P4T-E with ICS-03 RCG's and PC800-40 RDRAM, which should run PC1066. So you could potentially have a C-stepping P4-1.6 Willy and run it at 2.133 GHz. I was about to try that combo. But my TH7II decided to f'k up a BIOS update. Sigh. If anyone know of a workaround, PM me 😢