You actually have to have some 3rd card to act as a video card because the Voodoo 2 cards are only 3D accelerators. They cannot be used for anything outside of 3D accelerated games.

Any card with sufficient 2D capabilities to run your desktop and any non-accelerated games should be fine, so you can try the Trident card and see how that works. That card will plug into the VGA input on your first Voodoo 2 card with a short VGA pass-through cable, then your monitor plugs into the output on the Voodoo 2 card. The 2nd Voodoo card will be connected to the 1st one internally with an SLI ribbon cable.

This is required to make this setup function properly.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 04:35:

You actually have to have some 3rd card to act as a video card because the Voodoo 2 cards are only 3D accelerators. They cannot be used for anything outside of 3D accelerated games.

Any card with sufficient 2D capabilities to run your desktop and any non-accelerated games should be fine, so you can try the Trident card and see how that works. That card will plug into the VGA input on your first Voodoo 2 card with a short VGA pass-through cable, then your monitor plugs into the output on the Voodoo 2 card. The 2nd Voodoo card will be connected to the 1st one internally with an SLI ribbon cable.

This is required to make this setup function properly.

Thank you very much for the explanation, when I assemble I will upload photos.
I ask: for the pentium 2 is there a 2d card that is a collector's item?

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-26, 05:00:

I ask: for the pentium 2 is there a 2d card that is a collector's item?

sort of strange question. Theres some 2d cards as in meaning cant do 3d that are collectors items, but I'm unaware of any that are for agp slots and i have to wonder why somthing so terrible would be a collectors item. Theres an endless supply on AGP s3 trios 64s out there but I'm unaware of anyone collecting them

So example of a collector card that could only do 2d would be something like Vesa Bus Ark 1000 or Number Nine 9GXE64PRO. somthing like that.

When he said 2d it is meaning basic video output to the desktop or the video display from booting the computer. It does not mean some special card. You cannot connect a voodoo 1 or 2 to a monitor and see your desktop because they have no 2d core.

Popular choice is to use a geforce 4200 TI, But if you dont need hardware T&L Geforce MX 440 will do If you dont plan on playing any directx7 games Matrox G400 Max is a good choice.

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-26, 05:00:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 04:35:

You actually have to have some 3rd card to act as a video card because the Voodoo 2 cards are only 3D accelerators. They cannot be used for anything outside of 3D accelerated games.

Any card with sufficient 2D capabilities to run your desktop and any non-accelerated games should be fine, so you can try the Trident card and see how that works. That card will plug into the VGA input on your first Voodoo 2 card with a short VGA pass-through cable, then your monitor plugs into the output on the Voodoo 2 card. The 2nd Voodoo card will be connected to the 1st one internally with an SLI ribbon cable.

This is required to make this setup function properly.

Thank you very much for the explanation, when I assemble I will upload photos.
I ask: for the pentium 2 is there a 2d card that is a collector's item?

I'm not sure of any that are collector's items that offer much practical benefit. Generally the most valuable cards are that way either because they are rare or because they provide benefits in very specific situations.

The most compatible cards that work with everything are often very easy to find. Pretty much any PCI S3, Cirrus Logic or Trident card with 2MB to 4MB of RAM would make a solid 2D card for a Voodoo setup. AGP isn't really necessary.

I guess, one alternative would be to find a good 2D AGP card that also has 3D capabilities so you could compare it to the Voodoo cards in games that support both. There aren't a ton of options in that area though. Maybe an S3 Savage4 Pro? I've never tried combining one of those with a 3dfx card. Or, you could get an S3 Virge to compare one of the worst 3D accelerators (decelerators) of the time to one of the best.

nvidia cards are also cheap and great at pretty much everything (other than Glide obviously), but when you use one of these as your 2D card you run the risk of making the Voodoo setup actually seem less interesting. A good TNT2 with 128bit memory will likely out perform a Voodoo 2 SLI setup in a lot of cases while providing excellent 2D and DOS speed and compatibility.

In the end though, the best 2D card for your setup depends on what you intend to use the computer for. If it were me and I just wanted the system to work, I'd at least try the AGP Trident card.

If you want to stay period correct (which I personallly like) and to assemble the best from 1998, go with a Rage 128 (not with 128Pro which is from 1999) in its GL core variant. Rage Fury model being an example (128bit bus, 100mhz SGRAM and core)
Paired with a PII 450mhz, Voodoo 2 sli and a 440BX based motherboard, is the top hardware setup from 1998.

An alternative could be Nvidia Riva TNT 1, also from 1998.

Question is, what do you want the card to do?

You can choose from about three options:
- nothing more than look pretty and supply a 2D image for desktop (= whatever you want, go wild with weird stuff if you like)
- offer higher performance and 32b colour support (= probably an nVidia TNT card - although P2 might not have the power to make 32b colour interesting)
- support other proprietary 3D protocols not supported by Voodoo (= S3 Virge S3D deceleration, S3 Savage MeTaL, ATi Rage CIF, Matrox Mystique MSI, Rendition Verite, maybe even NV1)

Once you decide that, you can narrow down the search field significantly.

Also, what monitor do you intend to drive with it? And which resolution?

If TFT, it might be an idea to go for a card with DVI, even if not totally period-correct, for best display. Matrox G450 would be an obvious choice here.
If a big, high-end CRT, or indeed a TFT driven over VGA, be aware that there are big differences in analog output capabilities and qualities of cards. To do 1600x1200 you need 8MB of RAM on your card (at 32bpp), but anywhere above 1024x768 you really need to choose a card with good output or else the analog artefacts will get awful. Matrox has a really good reputation here too, but some other card vendors also do pretty well (including 3dfx). A generic S3 Virge will generally look terrible, even if there are good S3 Virge cards available (eg Diamond Stealth 3d 2000/3000/4000 or Elsa Winner lines).

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 06:01:

I'm not sure of any that are collector's items that offer much practical benefit. Generally the most valuable cards are that way […]
Show full quote

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-26, 05:00:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 04:35:

You actually have to have some 3rd card to act as a video card because the Voodoo 2 cards are only 3D accelerators. They cannot be used for anything outside of 3D accelerated games.

Any card with sufficient 2D capabilities to run your desktop and any non-accelerated games should be fine, so you can try the Trident card and see how that works. That card will plug into the VGA input on your first Voodoo 2 card with a short VGA pass-through cable, then your monitor plugs into the output on the Voodoo 2 card. The 2nd Voodoo card will be connected to the 1st one internally with an SLI ribbon cable.

This is required to make this setup function properly.

Thank you very much for the explanation, when I assemble I will upload photos.
I ask: for the pentium 2 is there a 2d card that is a collector's item?

I'm not sure of any that are collector's items that offer much practical benefit. Generally the most valuable cards are that way either because they are rare or because they provide benefits in very specific situations.

The most compatible cards that work with everything are often very easy to find. Pretty much any PCI S3, Cirrus Logic or Trident card with 2MB to 4MB of RAM would make a solid 2D card for a Voodoo setup. AGP isn't really necessary.

I guess, one alternative would be to find a good 2D AGP card that also has 3D capabilities so you could compare it to the Voodoo cards in games that support both. There aren't a ton of options in that area though. Maybe an S3 Savage4 Pro? I've never tried combining one of those with a 3dfx card. Or, you could get an S3 Virge to compare one of the worst 3D accelerators (decelerators) of the time to one of the best.

nvidia cards are also cheap and great at pretty much everything (other than Glide obviously), but when you use one of these as your 2D card you run the risk of making the Voodoo setup actually seem less interesting. A good TNT2 with 128bit memory will likely out perform a Voodoo 2 SLI setup in a lot of cases while providing excellent 2D and DOS speed and compatibility.

In the end though, the best 2D card for your setup depends on what you intend to use the computer for. If it were me and I just wanted the system to work, I'd at least try the AGP Trident card.

Thank you for your answer, it has helped me to understand a little more. Since I am still assembling, that is why I was asking since I want to put quality products.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 06:01:

I'm not sure of any that are collector's items that offer much practical benefit. Generally the most valuable cards are that way […]
Show full quote

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-26, 05:00:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 04:35:

You actually have to have some 3rd card to act as a video card because the Voodoo 2 cards are only 3D accelerators. They cannot be used for anything outside of 3D accelerated games.

Any card with sufficient 2D capabilities to run your desktop and any non-accelerated games should be fine, so you can try the Trident card and see how that works. That card will plug into the VGA input on your first Voodoo 2 card with a short VGA pass-through cable, then your monitor plugs into the output on the Voodoo 2 card. The 2nd Voodoo card will be connected to the 1st one internally with an SLI ribbon cable.

This is required to make this setup function properly.

Thank you very much for the explanation, when I assemble I will upload photos.
I ask: for the pentium 2 is there a 2d card that is a collector's item?

I'm not sure of any that are collector's items that offer much practical benefit. Generally the most valuable cards are that way either because they are rare or because they provide benefits in very specific situations.

The most compatible cards that work with everything are often very easy to find. Pretty much any PCI S3, Cirrus Logic or Trident card with 2MB to 4MB of RAM would make a solid 2D card for a Voodoo setup. AGP isn't really necessary.

I guess, one alternative would be to find a good 2D AGP card that also has 3D capabilities so you could compare it to the Voodoo cards in games that support both. There aren't a ton of options in that area though. Maybe an S3 Savage4 Pro? I've never tried combining one of those with a 3dfx card. Or, you could get an S3 Virge to compare one of the worst 3D accelerators (decelerators) of the time to one of the best.

nvidia cards are also cheap and great at pretty much everything (other than Glide obviously), but when you use one of these as your 2D card you run the risk of making the Voodoo setup actually seem less interesting. A good TNT2 with 128bit memory will likely out perform a Voodoo 2 SLI setup in a lot of cases while providing excellent 2D and DOS speed and compatibility.

In the end though, the best 2D card for your setup depends on what you intend to use the computer for. If it were me and I just wanted the system to work, I'd at least try the AGP Trident card.

Thanks for your answer, I will review the cards you have named, the computer is going to be built to run all the games from the 90's from start to finish.

Con 2 botones wrote on 2022-12-26, 12:36:

If you want to stay period correct (which I personallly like) and to assemble the best from 1998, go with a Rage 128 (not with 128Pro which is from 1999) in its GL core variant. Rage Fury model being an example (128bit bus, 100mhz SGRAM and core)
Paired with a PII 450mhz, Voodoo 2 sli and a 440BX based motherboard, is the top hardware setup from 1998.

An alternative could be Nvidia Riva TNT 1, also from 1998.

Thank you for your answer it helped me. Yes, I already have the 440 bx and the two vodoo. I'll check the rage and the riva to see if there's anything available where I live.

dionb wrote on 2022-12-26, 13:05:

Question is, what do you want the card to do? […]
Show full quote

Question is, what do you want the card to do?

You can choose from about three options:
- nothing more than look pretty and supply a 2D image for desktop (= whatever you want, go wild with weird stuff if you like)
- offer higher performance and 32b colour support (= probably an nVidia TNT card - although P2 might not have the power to make 32b colour interesting)
- support other proprietary 3D protocols not supported by Voodoo (= S3 Virge S3D deceleration, S3 Savage MeTaL, ATi Rage CIF, Matrox Mystique MSI, Rendition Verite, maybe even NV1)

Once you decide that, you can narrow down the search field significantly.

Also, what monitor do you intend to drive with it? And which resolution?

If TFT, it might be an idea to go for a card with DVI, even if not totally period-correct, for best display. Matrox G450 would be an obvious choice here.
If a big, high-end CRT, or indeed a TFT driven over VGA, be aware that there are big differences in analog output capabilities and qualities of cards. To do 1600x1200 you need 8MB of RAM on your card (at 32bpp), but anywhere above 1024x768 you really need to choose a card with good output or else the analog artefacts will get awful. Matrox has a really good reputation here too, but some other card vendors also do pretty well (including 3dfx). A generic S3 Virge will generally look terrible, even if there are good S3 Virge cards available (eg Diamond Stealth 3d 2000/3000/4000 or Elsa Winner lines).

Thank you for all the options that you have offered me, I am between the second and the third option. Definitely going for a CRT monitor, like I had as a kid. Can you tell me which was the best monitor of that time? Here it is very difficult to get some pieces.

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-27, 20:02:

[...]

Thank you for all the options that you have offered me, I am between the second and the third option. Definitely going for a CRT monitor, like I had as a kid. Can you tell me which was the best monitor of that time? Here it is very difficult to get some pieces.

Best CRT? Sony FW900 probably comes close. But which is 'best' is an academic discussion if you don't have perfect availability of all models. Better idea: find out what is available and try and figure out which of those is best for your purposes.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 06:01:

The most compatible cards that work with everything are often very easy to find. Pretty much any PCI S3, Cirrus Logic or Trident card with 2MB to 4MB of RAM would make a solid 2D card for a Voodoo setup. AGP isn't really necessary.

Except that an AGP card doesn't take up a PCI slot which could be useful for something else .. 😀

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-27, 20:02:

dionb wrote on 2022-12-26, 13:05:

Question is, what do you want the card to do? […]
Show full quote

Question is, what do you want the card to do?

You can choose from about three options:
- nothing more than look pretty and supply a 2D image for desktop (= whatever you want, go wild with weird stuff if you like)
- offer higher performance and 32b colour support (= probably an nVidia TNT card - although P2 might not have the power to make 32b colour interesting)
- support other proprietary 3D protocols not supported by Voodoo (= S3 Virge S3D deceleration, S3 Savage MeTaL, ATi Rage CIF, Matrox Mystique MSI, Rendition Verite, maybe even NV1)

Once you decide that, you can narrow down the search field significantly.

Also, what monitor do you intend to drive with it? And which resolution?

If TFT, it might be an idea to go for a card with DVI, even if not totally period-correct, for best display. Matrox G450 would be an obvious choice here.
If a big, high-end CRT, or indeed a TFT driven over VGA, be aware that there are big differences in analog output capabilities and qualities of cards. To do 1600x1200 you need 8MB of RAM on your card (at 32bpp), but anywhere above 1024x768 you really need to choose a card with good output or else the analog artefacts will get awful. Matrox has a really good reputation here too, but some other card vendors also do pretty well (including 3dfx). A generic S3 Virge will generally look terrible, even if there are good S3 Virge cards available (eg Diamond Stealth 3d 2000/3000/4000 or Elsa Winner lines).

Thank you for all the options that you have offered me, I am between the second and the third option. Definitely going for a CRT monitor, like I had as a kid. Can you tell me which was the best monitor of that time? Here it is very difficult to get some pieces.

I've seen some people mention the GDM-F520 , apparently it has a very high dot pitch , either way that or a FW-900 are going to cost you an arm and or leg and given the age depending on the failure mode might not super easy to repair if something goes wrong , I'd say if you are dead set on something fancy like a Trinitron just get something like a 400 series or a rebranded one (i.e dell) , they also fetch stupid prices but it's at least better than the astronomical prices the holy grails of monitors go for.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2022-12-28, 14:59:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 06:01:

The most compatible cards that work with everything are often very easy to find. Pretty much any PCI S3, Cirrus Logic or Trident card with 2MB to 4MB of RAM would make a solid 2D card for a Voodoo setup. AGP isn't really necessary.

Except that an AGP card doesn't take up a PCI slot which could be useful for something else .. 😀

Right, useful, but not immediately necessary, like I said. 😀

dionb wrote on 2022-12-28, 12:44:

But which is 'best' is an academic discussion if you don't have perfect availability of all models. Better idea: find out what is available and try and figure out which of those is best for your purposes.

I feel like this subject comes up a lot here. People frequently ask for what is the best without first looking at what is available to them, and for what cost. For most of us, whatever is available will be more than sufficient to scratch that nostalgic computing itch. Leave the "best" for the people with youtube channels and money coming out their ears. 😮

H3nrik V! wrote on 2022-12-28, 14:59:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 06:01:

The most compatible cards that work with everything are often very easy to find. Pretty much any PCI S3, Cirrus Logic or Trident card with 2MB to 4MB of RAM would make a solid 2D card for a Voodoo setup. AGP isn't really necessary.

Except that an AGP card doesn't take up a PCI slot which could be useful for something else .. 😀

I use a S3 Trio3D/2X AGP card for the exact reason that Ozzuneoj said while saving a PCI slot, never feeling the need of using any other AGP card with better Direct3D or OpenGL support for my usage. 😀

magicmaxx85 wrote on 2022-12-26, 05:00:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-26, 04:35:

You actually have to have some 3rd card to act as a video card because the Voodoo 2 cards are only 3D accelerators. They cannot be used for anything outside of 3D accelerated games.

Any card with sufficient 2D capabilities to run your desktop and any non-accelerated games should be fine, so you can try the Trident card and see how that works. That card will plug into the VGA input on your first Voodoo 2 card with a short VGA pass-through cable, then your monitor plugs into the output on the Voodoo 2 card. The 2nd Voodoo card will be connected to the 1st one internally with an SLI ribbon cable.

This is required to make this setup function properly.

Thank you very much for the explanation, when I assemble I will upload photos.
I ask: for the pentium 2 is there a 2d card that is a collector's item?

There probably aren't many 2D only AGP cards that tend to be collectors items afaik since most AGP cards were probably both 2D and 3D cards.

As for PCI there are things like the 2D only Tseng Labs ET6100 , plus I'm sure there are other rarities out there.
If you want something fancy to fill the agp slot usually anything from canopus would be something collectible that fits the bill.

I use this canopus spectra geforce 256 in my 98 rig alongside my voodoo 2's in SLI , its a bit fancy and lets you have some nicer higher resolutions for the windows desktop since it has 32mb of ram whilst also having good for the time direct 3d performance.

Honestly you might be better of with a card that does 2D and 3D in the agp slot since it would let you play games from another API and increase compatibility , doesn't have to be the card I listed could be a rendition card or ati or whatever.

Also since the voodoo 2 is an addon card you can pair it up with another pci card that can act as a display card for a grand total of 3 apis!
Maybe even 4 if you threw in a powervr card which is also an addon card.

Which is how I've set it up in my rig , I've got a 256 , voodoo 2s and a matrox mystique for 3 different apis and therefore better compatibility.
Just remember though its a bit clunky since you will need to pick the primary display device in the bios , you should be able to select between boot from agp or pci.

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-12-28, 16:05:

20220828_204134.jpg

Is that a BTX case or am I just seeing things this way because you're in Australia and I'm in the US?

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2022-12-28, 16:16:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-12-28, 16:05:

20220828_204134.jpg

Is that a BTX case or am I just seeing things this way because you're in Australia and I'm in the US?

😆 everything's upside-down here in didgeridoo land.
No but seriously I'm pretty sure its atx? though its much newer than that hardware (circa mid to late 00s maybe?)
I basically blew all my money on the hardware and skimped out on the case and just used one I had lying around that I found on a kerb.