VOGONS


First post, by Jackal1983

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Anyone have any experience with this thing in Windows 98se? I've been looking for inexpensive PCI graphics cards to try in a MediaGX build I'm working on and this looks like it might be an interesting stand in for a PCI based NV17 card (all the ones I've found so far are pricy as all hell: NVS 100s at 50 bucks!) presuming it's compatible with at least 44.23 or 45.23 (ideally Detonator 29.x though). Compatibility seems to be good in dos per the big PCI GPU benchmark thread. Multimonitor support means I could hook up a VGA cable to my Voodoo 1 and a DVI cable to my monitor and just switch inputs on my Samsung. 32 Megs of memory means there will be much less texture swapping over the PCI bus which can only be a good thing in such a scenario.
And yes I'm aware it's an odd choice and that PLX bridge could add some hiccups (ideally I'd just disable one of the GPUs in the bios if that's even possible), I just wanna know if it has similar driver support to the rest of the NV17 family.

The cards I have so far earmarked for this project are:
STB Velocity 128 4 mb (aka nVidia Riva 128 4): Waiting for a new heatsink to replace the crappy glued on MOSFET heatsink, I'm interested to see just how junky the output is!
ATI 3D Rage Pro AIW 8 gb: Mostly for playing around with ATICIF versions of Tomb Raider and Mechwarrior 2, but I do plan to see how well it does with other period W98 games
nVidia FX 5500 PCI 256 mb: One of those newly made Chinese cards with the full 128 bit bus that use regular desktop DDR (266 in this case). However it has both a DVI connector and a VGA connector and I wonder how much of a difference slow ram will make in such a CPU limited context. Also, a large amount of VRAM like the NVS 400 means less PCI bus swapping of textures

Cards I'm thinking about using:

3DFX Voodoo 3 1000 AGP 16 mb: If I can justify the $90 cost of the AGP to PCI bridgeboard to myself (the combo should just barely clear the top of my case). Considering I got the card for 35 bucks about a year ago it's a tempting prospect, especially if the 2 32 GB SSDs I'm using don't work with the IDE -to-SATA bridgeboard I'm planning to use or if I can't get the busmaster drivers to work

Dell OEM Riva TNT M64 16 mb: I've been keeping an eye on one, might be interesting. Were there any 128 bit versions of the M64? The arrangement of the memory modules (at right angles, one on top and one on the right side of the card) imply a 128 bit bus.

Likely key specs for system:

Cyrix Geode GX1 300mhz
64 mb PC133 CL3 @ PC100 CL2
ECS P5GXM Mobo
Guillemot Maxi Gamer Voodoo 1: Interesting because it had a TI DAC, but I'll have to us it in another project if IDE drivers or the SATA bridgeboard I'm using decides to not play ball
Soundblaster AWE64: Likely to get a SIMCONN and a 32mb SIMM
ISA MPU card: Serdashop redirects to someone who builds the on demand and has an internal wavetable interface. I might go with one if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg
Startech IDE to SATA Bridge: Pluses include it having 2 outputs and not being based on that JMicron chip that has given me problems in other systems (seems to be SIL based). If it doesn't play ball I have a Promise TX2 SATA card I'll use and backburner playing with my Voodoo 1
HDDs include 2 SATA 1 Sandisk 32 GB drives that I formatted in my main system with a chunk unformatted.

Reply 1 of 7, by Warlord

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you could be the 1st. Let us know if it likes force loading a old driver for a geforce instead of a quadro with 2 gpus glued to the same pcb. As far as I'm aware it doesn't equate to SLI they control separate monitors for quad monitor support. I'm skeptical.

Reply 2 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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I had it tested in Windows 9x. Identified just like two separate PCI Quadro cards and works with Detonator 28.xx.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 3 of 7, by Jackal1983

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Warlord wrote on 2021-03-25, 06:24:

you could be the 1st. Let us know if it likes force loading a old driver for a geforce instead of a quadro with 2 gpus glued to the same pcb. As far as I'm aware it doesn't equate to SLI they control separate monitors for quad monitor support. I'm skeptical.

Yeah, I know. Again I'm planning to use it ($15 with free shipping) more like a Quadro NVS 100 (50 to 60 bucks) or a GF4MX 440 (also hard to find and pricy) than a double GPU. That's why I wonder if the BIOS could be hacked to disable 1 of the GPUs provided that it works with older Detonator drivers (which it is, per the Serpent Rider)

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2021-03-25, 12:22:

I had it tested in Windows 9x. Identified just like two separate PCI Quadro cards and works with Detonator 28.xx.

Nice. So I could just disable one of the GPUs in Windows I guess and use a LFH to 1x VGA (for the voodoo 1) and 1x DVI (for everything else) . Might be worth checking and comparing performance with one disabled and one enabled versus both enabled and one just twiddling its thumbs. I have to think that disabling one would lead to better performance.

Reply 4 of 7, by feipoa

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Keep in mind that those cheap Quadro NVS 400 PCI cards on ebay which appear to have two DVI connectors do not have the standard DVI connectors. They require a special break-out cable. Do you have this cable?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 6 of 7, by feipoa

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I'm not sure of the name, but it appears similar to what is on the Matrox G200 MMS card, which has two of those black connectors and contains two cables which break it out into 2 VGA connectors per cable, for a total of 4 VGA connectors.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 7 of 7, by Jackal1983

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It's the 60 pin variant, LFH-60, but I think the 59 pin adaptors work. Funny that you mention Matrox, Feipoa, the adaptor I ordered with that card is Matrox branded. Considering one end will be connected to a Voodoo 1, I figured I'd pay extra for a name brand splitter from a company known for their image quality. Just to be on the safe side...