no. is that x800 doing VGA out?

i keep a single voodoo 2 around in my fast rig for edge cases, i didn't think sli was worth it when I tried it, it doesn't even use the other cards memory i dont think so you still have 12mb..

leileilol wrote on 2022-12-12, 05:38:

no. is that x800 doing VGA out?

The x800 has both SVGA and DVI headers (Both work)
The Voodoo 2s have SVGA headers and each have worked with a GeForce4 at some point in time.

I'm sure I could get it to "work" but I'm just wondering if it is even worth the effort for Glide stuff.

The x800 is generations past the Voodoo2, but Glide is Glide....

if you want to play games that use them its worth, if you can get away with wrappers on the x800 idk maybe not.

Warlord wrote on 2022-12-12, 06:02:

if you want to play games that use them its worth, if you can get away with wrappers on the x800 idk maybe not.

Wrappers (as far as I'm aware) are a no go simply because many of my favorite games crap all over themselves past DirectX 8.1.

If there was a working\stable wrapper for the environment I run I'd be all for it, but I just don't think that such a thing exists. (LOL)

I may give the Voodoo2 SLI route a go but if anyone has any experience here I'd appreciate the input.

The Voodoo 2 would also be good for games which use table fog and/or paletted textures since the X800 doesn't support either of those features out of the box.

As for using two Voodoo 2 cards, that's up to you, and whether you need the extra performance or not.

This is a cool project. Massively over speced machine for voodoo 2s let’s see how fast they can really go!

Voodoo 2 aiming for the stars?

Does running 2 cards hurt anything? nope
If you have the other card I'd setup SLI even if its just for that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that you have it.
Not everything has to make sense after all!

For D3D and OpenGL games, no in most cases. For older games that uses Glide (especially if it is exclusive or is better supported), then yes.

Whether setting up SLI with the Voodoo2 cards or not, it depends on you. For me it isn't worth it, but with it you can get some extra performance and allow the use of 1024x768 resolution with z-buffering.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-12-12, 10:19:

This is a cool project. Massively over speced machine for voodoo 2s let’s see how fast they can really go!

Voodoo 2 aiming for the stars?

I just ordered some heat sinks for the voodoo 2 cards.... those things are going to heat up nicely...

I even have some plans for possibly a small fan or two.
I'll keep everyone updated here.

For your information:

tried to get any Radeon AGP card to work with Voodoo2 but no, it just won't work. Geforce works.

But there's one exception, Voodoo3 PCI works with Radeon 3850 AGP in my Athlon 64 X2 rig. I can choose PCI or AGP in bios.

So here is the current cooling setup on the first card.

I think I'm going to get "card 1" up and running in the system for testing as I seem to be having a hard time finding the second card in storage and I have to get an SLI cable somewhere as well.

dj_pirtu wrote on 2022-12-15, 13:18:

For your information:

tried to get any Radeon AGP card to work with Voodoo2 but no, it just won't work. Geforce works.

But there's one exception, Voodoo3 PCI works with Radeon 3850 AGP in my Athlon 64 X2 rig. I can choose PCI or AGP in bios.

That's interesting.

I've got a GeForce4 or something comparable floating around so I'll have it available just in case.

I've also got to do a ghost image on this thing before I start as well....

Vote for a pci slot blower fan and a double width pcb bridge

dj_pirtu wrote on 2022-12-15, 13:18:

tried to get any Radeon AGP card to work with Voodoo2 but no, it just won't work. Geforce works.

?
Radeon HD3850 AGP + Voodoo2 SLI + WinXPSP3 -- my main retroPC, works flawlessly.
Radeon X1xxx AGP -- not have.
Radeon X850 PE AGP +... -- graphical artefacts. I will test this Radeon w/o Voodoos. And maybe an oven is the right solution...
Radeon 95xx-98xx AGP -- not have.
And Rageon 8500 SE AGP (9100 to be precise) + Voodoo2 SLI + WinME -- works flawlessly.
The system is P4 3.2E/ASUS P4P800 SE/2 GiB DDR400B RAM/80 GB + 1 TB + 2 TB HDDs (PATA + 2SATA).

Warlord wrote on 2022-12-12, 05:52:

i keep a single voodoo 2 around in my fast rig for edge cases, i didn't think sli was worth it when I tried it, it doesn't even use the other cards memory i dont think so you still have 12mb..

Voodoo2 memory is divided in three: The frame buffer has 4MB dedicated memory and the rest is split evenly between the two texture units ( 2MB each on 8MB cards, 4MB each for 12MB cards ).

In SLI, each card still needs its own copies of the texture assets, so effective texture memory is not increased. Only the frame buffer can be treated as additive, which is why the max resolution goes from 800x600 to 1024x768. It's more accurate to say SLI 8MB cards have 12MB total VRAM while SLI 12MB cards have 16MB.

And the big caveat to Voodoo2 is how the game utilizes textures. The Voodoo2 has a single texture pipeline with two texture mapping units, so it can apply two textures per polygon per cycle. This is incredibly efficient as the second texture is essentially applied for free, but in games that only use a single texture, one texture unit is unused. Compare that to the TNT ( Twin Texel ) which had two single-texture pipelines, meaning both texture units were always active, even if not quite as efficient as the Voodoo2 architecture.

Gamecollector wrote on 2022-12-16, 19:37:

? Radeon HD3850 AGP + Voodoo2 SLI + WinXPSP3 -- my main retroPC, works flawlessly. Radeon X1xxx AGP -- not have. Radeon X850 PE […]
Show full quote

dj_pirtu wrote on 2022-12-15, 13:18:

tried to get any Radeon AGP card to work with Voodoo2 but no, it just won't work. Geforce works.

?
Radeon HD3850 AGP + Voodoo2 SLI + WinXPSP3 -- my main retroPC, works flawlessly.
Radeon X1xxx AGP -- not have.
Radeon X850 PE AGP +... -- graphical artefacts. I will test this Radeon w/o Voodoos. And maybe an oven is the right solution...
Radeon 95xx-98xx AGP -- not have.
And Rageon 8500 SE AGP (9100 to be precise) + Voodoo2 SLI + WinME -- works flawlessly.
The system is P4 3.2E/ASUS P4P800 SE/2 GiB DDR400B RAM/80 GB + 1 TB + 2 TB HDDs (PATA + 2SATA).

So the problem is Abit KT7A (or the chipset) and not the Radeon, good to know.

I tried 8500 and different 9x00 cards and x800PRO, no go. With Geforce works with no problem.