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Voodoo 3 3000 or TNT 2 M64

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First post, by cheese007

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Recently happened into an absurdly cheap Voodoo 3 2000 after setting up a retro rig with mostly-free parts, including the above-mentioned TNT 2 M64. I've been trying to find out (both from reading threads on here and elsewhere) which of these two cards I should stick with but I haven't got a clear answer to which is the "better" performer. Took me a hot minute to get this machine functional as-is so I'd rather not futz with it unless the Voodoo is a worthwhile upgrade. Specs as follows:

Pentium III "Katmai" 500mhz
512Mb SDRAM PC100 (mixed sticks)
Soundblaster Live! Value
TNT 2 M64 16MB AGP OR Voodoo 3 3000 16MB AGP

Reply 1 of 6, by konc

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Whenever you encounter an absurdly cheap Voodoo you grab it and think later.
Jokes aside, regardless of which card is a "better performer", the voodoo has the glide games compatibility to offer, something that the tnt hasn't. I don't mean that you need this, but to consider other aspects of the cards too.

Reply 2 of 6, by Joseph_Joestar

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The Voodoo 3 3000 is comparable to a full TNT2. The M64 is a cut down version of the latter and performs about 50% slower.

To answer your question, the Voodoo 3 is better than the M64.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 4 of 6, by DonCatoli

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Interesting that you ran into DOS issues with the TNT2 as it is typically the more compatible of the two. With the V3 3000 I would recommend flashing it to the latest VBIOS rev which is 2.15.12 assuming it is not already on it and if you are comfortable with flashing cards however be warned that flashing a voodoo3 can be tricky as the flash tool can glitch and fail the flash like it did to me [and has happened to others] until I got the modified 2.15.07 VBIOS that corrects an issue with flashing, after flashing to that I then was able to flash any non-modified VBIOS to them.

Late PCI, early and middle AGP video chips DOS game compatibility test results https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

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  • Filename
    3dfx_flash_2.17.zip
    File size
    335.09 KiB
    Downloads
    42 downloads
    File comment
    3dfx lfash tool v2.17
    File license
    Public domain
  • Filename
    3dfx Voodoo3 3000 16MB AGP SDRAM 2.15.12 - WORKING.zip
    File size
    18.91 KiB
    Downloads
    37 downloads
    File comment
    Official 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 16mb AGP BIOS v2.15.12
    File license
    Public domain
  • Filename
    3dfx Voodoo3 3000 16MB AGP SDRAM 2.15.07 - WORKING.7z
    File size
    16.92 KiB
    Downloads
    36 downloads
    File comment
    Modified 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 16mb AGP BIOS v2.15.07, this resolves the issue with the flash tool aborting flashing the v3 3000 after erasing the cards ROM
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 5 of 6, by auron

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DonCatoli wrote on 2022-12-24, 00:44:

Interesting that you ran into DOS issues with the TNT2 as it is typically the more compatible of the two. [/url]

i think 3dfx is preferable to nvidia at least for build engine stuff, the nvidia cards seem to exhibit the "snow" corruption during screen tint effects (damage/picking up health) a lot more strongly.

Reply 6 of 6, by DonCatoli

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auron wrote on 2022-12-29, 06:34:
DonCatoli wrote on 2022-12-24, 00:44:

Interesting that you ran into DOS issues with the TNT2 as it is typically the more compatible of the two. [/url]

i think 3dfx is preferable to nvidia at least for build engine stuff, the nvidia cards seem to exhibit the "snow" corruption during screen tint effects (damage/picking up health) a lot more strongly.

Perhaps a VBIOS related issue?, based off the DOS compatibility chart the TNT2 fares better than the 3dfx. https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

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