Devcon wrote:

I have tried the two Voodoo II in SLI but they don't work, i think its because they are from different manufactures.

"Mismatched SLI" is indeed possible. Did you try the drivers at 3dfxzone.it ?

Respect the soundcard on the pentium, can i put for example the AWE32 and the Analog Devices to work togheter? Or can i trow away that generic card?

If you can't even figure out what the card is, odds are you're going to have a terrible time getting anything to use it properly.

How about the voodoo I? I think some voodoo I games don't work on the voodoo II.

Do you actually want to play any of those Voodoo I games? (The only one that comes to mind is Super EF2000.)

Jorpho wrote:

Mismatched SLI" is indeed possible. Did you try the drivers at 3dfxzone.it ?

I have Unreal Gold lying around, i will try those drivers with that game, thanks.

If you can't even figure out what the card is, odds are you're going to have a terrible time getting anything to use it properly.

The truth is i want to have the most compatible sound card installed, but i'm unsure what card is the most compatible with DOS and Windows games (SB16 Value, AWE32?)

Do you actually want to play any of those Voodoo I games? (The only one that comes to mind is Super EF2000.)

There is only one game for voodoo I? If that's the case then i think there is no need of having V I & II plugged on the same comp.

How about my two computers for retro-gaming? Do you think i will be able of play really old DOS games on the pentium without problems? If that's the case i think i would sell that 486, it's only getting dust.

Thanks for your time.

Devcon wrote:

The truth is i want to have the most compatible sound card installed, but i'm unsure what card is the most compatible with DOS and Windows games (SB16 Value, AWE32?)

I really doubt the most compatible card is some unidentifiable thing from "Analog Dievices".

How about my two computers for retro-gaming? Do you think i will be able of play really old DOS games on the pentium without problems? If that's the case i think i would sell that 486, it's only getting dust.

Why don't you decide what games you'll probably be playing ? If for some very odd reason you want to be prepared to play absolutely anything that could conceivably strike your fancy, then yes, you'll probably want both computers. Certainly, there are things for which the 486 might be vaguely more convenient than the Pentium (factoring in the difficulty of getting stuff on to the 486 in the first place) - but really I can hardly understand why you wouldn't just use DOSBox.

are you using the sli cable the the voodoo2's

On a P1, a V2 SLI is pretty much overkill. With most games, one V2 will do fine, provided you are willing to put in some efford. If you know what you are doing, you can run a V1 and V2 together. The only advantage of a V1 is the ease of running older games.

I find that Voodoo 2 cards don't scale too well on P1 machines 😒 I would just use the S3 Virge DX paired with the Voodoo 1 card. Also there are actually many old 3D games that support the Voodoo 1 chip... hence the reason they became the most popular 3D card back then 😎 But if you really want a Voodoo 2 SLI config then i would recommend using them in a PII/PIII system. For the sound card, i would personally choose the AWE32 or SB16 and bin the crappy Analog Devices card.

Edit: Add the SB16 to the 486 and then leave the rest of the system as it is 😀

Regarding the Pentium.

Bad news: the 430TX was a chipset that doesn't cache beyond the first 64 MB RAM, with roughly a 5% performance penalty for every additional 8 MB beyond that number. You'll be better off either reducing the quantity of physical RAM to 64 MB, or disabling the L2 cache within the BIOS.

Next: Without going to significant levels of trouble, Voodoo2 cards from different manufacturers won't work together, and even with hacked-up driver sets they will misbehave on a regular basis. Use a single Voodoo2 and enjoy a sizable performance boost in most games of that era, compared to what a Voodoo1 can manage. The improved triangle setup engine alone will make a notable difference, to say nothing of the improvement multitexturing would offer.

Use the Sound Blaster 32, but keep the others as spares. These old cards aren't getting easier to find with time.

And don't throw away that 486! In a worst-case scenario, it's a handy backup. It's also handy for very old DOS games. Finally, if you get really bored, it'd make a terrific dedicated server. Good luck!