VOGONS


First post, by Scythifuge

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Greetings,

I received the refund from the liar who said that the V5 I ordered was "tested and working" (garbled bios/boot sequence/prompt) and I have received another on from a different seller, which allows me to boot to a Dos 7 prompt without any issues. I have to reinstall Windows 98 and install a driver that I will download from 3dfx zone (I'm not sure which one yet.) However, I am already having concerns...

The fans are really noisy, so I am probably going to look into replacing them. I found these, though I don't know if they will work for this situation:

https://www.amazon.com/GDSTIME-40x10mm-Brushl … r/dp/B07MS1DBZ7

I am worried about the VSA-100 chips, especially with a card this old, and I don't want those puppies to cook.

Another issue is that ALL slots of this machine (Code Name: Farnsworth) are occupied (well, they will be when I get a 2nd Voodoo2 and after the Voodoo1 arrives.) The last two slots contain an SB Live! and a CT3990 (hate it - incompatible with Solar Winds; no OPL3; isn't my CT2760 that died) until I can get a replacement. There isn't room for a modem or a NIC, which is terribly horrible (or horribly terrible, depending on how you look at it) but I can connect a serial modem for BBSing. I just won't be able to surf the net in DOS or Windows 3.11 via broadband and download game patches, so I will have to do that on the 486DX/66Mhz system I am putting together and transfer fields over a serial connection, and use it to play Blood, Wing Commander Armada, Duke 3d, and Doom - multiplayer. It is too slow for Quake, unfortunately. I also don't believe that a Pentium Overdrive solution is realistic, either.

I digress...

So there is very little space between the Voodoo5 and Voodoo2, so there isn't a lot of airflow. I plan on playing Deus Ex with everything cranked up. I am inspired to play it after watching Nemesis (1992) with my girlfriend, and I always wanted to play it with a Voodoo5. Is my Voodoo5 doomed? I have though of various solutions, such as using a PCI riser cable and placing the Voodoo2 cars elsewhere in the case, with a little bit of velcro, hot glue, and some duct tape. I am using a big Gateway case that use to house an ancient Pentium II, so I think I have some wiggle room if I can find long enough riser cables.

Scythifuge

Reply 1 of 5, by kixs

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Not sure if I understand correct. You're planning on using V1, V2 and V5 in the same machine? Keep in mind that V5 likes a fast CPU, while V1 doesn't.

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Reply 2 of 5, by Scythifuge

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kixs wrote on 2021-03-20, 00:08:

Not sure if I understand correct. You're planning on using V1, V2 and V5 in the same machine? Keep in mind that V5 likes a fast CPU, while V1 doesn't.

Yes; they are going in a Pentium III 550Mhz machine. It will have DOS, WFW 3.11, and Win98SE installed, and I put the required glide drivers in each game folder to ensure that the proper voodoo card is kicked in when playing games that require a voodoo1 or a voodoo2. I will install the drivers in ascending order in Windows 98 to ensure that the voodoo5 is used for all 1999-2000 games. So Myth - The Fallen Lords will use the Voodoo1, Quake II will use the Voodoo2 SLI, Deus Ex the V5, and so on. I will probably disable the AWE card in Windows 98 because of using the Live! card.

I will use Moslo Deluxe if there are any issues running games with the V1.

I am concerned about heat for the Voodoo5, due to the close proximity of the Voodoo2. I also am not sure which driver I should get for the V5, though I can test them all out as the V1 hasn't arrived yet, and I need to make sure that the V5 has no issues with 3d games, being that it is an ebay purchase. Acquiring one that works has been very stressful!

Reply 3 of 5, by Doornkaat

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How much space is there between the heatsinks (without fans) and the card below? Usually for 40mm fans you should at least give them 2-3mm to draw air in. Knowing the space between heatsink and next card will allow you to appriximate the max height of your fan, still with a large card underneath the fans will recycle a lot of warm air instead of drawing in cooler air. The passively cooled V2 cards also tend to get rather warm. It would be wise to use a larger fan to force fresh air over and between all cards in the sandwich.
The V5500 uses 5V fans with Molex Microblade connectors iirc. So you either need a replacement that matches both or you just get regular 12V fans to connect to a fan header or controller.
The fans you posted are radial fans and as far as I can tell they only draw in air from the side that's supposed to be mounted onto whatever surface you mount them on. They will not push air over the heatsinks. Mounting them the other way around (so they suck air over the heatsink) may have the rotor collide with the heatsink and get it stuck. I would not recommend them.
On Voodooalert you can find instructions on how to replace the bearings on V5500 fans. Maybe that's your best bet.

Reply 4 of 5, by Oetker

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A p3 550 is too slow for a good Deus Ex experience.

Reply 5 of 5, by Scythifuge

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Doornkaat wrote on 2021-03-20, 08:22:
How much space is there between the heatsinks (without fans) and the card below? Usually for 40mm fans you should at least give […]
Show full quote

How much space is there between the heatsinks (without fans) and the card below? Usually for 40mm fans you should at least give them 2-3mm to draw air in. Knowing the space between heatsink and next card will allow you to appriximate the max height of your fan, still with a large card underneath the fans will recycle a lot of warm air instead of drawing in cooler air. The passively cooled V2 cards also tend to get rather warm. It would be wise to use a larger fan to force fresh air over and between all cards in the sandwich.
The V5500 uses 5V fans with Molex Microblade connectors iirc. So you either need a replacement that matches both or you just get regular 12V fans to connect to a fan header or controller.
The fans you posted are radial fans and as far as I can tell they only draw in air from the side that's supposed to be mounted onto whatever surface you mount them on. They will not push air over the heatsinks. Mounting them the other way around (so they suck air over the heatsink) may have the rotor collide with the heatsink and get it stuck. I would not recommend them.
On Voodooalert you can find instructions on how to replace the bearings on V5500 fans. Maybe that's your best bet.

It is difficult to measure, though I would hazard to guess that there is a gap of about .25in or maybe a little less, so 4-6mm. I have considered other fan solutions that connect to molex plugs. I will look into bearing replacement; thank you for the tip.

I could rig a fan that draws heat away from all of the cards, as this old case has vents on the side. Perhaps I could also rig a fan that blows air on all of the cars from the front of the case, with one drawing the air out. I doubt there will be times where I run the machine for many hours at a time, though it may happen once in a while. I may still consider a riser cable set up, if I can figure out a good way to mount two V2 cards and run the cables out of the back, somehow. All I know is that I want to keep the V5 alive as long as possible, especially without knowing the card's history before I bought it!

Oetker wrote on 2021-03-20, 08:38:

A p3 550 is too slow for a good Deus Ex experience.

I beat the game back in the day on a P3 450 with a Voodoo3 card and a Sound Blaster Live! at 1024x768. I also beat Ultima IX with the same set up. I think that with a V5 and an extra 100Mhz (and more ram,) it will be alright. Once I can locate a suitable slocket/slotket, I will through a 1.4Ghz in there. There was an Asus adapter, but I didn't buy it on time, and almost all of the ones I see on ebay right now are Celeron only without voltage jumpers. It is the goal to get one, as this is to become the Ultimate 1980-2000 machine, using the commercial version of moslo in a multiboot configuration to emulate each processors over each era. I beat D.E. more than once, but it is one of those games I can keep playing (like Gothic/Gothic 2, Elex, the first Risen, and many DOS games, especially Origin Systems games.) I even found a brand new, still in the box (for 15-20 years) 19" KDS monitor, and even found the same computer desk I had from 1991 to 1997 (for free!) and got a deal on the Cambridge Soundworks 4.1 set up that I had with my original P3 450, so this machine and set up is pure nostalgia, along with convenient things like CF-IDE adapters, and a CF reader that connects top a parallel port and I will put a semi-modern DVD writer in it with a beige bezel.