Well, many people are trying to do something special with their retro systems.

Something that was prohibitively expensive back then, just wasn't reasonable, or not thought about.
Or rebuild their exact system their owned. Or some other special idea - 2 CPU systems for that era for example is what many people try to achieve.
Or system in very pristine condition for its age.

Is it a must have really? Of course not. Is it fun? Absolutely.

I for example am trying out various 10k/15k rpm disks in my HP Kayak with Voodoo3. This wasn't reasonable for me to own back in 2000, but now I have gotten a quite a few of those from server room discard bin.
I don't even play the games on the rig, just tweak the hardware setup. PCI64 Adaptec 29160 card is an absolute overkill for DVD-RAM drive, but where else would I put a PCI64 card? If I track down VRM at a reasonable price I will make it 2-CPU system as well.

This is what is missing from your planned build - hardware fun!

Give us something to chew on!

System specs are good, and should be period correct. I used to work in computer retail between 1995 to 2005 so I can vouch for it.
You could with good conscience also match that GPU with an Athlon 1 GHz, which was a big novelty when it was launched in March year 2000. "The first CPU to breach the 1 GHz barrier!!!" But the Athlon 700 was launched pretty much the same time as the Voodoo 3, so no mistake there on your part.

What I would love to see, is if you are able to source one of those beige cases that we had in that time period, to make it look right. That would be the icing on the cake!

Good luck!

I find 600Mhz is enough for all my Win9x games, (especially Glide games) anything the needs more works fine on XP anyway so think your 700Mhz is fine.
256MB Ram is also fine for Win98.
Audigy 2 ZS is the latest sound card for Win98, but personally don't find enough of a difference to justify paying to upgrade from your existing Audigy 1
You probably don't need the Montego but agree it's fun to try the competition.

So no, I can't think of anything missing from your build or would do different.

hilram wrote on 2024-05-05, 09:07:

System specs are good, and should be period correct. I used to work in computer retail between 1995 to 2005 so I can vouch for i […]
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System specs are good, and should be period correct. I used to work in computer retail between 1995 to 2005 so I can vouch for it.
You could with good conscience also match that GPU with an Athlon 1 GHz, which was a big novelty when it was launched in March year 2000. "The first CPU to breach the 1 GHz barrier!!!" But the Athlon 700 was launched pretty much the same time as the Voodoo 3, so no mistake there on your part.

What I would love to see, is if you are able to source one of those beige cases that we had in that time period, to make it look right. That would be the icing on the cake!

Good luck!

Thanks for you reply. Using a 1 GHZ Athlon would be a neat thing for the coolness factor thats for sure but finding one is not that easy and performance wise the 700 mhz athlon should be more than enough for the games i want to play. Have studied some old gaming mags to see the system requirements for the games i want to play and with my athlon 700 mhz i would be above the optimum settings in most cases.

You have to see the recommendations with a grain of salt though. although my socket 370 build was way above the system recommmendations for Deus Ex with a P3 800 Mhz and 256 mb of ram that particular game did not run very well.

In general I should be on the save side with the athlon 700mhz.

chinny22 wrote on 2024-05-06, 05:37:

I find 600Mhz is enough for all my Win9x games, (especially Glide games) anything the needs more works fine on XP anyway so thin […]
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I find 600Mhz is enough for all my Win9x games, (especially Glide games) anything the needs more works fine on XP anyway so think your 700Mhz is fine.
256MB Ram is also fine for Win98.
Audigy 2 ZS is the latest sound card for Win98, but personally don't find enough of a difference to justify paying to upgrade from your existing Audigy 1
You probably don't need the Montego but agree it's fun to try the competition.

So no, I can't think of anything missing from your build or would do different.

Thanks for the info. Yeah the Montego is not really needed it is more gimmick. Had no problems with the audigy on my socket 370 system it is a great sound card. But after reading many times that Voodoo 3 gaming and a card with a A3d card are a good match I got curious to try A3d out.
After all I want to have a good and peroid correct 3dfx gaming experience.

At first only reading the thread title I thought somebody is doing a rebuild (=remake) of Voodoo 3 cards.
You can't imagine how excited I was 🤣

predator_085 wrote on 2024-05-02, 10:06:

After losing my socket 370 mobo I need to rebuild my Voodoo 3 system. […]
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After losing my socket 370 mobo I need to rebuild my Voodoo 3 system.

This time I go the Athlon route

I am going to use

a Gigabyte GA-7IXE mainboard (already purchased and ordered)
AMD Athlon 700 MHz (K7700MTR51B) (Already ordered as well)
256 mb PC 133 ram

the drive and the cd rom drive are nothing special and not worth mentioning.

OS: Windows 98SE

it is going to be used for games from 97 to mid-2000.

For the sound card, I am either going to reuse my Audigy 1 Sound card from the first build or I will purchase Turtle Beach Montego to have A3D support.

I am going to share pics when it is ready.

What do you think about the preposed specs?

Fair enough or would you change some components to have a good V3 System?

I had a GA-7IXE board back in the day. it's a decent board but I had a problem with them dying after a while. I've gone through 3 of them over the years. they tend to work and then one day not POST. my POST card shows that the reset line is being held high so it's probably something going bad but just something to be aware of!

predator_085 wrote on 2024-05-02, 10:06:

GA-7IXE

AMD Irongate = asking for trouble. Unstable chipset, flaky boards.

crusher wrote on 2024-05-08, 09:56:

At first only reading the thread title I thought somebody is doing a rebuild (=remake) of Voodoo 3 cards.
You can't imagine how excited I was 🤣

This person makes excellent boards: https://www.zxc64.com/video_cards/0_62947_voo … o_3_3500_alike/
I have bought serveral different boards and modules from him. Shipping takes a while, but I have not been disappointed.
Cheers!

Bruno128 wrote on 2024-05-15, 23:17:

predator_085 wrote on 2024-05-02, 10:06:

GA-7IXE

AMD Irongate = asking for trouble. Unstable chipset, flaky boards.

From my own experience with Iron Gate it really wasn't that bad. Back around 06 I built a point of sale system for my mom's restaurant using a MSI irongate based board with a 1ghz slot A athlon and it was rock solid for the 7 years it was in service. It probably would of been longer but Super Storm Sandy had other plans for my parents restaurant. I had maxed out the ram 768meg, used a GeForce mx400, and ran server 2003. I still have the system just haven't used it in a long time.

DarcTangent wrote on 2024-05-16, 00:34:

This person makes excellent boards: https://www.zxc64.com/video_cards/0_62947_voo … o_3_3500_alike/
I have bought serveral different boards and modules from him. Shipping takes a while, but I have not been disappointed.
Cheers!

Thanks for the tip. 370USD is a good price.

The only game I can think of that will benefit from a beefier CPU on a Voodoo 3 is Deus Ex and it is a bit of an outlier. 512MB ram could be nice to have, not for gaming but for general system tasks. Otherwise, it's a regular Voodoo 3 build if a bit cookie cutter. I like the CS4624/30 cards like the TB Santa Cruz over Audigy because I never got a big kick out of EAX (and those cards have adequate EAX and A3D support for my unrefined tastes). Enjoy your system and post us some photos of the build and the end result 😀

Bruno128 wrote on 2024-05-15, 23:17:

predator_085 wrote on 2024-05-02, 10:06:

GA-7IXE

AMD Irongate = asking for trouble. Unstable chipset, flaky boards.

Not sure about other boards, but the Gigabyte GA-7iXE is a very solid, stable board (I have many).
Not the best overclocker, though...

Bruno128 wrote on 2024-05-15, 23:17:

predator_085 wrote on 2024-05-02, 10:06:

GA-7IXE

AMD Irongate = asking for trouble. Unstable chipset, flaky boards.

Thanks for the warning although it is too late. I am already the owner that mobo and so far I have not herad antything bad about that speficic mobo. But good to know that some trouble might await me with that chipset.

appiah4 wrote on 2024-05-16, 09:24:

The only game I can think of that will benefit from a beefier CPU on a Voodoo 3 is Deus Ex and it is a bit of an outlier. 512MB ram could be nice to have, not for gaming but for general system tasks. Otherwise, it's a regular Voodoo 3 build if a bit cookie cutter. I like the CS4624/30 cards like the TB Santa Cruz over Audigy because I never got a big kick out of EAX (and those cards have adequate EAX and A3D support for my unrefined tastes). Enjoy your system and post us some photos of the build and the end result 😀

Thanks a lot for your reply and recommendations. The project is appraching the finishing line fast. The last missing components should arrive early next week then I can start completing everything and then I will share some pics for sure to introduce my system.

The iron gate chip set really is fine I used a MSI Irongate based motherboard for many years as a point of sale system with zero issues.