Thanks brostenen,

You brought up a really good point. I think what I will do is sell off a couple things soon and get myself a Voodoo2 12MB, then later on pick up another Voodoo2 12MB if needed. That will give me the ability to play Glide games. I have an SLI cable and the short pass-through cable on-hand.

squareguy wrote:

Thanks brostenen,

You brought up a really good point. I think what I will do is sell off a couple things soon and get myself a Voodoo2 12MB, then later on pick up another Voodoo2 12MB if needed. That will give me the ability to play Glide games. I have an SLI cable and the short pass-through cable on-hand.

No need for thanks. 😉 Just a little thought that I had, when looking at performance of V2-SLI compared to V3-3000.
And because you have choosen the path of the G400 and not V3, then the build is like G400 with V3 build in (or something)
I run G400-32-AGP in my K6-2-500 rig (the "Zitech-recreation"), and as you probably know, G400 is way underrated.
People tend to say poor drivers, when explaining why one should avoid it. That was only in the first drivers released.
You get G400 performance and V2-SLI performance and insane picture quality in 2D from G400. (Windows desktop, image-editing etc)

On a side-note....
I am waiting for an V2 (got it at the right price) And I will test it out, to see if it feel's good/balanced/ok when paired with the G400.
Hope it will. As I really feel that the combo of G400/G400-Max and V2's are the best to go when dealing with era-correct 90's build.
For a non-era-correct build, I would never ever go this path. For that better hardware are out in the wild.

Motherboard, P3 550E, Matrox G400's and Vortex 2 arrived today.

Motherboard is perfect (NOS in retail box) with just a dead CMOS battery.
Matrox G400's look perfect
Vortex 2 looks to have a few caps that are very slightly domed, will replace those at some point.
P3 550E had an issue probably caused by shipping. The heatsink was not sitting flush on the CPU and I am glad i noticed it. Simply removing the heatsink and reattachiing fixed it right up. The back retaining plate was pushed in on the bottom.

Awaiting more parts and checking these out now.

Voodoo2 question.

If two Voodoo2's are sometimes a little faster than a single Voodoo3 and the Matrox G400 (after they improved the driver's performance) has similar performance to the Voodoo3 then do I need a Voodoo2?

Are there any early Windows games that rely on Glide that do not have support for OpenGL or DirectX? I know there are DOS games where that is the only/best option and I plan to install a Voodoo1 card in my DOS box.

Really liking this P3 550E, runs very cool. Got the board, CPU, video and sound mounted in the case today. Awaiting more parts.

Well... It's a matter of taste. You really don't need Voodoo2.
The machine is fast enough. It is only to make shure that the muscles are there, if glide is prefered to play in, a couple of times.
I was only suggesting it, because it will only give you more choices when it comes to software.
And if G400 is as fast as V3 or faster in some cases. And if V2-SLI is faster than V3-3000.
Then you could look at it, as having both a "V3" glide performer and a G400 performer in one machine.

When I had a V1 alongside a Radeon9600. The 9600 seemed a bit sluggish somehow.
I have mentioned it before, here on Vogons, as it made me think about it.
I think it actually was the same "feeling" on all cards I tried. Wich is why I will try my V2 (not sli) to see
if I experience the same sensation of a slower machine when using a V2.
Or it could have been that Orchid cards really does that, and not the rest of V1's out there.
People here at Vogons, have reported that they don't experience this issue.
So eighter, it was my card, or it could have been the Mobo. I just don't know, and never will find out eighter.

Note that I had the same feeling, when using R-9600, GF2-MX400, TNT2 (all models) and G400
(both 32mb dualhead and 16mb singlehead)

Gotcha, thanks.

Well the RAM came in today so at least I have a RAM test running overnight. Hopefully more parts arrive tomorrow.

Well this box is coming along nicely. I keep forgetting to pick up a new CR2032 battery, I can't believe I'm out. The case is cleaned up but not perfect (I didn't go full-tilt anal on this one... yet)

By the way, this is what you want to use to clean plastic. Use plenty of water and rub gently. It will look like new! I use them on painted metal cases as well but I go slowly.

The motherboard, CPU with a new fan, RAM, new power supply, new hard drive with SATA to IDE coverter, Matrox G400, NIC, and Vortex 2 sound card are installed. I need to clean the floppy drive and I would like to find a DVD burner that matches the case color, the CD-ROM that is in it is not the same shade of beige. Over the next week or so I will cut some IDE cables for it, clean the floppy drive and make a decision on what to do about optical drive.

I should have time tomorrow to finish up and load Windows. Hopefully have time for Thief 1 and 2 😉

Coming along nicely 😀

One comment regarding V2 SLI vs V3. V3 has a much better image quality. So does the Matrox of course. That alone would be a huge factor for me.

Thanks Phil,

I forgot to mention, I also plan to make a custom bracket or two for internal fans. Nothing too fancy but I want a 92mm - 120mm fan to circulate air over the cards. If it works well enough I will remove the fan from the CPU and then it should be dead silent.

Phil,

I was just watching your video 1998 Gaming Dreambuild and that is the same case this box has, only with a different plastic bezel. Sorry but I'm afraid mine looks better 😉 I will try to post pics tomorrow. I really like the PC you built.

EDIT: not sure how that happened... I was watching your channel but the video I watched was from someone else. I'm getting senile.

Yea, I always use modern ATX cases. Mostly from Gigabyte, Aywun...

I like the old cases (not all of them mind you) with heavy steel, nice paint and of course beige. A computer should be beige, it's part of the Universe's master plan and who am I to judge the Universe in all of it's infinite wisdom? That being said, there is a quite practical reason to use old cases made from such high quality steel. Are you as scared of machine-gun ninjas as I am? I mean you could just be sitting there playing Quake, when all of a sudden machine-gun ninjas jump out of nowhere. You jump behind your little thin steel computer tower and you my friend are now *(#%@). You are just a split second away from meeting your maker when those machine-gun bullets pass straight through your puny case and hit your ^*%. I want a case that can take a few hits, give me enough time to gather my senses, I mean machine-gun ninjas just popped out of no where, I'm gonna be a little stunned. Have time to make a plan and enact it like picking up the case, use it as a mobile protective barrier and run straight at that machine-gun ninja and beat him to death with my heavy steel case. Just sayin...

PS. machine-gun ninjas are scared of the color beige, the Universe is pretty smart huh?

I guess no one gets my humor. Oh well.

You do not have an IBM Model M keyboard to whack the machine-gun ninja with. Your strategy is flawed xD

I do have a brand new Unicomp PS/2 keyboard. Exact remake of the model M, I'll be ok 😉 I love this thing!

http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD

Well I do not have time for pics today 🙁

Windows installed, drivers loaded, absolutely pleased with it! I will get matching beige DVD-R and floppy drives soon.

Quake 2, 1024x768, default OpenGL, default settings, demo1.dm2 is running at 55 frames-per-second. Brostenen, thanks again for recommending the Matrox G400! Display is gorgeous and I can't wait to explore various DirectX 5.0/6.0/7.0 games and not have driver issues! Phil did get about 10 more frames-per-second but he did have a 1100-MHz P3 versus my 550-MHz P3. I am happy! I see no reason, as of now, to add any 3dfx cards to this system.

I even installed my Dreamblaster S1 on the Vortex2 just in case for some DOS games. It will not be my main DOS box but it's just nice to have.

Pics will be coming when I have time. Might wait until I'm completely finished.

Unicomp doesn't ship to Brazil 🙁

Btw I'm getting curious about the Matrox. All I used back in the day was onboard stuff and an S3-powered Diamond card. When I started upgrading my PCs myself (or, rather, choosing the boards and getting my parents to buy it) I started favouring nVidia cards.

Cant wait for the pics.
Nothing beats a Slot 1/BX system in my books, and agreed SE440BX-2 is the top of BX boards.
Only had SE440BX-3 boards myself, 1 Gateway with the Ensoniq 64 and 1 Dell with the Yamaha on board sound (and evil ATX connector)
Still absolute pleasure to use.

Machine gun ninjas ONLY use SE440BX boards, as they are true Intel not imitation, they honer its reliability, and appreciate the simplicity of Slot 1,
Oh and being ninja's they don't really have high PC needs anyway

Chinny22,

Agreed;) I'm looking forward to getting some decent pics. I will hopefully have time this week! I have decided to go ahead and modify the PSU by taking out unneeded 12V CPU, SATA and the +4 pins from the 24-pin ATX connector. I am really liking this box and I want it to look nice. I should have time to clean/refurb the floppy drive tomorrow. I ordered a beige DVD drive and I am really hoping for a good color match. It is period correct with the headphone jack, volume wheel and play button!