If you just want to try few glide games pcem emulates voodoo quite well.

> I have read that getting the right cpu is tricky because If you chose a too powerful one which is too modern could overwhelm the voodoo 2.

no, but there are diminishing returns past 700-1000mhz
If you are buying Voodoo2 to actually use and enjoy I wouldnt bother with 8mb unless you can upgrade it to 12MB yourself.
If you are $spending$ on 3dfx and arent after relieving childhood traumas get Intel platform. Name brand 440BX/815/815e/815ep board + Pentium 3 + 256MB of ram + IDE-to-SATA converter with SATA SSD + something like SB Live.

voodoo2 $200-300
ATI Rage whatever/Matrox G whatever/brand name nvidia AGP card $10
"ASUS CUSL2-C + CPU P3 1000Mz + RAM 256Mb , Socket 370 , Intel Motherboard" currently sitting at $130 with shipping from Latvia
SATA to PATA $10
brand name 1TB sata ssd $50 or if adventurous noname Chinese 2TB sata ssd $50. REMOVED v5 is ~500GB packed, ~600GB installed, ~1.2TB every game unpacked. Thats almost all DOS games that ever existed (>7200).
case $20-50?
SB Live $10
optional isa sound card for older games $20, would require different motherboard, for example ASUS P2B-F
All in all ~$550?

Thanks for your reply. Yeah I have heard about vodoo emulation. Are dgvoo and nglide equally good or is one better than the other?

I might try emulation out but I still want to make my own system for some reasons. It is not just gaming it is out of historic intrest. I think it is cool bulding a vodoo 2 machine just for fun and because I like the challenge of building such a system .

I also just had a vodoo 1 one back then and not could afford a vodoo 2. The next gpu i got after the vodoo 1 years later was already a geforce 256.

Thanks a lot for your hardware recommendations

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-22, 18:44:

Hello everyone. I have never build a retro gaming pc before but I want to start with it in the next couple of month. For my firs […]
Show full quote

Hello everyone. I have never build a retro gaming pc before but I want to start with it in the next couple of month.
For my first build I want to recreate a rather potent vodoo 2 system to run most the famous games from 1997 to 1999. I am want to build a single vodoo 2 rig. Getting another one for Sli wouldn't be uncool matter but getting 2 vodoo with the current pricing of the 3dfx cards is out of the question at the moment.

As I have never done this before I do not know where to start.
Which configurations would you guysr recommend ?
Which cpu would you recommend for example? I have read that getting the right cpu is tricky because If you chose a too powerful one which is too modern could overwhelm the voodoo 2.
Which 2d card would you recommend that would the perfect partner for a vodoo 2?
Are all vodoo manufactures equal or are som more desirable than others?
is the 12 mb version a must or could I also hunt for a 8mb version?

I would be pleased hearing some opinons.

And sorry to bother you guys with my super noob questions.

I advise you to do the following:

- Get a slot 1 or slot 370 system with AGP
- Get a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP for both 2D & 3D
- Get a Voodoo 2 8MB optionally (see explanation)

I'll explain why:

- The Voodoo 2 was only released for a year before the Voodoo 3 appeared. The Voodoo 3 supports practically all Voodoo 2 games bar a few DOS games.
- A Voodoo 2 as extra card will cover those few DOS games. If you don't plan to use 3DFX in DOS, there's no need to get the Voodoo 2 8MB card but these cards can be gotten for €50 so it's not that big an added cost.
- The Voodoo 3 3000 usually costs less than a Voodoo 2 12MB but is WAY more powerful and has more memory!
- The Voodoo 3 has REALLY good 2D support for DOS and Windows games
- The Voodoo 2 12MB already struggles with some games released in 1999 like Quake 3 Arena and even Unreal (1998) isn't the smoothest experience - it's better you go one step above so you'll get a smoother experience. Plus, AFAIK, Voodoo 3 fully supports DX7 and Voodoo 2 only DX6.

Now, CPU: I'd advise a Pentium III. There are motherboards where you can change the multiplier in the BIOS and I'd recommend this if you want control over the speed of your system. You can under-clock your CPU this way to make speed-sensitive games more playable but it's a quick BIOS change to make it go back to its full speed.

I have a Pentium II 333Mhz that fits all I said above (except for the Pentium III part - this is because I have a different Pentium III PC - if you will have just one, stick to a Pentium III) - it has a Voodoo 3, a Voodoo 2 12MB (I had one to spare but an 8MB is plenty), a SB Live!, 256MB of RAM (more is NOT needed for a Windows 98 system that will run games up till 1999 but you can go up to 512MB without running into games refusing to run, etc.) and a 120GB SSD.

SSDs are a great choice for Windows 98 but don't go above 120GB because Windows 98 can't handle it. If you use the retro PC a lot, once a year, take it out and do a manual trim on a modern PC to keep it "healthy". There's also a DOS tool that does a TRIM but I've yet to try it.

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 09:33:

- Get a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP for both 2D & 3D
- Get a Voodoo 2 8MB optionally (see explanation)

great suggestion, V3 3000 is a better V2 SLI setup with excellent 2D

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 09:33:

- A Voodoo 2 as extra card will cover those few DOS games. If you don't plan to use 3DFX in DOS, there's no need to get the Voodoo 2 8MB card but these cards can be gotten for €50 so it's not that big an added cost.

umm no, if you know a source Ill take 10 😀

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 09:33:

Now, CPU: I'd advise a Pentium III. There are motherboards where you can change the multiplier in the BIOS

cant, all Pentium 3 are multiplier locked

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-03-23, 10:03:

great suggestion, V3 3000 is a better V2 SLI setup with excellent 2D […]
Show full quote

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 09:33:

- Get a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP for both 2D & 3D
- Get a Voodoo 2 8MB optionally (see explanation)

great suggestion, V3 3000 is a better V2 SLI setup with excellent 2D

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 09:33:

- A Voodoo 2 as extra card will cover those few DOS games. If you don't plan to use 3DFX in DOS, there's no need to get the Voodoo 2 8MB card but these cards can be gotten for €50 so it's not that big an added cost.

umm no, if you know a source Ill take 10 😀

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 09:33:

Now, CPU: I'd advise a Pentium III. There are motherboards where you can change the multiplier in the BIOS

cant, all Pentium 3 are multiplier locked

I have a Pentium III that isn't actually - it's a Slot 1. I can make it go from 300 to 800Mhz which has been handy at times. I think Socket 370 are multiplier locked?

About the €50: I have 3 Voodoo 2 8MBs (and one 12MB) and the most recent I got "for free" with a €100 system. I actually had to turn down Voodoo 2 8MBs because I already have three and didn't want to pay €50 extra to keep it included. Depending on where you live, they really are that cheap if you're patient ... . I think most collectors go for a 12MB so the 8MB is often less desired. eBay gouge your eyes out though so don't blindly go by prices there ...

Thanks a lot for the advice @red_avatar. I have not considered V3 to be honest but everything you said sounds really solid. The V3 seems to be really great card especially for the late 1999 games you have mentioned. And of course for Unreal ( a game I want to play again for sure) Another pro for the V3 is that runs with the DX7 as well and not only with DX6. I did not know that but the more versatile the card the better.

The most common V3 cards I came across are from STB. Is STB a good vendor for that cards or would your recommend to look into another brand for V3000 in case there are any?

Speaking of using the V2 as extra card i also good idea. I think I would need one as well because there quite few Dos Games I am curious about.

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-22, 18:44:

Which cpu would you recommend for example? I have read that getting the right cpu is tricky because If you chose a too powerful one which is too modern could overwhelm the voodoo 2.

I'm struggling to think of any glide games that are CPU speed sensitive, Someone will no doubt be able to answer that. The more demanding glide games will be happy with a CPU around 600/700 Mhz (most likely a P3) anything faster = faster load times.

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-22, 18:44:

Which 2d card would you recommend that would the perfect partner for a vodoo 2?

This is V2's best selling point over a V3 IMHO, Pair it with a strong D3D card say a GF4 and have a computer that has good performance for any game.

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-22, 18:44:

Are all vodoo manufactures equal or are som more desirable than others?

Some brands like Creative or Diamond are more sort after but that's just because of the name, performance wise no real difference exists between brands.

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-22, 18:44:

is the 12 mb version a must or could I also hunt for a 8mb version?

All depends on budget, you don't loose anything with a 8MB card, but just like today more memory gives better performance and as you mention Unreal I'd say jump to 12 right away.
If your good with soldering iron and/or brave you can upgrade a 8MB to 12MB card

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-22, 18:44:

And sorry to bother you guys with my super noob questions.

No problem we all have to start somewhere.

I would agree though that Voodoo 3 is also good option. Voodoo 2's main selling points is been an add on you can pair with a stronger card for D3D and SLI is cool.
However if your not interested in D3D and not setting up SLI then even a V3 2000 will give comparable performance, better image quality and often for a cheaper price.
STB merged with 3dfx which is why you don't have the wide selection of brands like previous cards, main exception is OEM versions, typically a V3 2000 but again brand doesn't make much difference.

If your getting a 2nd 3dfx card for dos compatibility, original Voodoo is probably a better choice as this was the card dos games had in mind and compatibility issues exist
Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix
Apparently Interstate 76 only works on original Voodoo as well, I didn't know that till watching a LGR video while back

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-23, 10:49:

Thanks a lot for the advice @red_avatar. I have not considered V3 to be honest but everything you said sounds really solid. The V3 seems to be really great card especially for the late 1999 games you have mentioned. And of course for Unreal ( a game I want to play again for sure) Another pro for the V3 is that runs with the DX7 as well and not only with DX6. I did not know that but the more versatile the card the better.

The most common V3 cards I came across are from STB. Is STB a good vendor for that cards or would your recommend to look into another brand for V3000 in case there are any?

Speaking of using the V2 as extra card i also good idea. I think I would need one as well because there quite few Dos Games I am curious about.

Voodoo 3 was only sold by 3DFX themselves which is also why they're "better" than the Voodoo 2, because there you had multiple versions that required specific drivers. Diamond 3D drivers wouldn't work on a Creative Labs card for example (at least not when I tried it). With the Voodoo 3 you have just one supplier and drivers work for all the cards of that type.

For the DOS games: there are patches for the "better" DOS games that make them work with a Voodoo 3 (Tomb Raider, Screamer 2, Descent II, ...). The few games that don't work may be best played in DOSBOX? The question is if spending more money for 3-4 games you may play a little is worth it unless you really want the full experience and don't mind paying a little more.

Also: the DX6 & DX7 difference does not mean "Voodoo 2 can't play DX7 games" - you can play DX8 games on a Voodoo 2 as long as the game doesn't rely on DX7 or DX8 specific features. In practice this means you'll miss out on some graphic niceties such as bump mapping and so on but those also tended to severely impact performance so you may want those to be turned off anyway.

For the record, STB Systems was a manufacturer that 3DFX bought in late 1998.

Back in the day, STB were known to make high quality graphics cards based on a large variety of chips. All of those had exceptional image quality, almost rivaling Matrox in that regard. Of course, after the acquisition, they only manufactured 3DFX products.

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 11:04:

Voodoo 3 was only sold by 3DFX themselves which is also why they're "better" than the Voodoo 2, because there you had multiple versions that required specific drivers. Diamond 3D drivers wouldn't work on a Creative Labs card for example (at least not when I tried it). With the Voodoo 3 you have just one supplier and drivers work for all the cards of that type.

Uhm... any Voodoo 2 card will work just fine with the latest reference 3dfx drivers + DirectX 7. No need to use any other older drivers specific to a certain manufacturer. Also, you have the option of using the FastVoodoo drivers, which are also very compatible.
And, as mentioned above, the actual advantage that Voodoo 2 has is the fact that you can use it together with a faster, more powerful GPU, thus getting the best of both worlds (speed and image quality for newer games + compatibility with almost all Glide games).
Don't get me wrong, the Voodoo 3 is a very good card, with excellent image quality, but... the Voodoo 2 is just a very cool card to have and use (especially in SLI 😁 ).

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 11:04:

For the DOS games: there are patches for the "better" DOS games that make them work with a Voodoo 3 (Tomb Raider, Screamer 2, Descent II, ...). The few games that don't work may be best played in DOSBOX? The question is if spending more money for 3-4 games you may play a little is worth it unless you really want the full experience and don't mind paying a little more.

Some of those patches are not ideal. For example, the Voodoo Rush patch for Tomb Raider has issues with Lara's shadow.

the only other Voodoo3 manufacturer I ever knew was Powercolor. More that you would ever want to know about V3 Re: History of 3Dfx Graphics cards Vol. 2

bloodem wrote on 2023-03-23, 11:14:

Uhm... any Voodoo 2 card will work just fine with the latest reference 3dfx drivers + DirectX 7. No need to use any other older drivers specific to a certain manufacturer. Also, you have the option of using the FastVoodoo drivers, which are also very compatible.
And, as mentioned above, the actual advantage that Voodoo 2 has is the fact that you can use it together with a faster, more powerful GPU, thus getting the best of both worlds (speed and image quality for newer games + compatibility with almost all Glide games).
Don't get me wrong, the Voodoo 3 is a very good card, with excellent image quality, but... the Voodoo 2 is just a very cool card to have and use (especially in SLI 😁 ).

I got into major headaches last year - my Diamond 3D Voodoo 2 12MB did NOT work with just any driver. If you read the text files you'll read in black & white that there ARE differences and even FastVoodoo has good & bad drivers for this card. I discovered this painfully myself because Voodoo 2 drivers are a bitch to remove and I went through a lot of headaches trying to remove remnants of a Fastvoodoo version that was incompatible.

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-23, 11:25:

I got into major headaches last year - my Diamond 3D Voodoo 2 12MB did NOT work with just any driver. If you read the text files you'll read in black & white that there ARE differences and even FastVoodoo has good & bad drivers for this card. I discovered this painfully myself because Voodoo 2 drivers are a bitch to remove and I went through a lot of headaches trying to remove remnants of a Fastvoodoo version that was incompatible.

I have 12 x Voodoo 2 cards right now (yes, I'm insane, don't judge me - it's a medical condition 😜 ), and three of them are Diamond Monsters. I never encountered any issues with the latest reference drivers (3.02.02) when using any of these cards on a multitude of platforms.
What you are seeing is most likely a platform specific issue, a bug that might only occur when certain stars align. 😀

@red_avatar thanks for the clarification about DX6 and DX7 on the V3.

@chinny22 Getting a Vodoo 1 as a second card for Dos games was not on my radar. But it sounds like a chance if the availability and the price point are on my side (I have not checked both factors yet) I want to use the second 3dfx card for games alone and for none Dos Games I have thought of using the V3 only.

Paring V1 for dos sounds quite promising. The games I'm interested in the Tomb Raider 1, Descent 2, Schleichfahrt ( I think in the English-speaking part of the world the game is called Archimedean Dynasty I believe) and Blood should work well with a Vodoo card. I am not sure if the V1 or the V2 is meant in that regard. I need to check it out.

@bloodem

@rasz_pl Thanks for the link about the V3 history. I will read through it soon with pleasure. I am really into tech history so it will be fun to check it out.

The different opinions about the drivers of voodoo 2 are also quite interesting to read.

I am aware of the fact that some driver issues might be expected when dealing with such old cards but I hope I going to be among the lucky ones that have no problems with the latest 3dfx drivers.

@bloodem I also think that Vodoo 2 is a very cool card. I am fascinated by it since I heard about it in the 90s. Unfortunately, I never could get one.

Paring the V2 with another more powerful card like you mentioned it also sounds like a good alternative for my envisioned V3 System.

Which more powerful GPU would you consider as a good partner for the V2?

@all I like this forum. So many great answers and proposed options.

I love seeing these posts of people making new builds. Refreshing to see newbies like me sharing the struggle!

Law212 wrote on 2023-03-23, 13:40:

I love seeing these posts of people making new builds. Refreshing to see newbies like me sharing the struggle!

Yes it really interesting but also bit intimidating to step into the world of building a retro gaming rig. But I find it more thrilling than intimidating and I am up to the task.

I have done some further research meanwhile and I think I have 2 options to go.

I will get either a V3 . 3000 AGP system with either one of the pentium 3 or athlon gpu. I need to narrow down the MHZ numbers.

What do you guys think about the cpu choice? is one of of them more preferable over the other?

Or I will go with option B

which would be a double card system witha vodoo 2 and a more later peroid more powerful gpu as second card.

I need to do some more research to find out with more powerful gpu would a good partner for the V2.

predator_085 wrote:

I will get either a V3 . 3000 AGP system with either one of the pentium 3 or athlon gpu. I need to narrow down the MHZ numbers. […]
Show full quote

I will get either a V3 . 3000 AGP system with either one of the pentium 3 or athlon gpu. I need to narrow down the MHZ numbers.

What do you guys think about the cpu choice? is one of of them more preferable over the other?

Or I will go with option B

which would be a double card system witha vodoo 2 and a more later peroid more powerful gpu as second card.

I need to do some more research to find out with more powerful gpu would a good partner for the V2.

The best advise I can give, is to do lots of reading on specific options. Vogons has tons and tons of info on just about anything you might need.

My two cents: I always pick hardware where I had a good experience in the past (= it never broke down) and you can still readily find them to buy second hand.

For a Voodoo 3, a high end Pentium II but preferably a high end Pentium III seems ideal. Going with a more recent CPU doesn't seem worth it unless there's a financial benefit to it (= it's a lot cheaper?) but then I still feel that the AMD systems of that time were unreliable unless you go to the later AMD Athlon 64 CPUs which seemed to be a bit more sturdier. Of course if you ask 10 people on Vogons, you'll get different opinions - everyone relies on their own experience.

Having said that, I've never had a bad Pentium III system and I've had 4 so I would still go for a Pentium III - preferably with an ISA slot but definitely with an AGP slot.

red_avatar wrote on 2023-03-24, 08:49:

The best advise I can give, is to do lots of reading on specific options. Vogons has tons and tons of info on just about anythin […]
Show full quote

predator_085 wrote:

I will get either a V3 . 3000 AGP system with either one of the pentium 3 or athlon gpu. I need to narrow down the MHZ numbers. […]
Show full quote

I will get either a V3 . 3000 AGP system with either one of the pentium 3 or athlon gpu. I need to narrow down the MHZ numbers.

What do you guys think about the cpu choice? is one of of them more preferable over the other?

Or I will go with option B

which would be a double card system witha vodoo 2 and a more later peroid more powerful gpu as second card.

I need to do some more research to find out with more powerful gpu would a good partner for the V2.

The best advise I can give, is to do lots of reading on specific options. Vogons has tons and tons of info on just about anything you might need.

My two cents: I always pick hardware where I had a good experience in the past (= it never broke down) and you can still readily find them to buy second hand.

For a Voodoo 3, a high end Pentium II but preferably a high end Pentium III seems ideal. Going with a more recent CPU doesn't seem worth it unless there's a financial benefit to it (= it's a lot cheaper?) but then I still feel that the AMD systems of that time were unreliable unless you go to the later AMD Athlon 64 CPUs which seemed to be a bit more sturdier. Of course if you ask 10 people on Vogons, you'll get different opinions - everyone relies on their own experience.

Having said that, I've never had a bad Pentium III system and I've had 4 so I would still go for a Pentium III - preferably with an ISA slot but definitely with an AGP slot.

That's solid advice. I am going to read many different threads on vogons to find as many options as possible.

Yes it is not suprising at all the opinons and experiences are different. I still have fair show of my old german pc gaming mags I used to read back then. In order to refresh my memory and narrow down options for my buid I start re reading them and while the pentium where the top dogs in the recommendations I also found it funny that the amd stuff especially the K6 was also quite high the recommendations.

I totally forgot that. I though the intel Pentiums where the king. I personally only had Intel CPU back then and was always happy with them.

In fact I was only using until last year when I got my new modern gaming pc with Ryzen cpu. But hat's beyond the point. Just a funny anecdote

predator_085 wrote on 2023-03-24, 07:29:

which would be a double card system witha vodoo 2 and a more later peroid more powerful gpu as second card.

I need to do some more research to find out with more powerful gpu would a good partner for the V2.

If you want a "do-it-all" PC or "time machine" as they're sometimes called, my first choice will always be an Athlon XP "Thoroughbred" CPU on a sturdy KT600 board (like the Asus A7V600-X).

Pair that CPU with a GeForce 4 Ti 4200, a Voodoo 2 and a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 and you've got yourself a PC that can play almost anything. The CPU can also be underclocked down to 500 MHz (with the possibilty of disabling the L1/L2 caches), so... sky's the limit. If you also want excellent DOS compatibility, you have the option of adding a second sound card like a Yamaha YMF724/744 (an excellent PCI card that is actually more compatible than many ISA cards, particularly when used on certain platforms like this one), and you can use Setmul + Throttle for even more granular speed tuning (for speed sensitive DOS games). This will allow you to play most titles released between 1981 and 2002.

I have a few such PCs, and they are by far my "go-to" platforms for fast, fuss-free retro gaming (even though I do love period correct PCs, but for different reasons).