Tetrium wrote on 2023-05-25, 08:46:

What board does this HP have? If it has a i810 chipsetted board then your board won't have AGP and you will have to spend more t […]
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retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-24, 09:00:

Greetings vogons. New guy from Austria here. I have been dreaming about a 3dfx System since my childhood/early teens but never […]
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Greetings vogons. New guy from Austria here. I have been dreaming about a 3dfx System since my childhood/early teens but never could get one. I have been considering building a now retro vodoo system for quite some time already but have always postponed it due to high prices of the cards. But now I have the chance to get used 90s pc a HP Pavillion with a P3 800, socket 370 for almost nothing. I would not consider myself as superstitious but I still see it as sign to finally start with building plans. It is now or never the parts are not getting cheaper anytime soon. anyway.I have not seen the pc, this won't chance until the 10th of june when I can open it up by myself if anything is in order.

My now very generic and very noobish question is would be Pentium 3 800 with socket 370 and a voodoo 2 or vodoo 3 a good partners for gaming in general?

I do not mind if is going to be a Vodoo 2 or a 3 I would pick the one that is "cheaper".

Main field of application is going to be late 90s gaming (97 to 99 to be precise).

Thanks for your help in advance.

What board does this HP have?
If it has a i810 chipsetted board then your board won't have AGP and you will have to spend more to get a PCI 3dfx card.
As long as this system has AGP and is in working condition, you should be all set basically.
A P3 800MHz is more than adequate for a Voodoo2 or Voodoo3 system. It's a good fit 🙂

Thanks for the info. I have not been told to exact specs of the mainboard yet (I am going to ask back because I am curious as well). I just know it has a via apollo chipset and according to google via chipsets support AGP. So I should be all set. I am not sure though how good the via stuff compared ot the intel 440box is often mentioned in postive light.

@joseph_joestar I see. Thanks for the info. Yes the image quality was also mentioned very favourable in the old reviews about the ElSA cards. Image quality is indeed very important for me so I will keep my eyes open for a Elsa card.

retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-25, 09:15:

Tetrium wrote on 2023-05-25, 08:46:

What board does this HP have? If it has a i810 chipsetted board then your board won't have AGP and you will have to spend more t […]
Show full quote

retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-24, 09:00:

Greetings vogons. New guy from Austria here. I have been dreaming about a 3dfx System since my childhood/early teens but never […]
Show full quote

Greetings vogons. New guy from Austria here. I have been dreaming about a 3dfx System since my childhood/early teens but never could get one. I have been considering building a now retro vodoo system for quite some time already but have always postponed it due to high prices of the cards. But now I have the chance to get used 90s pc a HP Pavillion with a P3 800, socket 370 for almost nothing. I would not consider myself as superstitious but I still see it as sign to finally start with building plans. It is now or never the parts are not getting cheaper anytime soon. anyway.I have not seen the pc, this won't chance until the 10th of june when I can open it up by myself if anything is in order.

My now very generic and very noobish question is would be Pentium 3 800 with socket 370 and a voodoo 2 or vodoo 3 a good partners for gaming in general?

I do not mind if is going to be a Vodoo 2 or a 3 I would pick the one that is "cheaper".

Main field of application is going to be late 90s gaming (97 to 99 to be precise).

Thanks for your help in advance.

What board does this HP have?
If it has a i810 chipsetted board then your board won't have AGP and you will have to spend more to get a PCI 3dfx card.
As long as this system has AGP and is in working condition, you should be all set basically.
A P3 800MHz is more than adequate for a Voodoo2 or Voodoo3 system. It's a good fit 🙂

Thanks for the info. I have not been told to exact specs of the mainboard yet (I am going to ask back because I am curious as well). I just know it has a via apollo chipset and according to google via chipsets support AGP. So I should be all set. I am not sure though how good the via stuff compared ot the intel 440box is often mentioned in postive light.

@joseph_joestar I see. Thanks for the info. Yes the image quality was also mentioned very favourable in the old reviews about the ElSA cards. Image quality is indeed very important for me so I will keep my eyes open for a Elsa card.

If it's a VIA s370 chipset, chances are it does have AGP but iirc there were some VIA chipsetted boards that also lacked the AGP port?
I can't think of any specific board though, but this vaguely sticks in my mind.
But I do know for sure, no matter if the chipset does support AGP, there were plenty of boards with these chipsets that actually did not have an AGP port (usually because it was used up so to say by the onboard graphics, but onboard graphics by itself doesn't actually exclude the presence of an AGP port 100% of the time).

I know s370 VIA chipsets supposedly were (shall I say) somewhat trickier to set up and run stable than Intel s370 chipsetted boards, but since I always picked Intel chipsetted boards for my s370 builds and the VIA s370 chipsetted boards I have worked with (for instance because a customer had such a board) I did not use extensively.

Easiest way is to ask the owner for a pic of the board.

Tetrium wrote on 2023-05-25, 12:38:

If it's a VIA s370 chipset, chances are it does have AGP but iirc there were some VIA chipsetted boards that also lacked the AGP […]
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retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-25, 09:15:

Tetrium wrote on 2023-05-25, 08:46:

What board does this HP have? If it has a i810 chipsetted board then your board won't have AGP and you will have to spend more t […]
Show full quote

What board does this HP have?
If it has a i810 chipsetted board then your board won't have AGP and you will have to spend more to get a PCI 3dfx card.
As long as this system has AGP and is in working condition, you should be all set basically.
A P3 800MHz is more than adequate for a Voodoo2 or Voodoo3 system. It's a good fit 🙂

Thanks for the info. I have not been told to exact specs of the mainboard yet (I am going to ask back because I am curious as well). I just know it has a via apollo chipset and according to google via chipsets support AGP. So I should be all set. I am not sure though how good the via stuff compared ot the intel 440box is often mentioned in postive light.

@joseph_joestar I see. Thanks for the info. Yes the image quality was also mentioned very favourable in the old reviews about the ElSA cards. Image quality is indeed very important for me so I will keep my eyes open for a Elsa card.

If it's a VIA s370 chipset, chances are it does have AGP but iirc there were some VIA chipsetted boards that also lacked the AGP port?
I can't think of any specific board though, but this vaguely sticks in my mind.
But I do know for sure, no matter if the chipset does support AGP, there were plenty of boards with these chipsets that actually did not have an AGP port (usually because it was used up so to say by the onboard graphics, but onboard graphics by itself doesn't actually exclude the presence of an AGP port 100% of the time).

I know s370 VIA chipsets supposedly were (shall I say) somewhat trickier to set up and run stable than Intel s370 chipsetted boards, but since I always picked Intel chipsetted boards for my s370 builds and the VIA s370 chipsetted boards I have worked with (for instance because a customer had such a board) I did not use extensively.

Easiest way is to ask the owner for a pic of the board.

Thanks for your answer . Got word from the owner in the meantime. he is on vacation und has the pc not with him because he is going to send me the pics next wek when he is back home.

I hope I am lucky and it i mainboard with AGP. Going with PCI Vodoo 3 card would be indeed more expensive. In that case it would almost be cheaper to try get another motherboard in atx format with intel 440 chipset with AGP.

retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-24, 22:26:

Thanks again for the advice. The price of both variants of the GF 2, the GTS and the TI would be ok for me. While some like the […]
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Jasin Natael wrote on 2023-05-24, 20:07:

There are quite a few options. For my money with a PIII 800-1000mhz I would probably go for a Geforce 2 of some type. Maybe a G […]
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retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-24, 16:50:

Thanks for the info. Yes I have checked the prices of the Vodoo cards already. They are really not cheap. It is good to know th […]
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Thanks for the info. Yes I have checked the prices of the Vodoo cards already. They are really not cheap. It is good to know that a 800mhz cpu is good starting point. I could replace it later with 1ghz later if I feel the need to do .

Getting another D3D as parnter for the SLI cards in case I aim for an SLI system also sounds like a possible option.

Which 3d3 card that would be compatible with a socket 370 would you recommend?

@Gmlb256 Thanks for the info as well.

There are quite a few options. For my money with a PIII 800-1000mhz I would probably go for a Geforce 2 of some type.
Maybe a Geforce 2GTS or a Geforce MX440?
They should be easy to find and cheap. Just avoid any OEM 64bit bus cards if you go for the MX.
If you can snag a Geforce 2ti for a good price that would probably be ideal.
Even a Radeon 7500/8500 would be a decent option, thought likely not as compatible.

Thanks again for the advice. The price of both variants of the GF 2, the GTS and the TI would be ok for me. While some like the Asus AGP-V7700 Pro Deluxe are even bit cheaper.

Considering the fact that I am wiling to pay quite some money for a Vodoo 2 or Vodoo 3, I am also eager to get the best GF 2 card I can get in case if I go with second 3d3 path.

Which one should I pick? The Pro Variant or the TI?

Going with ATI radeon would be possible as well but the 7500 has a more attractive price than the 8500. The 8500 is price wise almost in the Vodoo 2 or Vodoo 3 territory. The only expection to this would a Radeon 8500 all in Wonder card which is a bit cheaper.

I would consider the all in wonder card a viable alternative though. Principally I have no problems with the all in wonder brand, in fact my first 3d card I ever got was one of the early Ati all in Wonder cards and it did its job. But I do not need TV card for retro pc, have real TV by now so i want a card that is only focused on gaming.

As others have said, any of the three Geforce 2 cards would be plenty of power for a PIII 800mhz.
Asus is almost always a good choice, same with Elsa. I've also had pretty good luck with the Dell OEM models, they are always ghost built be a reputable board partner, and are usually cheap on eBay as they don't have very identifiable model numbers. So they just get listed with generic Dell part numbers.
A little research is key to getting what you want, but they are cheap and almost always pays off.
But really none of these cards are very expensive so picking up a retail card isn't a bad idea at all.
There are also the Quadro cards, but you do have to know what to look for there.
Nothing wrong with a Geforce 3 or even a 4......but unless you plan on upgrading to a Tualatin or something later on, it's a bit of a waste.
I'm not saying that I never go overkill on a graphics card, if it's what I have lying around. But I do at least try to keep it within reason.

I like Radeon cards, they are what I had back in the day so I'm a bit drawn to them. But they really aren't the best choice in this era.
Keep in mind though you can sometimes snag an ATI workstation card, just like with the Quadro variants.
A FIreGL 8800 gets you into the Radeon 8500 for cheap, though you might have drivers woes depending on the model and the OS of choice.
But it's also a waste of power with a PIII 800 as well.

Happy hunting.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2023-05-25, 14:23:

As others have said, any of the three Geforce 2 cards would be plenty of power for a PIII 800mhz. Asus is almost always a good […]
Show full quote

retep_110 wrote on 2023-05-24, 22:26:

Thanks again for the advice. The price of both variants of the GF 2, the GTS and the TI would be ok for me. While some like the […]
Show full quote

Jasin Natael wrote on 2023-05-24, 20:07:

There are quite a few options. For my money with a PIII 800-1000mhz I would probably go for a Geforce 2 of some type. Maybe a G […]
Show full quote

There are quite a few options. For my money with a PIII 800-1000mhz I would probably go for a Geforce 2 of some type.
Maybe a Geforce 2GTS or a Geforce MX440?
They should be easy to find and cheap. Just avoid any OEM 64bit bus cards if you go for the MX.
If you can snag a Geforce 2ti for a good price that would probably be ideal.
Even a Radeon 7500/8500 would be a decent option, thought likely not as compatible.

Thanks again for the advice. The price of both variants of the GF 2, the GTS and the TI would be ok for me. While some like the Asus AGP-V7700 Pro Deluxe are even bit cheaper.

Considering the fact that I am wiling to pay quite some money for a Vodoo 2 or Vodoo 3, I am also eager to get the best GF 2 card I can get in case if I go with second 3d3 path.

Which one should I pick? The Pro Variant or the TI?

Going with ATI radeon would be possible as well but the 7500 has a more attractive price than the 8500. The 8500 is price wise almost in the Vodoo 2 or Vodoo 3 territory. The only expection to this would a Radeon 8500 all in Wonder card which is a bit cheaper.

I would consider the all in wonder card a viable alternative though. Principally I have no problems with the all in wonder brand, in fact my first 3d card I ever got was one of the early Ati all in Wonder cards and it did its job. But I do not need TV card for retro pc, have real TV by now so i want a card that is only focused on gaming.

As others have said, any of the three Geforce 2 cards would be plenty of power for a PIII 800mhz.
Asus is almost always a good choice, same with Elsa. I've also had pretty good luck with the Dell OEM models, they are always ghost built be a reputable board partner, and are usually cheap on eBay as they don't have very identifiable model numbers. So they just get listed with generic Dell part numbers.
A little research is key to getting what you want, but they are cheap and almost always pays off.
But really none of these cards are very expensive so picking up a retail card isn't a bad idea at all.
There are also the Quadro cards, but you do have to know what to look for there.
Nothing wrong with a Geforce 3 or even a 4......but unless you plan on upgrading to a Tualatin or something later on, it's a bit of a waste.
I'm not saying that I never go overkill on a graphics card, if it's what I have lying around. But I do at least try to keep it within reason.

I like Radeon cards, they are what I had back in the day so I'm a bit drawn to them. But they really aren't the best choice in this era.
Keep in mind though you can sometimes snag an ATI workstation card, just like with the Quadro variants.
A FIreGL 8800 gets you into the Radeon 8500 for cheap, though you might have drivers woes depending on the model and the OS of choice.
But it's also a waste of power with a PIII 800 as well.

Happy hunting.

Thanks for the info. I will do some research about the Dell OEM models, maybe they are a option as well.

@Upgrades I have no plan as of know to upgrade to cpu but It cannot be ruled out completely that I am going to replace the 800 MHZ Pentium 3 with a 1 GHZ Model P3 at some point in the future.

I have also read about the qudro cards but due to potential driver issues I prefer to stick to the consumer cards.

Another option that is period correct for an 800MHz Pentium III is a Radeon DDR. And You definitely don't have to worry about image quality with those. I never had one, so I can't speak to driver quality, but I remember they had really competitive performance vs. the Geforce 2 (especially in 32-bit apps).

smtkr wrote on 2023-05-27, 00:51:

Another option that is period correct for an 800MHz Pentium III is a Radeon DDR. And You definitely don't have to worry about image quality with those. I never had one, so I can't speak to driver quality, but I remember they had really competitive performance vs. the Geforce 2 (especially in 32-bit apps).

Radeon 7200 or 7500 (DDR) is a good enough option.
They do perform quite well with the proper drivers, but there is on average more driver overhead than early nvidia drivers.
But you are correct about image quality, they are all very good.
Compatibility wise though.....depending on the title there can be issues with certain visuals, table fog/palletized textures.
But I quite like ATI cards, they are what I used back in the day.

smtkr wrote on 2023-05-27, 00:51:

Another option that is period correct for an 800MHz Pentium III is a Radeon DDR. And You definitely don't have to worry about image quality with those. I never had one, so I can't speak to driver quality, but I remember they had really competitive performance vs. the Geforce 2 (especially in 32-bit apps).

Thanks for the info. Have not considered the first Readeon Cards but I am going to check them out aus well.

@Jasin Natael thanks for your opinion as well. i also like ati cards. My first card for example was one of the early all in o wonder cards. Not the best one for gaming I have to admit but the overal building quality was good. it served me well for many years.

I also had the Radeon 1800xt and the readeon 2900pro and they were decent gaming cards.

Before looking into them I need to read more about the missing feature aspect though. I have to read through to the threads here that were made already about the topic. I know there are some.