I know that when I upgraded from a Voodoo to Voodoo 2 on a P133, I was so disappointed that I bit the bullet and got a PII 300. Cost a fortune but it must have doubled the performance (at least).

Personally I use a voodoo2 on my 200mmx machine... it has better video output quality (better switch as you all know) and it is a bit faster than v1... I did see increase in MDK for example... but the video quality alone is enough to make the change...
IMHO a sli setup in a 233mmx is not needed...

Iam only going to use a diamond monster fusion, so i dont need a voodoo or a voodoo 2 add-on card.. That iam save and doesnt cost me extra pci slots.

Based on using both a Voodoo 1 and 2 on 233MMX/ Ppro 200 systems, this is what I have to say:

1.V2 is smoother with better visuals.

2. No. A P 233MMX can just about benefit from a V2.

3. Yups. Definitely better IMHO.

4. Never tried that, but period literature suggest that it's a waste apart from being able to run higher res.

To the question number 2- I do not see a technical reason why would Voodoo2 choke slow CPU, unless there is a big driver overhead for multitexturing and optionally SLI. To perform less then Voodoo Graphics it would had to be pre-pentium I guess.

v2sli runs fine in my socket 7 [k6/3] and gives smooth performance in glquake at 1024, and also in avp. You need the sli for the 1024 res so I never bothered about v1 or a single v2.

Putas wrote:

To the question number 2- I do not see a technical reason why would Voodoo2 choke slow CPU, unless there is a big driver overhead for multitexturing and optionally SLI. To perform less then Voodoo Graphics it would had to be pre-pentium I guess.

I don't believe the v2 is chocking any cpu... the main problem is that a low-powered cpu will choke doing his own stuff and the v2 setup will go to waste since it will just wait for the cpu to finish... 😊

Voodoo1 and 2 both can have stuttering issues due to their limited texture memory. They have rather restrictive memory capacities due to the separated banks, unlike say 16MB NV TNT and Banshee. I've seen Voodoo1 stutter with Quake 2, due to texture memory thrashing. John Carmack recommended Pure3D 6MB. Voodoo2 and V2 SLI have the same problem with Unreal.

I suggest a Voodoo3+, unless you want DOS Glide support, in which case I'd use a Voodoo1. Some DOS Glide games can be coerced into working with Voodoo3-5 though. 😉

The only reason to go for V3 would be because of a better high-res (1280x1024 and up) no 'smudginess' factor . Otherwise, V2 SLI will run just about everything V3 does and it has better compatibility with older games.

BTW, period literature does indeed suggest that SLI 's a waste apart from being able to run higher res, but thats BS. Later games (e.g. Unreal Tournament) use much more RAM then the earlier games that were at that time used to test V2. I noticed a major difference between 1xV2 8mb , 2x 8MB and 2x12MB versions in UT99.

What games are known not to be working with V3-5 now?

I installed my V4 the other day and so far got Powerslide, kiss psycho circus and ultimate race pro working. I think the V5 maybe a touch harder to get games working.

Some interesting information there! Thanks!

Coming to SLI, :

Ok, let's say we do have 2 Voodoo2s already in our possession. Like most of here, I suppose. If that's the case, is there anything stopping the use of Voodoo2 SLIs in a socket 7 based system? Are there any detrimental effects, or will the smoothness be the same with a Voodoo1 in these systems?

And for the Voodoo2 12MB in SLI (Total 24MB), will the stuttering be an issue here? Or will the coupled memory compensate that?

SLI has the same amount of texture memory as one solo card because both cards must store the same textures. The stuttering comes from the V2's small texture memory bank being barely adequate in later games and so it will occasionally swap data over PCI to system memory. Think Unreal and Quake3 level games.

Robin4 wrote:

Iam only going to use a diamond monster fusion, so i dont need a voodoo or a voodoo 2 add-on card..

Great version of the Banshee. One of my fav 3DFX cards.

Slamming a VooDoo 2 in a Vanilla P1-200 did it no favours at all over it's 4MB earlier sibling. F22 ADF ran at the same speeds with both cards and I saw roughly a 2fps increase in GLQuake with the Voodoo 2. The only benefit of the V2 in a Pentium 1 machine is the ability to use 800x600 which makes games like Forsaken and Twisted Metal 2 look a little better. But the V2 was designed to run games that the Pentium 1 CPU's struggle with. So in my opinion, a Pentium 2 233MMX is the minimum spec to pair with a V2.

Yeah, resolution is also the only advantage to V2 SLI in such a rig. It gets you 1024x768. But again you might as well use a Banshee or Voodoo3 - save a slot or two, better 3D image quality, any 3D resolution, excellent 2D.

swaaye wrote:

Yeah, resolution is also the only advantage to V2 SLI in such a rig. It gets you 1024x768. But again you might as well use a Banshee or Voodoo3 - save a slot or two, better 3D image quality, any 3D resolution, excellent 2D.

Unless you find a Metabyte Wicked 3D and the custom drivers that go with it. You can get a non-standard resolution of 1024 x 672 with one and 1024 x 1024 in Sli. I don't know if the drivers can be used with other V2 cards, or if they can be modded but it would be worth a try for anyone familiar with programming drivers.

The Wayback Machine has the drivers.

http://wayback.archive.org/web/20010401000000 … wicked3dv28.exe

The link keeps getting broken up so you'll have to copy and paste it.

Just click on any date in blue when you get there and the file will download.

I don't remember any texture shuttering with v2/SLI in Unreal or Q3 and I was playing them A LOT back then...? Ofcourse there is the matter that I would not really recognize said shuttering back then 🤣

sliderider wrote:

Unless you find a Metabyte Wicked 3D and the custom drivers that go with it. You can get a non-standard resolution of 1024 x 672 with one and 1024 x 1024 in Sli. I don't know if the drivers can be used with other V2 cards, or if they can be modded but it would be worth a try for anyone familiar with programming drivers.

Yes, Metabyte Wicked3D drivers can be used with other V2 cards. You just need the original Metabyte driver CD in order to install any update. The driver CD of some very old stereoscopic 3D glasses will do the trick too.

If you can't find either Metabyte Wicked3D software or an original driver CD (I still have most of that stuff, if someone is interested), the following driver will allow 1024x672 resolution on every V2 without any other requirement:

http://www.3dfxzone.it/monitor/am/go.asp?url=104

So, Voodoo2 SLI can be made to run games like QuakeGL, Hexen II, Blood with 3DFX patch, Hind, Apache, Descent II with 3DFX, etc.. respectably using hardware 3D acceleration at higher resolution settings in a lower end Pentium, which otherwise would be unplayable in these machines?

Can this be one of the "enhancements" for these lower end machines?