VOGONS


Voodoo connection cable

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First post, by atom1kk

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Hi im looking for a voodoo 1 or two card. The most of them do not have the connection cable for the normal gpu. Is it a special connection cable or is it a standard vga cable with female male ending?

Thx

Reply 2 of 42, by Jo22

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Hi and welcome to Vogons! 😀

You can make your own cable no problem, don't worry.

For a basic cable, all you need are two VGA connectors and a bit of wire.

You need to connect red, green, blue, h-sync, v-sync and ground appropriately.

In essence, this gives you a very simple, very short VGA extension cable.

Best regards,
Jo22

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 6 of 42, by Meatball

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What CPU are you using? If you haven't already, take a look at these Guides by Phil before you make your choice. It's better to spend a lot now (for 3dfx...) before you have to bankrupt yourself later:

Voodoo 1 CPU & VGA Limitations (Scroll to the middle of the 1st page):
Voodoo 1 CPU & VGA Limitations

3dfx Voodoo shootout project:
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/3dfx-voodoo- … ut-project.html

Voodoo 2 (and SLI) processor Scaling project:
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/voodoo-2-and … ng-project.html

Reply 9 of 42, by Meatball

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If you ever go SLI with Voodoo 2, the P4 you have will be just right to max out a Voodoo 2 SLI setup.

You may have difficulty running a plain old Voodoo 1 with a P4 and its 200 (400mhz effective) FSB. Many people (such as myself) keep a Voodoo 1 tied to a 66mhz or 100mhz FSB. It's also tapped out around a PII 333mhz - PII 400mhz. A Voodoo 2 won't have the same difficulties, among other performance benefits.

You might be able to save some money going for a Voodoo 2 8MB model, but I'm not seeing a lot of price disparity between 8MB and 12MB. Go for the 12MB if you do decide on the Voodoo 2.

Some of this advice depends on how many DOS games you are going to play. You should be able to play almost all games designed for a Voodoo 1 with a Voodoo 2, but there is some tweaking to do, and sometimes you will lose some fidelity (The original Tomb Raider shadows are missing if you use any other 3dfx card other than an original Voodoo, for example.) Here's another guide:
Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix

Reply 10 of 42, by atom1kk

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Ok, thx for the hint, than V2 is the choice. I just thought a CPU shouldn't be a problem. I thought the V2 run in its limit and thats it, doesn't matter if the CPU is alot faster. THis point I still did not understand correctly..

Reply 11 of 42, by atom1kk

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I have to bring up the topic again. My main usage for the 3dfx would be primary the DOS games, like mechwarrior 2 or fatal racing. For windows my GF3 works with mostly everything. So do you think than a Voodoo 1 with 4 mb would be enough? I could maybe get one pretty cheap. And my P4 would be a problem, I mean technically? I know this is not a perfect kombination, but i want to have like an all in one system.

Reply 12 of 42, by Meatball

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atom1kk wrote on 2022-01-27, 10:37:

I have to bring up the topic again. My main usage for the 3dfx would be primary the DOS games, like mechwarrior 2 or fatal racing. For windows my GF3 works with mostly everything. So do you think than a Voodoo 1 with 4 mb would be enough? I could maybe get one pretty cheap. And my P4 would be a problem, I mean technically? I know this is not a perfect kombination, but i want to have like an all in one system.

Ah, the all-in-one system….. the elusive “white whale.” Your journey toward owning 50 computers has now begun!

It’s a good idea to gather a list of games you’re interested in playing on this system so we can look for any show stoppers.

If you’re able to reduce the FSB in the BIOS, you might be able to get away with using a Voodoo 1. I’m sure someone around here uses one with great success. And “Phil’s computer” has many a video on YouTube for this subject. You’re going to be hamstrung with video, though. Only 2MB is actually available. If you’re targeting these games, your CPU will often be too fast. I suppose you could disable cache in BIOS, and/or use setmui to get around that. I think the Voodoo card is nice to have in a collection, but will leave you longing for a Voodoo 2, if you want to harpoon that all-in-one system successfully.

If you can get a Voodoo 1 at a price you like, it won’t hurt to try. You can always upgrade later…However be ready to reinstall Windows 9x. If any hardware changes (add/remove, not just add), it’s an automatic reinstall (or reimage) for my systems to keep reliability. The 3dfx driver sweep tool isn’t good enough. Obviously, you don’t have to go this far, but it is something to keep in mind.

If you really want to get crazy, you can keep the Voodoo 1 and add a Voodoo 2 for the more demanding Glide games. You can have it all, but at the cost of greater complexity and ritual tinkering, in this case.

Reply 13 of 42, by konc

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A voodoo1 will play perfectly all dos glide games. In fact it will give you less trouble than a voodoo2 configuring, tweaking and searching the correct files to run the games. Games and patches (dos) were meant for the voodoo1, there is a whole thread in the forum with a compatibility table and instructions on how to run the games on a voodoo2, they don't just run.

But I think I've read about problems running a voodoo1 on a fast pc? Maybe someone more knowledgeable can confirm or deny that part, I'm not certain.

Reply 14 of 42, by atom1kk

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One thing i Do not understand, also after reading some topics, whats the problem to run a V1 with a fst CPU? i mean a normal GPU would just hit its limit and thats it, even if the cpu could do more. Whats the problem with the V1?

I run all the DOS games without any issues, why should be there a problem with V1

Reply 15 of 42, by Meatball

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atom1kk wrote on 2022-01-27, 12:49:

One thing i Do not understand, also after reading some topics, whats the problem to run a V1 with a fst CPU? i mean a normal GPU would just hit its limit and thats it, even if the cpu could do more. Whats the problem with the V1?

I run all the DOS games without any issues, why should be there a problem with V1

Video corruption. Games from Rage exhibit this (Expendable, for example). In some cases, the card may not run at all above 133mhz bus. 100mhz is the safest max FSB. I think even running the Voodoo 1 on a CPU over 400-450mhz will cause these problems.

Reply 17 of 42, by Doornkaat

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Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 12:59:
atom1kk wrote on 2022-01-27, 12:49:

One thing i Do not understand, also after reading some topics, whats the problem to run a V1 with a fst CPU? i mean a normal GPU would just hit its limit and thats it, even if the cpu could do more. Whats the problem with the V1?

I run all the DOS games without any issues, why should be there a problem with V1

Video corruption. Games from Rage exhibit this (Expendable, for example). In some cases, the card may not run at all above 133mhz bus. 100mhz is the safest max FSB. I think even running the Voodoo 1 on a CPU over 400-450mhz will cause these problems.

Depending on the individual card issues arise much earlier. I have one that does not work with FSB speeds of more than 66MHz and crashes when the CPU speed is above ~333MHz.

Reply 18 of 42, by Meatball

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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-01-27, 13:17:
Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 12:59:
atom1kk wrote on 2022-01-27, 12:49:

One thing i Do not understand, also after reading some topics, whats the problem to run a V1 with a fst CPU? i mean a normal GPU would just hit its limit and thats it, even if the cpu could do more. Whats the problem with the V1?

I run all the DOS games without any issues, why should be there a problem with V1

Video corruption. Games from Rage exhibit this (Expendable, for example). In some cases, the card may not run at all above 133mhz bus. 100mhz is the safest max FSB. I think even running the Voodoo 1 on a CPU over 400-450mhz will cause these problems.

Depending on the individual card issues arise much earlier. I have one that does not work with FSB speeds of more than 66MHz and crashes when the CPU speed is above ~333MHz.

Hmm… I wonder if my Canopus Pure3D 6MB has this issue. I will try it on a PII 233 and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip!