I added memory chips to my Orchid 8MB Voodoo2 today to make it into a 12MB card. I had done this before on a pair of Maxi Gamer Voodoo2 cards and (aside from my first time soldering memory chip issues) didn’t have any trouble getting the extra memory recognized.

However, the Orchid would not recognize the extra memory. I double checked the soldering and made sure it was all good, but it still would show 4MB of texture memory.

I started looking for possible missing components since it was a used card, but it appeared that R149 and R150 were never populated. A diagram of a Creative and Innovision cards returned two different results for those spots, but the Maxi Gamer and Diamond Voodoo2 cards have a 47 ohm resistor in those locations. Since the Orchid will SLI with the Maxi Gamer with reference drivers (I have a third Maxi Gamer and plan to SLI them), that’s the reference I used.

After installing 47 ohm resistors in those locations, the extra memory was recognized without issue and worked perfectly.

So, if someone is trying to troubleshoot bad memory chips on a Voodoo2, removing those resistors can narrow down which chip is failing. If the symptom (usually artifacting of some kind) disappears when those resistors are removed, then one of the chips on the back is bad. If the artifacting remains, then one of the front chips is bad.

I hadn’t come across this information elsewhere, so I figured I would share it here so it may help someone in the future.