Great thread, I must not have absorbed it fully at last comment. Thanks for putting the work in.

FullYes wrote on Yesterday, 08:08:

Conclusion: Unless you want to push SS7 further (550-600MHz) As long as you have a K6-3 you can moreorless skip Super socket 7 (and AGP) and keep the less temperamental socket 7 Intel chipsets

The only fly in that ointment these days though, for stuff you don't own yet, is Triton board plus PCI version graphics tends towards same price as AGP board and AGP version graphics. In the first case the PCI graphics cost more, the second case the motherboard costs more. But if you have one PCI part out of two already, meaning either motherboard or graphics type, you may as well get matching motherboard or card instead of going AGP.

Though to hear that and see the slim margins where V3s are concerned, does "put something to bed" for me. Back around 99-00 I was running a Voodoo3 PCI on an Octek Rhino 20+ 430TX board, with a K6-2 running at 6x75 for 450. Forum bros with K6 2/3 and AGP and possibly some of those with low end cellys or PIIs on LX boards kept saying I was lying when comparing my benches, saying they were too good, because my crappy 1997 board I bought cheap surplus couldn't possibly be as near as that to stuff they spent 3x the money on. K6 support wasn't even official at release 🤣 I think that system cost me as little as $200 to put together including the Voodoo, which I got coupon/rebate deal on.

Come to think of it, I have now had 3 "liar" configurations, that one, my 1996 Cyrix 5x86 @ 2x60, which nobody believed back then, and my $10 computer show KG7 with OPPAINTER tune/tweaks applied, getting memory scores up there with nforce, running an applebred at 2.6Ghz with a GF4 4200 @ 4600+ clocks, and hitting 20,000+ on 3DMark2001SE. I always wanted to make them really weep by figuring out the block to 83mhz running stable on the Octek and putting a K6-3 in it, but never turned one up at the time. V3 PCI was a real goer though, could do 190 but heat made me nervous, so I ran at 183 usually with a 60mm fan ziptied on it.

At some point it will be fun to recap the old Octek and put it head to head against one of the ALI boards with cache modded K6-2+ on both. Haven't seen my AGP Voodoo3 in years though, I hope to turn it up eventually, PCI ones are corralled.

I am going the opposite direction at the moment though, figuring out what old graphics other than spendy voodoos help out slower CPU the most, under 200mhz.. and it may not be the ones that are fast on 300, 500, 800 etc....

BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 14:32:

I am going the opposite direction at the moment though, figuring out what old graphics other than spendy voodoos help out slower CPU the most, under 200mhz.. and it may not be the ones that are fast on 300, 500, 800 etc....

That's an interesting project. You are just looking at DOS acceleration?

I don't remember many 3d accelerated games from 1997 that period that that were:

• Not glide
• Not a tech demo for a specific card
• Ran well on a 200MMX
• That I'd ever consider replaying

I was playing Star Craft and Diablo in 1997. Those were my favorites.

Interstate 76? I used to drive an AMC matador, so I loved that game, but I played it in software rendering because I had a Matrox card at the time.

MDK? Once again, can you find a 3d non-glide card that plays better than software rendering?

Half-life? Might be a fun over clocking challenge. Probably runs better at 233Mhz than 200 if I remember right.

douglar wrote on Yesterday, 15:00:

That's an interesting project. You are just looking at DOS acceleration? […]
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BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 14:32:

I am going the opposite direction at the moment though, figuring out what old graphics other than spendy voodoos help out slower CPU the most, under 200mhz.. and it may not be the ones that are fast on 300, 500, 800 etc....

That's an interesting project. You are just looking at DOS acceleration?

I don't remember many 3d accelerated games from 1997 that period that that were:

• Not glide
• Not a tech demo for a specific card
• Ran well on a 200MMX
• That I'd ever consider replaying

I was playing Star Craft and Diablo in 1997. Those were my favorites.

Interstate 76? I used to drive an AMC matador, so I loved that game, but I played it in software rendering because I had a Matrox card at the time.

MDK? Once again, can you find a 3d non-glide card that plays better than software rendering?

Half-life? Might be a fun over clocking challenge. Probably runs better at 233Mhz than 200 if I remember right.

Yeah you put your finger on it more or less, might be a bit of a fools errand. Plus the initial premise that some of these cards were cheaper than Voodoos, seems to have gone by the wayside, 3 or 4 years ago they were any other $40 card, but they're hitting the same money now, the rendition verites, the permedias, glints etc.... in fact it gets down to Virge and Rage 1 actually looking good.

BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 15:15:

Yeah you put your finger on it more or less, might be a bit of a fools errand. Plus the initial premise that some of these cards were cheaper than Voodoos, seems to have gone by the wayside, 3 or 4 years ago they were any other $40 card, but they're hitting the same money now, the rendition verites, the permedias, glints etc.... in fact it gets down to Virge and Rage 1 actually looking good.

I regret not buying more stuff in the 20-teens for sure. But back then, it didn't feel right to buy anything unless it was under $20 with shipping, so I just held off on buying that AGP X800XL for, well, I guess forever at this point.