VOGONS


First post, by trist007

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I have two PCI 3dfx cards that both have a vga(male) and vga(female) in the back of each card. Then inside the computer the two cards are connected via slim cable, kinda like SLI.

I have two questions.

1. I have the vga short cable that goes from vga(male) to vga(female). I'm assuming that I need to use this cable to connect the two cards from the back, in addition to the SLI slim cable inside. Then I can just plug in the monitor to the vga(female) whichever is left on both of the cards.
Is that correct?

2. One of my 3dfx PCI cards is touching with my 3rd party RAM upgrade daughterboard of my AWE64 Gold card. Is this ok? Here's a picture.

http://darkterminal.net/chip-touching.jpg

-Tristan

Reply 1 of 8, by CapnCrunch53

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The VGA cable actually needs to go from the output of your 2D card (either a non-3Dfx card or your integrated graphics) to the input on either of the 3Dfx cards. Then your monitor gets plugged into the output on the same 3Dfx card. That allows the 3Dfx card to pass the 2D card's signal through when not in use (remember that the 3Dfx Voodoo 1 and Voodoo 2 do not handle 2D graphics and require a separate video card for that).

No need to connect the 2 3Dfx cards together on the back, as the SLI cable takes care of that.

As for the 3Dfx card touching your daughterboard, I wouldn't expect it to present any problems, but you never know. It looks like it's just touching the edge of the card, not touching two components together, so I bet it'd be fine.

Last edited by CapnCrunch53 on 2012-09-01, 03:50. Edited 1 time in total.

PCs, Macs, old and new... too much stuff.

Reply 2 of 8, by trist007

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Rowdy!! Ok thanks. Any idea on question 2?

-Tristan

Reply 3 of 8, by CapnCrunch53

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Sorry forgot about question 2, I updated my post just now.

PCs, Macs, old and new... too much stuff.

Reply 4 of 8, by filipetolhuizen

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Well, it is SLI, but means something different (Scan Line Interleave) than the nvidia one, with the same initials, however.
The monitor needs to be pluged on the same card the pass-through cable is plugged, no matter which one.
Both memory upgrade and memory from the nearby 3dfx card will get hotter this way since both dissipate heat and will exchange it, you better move one of the cards to a different slot if you can.

Reply 5 of 8, by trist007

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Thanks a lot guys.

-Tristan

Reply 6 of 8, by RacoonRider

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trist007, You may try to change the layout of your PCI cards to prevent them from touching each other if you feel like it, but I see no problem here.

Reply 7 of 8, by nforce4max

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If you are still worried about the two cards touching then just stick a piece of paper where they meet.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 8 of 8, by trist007

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Moved the cards around and now nothing touches. Thanks.

-Tristan