You will want the pass-through card to have good, clear image output. Matrox cards come to mind and I'm using a Millenium II with my Voodoo2s.

But, since info about cards like these are scarce around the net, I cannot find out how good the quality on these is. Do they deliver decent video quality?

EDIT: I looked around for some Matrox cards, but all I can find are AGP and PCI-E x16 models. I need either PCI or ISA.

TwOne wrote:

But, since info about cards like these are scarce around the net, I cannot find out how good the quality on these is. Do they deliver decent video quality?

EDIT: I looked around for some Matrox cards, but all I can find are AGP and PCI-E x16 models. I need either PCI or ISA.

Do you strictly want to play 3DFX/Glide-based games or is Direct3D/OpenGL support important to you? That may change things a bit. Generally though, Matrox cards were known for their great DACs. I believe the G200/G450/G550 were PCI-based.

Artex wrote:

TwOne wrote:

But, since info about cards like these are scarce around the net, I cannot find out how good the quality on these is. Do they deliver decent video quality?

EDIT: I looked around for some Matrox cards, but all I can find are AGP and PCI-E x16 models. I need either PCI or ISA.

Do you strictly want to play 3DFX/Glide-based games or is Direct3D/OpenGL support important to you? That may change things a bit. Generally though, Matrox cards were known for their great DACs. I believe the G200/G450/G550 were PCI-based.

I don't mind really. As long as I can play games like Quake and Quake II, and it runs well.

TwOne wrote:

Artex wrote:

TwOne wrote:

But, since info about cards like these are scarce around the net, I cannot find out how good the quality on these is. Do they deliver decent video quality?

EDIT: I looked around for some Matrox cards, but all I can find are AGP and PCI-E x16 models. I need either PCI or ISA.

Do you strictly want to play 3DFX/Glide-based games or is Direct3D/OpenGL support important to you? That may change things a bit. Generally though, Matrox cards were known for their great DACs. I believe the G200/G450/G550 were PCI-based.

I don't mind really. As long as I can play games like Quake and Quake II, and it runs well.

What motherboard/processor are you planning to use?

Artex wrote:

What motherboard/processor are you planning to use?

I'm currently using a Pentium 100MHz, though I might upgrade down the line. I couldn't really make out the model of the motherboard, outside that it is from Intel and was in a Compaq PC. I would have to take it apart again in order to check the model number again. Maybe I can make some time tomorrow to open it up (I need to put a AWE64 Gold in there too)

Ok, I checked it, motherboard appears to be an Intel TC430X. Only search results I found were that it'd be a Intel OEM board.

Anyone? I really need a display card to use this machine!

TwOne wrote:

Anyone? I really need a display card to use this machine!

No AGP port on the board at all?

Artex wrote:

TwOne wrote:

Anyone? I really need a display card to use this machine!

No AGP port on the board at all?

As I mentioned, 3x PCI, 3x ISA. No AGP.

I would go with either a Matrox Millenium G200 PCI then if you want the cleanest DAC output or S3 Trio64/64V+ for compatibility - either can be had for cheap on eBay.

I can't say I've ever paired a PCI-based 2D card with a PCI-based Voodoo2 accelerator though, so perhaps someone with this experience can chime in. I don't know what performance will be like if that bus is being saturated by two video cards.

Artex wrote:

I would go with either a Matrox Millenium G200 PCI then if you want the cleanest DAC output or S3 Trio64/64V+ for compatibility - either can be had for cheap on eBay.

I can't say I've ever paired a PCI-based 2D card with a PCI-based Voodoo2 accelerator though, so perhaps someone with this experience can chime in. I don't know what performance will be like if that bus is being saturated by two video cards.

I can only find newer Milleniums. Reason I am not using eBay is that it requires a credit card/PayPal, so I use it's local subsidiary site.

Besides, I did find a Matrox MGA Mystique (644-00 Rev. A) 4MB PCI. I did hear Mystique cards were not really that good in the 3D department, but the 2D was really good.
Since I am not planning to use it's 3D features (that's why I have the Voodoo2), will this also be good?

Yep! Should be fine as well.

Hopefully you don't run into the Millennium II/Mystique problems like display corruption and audio issues caused by their benchmark cheat drivers that do some PCI buffer hacks. In 3D they often lock up PCs but you probably won't use the 3D because it is awful. I'm convinced there is something wrong with the DMA function of those graphics chips that causes the lockups because even on 440BX and i815 they would occur.

Yeah I think Matrox is overrated. 😀 G400 is their first solid 3D chip and I think it is pretty stable in general.

Agreed - DON"T use the Mystique for 3D. Although with the Voodoo2 you shouldn't need to anyway. The idea here is simply to use it's DAC through which to pass the Voodoo2 3D output.

Wait... doesn't Voodoo2 output everything? It's the 2D card that goes through the Voodoo. Monitor attaches to the Voodoo.

Sorry, I had the wording backwards there.

I was always under the impression that DAC-generated 2D is passed through the Voodoo card with the Voodoo2 card acting as slave. The quality is degraded as the signal passes through from the 2D card to the Voodoo2 card through the loop cable, which is why you always want to use a 2D card that has high image quality to begin with. I think that sounds right....?

Well you certainly want the best signal possible going into the Voodoo. Voodoo2 doesn't damage the signal much from what I've seen. Voodoo1 was another story however!