i440BX may give higher speed than Apollo at Asus P3V4X.

The Via-133A is supposed to be more stable and the P3V4X has the ability to up the voltage. The issue with the P3V4X was AGP, which was eventually fixed with bios/drivers. I know the BX were awesome but the P3V4X has a lot of options.

I'm more concerned with the base video card and finding good voodoo 2s.

My general rule for used hardware is to buy when the price is less than one standard deviation from the mean of previous sales. This typically requires some patience and luck. Voodoo 2 cards can be had for less than $30 even on ebay (and from the US) with patience. It's always best to avoid OEMs and stick with enthusiast brands. If you're committed to the 133mhz fsb then I guess you're in good shape. Otherwise a rather generic and popular pentium iii build here would be:

Pentium III 1000/256/100/1.7V (or Tualatin 1400S)
Asus P3B-F rev 1.03+, 2 ISA
128-512Mb
Geforce 2 Ultra (or often a ti4600)
Voodoo 2 12Mb SLI
AWE 64 Gold + memory upgrade (simmcon ok) / MX300 (for A3D2.0)
A sturdy period correct case
A period correct HDD if you can stand the noise (many can't)

An ebay pro tip is to never search for specific items. Items that are specifically labeled come with higher expectation of value. Poorly labeled items are often much cheaper as the seller has less idea of what its value is. For example a chip like the 1000/256/100/1.7V can be frequently found on ebay and is often just marked as a "pentium processor" with no further detail of its excellent properties. Video cards are often labeled by the first sequence of letters or numbers the seller can find written on the card. So if you're looking for a voodoo2, you might find one sold without even the words "voodoo" or "3dfx" in it. Luckily you're not building an older system where parts are even more obscure and if the seller gets even the slightest indication that its worth something to someone, the price quadruples (for example ss7 boards that are $100-300).

Correct me if my logic is flawed. With the P!!! 1GHZ=133X7.5 I could easily declock it too 66X7.5=495. This would let me have a range between 495 and 1000+ (possibly 1100). This could help me slow down some older games (Win95 era). I know the Via133A is not the most popular chipset here but mid 2000 it was what a lot of overclockers went for with slot 1. Now the P3V4X will come with the 8X100 P!!! which I will test it with, if it works good then Ill move up to the 1Ghz chip. I also have a huge crush on a 1.4 GHz Tualatin Pentium III-S, however my goal is for the motherboard to be easily compatibility with 98SE. At this point I'm telling myself slot 1 chipsets will be more compatible and that I like the look of a slot 1 CPU (I actually do!). Plus I could declock the slot 1 more.

So for a voodoo SLI setup should I use my 4600 TI vs buying Matrox G400? Will this buy me better 1999-2000 non glide gaming?

Turns out I don't have a sound card.... Will an AWE64 gold work for everything or just dos? I'm not planning on doing a lot of DOS gaming but Id like to keep my options open, is there a card that will handle both roles? (I'm willing to loose a little quality on both ends)

Unfortunately today I joined this board and started my build without collecting all the wonder knowledge to be had here. Its not too late to steer this build in the right direction.

One more thing... I really wish I could find a GeForce 3 TI500!!!!

I've considered letting my voodoo 2 setup go. I just don't use it. Then again it's a slot A setup with the near unobtanium 1ghz cpu. That said, I know as soon as I do sell it, i will want it, and have to collect all the parts again.

Honestly, forget using ide drives. If your going to go through the trouble of a ide raid, just goto sata instead. the drives are a LOT faster, cheaper, quieter, etc. I have a nice sata-2 card that works jsut fine in win98 and with just 1 drive I can completely saturate the pci bus. BONUS! use an old SSD! you can get small ssd drives for the price of a 6-pack on ebay. Honestly its the way to go.

SnipeUout wrote:

The issue with the P3V4X was AGP, which was eventually fixed with bios/drivers.

You may look at speed of Apollos there.

So for a voodoo SLI setup should I use my 4600 TI vs buying Matrox G400? Will this buy me better 1999-2000 non glide gaming?

You may find as useful the comparision of old video cards.

If your after a single card solution for sound I would say the AWE64 is the best of both worlds.
Its arguably the card for DOS and will be fine for basic Win9x games.

Other option is to have 2 cards the ISA AWE for dos and later PCI card with EAX, A3D or whatever for Windows

My observation is that non-strictly-glide gaming 1998-2000 like Half-Life will be better served with something like a year 2000 or above geforce. AWE64 is a general purpose card suitable for DOS and for regular windows games. It doesn't have support for fancy 3D API's like A3D or EAX.

If you don't need some glide compatibility there's always the voodoo 5500 to consider. Kills many birds. Price below or at one SD is $65 shipped.

Asus P3B-F rev 1.03+.... Holy smokes that's an expensive board! I had a hard time finding a decent price on a P3V4X.

Were can I find back plates? My mobo didn't come with one.

BTW... Im all sorts of confused now.....

Ok so I ordered a bootable SATAII/IDE133 Raid controller.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16816124009

I also have a bid on newegg for a single STB 12B Voodoo 2.

Agreed on P3B-F prices. Even at one SD out, you're looking at a $50 motherboard. That's a lot for a pentium board.

SnipeUout wrote:

I also have a bid on newegg for a single STB 12B Voodoo 2.

Wait... WHAT?

luckybob wrote:

SnipeUout wrote:

I also have a bid on newegg for a single STB 12B Voodoo 2.

Wait... WHAT?

🤣 sorry, Ebay.

blank001 wrote:

Agreed on P3B-F prices. Even at one SD out, you're looking at a $50 motherboard. That's a lot for a pentium board.

If I could unorder the P3V4X I would and wait for a P3B-F and then drop some money on a 1GHZ 100FSB P!!!. That with some voodoos 2s.... Would be sooo sweet!

Anyways another update:

I also just put an offer on 3 more Crucial PC-133-CL2 256mb sticks. (1GB total is overkill, I only plan on running 512 and figure ill memtest them and run two good sticks)

Should get my P3V4X tomorrow.... Need to find a back plate for this POS. 😒 (help!)

Still need:
Sound card
Two voodoo 2s
1 Ghz 133 FSB CPU (800, 100fsb for testing) Does this look ok : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-Pentium-III-1000E … =item2c9b81bd78
(That's the same heatskin that came on Compaq ProLiant CPUS)

512 is the perfect amount of ram for windows 98. Anything more and things get... buggy.

Also, if it was me, i'd get a Diamond Monster MX300 sound card. They were glorious cards until the audigy2 trumped everything. In fact I use one in my voodoo 2 setup.

luckybob wrote:

512 is the perfect amount of ram for windows 98. Anything more and things get... buggy.

Also, if it was me, i'd get a Diamond Monster MX300 sound card. They were glorious cards until the audigy2 trumped everything. In fact I use one in my voodoo 2 setup.

I do believe I saw a post on here about MX300s and the P3V4X having issues... Ill have to read the thread.

Anyone have any idea on how to find a back plate???? I do believe the P3B plate will fit but hell if I can find any plate that will fit id be happy.

it uses a "standard" i/o shield. they are super cheap on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251846267956

Yeah but try to get one without the unnecessary holes punched.

Update:

Ok, So I pulled apart my old Antec 300w and gave it a good cleaning then painted the front of my old case to give it new life. My P3V4X came in and is installed it. Also the SYBA Sata1.5/ATA133 raid controller came in and is installed (VT6421 chip, so no bugs and it is bootable). Decided to install my 4600ti and use it for now. Also installed two new ultra quite fans. I positioned them so they both pull as to create negative pressure. This will draw air through my side vent and cool the Voodoo 2s first. Also going to use my old Onlite Sata DVD drive. My old Seagate 80gb is completely trashed so... I ordered a SATA2 80gb WD Raptor HD 10K for 15 bucks. This should saturate the PCI bus nicely.

Also I'm very happy I won my bid for a STB Blackmagic 2 12MB!!!!! I got her for 24 bucks shipped. Now once I get this card and see what Rev it is I can hunt down a second one as well as the equipment to make it work.

PICS TO COME!!!!

So this is obviously a slot one CPU, but this warning on the box makes me a bit nervous. Any one know what heat sink this comes with and if it will fit my motherboard? If it will fit then I'll eventually buy a P3B-F and have a really nice system.