VOGONS


K6-iii with a twist.

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First post, by Jade Falcon

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If thought I'd make a 9x system that covered just about everything including late dos.

Specs

Asus p5a ss7 512kb
And k6-iii+ @450mhz cooked by a zakman passive heatsink.
128mb ram at 100mhz 2-2-2
S3 vrige gx2 agp 4mb at 110mhz
Voodoo 2 100mhz
6.4gb bigfood hdd
Awe 64gold
550w oh so overkill seasonic psu.
PD/cd-rom drive
Ls-120 drive
98se

Believe it or not but the agp Virge can max out mechwarrior 2 in s3d at 800x600 with all seating on max at a playable fps. Not 60fps but more like 20-25. Looking for anything to get that fps up.

As for the cooling, it's over kill and silent so I can hear the hdd spin. I even put stick on heat sinks on the motherboard and virge.

Last edited by Jade Falcon on 2017-01-31, 16:44. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 1 of 30, by Robert B

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OH - That K6-III is really pampered there!

Reply 2 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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Indeed, I even tore down my new system to build it. I'm not quite done. I want to add a second voidoo2 and drop in a 550mhz k6-iii+ into the system. That and put some stickon heat sinks on the mosfets and voodoo 2. I also thought about recapping the motherboard just to be safe. This system will not be going anywhere soon. Infact it my daily system. Not useing internet for much anything allowes one to use a really old system everyday.

But getting this virge to preform better is top priority. I got to be able to max out mw2 with higher fps.
Anyone know how to change the cards ram timings?

Reply 3 of 30, by gdjacobs

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Considering you mentioned Mech2 (and you have the PCI slot), I recommend keeping your eyes open for a PCX2 card (m3D, etc).

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 4 of 30, by clueless1

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Quantum Bigfoot is getting way too much love lately. 😉

Nice system, btw. Follow up with specific games and their configs. Like the most demanding Win9x game it will play well, a fast DOS game (like Screamer 2 or Descent II), and slow DOS game.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 5 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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clueless1 wrote:

Nice system, btw. Follow up with specific games and their configs. Like the most demanding Win9x game it will play well, a fast DOS game (like Screamer 2 or Descent II), and slow DOS game.

Will do, I don't own that many games and have been spending most of my money on my Ford EXP. but I'' text what I have.
I tried out dark forces 2 on the s3 virge and it runs OK. I'm rather supposed how well the AGP GX2 preforms. still wish it was abit better. I find out how to get more out of it.

Reply 6 of 30, by Skalabala

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Jade Falcon wrote:
clueless1 wrote:

Nice system, btw. Follow up with specific games and their configs. Like the most demanding Win9x game it will play well, a fast DOS game (like Screamer 2 or Descent II), and slow DOS game.

Will do, I don't own that many games and have been spending most of my money on my Ford EXP. but I'' text what I have.
I tried out dark forces 2 on the s3 virge and it runs OK. I'm rather supposed how well the AGP GX2 preforms. still wish it was abit better. I find out how to get more out of it.

Hey bud. I know a bit about maximising performance on these 😁
As I am running GTA3 on mine super smooth!

Reply 7 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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Yeah the K6 can be a rather good cpu when used right. I'm thinking of running mine at 110x4.5.
the virge on the other hand, why is it a 3d card? 🤣 OK so my agp gx2 is not that bad, not that far from a voodoo1 at 640x480 and it can handle 800x600 in some games. the FPS might be around 25 at 800x600 but thats more then playable.

Reply 8 of 30, by jade_angel

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The Virge's 3D acceleration was just kinda sad, that's all there is to it. It is, however, a good 2D card, so if you're running games that don't have any 3D acceleration capability and do all software rendering, it's pretty good. You've got the Voodoo2 for things that can use it, after all.

Another good card for DOS games that also has good 3D is the nVidia Quadro2 Pro or GeForce2 GTS. I'm surprised how well these do in DOS games, actually. And of course, their 3D was world-class at the time for DirectX and OpenGL games, leaving the Voodoo2 for Glide stuff.

Main Box: Macbook Pro M2 Max
Alas, I'm down to emulation.

Reply 9 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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You'd be surprised how well the agp gx2 is.

I had a lot of virge cards and there is no compression with this card.
I been playing mechwarrior 2 in s3d at 800x600 all setting in max with texture filtering off and I'm getting a solid 30+fps.

Still much slower then the voodoo2.

Reply 10 of 30, by feipoa

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Nice clean cable management 😀

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 11 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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Thanks, I'm more accustomed to budding higher end and really hot system. Cable management can go alongs way on higher end servers and system with both cooling and working on them.

My only regret with this system was zip tying the atx cable down.
Anyway the voodoo2 I got is a dud, it had 2 bent pins on the tmu and now that tmu is bad. Even after bending the pins back.
The virge wild nice will be replaced by a 440mx. I wanted a ti200 for the system but could not justify the price.

Reply 12 of 30, by Skalabala

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Just for your info bud. A MX400 is faster in a K6 than a 440 😀

Reply 13 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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Skalabala wrote:

Just for your info bud. A MX400 is faster in a K6 than a 440 😀

We'll see about that.

Reply 14 of 30, by Skalabala

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Jade Falcon wrote:
Skalabala wrote:

Just for your info bud. A MX400 is faster in a K6 than a 440 😀

We'll see about that.

Use driver 7.58 on the MX400 😀

Reply 15 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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Skalabala wrote:
Jade Falcon wrote:
Skalabala wrote:

Just for your info bud. A MX400 is faster in a K6 than a 440 😀

We'll see about that.

Use driver 7.58 on the MX400 😀

Perhaps we could have some fun here? benchmarking challenge? your K6 system against mine?

You choose, 3dmark 99, 00 or 01?
I request that we keep the cpu's below 600mhz for a extra challenge. Any gpu, ram, hdd , drivers and k6 can be used.
Also I would request that we fallow HWBOT rules. I.E. stock 3dmark settings and the screen shot must have cpuz and something like gpuz or rivatuner.

What do you think? I'm certain I could get a 440mx to preform like a 400mx in the system, but I believe a high-end GF2 or 3 would be better in such a system. I only bought the 440mx because it was cheap. I may pick up a 400mx and a GF3 TI 200 or something and play with too.

Reply 16 of 30, by Skalabala

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Hahaha ok sounds like fun.
3Dmark 2000
I am just waiting for a heat sync on my K6 system 😀

Reply 17 of 30, by Jade Falcon

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Skalabala wrote:

Hahaha ok sounds like fun.
3Dmark 2000
I am just waiting for a heat sync on my K6 system 😀

Cool we're on! I only have a mx440 right now, if I find anything else for under 10$ I'll pick them up!

Reply 18 of 30, by NooNaN

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Very cool build. I built one very similar. Same mboard, CPU, RAM, Sound card (with lots of MIDI added on).

This is a ridiculous question, but I just can't remember. Were the Voodoo 2s standalone cards? I have a V3 3000 AGP currently in mine. It's working fine, but I'd like to add some graphics umpf to it, if possible. I mostly run older DOS games, so no issues there at all obviously. Can you pair up the V3s? I'm using it as the only card in there now. Any reason to add a second, non V3 card for other applications?

Thanks!

Reply 19 of 30, by jade_angel

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Voodoo2s were not standalone cards - they were 3D-only, other than some hacks that were never actually used to simulate 2D on a 3D card. Voodoo3s, on the other hand, were standalone, and they ran solo, though there were a few different versions, some of which were faster than others. You could add a second, non-Voodoo card, but I'm not sure why you'd need to unless you need 24/32-bit color or something faster.

Main Box: Macbook Pro M2 Max
Alas, I'm down to emulation.