VOGONS


Voodo 2 SLI vs. Voodoo 3

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First post, by Half-Saint

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Hi guys,

here's a quick question. Are there any advantages to using 2x Voodoo 2 in SLI over Voodoo 3 16MB?

Cheers
SainT

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Reply 1 of 21, by Deksor

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Compatibility might be better and even though PCI Voodoo 3 exist, they are much harder to find, making hard to build a setup with a regular 3D accelerator in the AGP slot and voodoo(s) in PCI

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Reply 2 of 21, by TheMobRules

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In my Slot 1 PC, I have a GeForce 2 GTS for DirectX/OpenGL stuff while the V2 SLI handles the Glide stuff. Not really necessary, but it allows for a card with better performance than the V3 while still being able to do Glide natively.

Reply 3 of 21, by F2bnp

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The advantages are compatibility with early DOS Glide games and the fact that you can use a more powerful primary video card.

Other than that, even the Voodoo3 2000 should be faster than a couple Voodoo2 12MB cards, let alone 8MB cards. You might see the V2 SLI edge the 2000 slightly in some benchmarks on average framerate, but frametimes are almost always worse and the Voodoo2 can stutter quite a bit (especially the 8MB version). Voodoo 3 makes more efficient use of its 16MB VRAM, so you're unlikely to experience that in games of that era.
The Voodoo3 3000 enjoys a healthy boost in performance over the V2 SLI and the 3500 is faster still.

Reply 4 of 21, by badmojo

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The image quality of the Voodoo 3 is also much nicer than the Voodoo 2 in my experience.

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Reply 5 of 21, by tayyare

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The most important advantage of Voodoo2 SLI over Voodoo3 is... Voodoo2 SLI is cool! 🤣

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Reply 6 of 21, by leileilol

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Maybe the filter's an advantage.

Voodoo2's 4x1 filter is actually a single pass which doesn't have the feedback nor lines of the Voodoo Graphics. V3's based on the Voodoo Graphics and carries the 4 pass 4x1 filter.

V2 has overall worse video quality (including interference) though, and then there's that interlacing artifact...
V3 also has a compatibility advantage for Direct3D and OpenGL stuff - no MiniGL necessary and it works as the primary device.
You can also configure the alpha blend dither on V3 whereas you'll have to rely on whichever one's hardcoded per game on V2 and that can matter for visual quality

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Reply 7 of 21, by Baoran

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I always thought that it is better to stick with voodoo 2 if you make pure dos pc and go for voodoo 3 if you make a pc for windows games. Or you can put voodoo 2 sli and voodoo 3 in same pc if you want.

Reply 8 of 21, by gdjacobs

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Voodoo 1 is what you want for pure DOS.

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Reply 9 of 21, by squiggly

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gdjacobs wrote:

Voodoo 1 is what you want for pure DOS.

Yes it is. I actually find it hard to find a use for a Voodoo3....I have V1 in my DOS machine, V2SLI with a GF2Ti in my "win95" machine, and a V5-5500 in the "Win98" machine. I suppose if I was building a single stand-alone box with a good balance between performance/compatibility/image-quality the V3 would be a good choice. I have a few on ice just in case.

Reply 10 of 21, by lvader

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Baoran wrote:

I always thought that it is better to stick with voodoo 2 if you make pure dos pc and go for voodoo 3 if you make a pc for windows games. Or you can put voodoo 2 sli and voodoo 3 in same pc if you want.

The voodoo 3 is still a good DOS 3D card, but actually is excels as a DOS 2D card.

Reply 11 of 21, by gdjacobs

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Yes, the V3 is quite good as far as DOS 2D compatibility, but so are ARK cards, S3 cards, and CL-GD5446 cards. The reason V1 cards are superior for DOS Glide is the fact that all other 3dfx cards have compatibility problems with static linked DOS Glide titles which have no patch.

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Reply 12 of 21, by lvader

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well it depends if you care about image quality as mich as compatibility with some games. I guess if you really want to run those games that are only compatible with a voodoo 1 there is no choice. But for someone already considering other 3DFX cards the Voodoo 3 is a good option.

Reply 13 of 21, by Half-Saint

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Thanks everyone for your input 😀

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Reply 14 of 21, by Godlike

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Baoran wrote on 2018-06-08, 22:36:

I always thought that it is better to stick with voodoo 2 if you make pure dos pc and go for voodoo 3 if you make a pc for windows games. Or you can put voodoo 2 sli and voodoo 3 in same pc if you want.

Voodoo for dos build? 3dfx is just windows card as sun on the sky. I know it is possible to put such card in dos build, but rather steroids. Sst-1 been introduced late 96 and commonly available 97, 2 years after release of mighty windows95

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Reply 15 of 21, by Baoran

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Godlike wrote on 2020-09-26, 01:53:
Baoran wrote on 2018-06-08, 22:36:

I always thought that it is better to stick with voodoo 2 if you make pure dos pc and go for voodoo 3 if you make a pc for windows games. Or you can put voodoo 2 sli and voodoo 3 in same pc if you want.

Voodoo for dos build? 3dfx is just windows card as sun on the sky. I know it is possible to put such card in dos build, but rather steroids. Sst-1 been introduced late 96 and commonly available 97, 2 years after release of mighty windows95

Definitely not just for windows. Some of my favourite 3dfx games like archimedean dynasty are dos games.

Reply 16 of 21, by Godlike

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Baoran wrote on 2020-09-26, 13:09:
Godlike wrote on 2020-09-26, 01:53:
Baoran wrote on 2018-06-08, 22:36:

I always thought that it is better to stick with voodoo 2 if you make pure dos pc and go for voodoo 3 if you make a pc for windows games. Or you can put voodoo 2 sli and voodoo 3 in same pc if you want.

Voodoo for dos build? 3dfx is just windows card as sun on the sky. I know it is possible to put such card in dos build, but rather steroids. Sst-1 been introduced late 96 and commonly available 97, 2 years after release of mighty windows95

Definitely not just for windows. Some of my favourite 3dfx games like archimedean dynasty are dos games.

Of course not only, but is't a windows card that support some dos game such as quake, mechwarrior2, shadow warrrior, blood etc.
Voodoo1 is more than enough for dos build. Orchid Righteous3D clicky 4MB card from late 1996 such a nice choice

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Reply 17 of 21, by The Serpent Rider

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dos game such as quake

Hardware accelerated Quake is not DOS game.

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Reply 18 of 21, by maxtherabbit

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-09-26, 15:37:

dos game such as quake

Hardware accelerated Quake is not DOS game.

QDOS begs to differ

Reply 19 of 21, by Baoran

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Godlike wrote on 2020-09-26, 15:31:
Baoran wrote on 2020-09-26, 13:09:
Godlike wrote on 2020-09-26, 01:53:

Voodoo for dos build? 3dfx is just windows card as sun on the sky. I know it is possible to put such card in dos build, but rather steroids. Sst-1 been introduced late 96 and commonly available 97, 2 years after release of mighty windows95

Definitely not just for windows. Some of my favourite 3dfx games like archimedean dynasty are dos games.

Of course not only, but is't a windows card that support some dos game such as quake, mechwarrior2, shadow warrrior, blood etc.
Voodoo1 is more than enough for dos build. Orchid Righteous3D clicky 4MB card from late 1996 such a nice choice

Calling it a windows card is just a label someone gives to it. I don't see any need to attach a card to a specific OS especially when it isn't the only OS that has drivers for it.