Maybe a step back: which cards do you currently have? And if looking to get something new, how much are you prepared to shell out for it?

Voodoos and Gf256 cards aren't cheap. They also aren't representative for what the majority of people actually had in the day. So do you want to build a 'dream machine', i.e. the fastest someone could possibly have had at a given time? Or rather re-create what you or others actually had?

For your CPU dates, you can just check Wikipedia.
- P200 (non-MMX): June 1996
- P3 450: February 1999
- P3 1000E and EB: March 2000

The original Voodoo 1 was released in October 1996, so yes, that would be a decent pairing with P200, in particular because the P200 was the fastest Intel CPU available at the time of its release (P200MMX wasn't released until January 1997). As for what 2D card to pair it with - that depends on what else the system needs to do. Virge/DX would be an option, but so would Matrox Millennium (if DOS isn't required), ATi Rage II, Tseng ET6000, Cirrus Logic GD5446 etc etc etc.

Similarly, the Voodoo3 was released in April 1999, so shortly after P3-450, at a time when the P3-500 was the fastest Intel CPU, so 450 is a good pairing.
If you want a 3dfx chip to pair with the P3-1000, at time of P3-1000 release, the Voodoo3 was still the fastest 3dfx card, but already overtaken in performance and features by GeForce256 and G400Max. Shortly afterwards the V5-5500 was released, which didn't reclaim the performance crown but was the fastest actually released 3dfx card. Of course to get one now costs an arm, leg and probably kidney too.

Of course, with Voodoo2 you can have your cake and eat it: get a fast AGP and add V2 (possibly in SLI) for the GLide.

But be aware you'll have a setup very few could have afforded back then; I had a Celeron 433 with TNT2-M64 at the time...

The Pentium 200 / AWE64 build is about a 1996 era setup. Period accurate graphics card would include S3 Virge/DX, Matrox Millennium or Mystique, along with the 3Dfx Voodoo 1. For maximum DOS compatibility, the S3 Virge/DX would be a good choice, while the Matrox cards will offer better performance and image quality, but at reduced DOS compatibility with certain games.

Pentium III 450 is either 1998 or 1999 era. The Deschutes Pentium III 450 came out in the second half of 1998, whereas the Katmai Pentium III 450 came out in early 1999.

For 1998, a Riva TNT and SLI Voodoo 2 would be period correct. For 1999, a GeForce 256 or Voodoo 3 would be period correct.

dionb wrote on 2025-05-26, 23:39:

Maybe a step back: which cards do you currently have? And if looking to get something new, how much are you prepared to shell ou […]
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Maybe a step back: which cards do you currently have? And if looking to get something new, how much are you prepared to shell out for it?

Voodoos and Gf256 cards aren't cheap. They also aren't representative for what the majority of people actually had in the day. So do you want to build a 'dream machine', i.e. the fastest someone could possibly have had at a given time? Or rather re-create what you or others actually had?

For your CPU dates, you can just check Wikipedia.
- P200 (non-MMX): June 1996
- P3 450: February 1999
- P3 1000E and EB: March 2000

The original Voodoo 1 was released in October 1996, so yes, that would be a decent pairing with P200, in particular because the P200 was the fastest Intel CPU available at the time of its release (P200MMX wasn't released until January 1997). As for what 2D card to pair it with - that depends on what else the system needs to do. Virge/DX would be an option, but so would Matrox Millennium (if DOS isn't required), ATi Rage II, Tseng ET6000, Cirrus Logic GD5446 etc etc etc.

Similarly, the Voodoo3 was released in April 1999, so shortly after P3-450, at a time when the P3-500 was the fastest Intel CPU, so 450 is a good pairing.
If you want a 3dfx chip to pair with the P3-1000, at time of P3-1000 release, the Voodoo3 was still the fastest 3dfx card, but already overtaken in performance and features by GeForce256 and G400Max. Shortly afterwards the V5-5500 was released, which didn't reclaim the performance crown but was the fastest actually released 3dfx card. Of course to get one now costs an arm, leg and probably kidney too.

Of course, with Voodoo2 you can have your cake and eat it: get a fast AGP and add V2 (possibly in SLI) for the GLide.

But be aware you'll have a setup very few could have afforded back then; I had a Celeron 433 with TNT2-M64 at the time...

Thanks for your detailed reply! Definitely a lot to think about. I'm willing to save up money for something decent so I wouldn't consider money being an objection.

I think I'll add what's currently in the machines as you ask, and I'll also include the third machine I already have because I think it might impact your recommendations:

Windows 3.1 Machine:
Intel 486 DX4/100
Soundblaster AWE32
S3 ViRGE/DX

Windows 95 Machine:
Pentium 200MHz
Soundblaster AWE64
S3 ViRGE (Yes, it's inferior to the 486, because it's what came with the machine)

Windows 98 Machine:
Pentium III 450MHz
Soundblaster Live!
NVidia GeForce MX460 (so enormously overpowered in my view and not period-correct)

Perhaps the smart move would be to swap the ViRGE's, maybe get an alternative 2D card for the 486, and get a Voodoo 3 in the Pentium III?

Thanks!

gladders wrote on 2025-05-27, 19:43:

Thanks for your detailed reply! Definitely a lot to think about. I'm willing to save up money for something decent so I wouldn't consider money being an objection.

I think I'll add what's currently in the machines as you ask, and I'll also include the third machine I already have because I think it might impact your recommendations:

Frankly, I think the configurations are already fine as is, even with the S3 DX on the 486 😉. Even if they aren't exactly a match to what was typically used (regarding the 486, P3), they are close enough and it's probably good hardware just to use there anyway. The PMMX seems a bit boring, because it's probably too close to a common mundane machine from the day. I don't know what your plan is for what you want to run on them, but that PMMX might be considered not needed. However, if you want to have a little more fun, get a Voodoo for it. A Voodoo2 would be ok too. Again I'd not be too picky -- you can spend alot of time trying to tweak builds and really alot of this really didn't ultimately matter back then (and spending money then, and even now, is it really worth it having the perfect combo on everything, even if period correct?). But a 3dfx accelerator card is a nice addition that completes all of this. Then you can run the early range of 3dfx games.

gladders wrote on 2025-05-27, 19:43:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

Thanks for your detailed reply! Definitely a lot to think about. I'm willing to save up money for something decent so I wouldn't consider money being an objection.

I think I'll add what's currently in the machines as you ask, and I'll also include the third machine I already have because I think it might impact your recommendations:

Windows 3.1 Machine:
Intel 486 DX4/100
Soundblaster AWE32
S3 ViRGE/DX

Windows 95 Machine:
Pentium 200MHz
Soundblaster AWE64
S3 ViRGE (Yes, it's inferior to the 486, because it's what came with the machine)

Windows 98 Machine:
Pentium III 450MHz
Soundblaster Live!
NVidia GeForce MX460 (so enormously overpowered in my view and not period-correct)

Perhaps the smart move would be to swap the ViRGE's, maybe get an alternative 2D card for the 486, and get a Voodoo 3 in the Pentium III?

Thanks!

Again the question is what you want to achieve. If you want absolute period correctness, the Virge/DX in the 486 and the GeForce MX460 need replacing. However both cards are excellent for actually running software on those systems. The Virge/DX is overpowered, but has one of the best SVGA VESA implementations. The MX460 is similarly overpowered, but works fine for any 1999-era D3D/OpenGL stuff and it's hardware T&L - which is particularly relevant a period-correct card wouldn't have hardware T&L so would be more dependent on CPU which is already the bottleneck here.

If you really want to change something, how about just swapping the Virge and Virge/DX?

Voodoos are expensive, and went from being the only game in town for DOS 3D acceleration to being an also ran in Windows, so either the 95 or 98 given a Voodoo would sensibly do double duty as a DOS Voodoo system, do it might be better on the 95 with an ISA sound card, whether you add a Voodoo 1 or 2, or change to a Banshee or Rush.