Fast Processor but Slow System (Windows 98SE) \ VOGONS

Fast Processor but Slow System (Windows 98SE)

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First post, by GhostyGhost

Posted on 2019-03-07, 19:25

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Hello Everyone,

I've been testing many games on my my Piii system and learning of a lot of a system slowdown since another clean install.

So far only 2D games work but 3D games have it the worst. I can get a demo of Quake 3 Team arena working but not other games such as,
Nocturne 1999, Diablo 2, Uprising and Frogger 1997

I ran 3DMark2001 and I have gotten a score of 1273 for Single chip mode and 1550 for Fastest Performance.
This is under performing and I don't know what's causing the system to slow down so much to cause this instability.

I thought the games just needed a small patch but didn't appear to be the case. When running a Direct3D test. It promptly froze at 32 Bit color. When done at 16 Bit color, it worked on 7 interlaces for a while and then froze.

When running in Single Chip mode, Direct3D tests succeeded. So that was a big hint of the issue.

Now that I know of the issues, I need to do some more tests to find ways to improve system performance.

Does anyone know if applying the Windows 98SE patches might rectify this issue?

If so, which site do you believe is the safest to do so?

My Specs are

OS: Windows 98SE
CPU: Pentium iii Coppermine 1GHz model SL5QV
Motherboard: ASUS TUV4X
Soundcard: Sound Blaster Live! MP3+ 5.1
Graphics: Modded Voodoo 5 5500 (Voodoo 5 6000 VSA-100 chips at 128MB V-RAM)
EDIT1:
RAM: 512MB

Thank you.

EDIT2: I installed the Windows 98SE unofficial service pack 3 but only the official patches.

Also I have discovered something when inspecting my Modded Voodoo 5 5500. A capcitor at C65 has broken off that belongs to the 2nd GPU and needs replacing.
But I'll probably have to replace all the capacitors now because if one breaks off on it's own, then all are bound to follow too.
Poor V5, It's back to working on you some more.

EDIT FINAL: I have solved the problem and it lied with the Voodoo 5 5500 having hardware problems. It has been fixed and system is running good.

Last edited by GhostyGhost on 2019-09-06, 14:17. Edited 4 times in total.

If life throws a wrench into your plans, then show life that no matter what it does to you, you will always prevail.

Reply 1 of 10, by .legaCy

Posted on 2019-03-08, 01:43

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RAM amount?

Reply 2 of 10, by GhostyGhost

Posted on 2019-03-08, 04:26

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.legaCy wrote:
RAM amount?

Whoops. Forgot that.

It's 512Mb of RAM.

i'll edit the post to add that.

Thank you.

If life throws a wrench into your plans, then show life that no matter what it does to you, you will always prevail.

Reply 3 of 10, by .legaCy

Posted on 2019-03-08, 13:39

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GhostyGhost wrote:
Whoops. Forgot that. […]
Show full quote
.legaCy wrote:
RAM amount?

Whoops. Forgot that.

It's 512Mb of RAM.

i'll edit the post to add that.

Thank you.

Can you try with 256 to see if any improvement happen?
I had seen windows 98 with some chipsets really not enjoying 512mb of RAM.
Back in the day a customer of my dad had issues with his computer and 512MB of RAM, major slowdowns, we tried with 256 and it solved the issue, not saying that it would be your case, but if you can try with 256, i think it worth a shot.

Reply 4 of 10, by GhostyGhost

Posted on 2019-03-08, 19:42

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.legaCy wrote:
Can you try with 256 to see if any improvement happen? I had seen windows 98 with some chipsets really not enjoying 512mb of RA […]
Show full quote
GhostyGhost wrote:
Whoops. Forgot that. […]
Show full quote
.legaCy wrote:
RAM amount?

Whoops. Forgot that.

It's 512Mb of RAM.

i'll edit the post to add that.

Thank you.

Can you try with 256 to see if any improvement happen?
I had seen windows 98 with some chipsets really not enjoying 512mb of RAM.
Back in the day a customer of my dad had issues with his computer and 512MB of RAM, major slowdowns, we tried with 256 and it solved the issue, not saying that it would be your case, but if you can try with 256, i think it worth a shot.

I tried with 256Mb and it changed a bit.
Now DirectX 9.0c stops around 9 interfaces which is the last test of Direct3D. Not perfect but better.
So it appears my chipset needs an update via BIOS flash which I just did.
Still not much change afterwards when 512Mb were put back in but it does now stop at the same as 256MB.
I think I should try out the Windows 98SE Unofficial Service pack 3 as it says it can allow allocation of more than 256MB or RAM that normally plagues the system.
What do you think?

If life throws a wrench into your plans, then show life that no matter what it does to you, you will always prevail.

Reply 5 of 10, by .legaCy

Posted on 2019-03-08, 23:05

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I never installed, maybe someone that have used may give a better opinion about it.

Reply 6 of 10, by canthearu

Posted on 2019-03-09, 02:43

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Try with a different graphics card. Having a modded voodoo 5 card is a red flag for me. One of the VSA100 chips may not be working right as per your OP.

Also, you must install via 4in1 drivers for proper AGP support. the older V4.35 or so will probably work well. Do not try to force 4x AGP on these chips, they usually don't like it.

Reply 7 of 10, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2019-03-09, 03:40

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My first suspicion is also the modded V5. Many, many things could be going wrong with that. Maybe it needs a reflow or something. Or maybe you have driver issues.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 8 of 10, by GhostyGhost

Posted on 2019-03-09, 06:51

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keenmaster486 wrote:
My first suspicion is also the modded V5. Many, many things could be going wrong with that. Maybe it needs a reflow or something. Or maybe you have driver issues.

Yeah, the V5 originally had artifacts from a defective V-RAM chip.

So I just got both the V-RAM and the VSA-100 replaced and hoped for the best. Other than that there isn't much problems.

Originally had Quake 3 Team Arena working perfectly in SLI mode, but for other 3D games it didn't fair so well. Even when using only Single Chip Mode to get Direct3D working, none of the mentioned 3D games respond. Frogger 1997 resets, Nocturne gets a black screen, and Diablo 2 fails a few video tests.

Speaking of Diablo 2's video tests, it originally failed on the Direct3D test but after the change to Single Chip mode, it failed on the Glide test. So I'm hoping it is a driver issue.

But tomorrow I'll try some different RAM sticks and use different slots as before when I was testing the TUV4X, I had 3 defective RAM sticks and one of them nearly melted as it was being used.

If all else fails, then I need to investigate the modded V5 I have and see for any more potential defects in it. Primary suspicion would be one of the VSA-100 chips.

Thank you.

If life throws a wrench into your plans, then show life that no matter what it does to you, you will always prevail.

Reply 9 of 10, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2019-03-09, 15:48

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GhostyGhost wrote:
Graphics: Modded Voodoo 5 5500 (Voodoo 5 6000 VSA-100 chips at 128MB V-RAM)

yeah ...

canthearu wrote:
Also, you must install via 4in1 drivers for proper AGP support. the older V4.35 or so will probably work well. Do not try to force 4x AGP on these chips, they usually don't like it.

Voodoo treats AGP like fast PCI, should work without agpgart

https://github.com/raszpl/FIC-486-GAC-2-Cache-Module for AT&T Globalyst
https://github.com/raszpl/386RC-16 memory board
https://github.com/raszpl/440BX Reference Design adapted to Kicad
https://github.com/raszpl/Zenith_ZBIOS MFM-300 Monitor

Reply 10 of 10, by GhostyGhost

Posted on 2019-03-10, 06:02

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I just noticed something that is strange.

When the modded voodoo 5 5500 posts on boot, it displays 131072Kb.

That shows my system is confirming that the mod has 128Mb of V-RAM.

But when I check Windows 98SE via DxDiag, it says I only have 62.5Mb being used. Which is about less than half of what the V5 can output in terms of memory.

So something in Windows 98SE isn't synergizing with the modded V5 and I have used almost all the official Voodoo 5 5500 AGP drivers available.

Is there anyone out there that has a modded V5 5500 as well and found any drivers that synergize with their system?

Thank you.

If life throws a wrench into your plans, then show life that no matter what it does to you, you will always prevail.

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