voodoo5 memory project / solution

[m14radu]

hello,

i have already read in another thread 'voodoo project' that it's possible for the vsa-100 chip to use maximal 64 mb of memory, so that means that the voodoo5 5500 can be upgraded with another 64 mb. by changing the memory chip of corse.
the question is; did somebody this or not ?
the v5 5500 with 128 mb exist or it's a pure fiction ?
i have search on the internet but i could find nothing.

i have a little experience with microcontroller, so i have thought that it my be possible to transform the v5 5500 in a v4 with 64 mb. can somebody through the software, drivers to disable one of the vsa chip, and let his memory for the other ? , so that then will be one chip with 64 mb.
sorry for my poor english .
bye.

[ps47]

it hasnt been done yet,because it s very difficult (if not impossible).you cant make a v4 64mb out of v5 either,but you can add another 32 mb to a voodoo4 agp (there are empty sockets),if you do it right,all you have to do is modify the bios a little bit and you have a voodoo4 64mb ram.this has been completed already..

[m14radu]

hi ,
how much performance icrease is between a v4 normal with 32 mb and a modified v4 with 64 mb ?
it's worth such a modification ?

[NitroX infinity]

300 3DMark2001se points.

Read this entire topic about it;
http://www.falconfly-central.de/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=techtalk;action=display;num=1087131259

[TeronL]

Hm, interesting.

So if I add other memory to my dead Voodoo 5 (one memory chip dead) from Radeon 7500 128 mb SDR (Hynix (same as Hyundai) 6 ns eight memory chips) and modify a little bit BIOS I'll get a working 128 mb Voodoo 5[:0] ?

[bloodworm]

1.18 BIOS is already ready.  just need ram and a couple of jumper wires (address lines) and some different resistor combos to tell the VSA100 that there is more ram available to it.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Originally posted by bloodworm

1.18 BIOS is already ready.  just need ram and a couple of jumper wires (address lines) and some different resistor combos to tell the VSA100 that there is more ram available to it.

Hold on, so in order to tell the Voodoo5 that it has more RAM, BIOS modification is not enough? I mean, you still need to change the jumper/resistor as well?

Has it been done successfully? Would you post a complete steps/instruction?

And by the way, is the memory chip for Voodoo5 hard to obtain? Could you buy one on eBay? And what standard should be met for a memory chip so it could be put on a V5?

[Chosen_One]

does someone have a picture of denisf's v4 4500 with 64mb? would be interesting to see the card!

[ps47]

[TeronL]

And what standard should be met for a memory chip so it could be put on a V5?

You mean the vendors that produce RAM or standarts?

On Voodoo 5 can be three RAM vendors: Toshiba, MT and Hyundai. I've heard also that on some Voodoo 4 installed Samsung memory (some noname China cards)
The memory stamdart is SDRAM.

1.18 BIOS is already ready. just need ram and a couple of jumper wires (address lines) and some different resistor combos to tell the VSA100 that there is more ram available to it.

Thats interesting, any advises how to do it:)?
By the way, on my Voodoo 5 installed Toshiba chips, there wont be any problems if I install chips from Hynix? Need I flash BIOS?

I have two ideas. Or I repair and modify my card and will get Radeon 7500 SDR for it. Ot I just repair and take my old GeForce 2 MX 400 (same Hynix 6 ns)

[m14radu]

so, but what about this possibility to disable one chip, only one vsa of two, but to leave his memory operational ? ....thats a possible way to obtain a voodoo4 with 64 mb.
what are you think about this ?

[NitroX infinity]

Not possible. Each chip has it's own memory. If you shut down one, you shut down it's memory too.

[m14radu]

ok, i thought that it might be possible somehowe throught a code routine or bios settings.
in the driver windows, you can choose between single chip,2x or 4x fsaa.
i tought that this single chip mode can be improved like i said.
what means than single chip ? a v4 with 32 mb ?
can the transform and lighting implemented in the bios ?
thanx.

[NitroX infinity]

Single Chip means it only uses the master chip and it's memory (effectively a V4 32MB).

Transform and Lightning is not possible on Voodoo's (or any card without it). It's a pure hardware technology. Use MesaFX if you want to fake it using software.

[bloodworm]

hank did it with some old ram he had just "laying around".  but what he did was piggyback the SAME size ram onto the existing ram, the only pin that he didn't solder to the old ram was the last address line on each ram and he then connected this pin to the jumper wires.  there were also some resistor mods.  I have a pic on my harddrive somewhere of the wires, but I don't think I ever got the resistor mods completely......  I wanted to try it out, but I don't have access to the RAM, I would have to rape another board for it.  lots of work for little or no gain for me.  now if I could get ahold of some FASTER and LARGER ram to completely replace what is on the board now, I would try it in a heartbeat!