Hi all


Here a new Dual P3 project of mine which will involve a PC Flashed 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh as main VGA and an AWE64 Gold! as sound card with two Intel Pentium!!!/S 1400Mhz CPU's each with 512KB L2 Cache  

I just bought the following parts for this project

The Motherboard + 1x P3/S 1400Mhz with HSF new from old stock:

SuperMicro P3TDLE + Intel Pentium!!!/S 1400Mhz SL6BY With HSF:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/151016626063?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/p3/le/p3tdle.cfm


Official photo's btw xD

1x Intel Pentium!!!/S 1400Mhz SL6BY CPU:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/110541157747?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649


2x Thermaltake Golden Orb for Socket 370 new from old Stock Boxed:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/130615851147?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649


I will keep this thread up to date as I progress it

The other parts I have for this beauty are these xD

3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh with PC Bios 1.18_LCD:
Top:


Rear:


Headshot:


Creative Labs CT4540 AWE64 Gold! Second Revision:
Top:


Rear:


Headshot:


here the name and final specs of this build:

Sveta SMP 2001

Dual Intel Pentium!!!/S Tualatin 1400Mhz Server CPU's
Supermicro P3TDLE with Serverworks Serverset III LE Chipset
4x 512MB PC-133 ECC Reg. HP/Micron Server Ram , 4x 1024MB PC-133 ECC Reg. HP/Micron as later upgrade.
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh PC-Flashed to Bios 1.18_LCD & Modded to 2x 128MB 166Mhz ISSI SDRAM by Loschwerg from Voodooalert.de.
Creative Labs CT4540 AWE64 Gold! ISA 8MB
1x Samsung 1.44MB Floppy Drive
1x Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 7200rpm HDD
Addtronics 6896A Entry Level Server Tower
Enermax EG 565 VE PSU
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 452 Max Reso: 1600 x 1200 x32 @ 76 Herz, Advised Reso: 1280 x 960 x32 @ 92 Herz
Compaq S710 Max Reso: 1280 x 1024 x32 @ 60 herz, Advised Reso: 1024 x 768 x32 @ 85 Herz. as temporal solution

Windows 2000 Professional UK + Service Pack4
AmigaMerlin 3.1 R1
AmigaMerlin 3.1 R6
AmigaMerlin 3.1 R11as main stability driver.

Here some other milestone projects that were achieved by Komponent @ Falconfly.de:

The group-buy of 16Mb chips for VSA100 based cards:
(Contains some nice infos)
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1220381997

Voodoo4 4500 AGP 64MB:
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1145604124

Voodoo4 4500 PCI 64MB:
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1223587794

Voodoo4 4500 AGP 128MB:
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1232877537

Voodoo5 5500 AGP 128MB:
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1223002040

Voodoo5 5500 PCI 128MB:
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1364630437

So I wanna be the first to have a PC Flashed 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macntosh 256MB

This is the Monitor I bought for this retro Duallie
http://britaincloud.co.uk/45720-iiyama-vision-master-pro-452.html  

Here a pic of the one I bought:


Pic is from the seller I got it from

But yeah Dual P3/S 1400's with a 256 meg PC Flashed V5 PCI Mac in the main PCI-X 64Bit 66Mhz Slot. This is quite the 3dfx dream machine I always wanted to build and hay these days it's all very affordable too
Since that getting a Voodoo5 6000 is a bit out of reach these days, I thought about getting the max out of my PC Flashed Voodoo5 5500 PCI Macintosh, by upgrading it with 8x 32MB 166Mhz ISSI SDRAM Chips, so that is 128MB 166Mhz SDRAM per VSA-100, this is possible due to the research done with that Voodoo4 4500 AGP 128MB as the auto Bios support goes for 128MB for VSA-100 and that it does work.

We have learnt that the Napalm Bios automatically adapts and detects the upgraded VRAM buffer of 128MB, so in theory a V5 5500 AGP, PCI/PCI mac should be able to detect the extra dded VRAM per VSA-100. In theory a V5 5500 is nothing but a Dual V4 4500. And Since ISSI makes 32MB SDRAM chips clocked @ 166Mhz this project can be proceeded by Loschwerg, he is the techie to take on such things, I am willing to be the first of such a project and I hope this will help convince other V5 5500 users that such a VRAM upgrade is possible, if it is effective? Well that is where that Iiyama Vision Master Pro 452 comes to place.

It can do 1600 x 1200, which is the ideal Resolution to test the V5 5500 PCI Mac 256MB and see if the Extra VRAM took any impact to the card's overall performance. What I want to prevent is VRAM Loss in games, so it will never run out of VRAM in any resolution beyond 1152 x864 x16/32, so with this VRAM upgrade I think that limitation can be penetrated.

I always wanted to do a new 3dfx project, but I never could find what to do, until this crazy plan came to mind

very cool stuff man.  I love these retro builds... the good old days were so good.   keep the pics coming.

QuoteOriginally posted by revenant

very cool stuff man.  I love these retro builds... the good old days were so good.   keep the pics coming.

Many thanks! And yeah I sure will make lots of pics mate!

Yeah back then we had true high quality hardware, hardware that was made to last many many years to come, it was all about the highest quality and the longest lifespans, my P3/E 650 Mhz also still works without issues with it's EPoX EP-BX3 Ver 1.1 from 1998, it's 3dfx Voodoo3 3500C AGP 16MB + TV-Out is from week 46 of 1999, not a single leaking capacitor, it's Packard bell/Philips Radio card is from 1995, it's CPU from 1999, it's 3x Samsung Original 128MB PC-100 is from 1998, it's sound card is from 1997, it's case & PSU is from 1997 and it all just works without worry.

You can read more about this oldie which I named Avenger M99 here:
http://www.3dfxzone.it/enboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16251

And yeah, I can't say that about today's Desktop hardware, unless you go 2CPU with high end Workstation/Server hardware, which is the only type of hardware I buy anyways as these days go, back then you just had more choice than now.

yeah, I remember feeling very weird about having a card that did 2d and 3d... ha!  long long time ago... thanks for the other link.  Awe64 gold brings back some memories also.. I remember buying mine at a computer show in Santa Barbara, CA.  Back when going to "the show" (as we called it) was the best way to get good cheap hardware... the internet certainly killed that.  lol.  sigh.  but I loved going to those.. such a playground for hardware enthusiasts.

As the AWE64 Gold goes I have both variants the CT4390 and the CT4540, here some pics to show you their differences:

Top:

High-Res:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/43556-1/CT4390+_amp_+CT4540+top.JPG

Rear:

High-Res:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/43553-1/CT4390+_amp_+CT4540+rear.JPG

Headshot:

High-Res:
http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/d/43550-1/CT4390+_amp_+CT4540+headshot.JPG

As you can see the CT4540 is slightly shorter and resized, they probably did this to reduce production costs, or it was a fix to the hardware it's self?

I Still am not sure why.

The P3/E 650 has the CT4390 as where this Dual P3/S 1400 will get the CT4540, both have the AWE64 Gold, that is one thing for sure

very nice... I had an awe32 and the digital sound from that was so bad... but the awe64 was a nice card.   I still have an old GusMax in the original box with all accessories.... I would love to fire that up again.

Many thanks revenant!

So far I am still waiting to get the ram, when that has arrived I will start building the beast

QuoteOriginally posted by revenant

very nice... I had an awe32 and the digital sound from that was so bad... but the awe64 was a nice card.   I still have an old GusMax in the original box with all accessories.... I would love to fire that up again.

the gus pro is a killer card, I happen to have one my self.
I never used the max, but my pro tops the awe64 but it's more of a preference and not hands down

QuoteOriginally posted by ms-dos

QuoteOriginally posted by revenant

very nice... I had an awe32 and the digital sound from that was so bad... but the awe64 was a nice card.   I still have an old GusMax in the original box with all accessories.... I would love to fire that up again.

the gus pro is a killer card, I happen to have one my self.
I never used the max, but my pro tops the awe64 but it's more of a preference and not hands down

Well imo the nothing even touches the AWE64 Gold CT4390 & CT4540, they beat anything out there from their time, As for the Gus Pro or Max, never heard of those, please use their full name,s I might know what you mean, as long they are not Gravis Ultrasounds or them SB Live equivalent type of things haha

Maybe a sample of some midi track that uses their synthesizer would be sweet, so I gt an idea how they sound like?

Anyhow, the Midi sound quality of the AWE64 Gold can't be touched by anything I have heard, especially when I have me Sennheisers attached to the AWE64 Gold it's self.

But then again sound is a very personal thing, some may dislike AWE64 Gold, others may love it, I love it and nothing can change that

Yes we are talking about Gravis Ultrasound cards
. The nice thing about the pro is that you can changed a instrument patch for midi play back.
I use the EAW patch system myself.
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=13928
it's really the only good patch I can find


EDIT
my old system it not together right now, as I'm making a case for it.
but I can get it up and going as a bench setup to record some midi play back.

public/uploaded/ms-dos/2013618214642_Untitled.jpg

EDIT2
here's a sample.
it's not the best recording and I had to disable the monitor on the card. With the monitor enabled it degraded the recording like crazy.
but it will give you an idea of what it sounds like.
http://snk.to/f-c71j2kk7


in case your not sure on what meant I by "monitor". it's just a sound setting in the GUS sound mixer.

QuoteOriginally posted by ms-dos

Yes we are talking about Gravis Ultrasound cards
. The nice thing about the pro is that you can changed a instrument patch for midi play back.
I use the EAW patch system myself.
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=13928
it's really the only good patch I can find


EDIT
my old system it not together right now, as I'm making a case for it.
but I can get it up and going as a bench setup to record some midi play back.

public/uploaded/ms-dos/2013618214642_Untitled.jpg

EDIT2
here's a sample.
it's not the best recording and I had to disable the monitor on the card. With the monitor enabled it degraded the recording like crazy.
but it will give you an idea of what it sounds like.
http://snk.to/f-c71j2kk7


in case your not sure on what meant I by "monitor". it's just a sound setting in the GUS sound mixer.

Hmm I find the sound quality and FX mixer of the AWE64 Gold tads better than the Gravis Ultra Sound Pro, a friend of mine had the Gravis, he sold his due to the disappointing sound quality it made, thus he replaced it wth an AWE 32 PnP, the predecessor of the AWE64 Gold

Sorry man but to me and my friend, nothing touches the AWE32 & 64 sound cards when it comes to midi music, really I have tried lots of them Turtle Beach, Santa Cruise, Terratec, Creative Labs, Roland, Yamaha, Gravis, AdLib and really, the AWE64 Golds I use now gave me the best Midi sound experience ever.  

The Gravis Ultra Sound Pro sounded better than most cards though, but could not touch the AWE32's and AWE64's.

Anyways enough off-topic here, back on topic!

So far the ram has not yet arrived, I am still waiting a full refund from the seller, so now I still seek the ram needed for the system.

It was the digital sound I didn't like on the awe32... but I gave up the gravis for an awe64 gold which I had for a LONG time.  amazing card.

what instrument patch are you using with your AWE64?
IMO the 32 sucks and the 64 is on par with the pro, but this is midi playback, witch 90% of the sound quality is the instrument patch and the other 10% being the DAC.
if you could link or send me the patch the 64 uses I love to try it on my gus


Back on topic, why not a agp card? is it for the dvi port or could you not find a dual socket mobo with a agp slot  ?