3DFX Voodoo5 5500 works on PCI-Express !!

[voodoo5k6]

Originally posted by jix-reggio

Sorry you must be mistaken, Pericom and PLX tech.
are 2 different companies and the chip indicated
is completely different from PEX811x series.

It can run @66mhz and find easily an adapter
on your retailer as the Intel 1U IPC server.

Hi,

I had found one good adaptor in year 2011...

"Posted - 26/10/2011 :  12:27:31".
Perhaps you use this one? (for your new project)

[jix-reggio]

@everyone : Adapters/risers based on Pericom's chips PI7C9X111SL and PI7C9X112SL (datasheets in Pericom website linked in my precedent post) costs 40 euros in Europe (maybe less in US or Asia) and can run (tested and ok) your Voodoo 4 or 5 pci @66mhz for a low price, instead of more expensive adapters.

Edit:
@Nightbird: I gave you the best info I could following your question.

@Voodoo56k: adapter spotted in 2011, Yeah !
Not sure I will use Pericom or others, or this one :

for my new piece of hardware.

[Nightbird]

I think that even a V3 2k/3k would run on this adapter/riser

[jix-reggio]

*** 3dfx 'PexTurbo' first appearance ***
Booted successfully on May 20, 2012


Up and running
Delivering more than 6 MTriangles/sec

[m14radu]

Looks very nice man ! congratulation.
the look is select i like it very much.

what is under the cooler ?

[Glide]

- jix-reggio:

It's a good work. Compliments

Originally posted by m14radu
what is under the cooler ?

A Voodoo3???

Bye bye

[m14radu]

for sure is a voodoo5
there is no doubt about !

[Nightbird]

The lenght ?

[m14radu]

I guess that is a voodoo5 with some pcie adapter...thatswhy the card is big and the cooler fix the card and adapter together

[jix-reggio]

Ah yes, interesting deductions.
I have not enough time this month.
I will fulfill this card in a month
and come back with more picts.

I have put together some pictures and tests in this little video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8kl9ntHFko

Of course the last sequence was taken with the help of 3DA
To show you the fishes swimming in the water.

[Glide]

OK, thanks for the info about the video card, so we're waiting for yours .

Bye bye

[m14radu]

I look on the video that you made, and i was surprized to see the test with the advanced pixel shader !!!
I tip that you use the 3DAnalyze software.

Well...i'm puzzeld . I remember that i use the 3DAnalyze in the past but the water and the fishes were not so good looking than in your movie.....

come on jix-reggio, reveal the mistery

[jix-reggio]

After a little over a year, and although I am not an expert on 3dfx, I want to make a preliminary conclusion of this topic on the use of bridges PCI-Express to PCI (or PCI-X ) with Voodoo5 5500 PCI (Version 'PC' or version 'Mac').

Question: What is there on the topic?
Thanks to contributions from each other, we have reviewed different solutions of  risers / adapters Pci-E to PCI (or PCI-X). These solutions were based on PLX chips or Pericom.

Most work with a PCI-E 1x interface and some (more expensive) with a PCI-E 4x or 8x interface (such as riser Supermicro RSC-RR1UE-AXL, but the bandwidth negotiated at the initialization is a maximum of 4x).
These solutions require an additional power connector.
You will find references by browsing through the pages of the topic.
Here is an article from 2006 showing one of the first PciE2Pci adapters :
http://www.presence-pc.com/actualite/adaptateur-pci-express-16756/

The first bridges tested (chip PEX8111 or PEX8112) allowed to run V5 5500 @ 33mhz with a performance boost of about 5% -7% due to the passage of shared PCI bus to the non shared serial PCI-Express bus.

Through overclocking the bus PCI-Express @ 125 in the bios, we were able to operate V5 5500 @ 40MHz with a performance boost of 10-15%.

Finally, the use of adapters from server technology (Supermicro, Startech, etc ...) we were able to run the V5 5500 @ 66 mhz with a performance boost of 25-30%.

Question: How do I find these adapters and at what price?
They can be easily found for sale on the Internet or in stores computer components. Please note prices are highly variable and range from 20 to 100 USD, so you have to shop around.  Depending on the height of the adapter and the orientation of the Pci-E connector, you should use a thick case or customize a little to install the V5 5500.

Question: why the performance of a V5 5500 are improved by 20-25% with PciE2pci adapter forcing the PCI interface at a 66 mhz frequency ?
The use of such an adapter leads to multiply about 4 the theoretical bandwith (250 Mbytes / sec full duplex) between 3dfx card and CPU. Found on the German site Voodooalert.de is a very good test that shows that the interface 3dfx <-> CPU is really a bottleneck for the V5 5500 PCI.
http://www.voodooalert.de/de/content/tests/agp_vs_pci_v44500.php

With the adapter PciE2pci forcing the 66 MHz mode, performances will scale with a powerfull CPU which will ensure T&L, geometry assist and if necessary software emulation for DX7-8 support.

[jix-reggio]

Comparison with  Voodoo5 6000 AGP 2x in 'retro-test'


Détails shows the boost in V5500 geometry capacities although
the texturing remains low.

[m14radu]

Nice work jix-reggio !

Seem that the v5 pex turbo is performing very well...

Btw. what adapter did you use ?
Actually i am not very happy with my pci2pcie adapters:
- the PLX adapter is stable but is working only @33Mhz
- the Pericom adapter is very unstable, but is working @66Mhz. I get with Pericom adapter a lots of system hang-ups in win7 - in XP it's a little bit more stable...
The hang ups occurs in the 3dMArk2001 ALWAYS in the char chase test. This is the critical moment, if this test pass then until the next PC reboot everything is running ok.

And please is possbile to see the construction in detail ? The voodoo5, adapter and the fron grill with 3dfx logo ?
I like the blue light too