Greetings 3DFXZone Community

Im looking for best solutions for my system (Pentium III @517Mhz, 192MB RAM and ofcourse 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 16MB AGP[as mentioned in topic ]

Any advices on choosing best operating system, drivers, add-ons,list of games wich can I run and mostly important: optimal settings - will be welcomed...

Im kinda lost... As you see Im not sure wich operating system would be the best environment for a gamer like me with my system specifications... I am about to change my OS form 98SE to XP Pro SP1a but im not sure if this would be a good idea, XP is a wonderfull systems but it also have its disadvantages for comps like mine I guess... Im a gamer mostly focused on Unreal tournament a.k.a UT99 but Im also curious if there is a possibility to run Max Pane 2 or any other new games (like GTA3 or NFS:U) - Seeing all new addons here like TnL emulator or MesaFX brought me new hope and made me wonder if is there any new chances/possibilities for my Voodoo...

As you noticed im new here, plz be nice - dont slap me too hard

xp would eat all of your ram.  I would stay with 98se just for that reason alone.  more ram would also speed up 98se.......  a faster processor would be a great addon, but that V3 is sorely lacking in speed and ram as well.  a V4 or a V5 from ebay would be your best investment right about now.  cheaper than more ram imo.........  although I ran a V3 2000 for a long time in my 233MMX(@299) rig way back when, and it was GREAT......  I think the V3 2000 IS overclockable with a fan on it.  If you are going online with the rig, I would go XPsp2 just for the internet security and speed optimizations.  but if it is a standalone gamer rig, stick with 98SE untill you get 512Mb or MORE........  being a PIII, your motherboard will likely only hold a max of 512MB anyways.  Mine is an intel BX2 motherboard which can handle 768MB of ram (100fsb) MAX.  I have upgraded the processor with a powerleap 1.4Ghz celeron (like a PIII) with a special adapter due to the slot 1 configuration.  If your compi has the slot 1 config, this is the ONLY way to upgrade your board past 1 Ghz.  at 517Mhz you are overclocking from what speed? good luck.

PS, a faster hard drive (if you have one laying around) would help too.

I am not sure if my motherboard agp port can handle higher cards without cost of some functions/speed (sorry for not mentioning my motherboard in the begining, its ASUS P2B-F with intel 440BX chipset)
Anyways I wanna squezze the maximum out of my comp with adding some new functions/possibilities by the newest drivers/tools/methods (wich may offer something new as I see this goodies) without modifiing its parts (Im gonna have a new comp anyway in the near future, but Im leaving this one to build a network between my new comp and current one)

About the OS role, indeed 98SE is the best gaming OS but I'm looking for something more, XP has many advanteges over 98SE especialy if we are talking about the system security.

There are also some ways of improving Windows XP memory usage and disk space usage by installing Windows 2003 memory controler and using nLite to get rid of Windows XP unnecessary features plus some tweaks...

The main reason why I am considering installing WinXP is the security as mentioned above... I'd like to have my game station not only for gaming but also for multimedia and better security than in 98SE. In XP system Ive found an interesting sound feature wich isnt present in 98SE, I mean when I run i.e. SC:BroodWar on XP i can run the game and winamp without winamp taking over whole sound system (its like I can hear game sounds plus music form winamp wich I cannot in 98SE [if i run winamp before starting broodwar, winamp is only hearable and the game sounds are not, and backwards if i run bw first then i cant play winamp])

Second thing is drivers/tools/additonal tweaks and optimal settings, right now before Im gonna continue testing the efficiency of the methods mentioned erlyier (about making XP less memory eating system) Im testing stuff on 98SE and Ive found mikepedo's driver very nice (although its older then voodolizer wich is dated 2004 while mikepedo's is 2002 ) but still... I dont know if thats the best choice...
Kinda enables me some games to play wich I couldnt in the past but disables some 3fx tools advanced features

Third thing there is nothing I know about best drivers for XP :/

(about SP2 for WinXP - SP2 sucks ass a bit, ive noticed that its drasticaly slowing my comp down even when ive turned off the firewall feature :S thats why I was using SP1a)

But still... I need to make my mind about the system and im stuck at this point... More comments/sugestions please...

oh I forgot...

about : "... at 517Mhz you are overclocking from what speed?"

I was overclocking from 450 MHz

Forget the voodoolizer "drivers", they are crap.
Just stolen and re-labeled Amigamerlin drivers.
Best drivers for XP are the latest Amigamerlin package plus SFFT alpha.
But WinXP is no fun with less than 256 MB ram, even if you can optimize ram management.
For me its fun to get the last out of old hardware.
Especially the Asus P2B series can be upgraded well.
My recommendations :
Get yourself some more ram, get a V4 or even V5 and a more powerfull cpu. I have a spare V4 AGP here, in case you are interested.
Maybe you should consider setting up a dual boot system with Win98SE and WinXP ( in case your harddrive is big enough ).

As I said erlyier I cant buy nothing for this comp Im saving money for a better new comp in the near future, but if you wanna give ma v4 or v5 for free then why not I would be very happy

But seriously...

Well I do have 2 hard drives... (3 arctualy) two barracudas (40 gb each) and one WDCaviar with capicity of 10 gb (90 gigabytes in summary is at my disposal from these 3 hdds) - so I guess dual boot isnt a bad idea after all

Still there is a matter of drivers for those systems...
Indeed lots of stuff is there Amigamerlin, AmigaSport, Mikepedo's, 3dhq, Original Ones (although Mikepedo's is very very nice if we are talking about Unreal Tournament because of the bright that gaves while other drivers does not [its hellish dark on other ones in UT 3dfx glide and no gamma changing programs couldnt handle that])

But wich of them is the best solution if we are talkig about compability and top framerates ?

This SFFT alpa you mentioned... What is it actualy and how do I instal it ? Before the Amiga drivers or after ?

Im guessing that the best of the best in drivers are Amibamerlin's then ? But the question is... for both systems ?

And what are your opinions about Mikepedo's drivers wich I found very nice for 98SE... especialy for my UT

Guess the system choic problem is taken care of thanks to Rolo01 (thankyou)

Now the drivers... Let me see a brain-storm again guys, please continue your opinions and suggestions on drivers this time

QuoteOriginally posted by Rolo01

I have a spare V4 AGP here

Excuse off-topic, but:
How much do you want for the V4, Rolo01? This one will work on Intel MBs with AGP 4x 1,5V right? I hope I could afford such a great voodoo card...
On-topic:
For V3 there are the x3DFX-c drivers; they use dedicated V3 D3D core, not the VSA100 D3D driver core like in the Amigamerlin, Mikepedo, etc. drivers.

The SFFT alpha driver is a driver that adds DirectX8/9 compatibility for voodoo cards on Win2000/XP. Some newer games are playable only with this driver. It is by far the most advanced driver set.
You first install Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 ( which already contains SFFT alpha 28 ) and then install SFFT alpha 32 through device manager.
V3 users do the same but with Amigasport 3.0 instead of Amigamerlin.
For Win98SE :
I did not run a V3 in ages, but remember that the 1.07b driver set was good.
For V4/V5:
I havent tried Mikepedo´s driver myself, because I made the best experiences with the Nuangel5 driver. It contains the beta core from Feb.2001 that adds basic DX8 compatibility. I was able to run even ColinMcRae3 with this driver.

According the V4 AGP :
Please lets deal about this in private, drop me a line here :
Rolo01 at gmx.de

Newer games you say Rolo ? Like wich games ? Hope there is a way to run a max payne 2 too... Is there ?

Quote from: "Rolo01You first install Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 ( which already contains SFFT alpha 28 ) and then install SFFT alpha 32 through device manager.
V3 users do the same but with Amigasport 3.0 instead of Amigamerlin.

I did like you advised... Installed Amiga drivers then SFFT and my screen went 4 bit at 640x480 with no sucsess while trying to set normal resolution

QuoteOriginally posted by TelemachusRhade

Newer games you say Rolo ? Like wich games ? Hope there is a way to run a max payne 2 too... Is there ?

Welcome TelemachusRhade
It's no possible to run Max Payne 2 on a Voodoo 3 because this game needs the 32 bits and the Voodoo 3 doesn't support it.

oh

Last question...

About Unreal Tournament (aka UT99) yes I bet you know it and you love it just like me My question is about the GOTY Edition CD2 Bonus Textures and S3TC thingy... What is it exacly and will it work on Voodoo3 2000 under Win98 ?