I would choose a faster Voodoo for Glide games (preferably the 5500) and an Aureal Vortex 2 for 3D sound (Diamond Monster MX300). The SW-60XG would be good if you want to play Final Fantasy VII. I don't know of any other Windows game written for a Yamaha or Roland synth. Any 100 Mbit card should work well, the USB2.0 is ok, though with LAN you will rarely transfer something through USB.

I'd drop the Geforce2, and the second Voodoo2. Personally i'd use one Kyro2, one Voodoo2.

@GL1zdA:
I don't want a voodoo5 (I don't even have one) because I fear it will have CRAP D3D drivers. 😀 and will set me back a good amount of money, for something I fear is not needed, glide only games that I know of are really happy with just a single voodoo2 card ... unless I am wrong on that 😀
Also the WF192XG card does have software XG midi and aureal1.0/2.0, will have to think over the matter... I do remember though it had BETTER quality than the 5.1 sblive!

@leileilol:
As for the Kyro2 card, I never had one, why would it be better than a GF2/pro? And why ditch the 2nd voodoo2? Please elaborate 😀

With one Voodoo2 that's already enough for most Glide-only games out there, and since you're on a P3 1GHz the most demanding Glide games (OpFlash, Deus Ex) are already speedy enough to not need additional Voodoo hardware than V2, so even a V3 would be a bit excessive. And if you wanted 32-bit color in them there's most likely a D3D/OGL driver for it, anyway, and if not, zeckensack's wrapper comes to the rescue.

Kyro2 is a bit more respectful of older games than a Geforce2 in terms of driver stability alone, and also the 16-bit color is much nicer (it works with a 32-bit buffer). Please be aware I haven't EXTENSIVELY TESTED the Kyro2 in older 3d games yet, but I never had a major problem. Kyro2's VGA output isn't as blurry as a Geforce2 either. Don't think about UE2 games with it though, you will get hard freezes. Forget about the later T&L games, but you're aiming for older games than 2001 anyway

I see... though I still object the 2nd v2 removal, it allows for 1024x768 whereas a single v2 maxes out at 800x600

keropi wrote:

I see... though I still object the 2nd v2 removal, it allows for 1024x768 whereas a single v2 maxes out at 800x600

Totally agree

I'd throw in a GF3 instead though + a PIII Tualatin 1.4ghz 512k L2 cache cpu 😀 so you use a better OS for a dual boot setup in case you want access to a modern os/browser

Have this mobo too, been thinking of replacing my Abit ST6 raid mobo with it since the Abit has the stupid 512mb RAM limit 😜 but I'm not sure how well the QDI is with overclocking my 1.4ghz Tualatin?

I have no idea about o/c , I tend not to mess with it :p
I will start assembling after I look at my vga options 😀

edit: the best GF I have is the 2GTS/pro and an unknown status 5200FX... 😦

I like pumping old games through a Voodoo5 5500 just to get the FSAA. It really makes the games look great. I don't know how good the D3D driver is overall but it was fine for Shadows of the Empire and Jedi Knight.

I just installed gf2/pro, with a sblive! 5.1 and 512MB ram... I'll see how this goes and revise hardware later is necessary

swaaye wrote:

I like pumping old games through a Voodoo5 5500 just to get the FSAA. It really makes the games look great. I don't know how good the D3D driver is overall but it was fine for Shadows of the Empire and Jedi Knight.

I've never owned a Voodoo 5 and i can't imagine the drivers being very good considering the cards incredibly short lifespan... were there many driver updates and does it run stable with most games? Is it worth replacing my 2x12mb Voodoo 2 SLI/ ATI Rage Fury Maxx setup for a single Voodoo 5? It's for a Windows 98 machine 😀

@ Keropi... I think using a GF2 for Win98 games will be fine as all other games that go beyond that spec would most likely work with Windows XP/Vista/7 anyway. I use my win98 machine purely to run older D3D/OpenGL/Glide games that refuse to run on newer operating systems.

A fast PIII with 512mb ram and a good 32/64mb graphics card will be fine for any Win98 game out there. I use an old 650mhz PIII with only 384mb ram and it's been fine with any old game i throw at it... All newer games are played on my main current gaming rig 😀

my thoughts exactly PowerPie500 😀 the gf2/pro has 64MB vram IIRC... I will built it and revise it as need arises 😀

PowerPie5000 wrote:

I've never owned a Voodoo 5 and i can't imagine the drivers being very good considering the cards incredibly short lifespan... were there many driver updates and does it run stable with most games? Is it worth replacing my 2x12mb Voodoo 2 SLI/ ATI Rage Fury Maxx setup for a single Voodoo 5? It's for a Windows 98 machine 😀

Voodoo5 has had new drivers released up until like 2007 by the community. I just use the official releases unless I'm on XP. The card is great for games from its time and before. It's the best Glide card there is and the FSAA is part of why that is. It adds so much to the visual quality. And then there is the fact that even one VSA-100 chip is ~2x faster than Voodoo2 SLI. It also still works with some DOS Glide games, such as Carmageddon.

Some info on the 3rd party drivers (just an example):
http://old.nordichardware.com/Articles/?page=1&skrivelse=337

RAGE Fury MAXX is probably the most problematic graphics card out there. 😁 The AFR technology has a lot of issues. And Rage 128 has rather poor 16-bit dithering. It was an interesting board though. I've used one but just briefly and had problems with UT99 being stuttery for whatever reason. Wouldn't mind having one in the collection.

OK I just got a ~35$ BIN v5500 from eBay... will test it extensively when it gets here 😀

That sounds like a good find with the way the cards have gotten expensive. I think I paid more than that for my 5500 AGP.

BTW, don't try to use the card in a AGP 1.5v-only mobo. It only works in slots that can provide the old 3.3v signal.

swaaye wrote:

It also still works with some DOS Glide games, such as Carmageddon.

Can you tell, please, wich dos-glide games you tested with V5500 and what results were? And where these tests were - pure dos or box in W9x?

Carmageddon is the only DOS Glide game I've tried. That one essentially works out of the box if you have the Max Pack. Details are in the DOS forum here.

I have been in the shoes of the TS too. There is an alternative approach: Don't use a GF2 but a powerful GF5 or 6 with a glidewrapper and a Voodoo addon card. The glidewrapper will take care of many games, and fsaa is no problem. The addon will take care of all others.

@swaaye:

I think my mobo will work, it is an old apollo133a chipset one, same era as the voodoo5 ...?
edit: it appears it has a "universal" AGP 2.0 slot, so I am OK 😊

as for "monster" AGP cards I have:

1. a geforce 4200ti /128MB in the mail
2. my old BFG 7600GS/oc 256MB card

I was under the impression that newer vga drivers might have problems for older D3D titles, that is why I was messing with gf2/voodoo2 cards...
Plus I must admit that at first a v5500 seemed a stretched out solution but after consideration it seems very nice: no need for a v2 setup and you get both worlds in one speedy card of the time...

swaaye wrote:

Carmageddon is the only DOS Glide game I've tried. That one essentially works out of the box if you have the Max Pack.

It would be interesting to test dos-glide games with V5500, not much of them are there. In plain and with V2 patches. But V5500 AGP, I have, may not work with some, where V5500 PCI could to work.