Voodoo 5 cards are strictly AGP 2x, that's why they won't work on anything using AGP 8x.The 440BX chipset rocks, but you may be a bit limited on the processor speed. I'd go for the i815E (forget about the i820 it's not a very good chipset at all AFAIK) which also supports the Pentium 3 Tualatin series, allowing you to go all the way to a Pentium 3-S at 1.4GHz 😁.

The A3D capable card would have to be the Aureal Vortex 2. You can find a lot of implementations of that chip, they all work pretty much the same. Keep in mind though, that their drivers can sometimes produce weird errors and crashes. Max Payne 1 outright demands that you disable Hardware Sound Acceleration with Vortex 2 cards in order for the sound to work properly. I think the Sound Blaster Live! is a better choice overall, shame it lacks the waveblaster header which could potentially make MIDI music (which is used primarily in DOS games from 1992 and onwards) sound a lot better, however it kinda makes up for it with the soundsfonts. If have no idea what I'm talking about in this last sentence, don't mind, just go for the SB Live! 😜.

Windows 98SE are definitely worth it, most third party utilities and most importantly drivers, like the Universal USB driver, require Win98SE. Windows 98SE are also a bit more stable, due to the updates that they come with. If you're not interested about DOS games, you should also consider WinME.

820E is the improved 820 (plus improved southbridge), which is pretty hard to find AFAIK. It's not that it's bad chipset, it's just that RDRAM has almost zero performance benefit for a P3. You also have to use PC800 RDRAM for it to be as fast as PC133 SDRAM. If one could find such a board with 256-512MB RAM for pretty cheap I think it would be a fine setup though.

Also, I too would recommend 98SE over plain 98. WinME is also a decent option but it carries extra headaches with getting MSDOS access.

For sound cards, the best choices are either a SBLive! or a Vortex 2 (of some sort). They got the best support from game companies back then. SBLive! has far better Windows MIDI if that matters (not many Windows games that use MIDI). Vortex 2 has A3D 2 but that too was not commonly used (Live! has A3D 1 and EAX). Both get you decent DOS support, but if you want the absolute best DOS compatibility you need an ISA sound card.

while the v5 is technically an agp 4x card, they more or less took shortcuts when making it so that it is only able to run as an agp 2x card, so that is what you must run them as and consider them.

as for RDRAM, I say avoid it. If you want a P3 get either the bx chipset or the i820 chipset. the bx supports up to 1GB in some mobo configurations but only supports 100 FSB, the 820 only supports 512MB (chipset limitation) but runs the 133 fsb and works great with coppermine 1ghz s370 p3. There is also the via apollo pro chipset which supports 1.5GB SDRAM (via 3x 512MB SDRAM sticks) and the tualatins up to 1.4ghz, and then above that there are the workstation and server boards that support even more but get rather spendy quick. I have several of the boards I mentioned, I recommend either the BX board or the apollo pro board.

jaqie wrote:

while the v5 is technically an agp 4x card, they more or less took shortcuts when making it so that it is only able to run as an agp 2x card, so that is what you must run them as and consider them.

as for RDRAM, I say avoid it. If you want a P3 get either the bx chipset or the i820 chipset. the bx supports up to 1GB in some mobo configurations but only supports 100 FSB, the 820 only supports 512MB (chipset limitation) but runs the 133 fsb and works great with coppermine 1ghz s370 p3. There is also the via apollo pro chipset which supports 1.5GB SDRAM (via 3x 512MB SDRAM sticks) and the tualatins up to 1.4ghz, and then above that there are the workstation and server boards that support even more but get rather spendy quick. I have several of the boards I mentioned, I recommend either the BX board or the apollo pro board.

Umm..doesn't i820 require RDRAM? According to Tom's Hardware it does.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-i82 … review,132.html

I believe she's thinking of 815.

820 can run 1GB RAM. There was a SDRAM conversion chip for it early on (MTH) but it was bugged and slow so it was recalled and was never fixed.

815's 512MB limit is totally ridiculous but really for 9x/Me that is a lot of RAM and not a problem for the old games. I usually run 128-256MB in my 9x era setups. 815E is an excellent chipset aside from that lame limit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230751303090

My Tually system has one of these, and I think someone else on here is/was using one too.

Great reliable board, plenty of BIOS options, Tualatin support, 815 chipset, solid construction.

while the v5 is technically an agp 4x card, they more or less took shortcuts when making it so that it is only able to run as an agp 2x card, so that is what you must run them as and consider them.

No that had nothing to do with it at all how ever 3dfx did have plan a new model.

When come it to Voodoo 5 you must have AGP 1.0 compliant spec with 1x/2x mode you can't use APG 2.0 compliant spec 2x/4x mode the Voodoo 5 only support 3.3 volt bus that was the problem
Becare then chossing a motherboard for Voodoo 5 the only other is with Universal AGP Pro slot that will accept both 3.3 volt or 1.5 volt video card which only be use on Pentium II/III chipsets motherboard = 810, 815, 820, 840 older other BX, EX, LX, GX, ZX all had AGP 1.0 compliant spec with 1x/2x mode
Far I know of nobody made a Pentium 4 with Universal AGP spec on the motherboard that would slove ever one problem.
Yes that ture some mother had max 256, 512MB ,1GB and 2GB
I not fan of RDRAM.

I would actually suggest an AMD setup. You can get a Socket A setup with FAST ddr ram with agp 2x support ANYWHERE. That being said most 4x boards will do 2x with no issues. My voodoo 5 is in a 4x board and it runs like a CHAMP. In fact I'm running DUAL 2800+ processors in mine. So the sky is the limit in regards to the motherboard.

Personally I believe that Pentium 3's lack the horsepower to FULLY utilize a V5. However, not by much. I'd shoot for something in the 2ghz range for a V5. that being siad, the first gen pentium 4's are HORRIBLE things. Amd is really the way to go for a V5 gaming rig.

Nah, even if you go to an AMD Athlon machine, the Voodoo 5 is still pretty slow 😜

F2bnp wrote:

Nah, even if you go to an AMD Athlon machine, the Voodoo 5 is still pretty slow 😜

i think the point is to use the V5 in a most appropriate system.

Sure, but I really don't see the advantage of putting a V5 on an Athlon. For playing games up to 2001 a fast Pentium 3 is more than suitable and you get some kickass chipsets.
Athlon chips are great, but their motherboard chipsets are for the most part abysmal. If you do manage to get an nForce 2 board though or some late VIA chipset (I'm not really familiar with these) it is pretty good.

That's a huge leap you're taking the for building a new (first?) retro build. 😁

Unless of course, if you already have a Voodoo5. If that's the case, go for a motherboard which will be happy with the card, as others have pointed out.

If you haven't got the Voodoo5 yet, it's better to have an idea or scope of what you would like to see being played in your new retro system, and then collect the respective parts. Building a fastest retro system sometimes fails to satisfy all the conditions. You end up building many retro systems or fine tuning the system and end up removing and replacing core components.

Of course, nothing stops you from experimenting. Have fun!

Far I know of nobody made a Pentium 4 with Universal AGP spec on the motherboard that would slove ever one problem.

Asus P4S533 has a SiS645DX chipset and a universal AGP bus. I know, used to own one with a V5 5500 AGP.

You can put a Northwood P4 2800MHz with 533MHz FSB on there and more than enough memory for Win98se.

Edit; note that the P4S533X does not have a universal AGP bus. (At least, I think it was that one)

The problem with SiS645 and SiS645DX on motherboard like Asus P4S533-E, MX, VM, VL and VX is it was 2/3 years to late and nobody sold them in US at the time and you rigtht the P4S533-X wasn't in a universal AGP bus.
There also the ASUS P4S333, MSI 645E Max2-LRU, DFI NS70-EL, SOYO SY-P4S-645DX DRAGON Ultra, Aopen AX45-533N and some other.
From what I recalled there had problem with the memory and didn't not also work rigth with some hardware device so in end the lot motherbaord them end up in end the junk pile.
As I said far I know of nobody made a Pentium 4 with Universal AGP spec on the motherboard that would slove ever one problem.

shspvr wrote:

The problem with SiS645 and SiS645DX on motherboard like Asus P4S533-E, MX, VM, VL and VX is it was 2/3 years to late and nobody […]
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The problem with SiS645 and SiS645DX on motherboard like Asus P4S533-E, MX, VM, VL and VX is it was 2/3 years to late and nobody sold them in US at the time and you rigtht the P4S533-X wasn't in a universal AGP bus.
There also the ASUS P4S333, MSI 645E Max2-LRU, DFI NS70-EL, SOYO SY-P4S-645DX DRAGON Ultra, Aopen AX45-533N and some other.
From what I recalled there had problem with the memory and didn't not also work rigth with some hardware device so in end the lot motherbaord them end up in end the junk pile.
As I said far I know of nobody made a Pentium 4 with Universal AGP spec on the motherboard that would slove ever one problem.

Apparently, Sony sold a variant in their Vaio computers if this is any indication.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SONY-VAIO-ASUS-P4S533 … 6#ht_500wt_1413

And the AGP slot doesn't appear to be keyed for any specific voltage(s).

IMO, a PIII 1400 should not be a bottleneck. V5 is at best as fast as a Geforce 256 DDR.

F2bnp wrote:

If you do manage to get an nForce 2 board though or some late VIA chipset (I'm not really familiar with these) it is pretty good.

I'd go nforce2 instead of VIA KT600 or KT880. They may be stable and the benchmarks OK, but I've found them strangely sluggish in practice. It seems their ATA controllers suck and their AGP slows GUI acceleration. K8T8x0 has the same performance problems.

correct (I agree with swaaye) nf2 is faster in real life situations by a good margin.

also:

swaaye wrote:

I believe she's thinking of 815.

correct, sorry...

swaaye wrote:

IMO, a PIII 1400 should not be a bottleneck. V5 is at best as fast as a Geforce 256 DDR.

F2bnp wrote:

If you do manage to get an nForce 2 board though or some late VIA chipset (I'm not really familiar with these) it is pretty good.

I'd go nforce2 instead of VIA KT600 or KT880. They may be stable and the benchmarks OK, but I've found them strangely sluggish in practice. It seems their ATA controllers suck and their AGP slows GUI acceleration. K8T8x0 has the same performance problems.

That seems strange since the Soyo Dragon motherboards with the KT8x0 chipsets were always got good reviews as performance motherboards. Compared to nforce, they were sometimes a little faster in some tests and a little slower in others but they were always competitive, as I recall. Those were the boards to have as far as I was concerned back then.

I had both, and I actually could tell a difference between the two running side by side.