Junkyard Build - AMD K6-2 + 3dfx Voodoo2

[s3thra]

Specs

• CPU: AMD K6-2 550MHz
• Mobo: Compaq PWA-PWA-Camaro Socket 7 w/ VIA Apollo MVP4 chipset
• RAM: 128MB x 2 SDRAM
• 2D video card: S3 Trio ViRGE ExpertColor DSV3325DX M70 (PCI)
• 3D video card: Voodoo2 (PCI)
• HDD: 80GB Western Digital Caviar SE
• PSU: Corsair VS450
• CD-ROM: LTN-403

Background

A while back, someone gave me an old Compaq Presario system because “hey, you like computers, have this old one that I haven’t turned on in 15 years”, to which my response was “gee thanks!”. So I ended up storing it for a couple of years without really giving it much thought. It looked something like the PC below:



Then, 6 or so months ago, I was looking to clear some of my surplus stuff out of my storage and so I decided to drag this machine out to make some room. Shortly thereafter I thought, “what the hell” and decided to open it up and take a peek at what horrors (dust buildup) may be lurking inside.

Indeed there were horrors inside this machine which had years worth of grime and dust buildup as to be expected of a machine of this age which would have never previously been opened.

Luckily though I wasn’t disappointed when I took a closer look inside and scraped back some of the dust to reveal a little “Socket 7” retention bracket under the dirt mound which would have once resembled a CPU cooler.

Anyway, I pulled everything out of the beige Presario case, cleaned everything up, and took some photos.

What I realized I had was a AMD K6-2 550MHz CPU coupled with a S3 Trio Virge ExpertColor DSV3325DX M70 video card. Nice!

I was somewhat disappointed however that the Compaq OEM motherboard didn’t have an AGP slot, so I wasn’t able to pair this with one of my TNT Riva cards to see how it would perform. Oh well.

I wanted to test it out to see if it would boot, but I didn’t want to rely on an ancient PSU to deliver the goods, so I put it up on my workbench and connected everything up with my new Corsair VS450.

It booted!

I proceeded to install Windows 98 SE on it, install Quake, Quake II, and a few other games which would run fine in software mode. Because I had no AGP slot to work with though, I wasn’t able to try out true 3D acceleration. Back into storage she goes.

Fast forward a few months, and a friend gifts me a Voodoo2 graphics card – a PCI card in perfect condition. Time to resurrect the K6-2!

Build Pictures

Here’s a few photos of parts and then everything put together on the workbench, and don’t worry – there is a little stand that is separating the components from touching the carpet. Click thumbnails to embiggen:

The motherboard with CPU and RAM installed:


The CPU (taken a few months back when I was cleaning everything up):


S3 Trio Virge ExpertColor DSV3325DX M70 video card:


Voodoo2:


My trusty 80GB Western Digital Caviar SE (pulled from a separate system):


LTN-403 CD-ROM:


Corsair VS450 PSU (well, it's box at least):


Motherboard and video cards assembled:


Everything connected on the workbench:


Just a few closeups:


Up next... I want to get Windows 98 SE loaded up, install and run some benchmarks, post here.

 

[s3thra]

Benchmark 1: 3DMark 99 Max

Summary:

3DMark Project:
3DMark Build Version: 200
Date: 1/2/00
Time: 8:03:45 AM
Project Name:K6-2/Voodoo2
Comments:

Project Settings (Template):
Rendering Platform: External (Voodoo2 3D Accelerator)
Resolution: 800*600
Color Depth: 16-bit Color
CPU Optimization: AMD 3DNow!(tm)
Z-Buffer: 16-bit
Frame Buffer: Triple buffering
Refresh Rate: 61 Hz
Looping: Disabled
Texture Format: 16-bit, 4444 RGBA
Run Tests: Once
Title Screen: Shown

Test Results:
3DMark Result : 1,647 3DMarks
Synthetic CPU 3D Speed : 5,619 CPU 3DMarks
Rasterizer Score : 923 3DRasterMarks
Game 1 - Race: 16.0 FPS
Game 2 - First Person: 16.9 FPS
Fill Rate : 73.4 MTexels/s
Fill Rate With Multi-Texturing : 138.4 MTexels/s
2MB Texture Rendering Speed: 29.1 FPS
4MB Texture Rendering Speed: 15.6 FPS
8MB Texture Rendering Speed: 7.8 FPS
16MB Texture Rendering Speed: 3.8 FPS
32MB Texture Rendering Speed: 1.8 FPS
Bump Mapping Emboss, 3-pass: 62.5 FPS
Bump Mapping Emboss, 2-pass: 80.6 FPS
Bump Mapping Emboss, 1-pass: Not Supported
Point Sample Texture Filtering Speed: N/A
Bilinear Texture Filtering Speed: N/A
Trilinear Texture Filtering Speed: N/A
Anisotropic Texture Filtering Speed: N/A
6 Pixel/individual: N/A
6 Pixel/strips: N/A
25 Pixel/individual: N/A
25 Pixel/strips: N/A
50 Pixel/individual: N/A
50 Pixel/strips: N/A
250 Pixel/individual: N/A
250 Pixel/strips: N/A
1000 Pixel/individual: N/A
1000 Pixel/strips: N/A

System:
Windows Version: Windows 4 A , Build 2222
DirectX Version: 4.09.00.0904
Bios Version:
Bios Date: 06/08/00
Total Physical Memory: 248 MB
Free Physical Memory: 182 MB

Processor:
Processor Type: AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor
Processor Speed: 550 MHz
Processor Caps: MMX 3DNOW
L1 Cache Size: 64 KB
L2 Cache Size: None

Desktop:
2D Display Adapter Name: Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA)
2D Display Adapter Driver Date: 4-23-1999
Monitor Name: Default Monitor
Monitor Driver Date: 4-23-1999
Desktop Resolution: 1024*768
Desktop Color Depth: 16-Bit Color

3D Accelerator:
Name: Voodoo2 3D Accelerator
Driver Name: 3dfx32v2.dll
Driver Version: 4.11.01.1151
Total Video Memory On Card: 4,096 KB
Total Texture Memory: 4,096 KB
Bus: PCI

Supported Features:
16-bit Rendering
Point Sampling
Point Sampling With Mip-Mapping
Bilinear Filtering
Bilinear Filtering With Mip-Mapping
Trilinear Filtering
Specular Gouraud Shading
Vertex Fox
Table Fog
W-Fog
Sub-Pixel Accuracy
Alpha Blending
Addivitive Alpha Blending
Multiplicative Alpha Blending
Vertex Alpha Blending
Vertex And Texture Alpha Blending

Supported 3D Display Modes:
512*384, 16bit color
640*400, 16bit color
640*480, 16bit color
800*600, 16bit color
1024*768, 16bit color

Supported Texture Formats:
16-bit, 565 RGB
16-bit, 5551 RGBA
16-bit, 4444 RGBA
8-bit, 332 RGB

Result Graphs:

 

[s3thra]

Benchmark 2: Quake II

Video settings

timedemo demo1.dm2 | 618 frames, 14.6 seconds, 42.4 fps

timedemo demo2.dm2 | 689 frames, 16.1 seconds, 42.9 fps

timedemo demo1.dm2 video:

 

[s3thra]

Benchmark 3: Quake I

Getting Quake 1 to run, properly hardware 3D accelerated was a huge bonus for me. I've been playing Quake 1 on and off for the last 20-odd years, always software rendered. Now, finally with the Voodoo2 in Windows 98 SE, I am now playing it for the very first time in all of its 3D accelerated glory!

timedemo demo1 | 969 frames, 23.3 seconds, 41.5 fps

timedemo demo2 | 985 frames, 24.6 seconds, 40.0 fps

timedemo demo1 video:

Bonus gameplay video:

 

[Win_Wiz]

Reminds me of the good old times I had with my first PC, a K6-2 with a 3dFx vodoo.
Thanks for sending me on a nostalgic trip down memory lane ;-)

 

[Splinterdog]

It's very satisfying putting a machine together from parts scattered all over the place.
Nice job!

 

[s3thra]

Benchmark 4: Unreal Tournament '99 CTF-Face gameplay

After dusting off my original game disc, installing Unreal Tournament, and setting it to use Glide at 800x600, I fired up the CTF-Face map. I was able to maintain an average of 31 FPS. Very playable and fun at this setting. Watch my capture below:

 

[Win_Wiz]

Oh I almost forgot about glide. The 3dfx cards really shined in games with proper glide support.

 

[s3thra]

Oh I almost forgot about glide. The 3dfx cards really shined in games with proper glide support.

It's really fun going back and trying out the old games that had Glide support and taking a look at how they perform. It was always a mysterious and impossible setting to me as I never had a Voodoo card. That is until now!

 

[Basard]

OMG, what a beast! 550Mhz too!

 

[phill]

My heart has just melted... What a system!!

 

[s3thra]

Okay, so now that it’s holidays I can finally get stuck into some of my projects again.

Today I’m showing some love for my K6-2/Voodoo2 beastie by getting her out of her storage box and putting her inside a case that I inherited a couple of months ago.

The case in question was in fact a complete Celeron eMachine PC from 2011, which I have now gutted and put the components in my spare parts storage.

For the case I am stripping back the all black paint and finish and painting it over in satin white, so it is a complete colour inversion!

I liked this case because:

1. It was free!
2. It is mATX, matching the motherboard so it will all fit together nice and snug.
3. It had one particular bit on it which I wanted to experiment with modifying i.e. the SD card slots which I wanted to fill in with bog filler and paint over to create a nice smooth surface. These bits are useless for this build as the motherboard does not have the same connectors anyway.

Different from last time where I'd installed Windows 98SE, I set it up with Windows 2000 SP4 instead. I find Win2K So much more stable and easy to work with being based on the NT kernel. Plus it's able to install and play all the games I’m interested in for this project, and compatible driver files are available for the Voodoo2 under Windows 2000.

Games I’ve tested installed and played so far are:

• Quake
• Quake 2
• Quake 3
• Doom Legacy (FYI, 1.32 beta 4 is the latest version I could get running without any problems using using Glide renderer)
• Hexen II
• Half Life
• Unreal Tournament

So, here are the case transformation progress shots:

Untouched




Sanded




Bog




Painted Panels




Full Painted Case




Built...



...And rebuilt, now with half-decent PSU and drives installed.



I still need to take a final shot with the panels on properly and the power switch wire connected to the motherboard.

After this I wouldn't mind getting a Dremel and doing the whole side window thing. I'm also pondering making some 3D printed bits to cover up the old "e" on the side which I think looks a bit "bleh"!

Anyway, it's nice to get this machine housed inside a case properly now and it not just being a pile of circuit boards inside a box.

 

[s3thra]

I finally found some time to finish her off properly. I ended up sanding back and re-bogging the front ports again to make it perfectly smooth before repainting. There were a few noticeable little grooves as you can see in the earlier photos which I've now been able to iron out after going over them again.

I also gave all the other panels a few extra coats of paint just to even things out a bit more smoothly.

It's been a fun little system to put together and I'm happy with how everything turned out in the end.

So here she is, inside and switched on, playing Quake:

 

[biffzinker]

Much better looking.

 

[eidairaman1]

Iirc there are IDE SSDs out still i believe or a pci sata card lol

 

[biffzinker]

Iirc there are IDE SSDs out still i believe or a pci sata card lol

If you go that route then you're missing out on the authentic experience of accessing a hdd.

 

[btarunr]

I miss the days when motherboard chipsets weren't brand-locked, and you could have tons of choice (Intel, VIA, SiS, ALi, NVIDIA, etc.)

 

[s3thra]

If you go that route then you're missing out on the authentic experience of accessing a hdd.

Agree, and honestly on a Windows 2000 machine with a 40-80GB HDD it performs just fine. It's not like trying to run Windows 10 on a HDD with modern applications where there are so many things going on in the background you pretty much need to have an SSD for all those IOPS.

General responsiveness and user experience is fine here.

 

[eidairaman1]

Agree, and honestly on a Windows 2000 machine with a 40-80GB HDD it performs just fine. It's not like trying to run Windows 10 on a HDD with modern applications where there are so many things going on in the background you pretty much need to have an SSD for all those IOPS.

General responsiveness and user experience is fine here.

Ive ran W7 on a K62/3 system.

If you go that route then you're missing out on the authentic experience of accessing a hdd.

I take the speed advantage no matter the system.

Heck are there any Quantum Fireballs out there?

 

[s3thra]

Ive ran W7 on a K62/3 system.

Well that's something I never thought of doing. Would need to have a Win 7 compatible graphics card though.

Someone did a bit of a write-up about OS compatibility for the K6 over here.

 

[eidairaman1]

Amazing enough it ran smooth lol.

Of course maxing out memory helps.

 

[E-Bear]

What is the maximum memory per slot and total ? Too bad you live far I could have give you some pc133

 

[Splinterdog]

Very clean lines on that finish. Nice job mate!

 

[lexluthermiester]

If you go that route then you're missing out on the authentic experience of accessing a hdd.

I disagree here. The chance of failure is ever increasing. I'd get an IDE to SD or IDE to CF adapter for that system.

 

[biffzinker]

I disagree here. The chance of failure is ever increasing. I'd get an IDE to SD or IDE to CF adapter for that system.

I was trying to point out the mechanical sound of spinning platters, and the seeking of the heads fits that period of the past.