How to install 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 video card on Abit AN7 AGP 8X motherboard 

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This guide shows how you must modify a 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 2X video card to achieve it runs on a Abit AN7 AGP 8X motherboard equipped with a AGP 8X expansion slot. This one supports AMD socket A cpus by a NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset working as northbridge.

Before we explain the mod, we think it right to underline that implementing the following steps there is risk of damaging your hardware (motherboard and/or video card) and we don't hold any responsibility for any damage caused by this hardware modification. This tutorial is recommended for skilled user only.

There's the 3dfx Voodoo5 video card before the change. As you can see, the Voodoo5 card has a double notched AGP 2X connector while an AGP 8X motherboard has a slot that is physically compatible with a triple notched connector only.

So the first step is to make a cut of the AGP connector. In order to do this you can use a power drill and create so a third notch in a position that matches the AGP 8X layout as you see here:

This's the card after the hardware modification: it doesn't compromise the compatibility with AGP 2X slot according to tests.

At this point you must to change some BIOS settings of Abit AN7 AGP 8X motherboard using a true AGP 8X card to boot the system. In voltages configuration screen of BIOS you must choose the 1.65 value for the AGP Voltage.

Then in AGP Properties screen set Agp Data Transfer with AUTO and the Agp Aperture Size to 64M (this one is a optional setting).

At last in AGP Properties screen set Agp Data Transfer with AUTO and the Agp Aperture Size to 64M (this one is a optional setting), save the changes and reboot.

After the RAM test turn off the PC, unplug the power cable, remove the AGP card, install the Voodoo5 card and plug the power cable again.

Turn on the system and update the bios configuration setting up to 2X the Agp Data Transfer, save the changes and reboot.

Now the system can load Windows XP as you can see by the following screen. Well, our Voodoo5 is running on a AGP 8X motherboard but there're some notable issues.

First of all, due to the too low AGP voltage, the card manages only one 3dfx VSA-100 graphics processor so the 3dfx SLI isn't supported in this way. Besides, the behavior of Voodoo5 is unstable; at last, this mod requires a irreversible hardware modification of the 3dfx card.

So by the next tutorial we'll se how to solve some of these issues and to implement a improved mod.

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