Using Voodoo5 PCI as secondary card?

Started by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman, 30 June 2006, 11:34:15

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

I plan to built a legacy system where I could shoehorn everything into it; a system where I can boot in DOS (to play DOS GLide games like Archimedean Dynasty), but can still play "newer" games (like WarCraft III) with reasonable performance.

Here's the plan for my system (so far I already have every components except the GeForce 6800 and the CPU):
- Soyo SY845PE Motherboard (P4 mobo with ISA slots)
- Sound Blaster AWE 64 Gold
- Yamaha SW60XG WaveForce
- Voodoo5 5500 PCI Mac (BIOS flashed to PC)
- nVidia GeForce 6800 GT - AGP version
- A Pentium 4 CPU, preferrably non-HT
- 512 Mb of RAM
- MS DOS 6.22 / Windows 98 dual boot
- A KVM to switch between the two video cards

The Voodoo5 PCI is for playing DOS games (especially DOS GLide games) and Windows GLide games, while the GeForce 6800 GT is to play all Direct3D and OpenGL games. Thus, the V5 5500 is exclusively to play GLide games, whether they're DOS or Windows games.

The questions are:
(1) Which video card should I set as Primary in the motherboard BIOS? The Voodoo5 5500 (PCI) or the GeForce 6800 (AGP)?
(2) If I set the AGP card as Primary, can I still play DOS GLide games using the Voodoo5 5500 PCI? Does the 3dfx card need to be set as Primary Display to be properly detected by DOS GLide?
(3) Likewise, if I set the PCI card as Primary, can I still play Direct3D and OpenGL games using the GeForce 6800 without too many hassles?
(4) What is the biggest challenge in building my dream legacy system? IRQ conflicts? etc?
(5) What Pentium 4 Processor should I use? Since I'm using the SY845PE Mobo, of course my choice is limited to Northwood. Can I go with the highest CPU allowed (3.06 GHz) without conflicting with older devices like the Voodoo5 or the Sound Blaster AWE 64?
(6) Any further tips?

Thanks,
-Kresh




bloodworm

You may NOT need to "dual boot" dos6.22 and win98se, because 98 has a "boot to dos" mode built in.  98 is esentially DOS 7.0? i believe and I never had a problem with any of my dos games not working when I booted to dos mode from 98se.  Yes, I think the 3dfx card will need to be PRIMARY for the dos games to even work at all.  you should be OK with the 6800 playing DX and openGL games, and if you have to, you can disable the V5 in windows with a click of the mouse, making the 6800 the primary on the fly.  SOME dos games may not like the faster CPU, and make sure to set all your IRQ's manually in the BIOS for DOS too.....
Bloody Mess

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

QuoteOriginally posted by bloodworm

Yes, I think the 3dfx card will need to be PRIMARY for the dos games to even work at all.  you should be OK with the 6800 playing DX and openGL games, and if you have to, you can disable the V5 in windows with a click of the mouse, making the 6800 the primary on the fly.  

I see. Thanks! Even in Windows, the V5 is to play GLide games only.

IIRC there's an application that allows us to select which video card to use with Direct3D and OpenGL, am I correct? I just couldn't remember the name of the apps.